Archive Result

Odyssey to freedom OTF 2002-2

(Chants to 24:54)

Well, if you are looking at Tsong Khapa’s shortest LamRim which we call “Lines of Experience.” If you look at Verse 10, Verse 10 says, I don’t think you people have it. If you look in there it says, “this working basis of human form endowed with the liberty is superior to the wish granting gem, for such is only obtained this very one time. Difficult to acquire and easily lost. It passes in the flesh like lightening in the sky. Considering how easy this can happen at any time and realizing that all worldly activities are as immaterial as chaff, you must try to take advantage of its essential significance at all times, day and night. I, the yogi have practiced in the same way and you, the freedom seekers, should follow in the same way.” One verse is missing here. I never sort of read this in English before. This is the first time. It says, “if you would also seek liberation, please cultivate yourself in the same way.” That has to be carried in this verse as well. In other words what they are telling you is this is a statement of what you can achieve in your life. It is sort of a life mission statement for spiritual practitioners. So that’s why I wanted to read this to you. Thank you.

[Quotes Tibetan]The life, the body what we have each obtained this time is much more important than a wish granting jewel. Why it is? Why it is? I like to go here. We, I’m going to talk to you sort of taking granted you also accepting reincarnation, okay? If you don’t accept, that’s fine but I’m going to talk that way because I do. I’m going to force you my way. Just joking. Right from the beginning, countless, limitless from the beginning, we have taken so many lives. Apparently it true. How do we know? Because of our addictions. Our addictions will tell you this is nothing new that you got from your mom or papa. Or it is nothing that you learned at your childhood. We very clearly see every children have different addictions. (30:00). Even the trees that join our house together have different addictions as we can see very clearly today. These very things indicating they are bringing a certain amount of addictions or experience in our life. They are bringing that. Where does that come from? It has to come from a life before this. Otherwise how can you have developed addictions in nine months inside womb of your mother? It’s not possible.

If you really think carefully it is definitely a continuation. But anyway that is a different subject. I will come back to this and talk with you later in the common with the medium level. Talk to you later on this.

Since we have taken so many different lives, if you look at our experience there is no such a single different physical form that we have never taken refuge. Nor is there is such a thing we have never experienced before. We don’t. That means any sufferings that we experience, whatever the difference at a different time, it is not experiencing it for the first time. We have experienced it before, even though some diseases we discover today we have experienced before. Anything, any joy, any suffering or any misery you experience, it is nothing new. It is all we’ve experienced before. Yet we not achieved anything in those countless lives. Countless lives we have achieved nothing, so we are continuing, the same old experience repeating one after the other. That’s where we are.

Now the question arises is it sort of distance from meant to be repeated, same thing or is there something end to this? The Buddha was asked that question. [Quotes Tibetan] At that moment Buddha did not answer. Buddha did not give answer. The Buddhist scholars, teachers, masters said the reason why Buddha did not answer that question is skillful means, or something.

I just remember when I was younger I just began to speak English. And I was at a Buddhist lecture given by a very well known Indian Buddhist professor, Maisha Duardi (sp?). She was giving a lecture in Delhi University. In that lecture she quoted this what I am quoting to you, is there end to existence, an end to this world? When that was asked the Buddha did not answer. She read that in Sanskrit, not in English, not in Tibetan, but in Sanskrit. Buddha was asked that question by the people. It was a big then. He was a great scholar and teacher. Then suddenly quiet. The reason why Buddha did not answer at that moment was because there are two ends. There is no beginning. The beginning is way beyond our functioning. There is a way to end. There is an end. What we are looking for is end, end upwards, not end down wards. Upwards. Ending of the total samsara. That is there. There is an end. How does that end come? It’s not like the end taught here, end of total universe you know like, we talk about Armageddon or Rapture, all of that type.

I don’t think Buddha talks that way. Buddha thinks and Buddha understands and Buddha explains. The end is an individual matter, not the whole universe. Yes, the whole universe may end, but another universe will be started. Or there are multi-galaxy universes will balloon up. So upper end is what Buddha means, like a balloon. The difference for that upper end, is when helium finishes that rubber is going to fall down. For us there is no fall back. But there is not a fall-back, you simply blocked and reach a certain level and you are not able to go beyond. Buddha gives you two different layers of achievement. Number one layer of achievement is going beyond samsara.

