Archive Result

Summer retreat 2002…6. 20020827SR0TF06

(Chanting to 11:00 min.) Thank you. Welcome and good evening. Before I do this teaching I was asked to remind people to please be aware of the mosquitos. They are in Michigan and in the counties nearby, so please be aware of them. Take precautions whatever you are going to do. I think I heard on the radio this morning somebody died on Sunday too. I’ve been asked to announce again. The doctor from Holland is very concerned. Dimitry reminded again. Did I forget anything else? Don’t eat the bananas.

We will continue where we left out earlier before dinner. If I remember correctly to be avoiding the rebirth in the hell realm, the hungry ghost realm and the animal realm, and also in the human you have limitations. As I talked to you earlier they can, even with a human rebirth what sort of limitations are available. And Demi-god, samsaric god, they are all definitely not a great place to be. Though samsaric gods have absolutely joy. As long as they are there really joy, they really high all the time, high in the sense if you are taking drugs and you remain high. In that manner similar samsaric gods drugged throughout their life. Even to a certain level only two thoughts: oh got here and then I’m going to die here. In between that they are all high, but there is no consciousness awareness, but it’s not having no consciousness awareness. That is the level, the peak of samsara. Below that you go down to four formless, like space, like a conscious, nothingness, and all of those. Each one of them are, if you really do have a good concentrated meditation, very strong focus, nothing drawn or anything, very strong focus. There is no wisdom. When that happens ultimately you get that sort of rebirth.

It might not be bad idea to go a little bit on this. Let’s say, for example, what kind of strong negative karma makes individual to take rebirth in the hell realms, for example? Taking rebirth in the hell realm has to be strong and powerful negative karma. Means completed karma, killing it all goes there, killing a human being. All goes in the hell realm, no doubt about it. Hurting, you know all this sort of really…It’s very interesting, if you look in the laws of the land and look in the karmic world there is very much an interrelationship there. I don’t think the lawmakers talk about it, human nature it naturally it happens. Like killing a human being or all that type of terrible crimes are direct cause of taking rebirth in hell realms.

Then, being stingy, unable to share it, unable to use it. Sort of there are a lot of people who can make a lot of money, but they don’t use it all. Completely stingy. That stinginess, the result of that, goes to the hungry ghost. Why, because there is a direct relationship between stingy and hungry ghost because of that. Then down, if you remain, let’s say even if you don’t do any negativities, (20:00) you remain dull and all that, that creates karma to take rebirth into the animal realm. One time I was listening, I don’t know whether radio or television somewhere they said well, if you go to sleep and do not commit a sin, if you do not commit a sin you go to heaven. I thought what a crazy thing to say. If you have been sleeping all the time, you are going to take rebirth in the animal realm, no question about it. Why? Because you are wasting a very valuable opportunity. May not be very much as negative of hurting other people. You are hurting yourself, too. Out of three poisons the hatred will lead you to the hell realms. Obsession will probably lead you here and there. You have already done? Hatred will lead you here, and obsession will lead you here and there, and ignorance will definitely lead you to the animal realm. That’s how it works.

You may take rebirth in the human rebirth, but also human rebirth they call a positive karmic result. But still can be very limited. Demi-god also takes more. Human beings which is like us with such opportunity costs much more. But just to be a human being doesn’t cost that much. So the demi-god and the samsaric gods cost more. The human beings with opportunity like us considered costs much more, more than even the samsaric gods. There are three positive samsaric rebirths. Samsaric gods, up to the thirty third heaven or whatever they call it, then above that four forms. Above that four formless. A lot of meditators who sit and think of nothing and who sitting a lot, they will cut down the negativities. They will not get out of samsara, but they take rebirth in nothingness, space like, consciousness like, all these levels are great meditators who meditate a lot, yet don’t utilize the wisdom, simply meditating. They neutralize negativity. They sit together and nothing really bothers all of them each to that level. That’s why the difference between the Buddha’s teaching and non Buddhist teachings, anti Buddhist, whatever.