Since there area number of new people, is there anybody who is not familiar with the vocabulary called samsara? Would you raise your hand? A couple of hand only. So okay. Samsara is basically the continuation of life a without our control. That’s Samsara actually. We don’t have control, because we don’t have control. We don’t have control to chose when we die. We don’t have control to chose when we live, how long we live. We don’t have that. Should I get sick or should I don’t get sick, we don’t have that control. So that means you don’t have control at all even if you are a control freak. So you know that. That means you don’t have control at all. But if you say you don’t have control of yourself. That’s that. That’s the end of it. Don’t want to get sick? Yes, you are getting sick all the time. No matter how much concentrated you are that shows you are not in control, whatsoever.

This is important to remember because we struggle tremendous for control. Not only you want to control yourself, but you want to control other people all the time. Many of our problems and sufferings are come out of that control freak issue. You want to control your companion. You want to control your spouse. You want to control your children. You want to control your family, you want to control your colleagues. You want to control everybody. So everybody hates you because you try to control everybody. Simple as that. That is another big struggle in our life.

Anyway, we don’t have control. That’s why we are in the samsara. Our control has gone to the hands of somebody else other than ourselves. Who is that somebody is a different question? Gone to somebody else other than ourselves. That is called samsara. Our number one objective will be getting free from that, ourself. I would like to be, at the beginning don’t worry about I, I so much. When it becomes a total habit of yours then is bad. Right at the beginning you have to think about me and I. If you don’t think about yourself, who else is going to think about it. Right at the beginning you have to think about yourself. You have to think about yourself. We all have to think about ourselves.

I would like to be free from these things, not to be controlled by some other than myself. That is number one goal. Number one goal. It is a short term goal. Then long term goal is enlightenment. Until we get that, no matter whatever we get it is not there, we will be lost and we will be suffering again, and again, and again. Many people would like to be rich. That would be your goal, some people have had this. You would like to be rich. We have been rich before. Some people are quite rich. That’s right, you guys don’t know that. Even a kid says you didn’t know about that.

The rich and poor is relative. Every thing is relative. If you really look in the third world nations. If you compare with others. Even the homeless person in the United States is richer than working people in third world nations. I used to give this example all the time, If you look at the Indian porters in the railroad station, that’s my experience. They sit there twenty-four hours waiting for the train to come. The moment the train comes they all run to grab your boxes. No matter how heavy it is they will carry it, one, two, three boxes, huge suitcases, metal suitcases. Three of them they carry on their head and run. I can’t even catch them. You can’t catch them. They will run away. So you have to run after them. Otherwise, you lose your boxes. That much they work. In the room, if you look in that room. They have a really one room square. That’s it. Everybody sleeps in there. They have sleeping mattress at the train station. The moment the train comes with a whistle they run. That’s how they spend their life.

So compared with that, I’m not talking about slum and all that area. That is simply the every day human beings that we deal with. Compared with this the homeless people here, compared with that they are quite well to do even though they don’t have a home. Compared with that, It is comparative. You know it is relative. I didn’t mean comparative, sorry. It is relative.

We struggle all the time. We struggle all the time. That’s what it is. We could become very wealthy. Then what? At the end of it, by the time when you go you are not going to carry your bank balance, or investments, or insurance policy, or anything. Nothing is going to go with you. Not even the body that was born with us. We will also be separated from that. That is the end of all the story. That’s what happens, right? Then we search for a new body and we are going to find a new body. And you are going to struggle everything all over again, if you are lucky. If you are not lucky, that new body, new life can be a pig in the slums of Calcutta, or something. You never know. That’s called samsara.

Unless we get free from that, whatever we do, again this wonderful beautiful life has become worthless, a waste. That was Buddha’s main message. Buddha is saying you have a beautiful life. It’s true. Each and every one us is extremely fortunate. We have a great life, great life. I think what I’m going to do is I’m going to put them together with “Odyssey to Freedom.” Otherwise I might not have much time.

Can anybody give me a bookmark? Thank you. If you look in that bookmark. Everybody has a bookmark right? If you don’t have, find it it. Find it by yourself, don’t demand. Number seventeen here. Number seventeen, eighteen and nineteen here. This is available everywhere, really. You can get it. Okay. So number seventeen, eighteen and nineteen. Read the transcripts comparing to this in the “Odyssey to Freedom.” Read all this. Then you get total background. I’m not going to repeat when I get to this level.