Traditionally, (quotes Tibetan) the Buddha doesn’t really recommend us so much to encourage sitting meditation too long and developing for form level, and then four formless after that. Buddha doesn’t recommend that. Buddha recommends as soon as you can get stabilize your focusing then you are recommended (25:00) to shift to wisdom rather than continuously sitting because sitting alone will get you to that level. After a little while there is fall back. You are not going to get out of the samsara. Within the samsara you are claiming all the high levels of all those rebirths. There are like sixty something. We have the chart already made a number of years ago. Sixty or seventy something there. Oh, fifty-two. I forgot. You can see those charts. If you don’t have the chart, ask somebody else who have it and they will show you. That is really a map of what kind of rebirth you can get. So no matter whatever happens, as long as we don’t get the root of the samsara we will continue. No matter whatever you do.

So any virtuous act we do, it becomes important. It should be at least getting out of the samsara. That is secondary goal according to the Buddha, the first goal is to become fully enlightened. If you cannot get immediately, at least get out of samsara. Even if you can’t do that, making sure the next immediate life is the right one so that you may have the opportunity, the chance to be able to do that. Sort of the three goals for spiritual practitioner. That’s what the Buddha introduced. The most important thing to become fully enlightened. Next to get out of samsara. Third to get a good next life. So every positive karma that you do, you should make geared toward that. If not geared toward that then those positive karmas will not be positive in that way, they will be called lucky karma.

We are now really leading back to…know what can help or harm in life, it is karma. Basically karma has also three types of karma: good positive karma, lucky karma, and bad karma. Most of our good works are really lucky karma because we don’t focus, we don’t direct, we don’t have motivation to be getting out of samsara or to becoming enlightened. So anything you do, it really goes and falls into the category of lucky karma, rather than actually moving toward enlightenment. That’s why knowledge, information is definitely important. Most of us, it’s not our fault. We don’t know about it. That’s one of these where the downfalls, unlucky can happen. (quotes Tibetan) One is not knowing, is one doorway, one is not respecting, one is too many delusions, that is the fourth one. I talked last couple of weeks, but I don’t remember. Does anybody remember? (30:00) No one remembers? None? I mentioned all this. These are the doorways of the downfalls. Downfalls in the sense that we don’t get a good effect. What happens is not having awareness. That’s not really our fault since we don’t know. Since we don’t know we have a little good karma, it becomes lucky karma. That’s not really directing towards enlightenment or even out of samsara.

That’s why bodhimind is so important. Bodhimind, love compassion, that will direct everything you do towards becoming a Buddha. That’s one of the reason why it is so great and so important.

What happens is, maybe I should talk about karma. So basically good karma has two, good karma and lucky karma. That’s about it. What makes karma perfect and powerful? When you have cause, condition, motivation, action and completion. You have all three right and perfect, that makes karma strong and perfect. Both, good and bad, same thing. For bad karma, let’s say you want to kill someone. You keep on trying your best not to, not to, not to. Yet, you are building your hatred more, more, more. Finally you can not bare any more. No matter whatever the consequences may be I’m going to kill the person. You go and kill the person. You also don’t let the person die so easily. You torture, all of those. You know that powerful hatred and anger become strong motivation. The action of torturing the individual becomes the strong action. Finally, you kill the person and satisfaction. You killed that and go hah, now it’s done. So that satisfaction is the perfect conclusion. So for killing karma, strong motivation, strong action and strong conclusion. When you have that, that karma can really become strong, powerful. Also, gives you the result as soon as possible, immediately positive result. Are you with me? Likewise positive karma. Great motivation. Great action and finally completed and satisfaction of it. Give you a good karmic result, makes powerful. Now, if you are missing the motivation, you accidentally hit somebody and killed them. It’s not that powerful because you don’t have that really mean motivation. It’s not there. Accidentally. It’s not right. It’s wrong, but not so strong as manipulated and all that doing it. Motivation not there. Action also accidentally you killed, it’s not there. And you probably will not have satisfaction,”Oh my god, what have I done.” So you don’t have satisfaction. From the karmic point of view it’s going to be much weaker karma, though it is killing karma. You have the consequences of killing karma, but it’s not that strong, that is how it works.

That is applicable not only to physical karmic rules, but also mental and emotional karmic rules that I talked to you yesterday. So karma really depends on, how strong it’s going to be, it depends on motivation, action and conclusion. If there is one of them missing it is weaker. Two of them missing it is even weaker. If third one missing you don’t have it, right? That is how it works. Likewise, positive karma as well. Strong karma of any kind, like ten non virtues, any kind will lead you to the hell realm. Medium type will lead you to the hungry ghost. Lighter one leads you to the animals.

Any of ten virtuous karmas will lead you to the human life. Stronger one will lead you to the Demi-god and the perfect one will lead you to samsaric gods and above. If it is done with the motivation of getting out of samsara, then it will lead you towards nirvana. If it is done with the motivation of bodhimind, it will lead you to total enlightenment. Is that clear? It is very boring stuff I have to give you, but you have to have it. Otherwise you don’t know. So if you don’t know it, it’s not your fault, it’s my fault. So I to struggle sometimes.

Then karma also has its own characteristics, basically four. That is karma is definite, fast growing. One never meets the result if you have not created the karma. One is bound to meet the result, no matter how long or whatever the time it may take, if you have created. These are the four characteristics. It is fast growing unfortunately. It grows every twenty four hours. Multiply that. That’s why purification is important. If you do a daily purification, multiplication stops. That’s why even a little effort of two or three minutes gives you a very long way. If it is two or three minutes of purification in the evening or in the morning if not the evening. It is good to do both, at least once a day will stop multiply. If multiplies continues what happens is (40:00) sometimes even killing insects can grow so big as much as killing a human being.

That’s why Nagarjuna says (quotes Tibetan), he said intelligent person’s negativities, even though its heavy, it is very light. Non-intelligent person negativity even though it is light, it will become heavy. Used the word intelligence. Intelligence or no intelligence, what they are talking about if one does know how to purify, even if it is heavy, it becomes light. If you don’t know how to purify or you don’t bother, even if it is light it can become heavy. Example given here, amount of metal, if the metal was made into a little fine ball if you throw in the water it is going to go down. If you make the same amount of metal into a thin sheet, flat sheet, and you throw it on the water it will lift it up. That was the example given by Nagarjuna to explain purifying and not negativities. He used intelligent and not intelligent in words. But in reality we are talking about if you know how to purify, that makes the difference.

Karma powerful. It almost looks like, sound like, very close what the Judeo-Christian tradition talks about God. Karma is almost the same. However, karma is not here to replace god, creator stuff, it’s not. It’s a big difference. Karma is becoming almost like a creator. Every suffering, every joy, whatever we experience, it is karmic result, it is karmic consequence. Consequences and it is connected because without karma nothing can happen because If there is no cause it will never materialize. So we are dependent, we are dependent on our karma. Our existence is dependent on our karma, our rising is dependent on karma and our falling is dependent on karma. It is the karma that really almost manages our life.

Yet I create my own karma. The karma takes over the control, I lose the control. The most control. Control all over. It is remote control in the sense that the karma is no longer in our hands, and the karmic result. Until that it is sleeping period. You can purify. You can cancel it. You can do it. You can get rid of it. Once the result it started functioning you just have to wait until it is all over. You can pray, do things, try to run as fast as possible to change it, but you have to wait. You can’t cancel then because it is too late for us to do anything, for both good and bad karma.