Would you open those windows, please? Window shades? John? It’s so dark here. Thank you. (50:00) A little bit of sunshine is good. Thank you. It’s okay. I normally open. The rule Kathleen explained yesterday you are not supposed to open. In break I open it. You know why? What we learned here is air pumps in only and it recirculates in winter and people get sick. That’s the reason people who come here in winter get sick a lot. Air pumps in only. It doesn’t circulate. That’s why, so it’s important to open during the time, during the breaks so the air flows.

So number seventeen, eighteen and nineteen, we talked about this and your homework will be readIng corresponding in that in the “Odyssey to Freedom.”

Everybody knows page number? Kathy knows, Hartmut. Who said? One eleven? Okay. Good. That’s that part of it. “Odyssey to Freedom.” There is a book on “Odyssey to Freedom.” It’s sort of a booklet. It’s available in the store. Not available right now, today. They are going to bring it tomorrow. They are going to sell it here for fifty percent discount for people who are here. Every day. That will be useful to you. Otherwise, it is not very good, you don’t have it. It was printed many years ago, five thousand copies. So you people get fifty percent discount, those who are participating in the retreat. Whatever, anyway. Read those. I don’t think they have great at this level anyway. So read those and you will get that mostly.

Anyway what I’m trying to say here is we have taken so many lives, so many experiences. Nothing helped, nothing really achieved for us simply because we are repeating everything again, which is clear indication. You know we will say this is usual American habit, good old American habit. Well, I didn’t get it, but it’s good (55:00) experience. That’s what we are getting, how long learning experience we say. Learning experience. How many times you going to get it? At least a million times is gone already. When are you going to learn it? So it is not, you know people like that, but I never liked it. They say, “Ah it’s a good learning experience, and I really like to hear the words.”That’s what it is.

Today, this life, it is something wonderful really have found all these 18 qualities that the Buddha talks about. It is there and then it is only depend on us, how much we can take. How much we, I mean each and every individual. How much you can take it. How much I can take it. It’s there, it’s there. It’s available there. It’s there. It’s not expensive either. You don’t have to buy it, the transcript. You don’t. You have to work. How much can you take?

If you cannot take anything, the life is going to end sooner or later, unexpectedly. That is the true reality, unexpectedly it’s going to end. It’s definitely going to end. Each and every one of us ends our life unexpectedly. Expecting? It doesn’t work that way. If you are expecting the end, it won’t end. It will go on and on and on continuously, so unexpectedly. When it’s ended, then this total wonderful life is waste. The waste comes at the end. Until then it’s not wasted. Might have wasted a lot of time, out those limited time, but we have not wasted our life yet. So we have to do something.

Many of us are in the habit, we waste our time. We have no regret for whatsoever. If we waste twenty dollars, we go crazy. If we waste time, nothing bothers. It shows how much value you have for your life. Your way of acting clearly informs you you are valuing twenty dollars more, it’s more valuable than your life. Those of us who can say, whatever you know oh fine it’s gone, so what. You can do that. You are valuing your life a little more than a dollar.

I did that a couple of times in my life. Number one, I’ve been kicked out of Tibet. Not even a bye. That’s it. I really feel happy about it, not because I been kicked out. I’m quite wealthy in Tibet. I love this joke. I was not born with a silver spoon, but I might have born in grocery. I’m quite well to do in Tibet. (1:00 hr) Just simply to give you an example, in the early nineteen-fifties there were four or five motor vehicles available in Tibet, and our family owned three of them. Which indicates, you know? We had an Italian Fiat, we have an English Land Rover and a truck. Mind you all of them carried on the shoulders of the people from the Himalayas, crossed over. Every gasoline that we put in was also carried by people on their back because you know the animals don’t go high mountains in the Himalayas, transported on the back of people. So that indicates you.