Even the enlightenment what we talk about, it is also karmic result. At the enlightenment level, (45:00) there is no bad karma left to give you a bad result, therefore, only good karma will come to us. That’s what it is. This is chemistry(?) stuff. There is no tool, cannot use it. But you know what even Buddha chose to say all the ground could go, all the water could dry he give huge example, but said enlightened person will never lie. He has to tell the karma because we are not that willing to accept, our rational mind. We are not happy to accept. That is really how our karma functions. Totally we are personally responsible, good and bad both. Nobody skips, nobody can cancel. Yes, in the communists countries people can force you to do something. That’s also a karmic result.

So anyway, above all it is almost like god, but it is not god. It is that important. Yet karma is not there to replace god. Remember, karma is impermanent. Karma is dependent arise. It depends on causes and conditions. If condition’s not right, no matter how strong the cause may be, it can never give result because condition is not right. So you have to have both: condition and original cause. If you have the original cause, if you don’t have the condition, nothing happens. If you have the condition, all conditions are right, but you don’t have the original cause then it won’t work. Nothing happens because one is missing.

That’s good enough about karma. Just give you an idea, it is not. Lam Rim teachings normally come along, they take weeks. So this idea is there. We give you this much. That is the karmic information. Read more, read all those transcripts we have, quite a lot of information in them. After knowing that, what you have to do: avoid negative karma creation and build positive karmic creation as much as possible. But again, don’t try to be so rigid about it. It has to be right, so much righteousness. It can be too much work too. We are human beings. We have to know balance, the right amount we can do. The wrong amount we should avoid it. And you can never ever always avoid wrong things to do. Never ever, so purify. That’s how we maintain our life pure from the karmic point of view.

Now, the second point here is thirty-two, take refuge. What happens in case, yes I have to do everything right. I have to purify everything, but I have no time to purify everything. In case before I purify, I die. Or before I do everything right, if I die, what should I do? Nothing more to do, but have to. Buddhism, Buddhists (50:00)recommends here taking refuge. Taking refuge to Buddha. Taking refuge to dharma. Taking refuge to sangha. Taking refuge.

They could have said take refuge to god. But they didn’t. They didn’t because in basically in Buddhism we have heard karma, and it is so much personal responsibility, rather than responsibility of any second or third person. It’s all personal. If you make it, it is you. If it is hell, it is you. You and you alone are responsible, nobody else. You cannot blame anybody else. You may be able to complain to Kathy. You can’t blame Kathy. We have blamed Kathy enough for years. We cannot blame anybody else. You can’t seek anything from anybody else either. You are responsible for what you do. You can make it or you can lose it. Nobody else.

Why you take refuge? You seek help. That’s it. Why Buddha? So many reasons. Number one, Buddha was a person just like us who had the same emotions, same suffering, same difficulties, yet made it through. So he has the experience of how to get out. He or she I should say. That’s number one reason. Number two reason: Buddha doesn’t care whether you pay him or not pay him. Buddha doesn’t send you bill, doesn’t demand anything in front. There is no charge. Buddha never charge. That’s why we don’t normally charge for teachings, but twenty-first century making us charge you.That’s what it is. But we don’t send bill. Whether you are giving or don’t giving, or anything doesn’t matter. Buddha has committed to help everybody whether the person likes you or don’t like you. It is no consideration, not like some people who say oh I don’t like you. I don’t know what it is, but I don’t like you. So better not come to see me. Buddha doesn’t do that. Buddha doesn’t do that. Buddha has the compassion, the greater compassion equal to all. Remember? You remember the Buddha said the Buddha’s compassion is not less to the person who is chopping part of his body, chopping his life, and Buddha has no more love to those who are giving him a massage with the sandalwood oil. So that was the measurement of the Buddha’s compassion and hatred. That’s why it’s call it free(55:00) of obsession, free of attachment. (Quotes Tibetan) That’s the example, and that is one of the reasons why Buddha is fit to be an object of refuge.