The day I left I left without anything. I was really penniless, and happy with it. Never thought about it, except once I got into an Indian garbage truck from some area in Assam. I sat in the corner and holding it, it was bumping and throwing up like hell. That time I thought well getting into a sedan, you know that’s a small car, that has ended in my life. That’s all. Didn’t really think about it. Once I dreamed that I’m back in Tibet checking on my ritual objects inside a ball of cake. That’s all true. That happened. It’s okay, doesn’t matter really. That’s okay.

Then second time I left India, whatever I do, it’s not right. So I said I’m going. I picked up my suitcase and left. That’s it. Couple of times in life I’ve experienced. I really can see it attached to all those old Tibetan aunties. My brother once remarked a couple of them have it. Then, you know, It’s no longer mine anyway. So when you see it it’s mine, otherwise it’s no big deal.

I do not mean I have a great spiritual development. I’m not saying that. I’m saying it is sort of, it is sort of ever since childhood, whatever it is, I didn’t feel losses. If it’s lost, it’s lost. So what. It’s not because you have so many. If it’s lost, its lost. A few years ago in Holland. My bank balance was very close to zero. I’m sort of struggling to pay the bills. I did the teaching in Holland before then. They give me ten thousand dollars in cash. I put in my briefcase and went to Amsterdam. A kid came and took it. That’s that, it’s gone. I was inconvenienced and I said, oh it’s gone. Happened a couple of times. Then one day. That’s it. That’s the end of it. My passport was gone. The money was gone, was a Friday night, and Saturday I can’t get my passport, so spent two days there because I didn’t have passport. Monday I went out, got my passport, and that’s the end of it. So it’s not that I have development. I’m happy financially. Whatever it is, you know, whatever it is, but I don’t suffer because of the loss. In life you have that great gift in your hand you should use it.(1:05)

If you lose the life, then you could be crying. Without getting anything we know it’s going to fall, for sure. As long as we are here we have to achieve something. This is an opportunity, a window of opportunity when you can do something different for yourself. A window, a small window of opportunity. Life is interesting. His Holiness’s book on the Lama Chopa, the main title is the lightening, flashing of lightening in the dark night or something, dark sky. So it’s really true. It is like a flashing lightning. We have a very small window. In that window we do have all the opportunities. If you fail to use it, then it is a big loss, not jus ten thousand dollars. Or you lost all your family, earnings, everything. It’s not worth it to worry about it. If you lost a life it is a big loss. You have to get whatever you can get. That’s important.

That’s why the Buddha gives the example: more valuable than a wish-fulfilling jewel. Like the lamp genie, children’s story. It is more than a genie, much more. So we have that, but we don’t appreciate that more than twenty dollars. We go crazy about losing twenty dollars, but we don’t go crazy about losing our time. It shows how much we value it. At least what you can achieve out of this life, out of this body.

If you want to get up, you can get up! You don’t have to force yourself to do anything. We used to get up and down all the time. Now we sit thereallthe time. Except that’s not for everybody! If everybody gets up, I won’t be able to talk.

The least what you can do for this life is making sure your next life will be similar to this one. Similar to this one with opportunity. The opportunity is the rare part of it. Human life is not that rare. One of the Panchen Lamas or somebody was giving a teaching in Tibet, and the Chinese benefiter was there. Keep on saying how difficult to find this life. Keep on saying it. After a little while the Chinese wealthy gentleman said, excuse me your holiness, but you have not been to China. You have not seen the population. It’s not that rare. It’s rare in Tibet, but not rare in China. So that’s what he told him. Then (1:10) the Panchen Lama said, “Oh my, you are right. I am talking to the Tibetans only.” He said, “I am not talking about human lives. Human life is rare compared with deaths. There are less human beings. There are more animals. There are more hungry ghosts than animals. There are more people in the hell realms and hungry ghost realms. That is the reality.” We know there are more insects than animals and more than human beings, if you counted. That way it is difficult to find.

But even more difficult is the opportunity, opportunity to do something, which really is very rare. Buddha’s lifetime, I mean to follow the Buddha’s path. It is fantastic, and achieved by so many thereafter. Then the tradition in which I learned. It is also a traditional teaching. I’m not right if I don’t say it. If I say it, I may appear superior, but I have to say it anyway. The tradition that Tsong Khapa has created, to be able to follow that even more rare than that of following the Buddha’s path. That’s why normally in the Tibetan language, Tsong Khapa’s system is as pure as refined gold. Why? Any misinformation, any wrong information. It is 2500 years old. It has been refined and tested, tested with logic, and spiritual practitioners in their development. Refined and made perfect, simple for people of today. That is Tsong Khapa’s special thing.