There are a lot of them. If you read it, there are like eight qualities of the Buddha, eight qualities of the dharma, eight qualities of the sangha. All of them there, so you better read it. That’s why you should take refuge to Buddha, dharma and sangha, three. Why three? Because it’s like a doctor. It’s like medicine. It’s like a nurse. So Buddha is really a doctor. When we have a problem, we go to see a doctor. Doctor give you prescription. Buddha is not a medical corp person. Buddha is a healer, in the sense not like a doctor type of healer. So it’s not the real object of refuge. The real object of refuge is dharma. It’s like medicine. The medicine cures the illness, not the doctor, not the nurse. But you won’t know what to take it unless doctor gives you the prescription. So the Buddha is like a doctor. Dharma is like medicine. Sangha is helper, to help you to make it. That’s how Buddha, dharma, and sangha is refuge. That also only by your own effort, by your own work, it helps. It’s not magically, miraculously cured. Nothing. You have to make a difference. You cut the cause of suffering, build the cause of positiveness. That’s how you guarantee yourself. That is how it works.

But you have to know before you take refuge to Buddha, dharma and sangha. What is a Buddha? What is dharma? What is sangha? Most of you know a little bit, but I should say something. Here we are not really talking about the historical Buddha as such. Historical Buddha is only a representative. This is some guy many hundreds of years ago who happened to be an Indian prince who became like this, who shared to us. He’s really a representative.

Today the bottom line, bare bones, the real refuge Buddha, bottom line, is the refuge Buddha within yourself. That’s, whether you call it Buddha, or Buddha seed level, or immature Buddha or whatever, when you become a buddha you have cured all your problems. So it is really the Buddha within you is the real object of refuge. Becoming that is your job. Technically, when I say this, technically it’s not right as refuge. You should say taking refuge to Buddha and all that. But bottom line comes down to this. (1:00) In the Buddhist tradition, the Tibetan Buddhist tradition this is called result oriented refuge. Not casual oriented refuge, result oriented refuge.

So the bare bone, bottom line, your own future Buddha is your own object of refuge. Your own spiritual development is you own dharma. Your own understanding of reality becomes your own sangha. So buddha, dharma, sangha all within you, not external but internal. That’s how you becomes Buddha. You will not become some third person or second person. The Buddha within you is fully getting developed, developed and developed and finally you become Buddha. That’s how it happens. You will not become second person or third person. Way and how you do it is through your spiritual development only, nothing else. That’s why dharma is the way, dharma is the real medicine, and dharma is the antidote of negative actions, negative thoughts, negative emotions.

For example, if you are sitting here and saying I’m not going to kill, fine, good. You don’t have an opportunity to kill. You are pushed to the corner and you are really there. You may even have a knife in hand, or a gun in hand, you thought about it. I’m not going to waste a human life. I’m not going to kill. Then you get the positivity of not killing. Otherwise, just simply sitting on a comfortable cushion and I’m not going to kill, I’m not going to kill, I’m not going to kill. It’s not positivity of not killing. A mosquito comes, when you have a mosquito here. I’m not going to kill. Result: not killing karma. That’s a simple example. These positivities of not killing all this become your spiritual development. It’s not just become a positive karma alone. These are the bricks and stones of your spiritual wall. These are the path. These are your bricks, these are your concrete spots, these are your mortar. That is how your spiritual wall is really built.

These are the path, your effort, your purification, your meditation all of them are added up and when they give result, these are your spiritual development. Otherwise, the spiritual development has to be magical. It’s not. These are small built, really brick by brick, inch by inch, day by day it’s built. It is not going to work automatically. It doesn’t work that way. It never will work that way. Yes, you hear a lot of last minute stories. Buddha said come here and they become enlightened. It’s a nice way to tell, but they didn’t tell you how much that person worked before that! These last minute stories, Buddha said come here and they became that. These are only the last minute stories. Otherwise, there should be instant enlightenment, it’s not.

We have one instant enlightenment story, within seven days some one could become enlightened. It happened in Lhasa, in Tibet in the quite late sixteen hundreds it had happened. A guy guarantees you fully enlightened in seven days. But what you have to do is you have to commit all your property to him. A lot of people went and they didn’t come back. They said I think it was Anjupula (sp?.)or one of them. Anjupula had a lot of funny dirty jokes, a very crazy type of guy. The Dekapula (sp?) person knows something is wrong in there. So he wanted to find out. What he did. Quite a number of people went for seven days. He had a kid at a medical college on that mountain. He collected all his property and he keep people there and they call it meditation. They don’t let you go, they don’t let you sleep, eat, drink and all this. People get hungry and at the end he throws them and they went down. Who knows where it goes.

So what the Dekapula did was climbed under the mountain and started digging around, looking for every possibility. It is a big hole, he couldn’t find. So the next person he volunteered himself and said I want to become enlightened. He busted him at the end. Quite a number of people gone through and he busted him. At the seventh day it going to happen, he tried to kick him. He couldn’t kick him. Finally, he dug him out of the cave and made it public. That is instant enlightenment, within seven days you become Buddha.

Taking refuge alone is not enough. It’s exactly like this you take refuge to Buddha, dharma, sangha. Well I made a thing. All right. I’ll try to help you, but listen to what I say, you have to follow. What do I have to follow? You have to follow the karmic rules, don’t create negativities, create positives and then you will be all right. That’s what it is. Then, of course there are advises: positive advises and negative advises. Eight, eight each, so you want to pick up those. Taking refuge is very good. Dharmakirti is tremendous. We have Dharmakirti in there too. They are all possible for us. They are right in front of us, and this is how we take it. (1:10).

When you look at this, the information available, it is tremendous, really. If you keep on talking this way, I will talk for a year and not run out. Really. That much is there. Anyway, so we have to stop somewhere. So taking refuge and then learning about advises, positive and negative advises. All of this is more important than simply taking refuge. Taking refuge really means rely on. I rely on you, don’t let me down. Sort of in that way. I rely on you, you don’t let me down, making a deal. So they say yeah, I will not let you down if you do it right. That almost is in there. Tomorrow we do common with the medium level. There we will focus more on the medium level. We follow tomorrow with common with the medium level. That’s what I wanted to do. Any questions?

Rimpoche we have about eight or nine questions. I’m going to read the first set. How would one learn to do the Hundred Syllable Mantra? Is it important to know the meaning of each syllable or should you just know the overall meaning?

Rimpoche: The Hundred Syllable Mantra is a Vajrayana practice. I think somebody asked me in the afternoon and I did say that. Yeah, whatever you say from your mouth if you know what you are saying it’s much, much better, really much better. If you know nothing about what you are saying it’s not a big deal, but not so great. Each and every meaning of the Hundred Syllable Mantra is good, but generally total Hundred Syllable Mantra what it says and what is meant somebody asked me today in the afternoon. Refer to that person read the Yamantaka teaching or Vajrayogini teaching transcript. They have the explanation of the Hundred Syllable Mantra there. Hundred Syllable Mantra is Vajrayana way of purifying. It must be a Vajrayana practitioner, so you have to reach that level. But better to know than not know.

Is there a formal approach to analytical meditation? Can you explain the difference between analytical and concentrated meditation?

Rimpoche: interesting. Yes, there is a formula for analytical meditation. If you don’t follow the rule you can go crazy. Funny rules. For example, this is yellow, hah so this is color. Why? Yellows are color, but not all colors are yellow. That is how you see it. So all colors are not yellow and all yellows are color. Do you get it? (1:15). So if it’s yellow, it must be color. If it’s color, doesn’t mean it’s yellow. Could be white or blue. That’s the system, so analytical meditation analyzes and analyzes with the rules, certain rules, very logical rules. Let’s say if you are searching for an elephant in the building, and you find sheep, dog, cat and another kind of animal. You take the sheep out, dog out, cat out, and then if the elephant is still there, you have to find it. If it is not there you don’t find it. That’s another rule. True. There are a lot of that type of rules. Otherwise, if you go beyond the rules, then our thoughts have no limitations. Can go here, there, and there will never be any conclusion. So framework you work that way. Framework is there. Anyway, analytical meditation I give you an example. If you are meditating on any sort of Buddha, so when you just look at and thinking some kind of thing here, a yellow one that is a Buddha. Thinking that is a Buddha and focusing on that, keeping your mind focused on the Buddha is sort of example of concentrated meditation. If try to focus and try to find shape, head put it on, maybe little nose, maybe little mouth, maybe little eyes, building it up. Then build up one little hand here. Maybe a little lotus. Building up, individually, that is an example of simple analytical meditation.