So even meeting with Tsong Khapa’s teachings is more rare than meeting with the Buddha’s teaching. That is the tradition in Tibet. If I don’t mention a little bit you may miss the opportunity. If I do mention I may be accused of teaching sectarian propaganda. I am walking between the tight ropes.

Anyway, whatever we do, I think have to make a decision by yourself. So doing the spiritual practice that really delivers. I am sure many of you have reached the conclusion already. Those of you that have not reached conclusion, try to make sure you reach a conclusion today, at this very retreat. Some of you may have questions or doubts. They are all fine, but don’t leave it aside. If there is a question, I don’t know which is better and all this. I’m going to leave it aside for a little while. Don’t do it. Whatever questions you have, you have to think, you have to talk to friends. One of the advantages of meeting together like this in a separate area (1:15) where you don’t have anythings going on so much. And the wonderful thing here is the cell phones, they don’t work very well here.

That is the wonderful thing here too. Talk to people with experience, without experience and everybody should take personal objective of clearing your doubts. Don’t talk to one person only, because people differ. Though they give you the correct answer as best they could, there’s always personality involved. The personality involved some are very, very, narrow minded. Some are very open. According to their level they will give you an answer. Make sure you talk with a lot of people. The group discussions are for these type of things. You can talk in a group. Some people will answer, some will not. But you can bring it over and discuss that. That’s why you have to make sure that you reach a good conclusion and do it.

If you don’t do it, if you don’t do it, the time goes. If you do it, you can do it. That’s how it goes. If you don’t do it, you know “The Days of Our Lives”? The sand bottle goes upside down. When I first came to Michigan about ten years ago, I used to watch “Days of Our Lives.” After that I couldn’t watch much, but when I watched it was the same old characters. The sand goes down. So that’s how our life goes. Days of Our Lives, that’s how it goes.

If not, the death will come and then it’s too late. By that time we lose our consciousness, awareness, everything. No doubt about it. You don’t even have a control to hold or let it go our life. You don’t have control of your urine or anything. It just goes. So we go. You never know when. By this time next year who will be here? I? You? No one knows. Doctors can’t say. The astrologist can predict, but no one knows, eeny, meeny, miny, moe. They can say I’m okay this year, or not okay this year. No one can show you that anyway. It’s not going to be a present good sign three times. It’s not going to come up that way. The interpretation is oh, not so bad, (1:20) but on and on. So that’s what it is. You never know by this time next year whether we will be a human being, or somebody else.

So what happens after dying? It is a big consciousness that we waste, not the body, the consciousness. There is a division between mind and consciousness, however I don’t want to go in that level right now because it confuses people. The consciousness is the one when you daily talk about me, who is me? Really if you begin to look, each and everyone of us has a projection. Many people will think me. The moment you look at me they think I am somebody inside as though there is somebody inside I’m quite sure. Many of you will think this body is a costume. There is somebody inside that costume called me wearing that costume. Many people think that way.

So let it be. I’m not talking about emptiness here, so let it be. So that me inside it, wearing this costume, or I call it rented apartment; it’s a rented apartment. The body is a rented apartment.I don’t know how much rent you pay for the apartment. Talking about expensive, this is very expensive the body. Really, you really have to worry about it. Too cold, too hot, too airy, no air. All this. Need another apartment. This apartment needs another apartment, all of those. It is expensive. Maintenance is really big here. Not only you have to maintain your own body, you have to maintain your companion as well. It becomes more and more expensive. This the expensive body.

What happens is the consciousness leaves the body. The consciousness immediately search for a new identity. Running around for a new identity. You have a time limit of forty-nine days. Physical body within forty-nine days you have to find it or you are going to become spirit. If you don’t find an identity, physical body identity within forty-nine days, you are going to become spirit for a while, for another couple of centuries. So that’s why, the inclination is there. The person is running around trying to find an identity. There is a good identity, it’s very difficult to find. So the Catholic Church says produce kids. It has value from that point of view. It really has value. That doesn’t mean you have to become Catholic. It has value you cannot ignore, because it’s very rare to find it and it gives more opportunity. And seeking, how many are seeking? There are zillions of them seeking. How many can you get? Two, three, four, that’s about it. I used to (1:25) live in India within the (?) state.