The rules I give you earlier is when you go crazy, because I talked this morning. How do you know snow is white? I think snow is white, but I think snow is yellow, it may be yellow. If it is yellow, keep on going on that, there are not limitations. So there are certain limitations. The rule like everybody knows snow is white. So you have to leave it there, arguing more than that. How do you know snow is white? I have seen it. How do you know it is not yellow? I have seen it. How do you know you are not hallucinating or how do you know you’re not sick with jaundice? So if you don’t stop, goes on, that has no limitations. No limitations. So there is a framework has to be built in. Otherwise, you will go on, there is no end to it. Yeah, there is a formula, there is rules. More rules than formula, actually. Formula is simply you are finding out what it is. (1:20)

When I am practicing concentrated meditation, it is very meaningful to me and I have only one hour to practice. When I do seven limbs and Tara it is not meaningful to me. So why should I do Tara and seven limbs meditation and give up concentrated meditation.

Rimpoche: If you are happy with your concentrated meditation, you are happy with it. There is nothing wrong with that. If you find additional time, then you may be able to do seven limb. We have already told you what seven limb is, all about it. That and purification are the two most important to do, rather than anything else. So if you can do it, you receive the benefit and if you can’t do it, you just can’t do it, then you don’t receive the benefit. No one can force you to do it, one can encourage you to do it. But if concentrated meditation is helpful, keep it there, and don’t reduce. If you find extra time then do more.

Last question for you. Do we need pain to learn?

Rimpoche: I don’t think so. I really don’t think so. But we have enough pain anyway, so we don’t need any additional. You may meditate pain so that you may lose your attachment. You may meditate pain so that we may be able to inspire intelligence.

Rimpoche, the question is does free will work with karma?

Rimpoche: Free will works very well with karma. Karma is your own creation. Once you created, you have the responsibility after that. Yes, free will but with responsibilities.

Would you comment on how human, social and economic justice interact with karma?

Rimpoche: Social, economic, human justice. Social, economic we know. We know it works very well with karma. Human justice, I don’t know. In this country the justice sometimes it is so important. Maybe. For me personally, you know like personally I am against capital punishment. Not a only capital punishment. I’m sort of against all punishment. There is a tremendous karmic justice. No one really can escape, but our justice is such a thing you killed some one, you give capital punishment (1:25), kill that person, you created another negative karma of killing. Collectively by all these juries and everybody who is involved there together, directly and indirectly, we are all indirectly involved. So for me it is additional creation of another injustice rather than justice. That’s my view, my personal. Everybody can make their own choice, and they can have own judgement. And I always wish the prisons can be collection centers, and there will be no capital punishment. Besides us in the United States, only the dictators, and communist countries, I don’t think anybody else has capital punishment. Personally, I’m against it. Besides that I don’t know what to say.

Rimpoche, if you have an interaction with another person and they get their feelings hurt, does that mean that you end up with negative karma?

Rimpoche: Not necessarily because you haven’t done that with the wishes and thoughts and all this, but it sort of happened. Yes, you contributed, but you really don’t have that much negative karma.

Why is anger so expensive relative to other emotions?

Rimpoche: Anger consumes tremendous positive karma. Anger the metaphor given here is fire. Fire consumes work, just like that anger consumes all positive karmas. The fuel of anger consumes positive karma. That’s why anger is so expensive. That I know. This is knowledge and information.

Can you explain the difference between actively seeking guidance and asking for inspiration and blessings?