Mostly, because of our negative karmic consequences I really think quite a lot percentage, thirty to forty percent at least, falls into the hell realms and animals. Lesser amount falls into hungry ghosts. Five percent become samsaric gods. It is a big task for us to be able to fall in that ten percent. It’s not a quarter again don’t misunderstand me. It is not a quarter system. You know what a quarter system is, four quarters, right? Can fall in that category. So that’s the important thing. Then many of us will think yeah, I did not really, I might not be perfect, but I did not commit any big crime. I didn’t kill anyone, I didn’t steal anything. I did not do anything that wrong. Maybe you are right. Maybe you are right.

But you know it is the karma which you can not change, which you can not unwind. Which has a tremendous terrific memory, much better than the latest computers, far better than the latest computers. More than Windows two thousand two or Expedia. Much better than that, karmic memory. Many things we don’t know. We create a lot of negativities without knowing, a lot. Many we don’t know. Many we do know. Many we don’t remember, we know at that times a lot. Each and everyone of us has a tremendous storage of positive and negative karma. No doubt. There’s no question. What you can do in this life is you can purify those negativities. They are not permanent. They are impermanent.

It is changeable. Who can change it? You and only by you it changes, no other person, not Buddha, not god, no one can change my karma. It is only me that can change it. It is only me. We can pray. We can seek help. We can seek blessings, miracles, things like that, but it depends totally on ourself. One thing you have to remember, the most important what the Buddha shares with us is (1:30) each and every one of us for our own self. Tremendous freedom, independence, yet tremendous responsibility. Each and every one of us is responsible for ourself, nobody else.

Some people say well I was helpless. I was caught into that incident. So is it my fault? If I say yes he will say oh you are blaming victims. Blaming victims. Without karma of mine it would not happen to me. It’s not blaming victims, but if I have nothing to do with my karma, I will not be experiencing that. You get in the wrong time at the wrong place, yeah. Look what happened on September Eleven. Yes, you got in the wrong time in the wrong place, but if you don’t have the karma even if you are on the eighty-seventh floor, you get out. If you the karma you die. So it’s not victim blaming. It is without karmic involvement nothing happens. You get into the wrong place at the wrong time, that’s also karma. So that’s what happens to the people. That’s why it is so uncertainty of our life. That’s why we are also responsible for our deeds. So good and bad, all of those, are this. That’s the reality. Truth is that. It’s not victims’ fault. Every one of us has those types of karma, tremendous Somehow our karma did not materialize that way. The victims in New York, in the planes, any of them, or any accident. It is totally that person’s fault even though if I don’t have my karma I will not get injured in that accident. Even though it’s totally the eighteen, nineteen year old kid who got drunk and hit you, even then there is my karma without which I don’t get any harm. So it’s not the victim blaming, but everybody has the karma. If you think it’s victim blaming, go ahead. But it’s not, really. That’s the reality. That is how karma is so powerful, and so watchful.

Yet I create my karma. I don’t control it. Karma controls me. But before karma controls me I am in control of karma. Any individual karma that materializes and the moment that karma materializes, karma becomes controlling. Until then that karma is sleeping so it is in my control. I can change, I can do, I can color, make the black white, the white the black. Do whatever I want to do. It is in my control. I can do all this. The yellow red, the red yellow, whatever you want to do, make orange whatever change whatever. Once it materializes the result, then I lost control completely.

So one our keys, one of our main things we do is two things: one, purify negativities knowingly or unknowingly whatever we did; two, create as much positive karma as possible. These are the two major things. Then you add one more. Who does this? it is the mind, ourself, so have awareness. Be mindful.[Quotes Tibetan] Avoid negativities as much as you can. Build positive karma as much as you can. And watch the mindfulness of your mind and guide it properly, with mindfulness. That is Buddhism. Buddha himself said. That is Buddhism. It is not card carrying Buddhist. Really following the path of the Buddha is Buddhism.

I see so many not Buddhists who are great Buddhists. You know what I mean? People will claim I am an atheist. People will claim I am Jewish, Christian, especially a lot of great Hindus. All those types, you know? There are a lot of great Buddhists everywhere. Non Buddhists, great Buddhists. So that is what Buddha really said, and that’s what Buddha meant.

So when you say do something, means purify your karma, and create positive karma and be mindful. That is a very simple practice. Everybody can do it, have no problems. That’s what you should do.

So our simple little practice that we do in the evening is very good. It has everything and it is two seconds and it’s over. I notice that and that’s not right because you don’t think. I rejoice in the great virtues. We just read it. We don’t think about it. I requested a melody. The melody it gives you time to think. After a while you get used to it and then you have time to think.

Maybe I should go, if you look in this, the Odyssey one, create a sacred environment. So whatever the way you want to create a sacred environment you can do it. If you want to be say its(?) go out and be the say its. If you want to be the ground, be the ground if your neighbors are okay. Whatever the creating environment means (1:40) create atmosphere wherever you would like to do to get something right. You are eager to get something right. So it differs from person to person. Some people like to say it, some people like to have incense burning. Butter lamps burning, candles burning, instruments beating, the gongs are beating, the drums are beating, whatever you like yourself, create that space for you, external as well as internal. Internally creating space means making your life, making your mind free of disturbing thoughts, thoughts that are bothering you: making you usual anger, hatred, obsession. Obsession seems to be good but it disturbs you. That is a disturbing thought. So creating such a thought. If the thought is there! let it go, let it go. Peel it like a good orange peel and have a good tangerine orange taste. So that is creating a sacred environment.

Arrange symbolic offerings. In the Lam Rim teachings you have. Any offerings, particularly recommended water offerings. You know you are doing the offerings day after day, continuously, constantly. It builds a lot. You know offerings is generosity, even though it may be a simple flower and water, or incense, but it is day after day doing constantly it builds up. Remember a drop of water every day fills the ocean. So offering every day is very important.

Along with this, food offering is recommended. Buddhists do that a lot, food offerings. It is simple; before you eat make offerings to Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, or whoever you want to. Don’t keep going on giving food offerings to your girl friend. Just joking. You know really offering and we do have the food offering prayers here too. It is our usual habit before we serve the food we do say food offerings as well. Very often we say there, but people rush to the line so we say from here. For many years we did that. Maybe they don’t, but we do the offering from the cooking pots on the stove. Offerings: position body and mind. Body sitting straight. As Allen says sit on the ground. The ground is not there, sit on the chair. First thing to do is keep your back bone straight. That’s Allen Ginsburg. Anyway, it’s there. The information is available in the transcript, I’m not going to talk to you here.

Do we have a sitting meditation in the morning here, right? We do. We don’t. We do a Tara meditation. So would you like to do a little bit of sitting meditation before Tara meditation? Sitting meditation. They will show you. Everybody knows really. Physical meditation you can see what other people do. Mind you can’t copy because you can’t read it. Physical you can copy. It may be a little sloppy, doesn’t matter. Everybody is not perfect from the beginning, So be slow, may become perfect. Talking offering, sloppy. There is a Rimpoche, Terry Rimpoche is like me. He doesn’t know how to make a momo or anything.

The tantric colleges, there are two tantric colleges, upper tantric and lower tantric. The lower tantric colleges had a room. Before the food was served have to say the food offerings and everyone was supposed to make a little bit of dough, Dharma dough. Without looking they had to make a little dough and put it inside. Then you had a chanting master will begin to say the offering and it is in front of you. If you laughed or said anything you would be kicked out of the monastery completely.

So there is a very famous geshe, outstanding geshe, sitting next to that Rimpoche. That Rimpoche made some ball, funny looking, put it out in front. The geshe couldn’t help it. He started giggling. The abbot who is more than the disciplinarian, he was shocked. He gave this famous geshe a look. He could have said stand up. If he said stand up, that would be the end of it. You could no longer come to that monastery. So he sort of gave him a big look and said don’t do that. Geshe gave the abbot a smiling look and he put a robe over his head. He could only put on the robe because he was sitting on the throne! That’s what Gebje Ling told me. He was sitting on the throne, but put the robe on his head. He (150:00) has to get out of the monastery.

So we should stop here. We say the food offering here and then we go to lunch. You know the schedule. Om ah hum, om ah hum, om ah hum….bon appetite.

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