Rimpoche: Not so much difference. Inspiration and blessings are probably focused on mantras and things like that. But seeking guidance I think is almost the same, there is not so much difference.

This is a question, for people who live far-away and when they are practicing guru yoga it seems kind of like it’s one sided. Does the guru, he or she ever think of me, the practitioner, as I’m sitting doing guru devotional practice in my room does the guru think about me personally and for me to receive blessings?

Rimpoche: No, honestly. What happens is the guru represents enlightenment, not a personal representing. So enlightened beings always think about everybody. That’s number one. But as a student and teacher relationship, guru-disciple relationship, guru always has to think about you too. That’s about it. Basically, yes, it represents enlightened beings and enlightened beings always think about everybody, and particularly those who begin to struggle and work, yes.

I think you answered it but if there is any more, what do gurus and bodhisattvas actually do? (1:30)

Rimpoche: I think they are looking for opportunities. Any opportunity available they will be there to be there to help you.

This is the last question, Rimpoche. This has to do with antidote action. Can antidotes be understood through the emotions versus than the cognitive?

Rimpoche: I don’t know. We will get to that level somehow, hopefully.

That’s it. Okay, what did we do today? Where did we begin today? Anybody? Mr. Supa ? So certain part of seven limb, and guru devotional practice, and embracing human life through taking refuge. Basically common with the lower level has been completed today. Each and every point we have touched today, each and every one of them is important. Among them guru devotional practice is perhaps the most important, and the most controversial, and the most questioned. It is very dear for some people, also very troublesome for some people. So it is worth to spend some time and analyze and try to draw conclusion. I think I made it clear this morning, you begin to see all gurus are merging in and you begin to see Buddha become merging with them and that is guru devotional practice. Likewise, embracing human life. When you think about importantness, you don’t waste time. And you think about difficulty to find you cannot sit idle. When you have that level embracing human life is developed in the individual.

We didn’t talk much about impermanence because I like to talk with you as part of the four noble truths. So that’s why I’m sort of holding it back. However, impermanence is nature of our reality. We change every second. We do not continuously remain. We do not continuously remain unchanged for not even a minute, second. Minute immediately, second immediately after, what we are has been changed. It is the continuation of changing is the reality of our life. Some are slow changes, some are small changes, but that is the reality of our life. I may be able to talk tomorrow.

But let’s say if a person has substance and is going to live sixty years, than one minute after that, one second after that, it is no longer substance that was able to live sixty years. (1:35) It will be substance that was able to live sixty years minus one second, minus two seconds, minus three seconds, minus one hour, minus one week, minus one month and then fifty-nine years. That’s changing. Can you see it? Even though we don’t see it, that changes. A little more gross more than that our face and our wrinkles change. All of them change. I remember a lot of things. Even black hair, now grey. So all of those change. It is constant, continuous changing is our reality. We don’t like the change. We like consistent. We insist consistent. We try to be as consistent as possible. We can never be constant. We has to change, changing all the time.

We don’t live forever. No one is going to live forever. No one has ever lived forever. That sort of put us limitations on that valuable human life, and difficult to find it. That sort of puts pressure on there. By the time you get sick with some sort of terminal disease that doesn’t let you die, no one can talk with you. You should do this and that. We talk to you, you talk to us now, when you are well. At that time even you talk it may be too late. Doesn’t really serve any purpose. It is time for us to remind of dying and make big change. We should remind ourselves every day, every time so we do good practice. We have good things to carry. There is no time to do this in bardo. Probably not. We have to do positive things now. So that is one of the reasons why impermanence is important.

As I said, impermanence makes sense of urgency much more stronger. And also it is the reality of our life, all about it, and everything what we do including those permanent statues are also impermanent. There is nothing permanent we see it. Even the permanent statues are impermanent. So everything we are dealing with is impermanent. You know we’ve seen it. The World Trade Center is not permanent, right? So everything whatever we see is impermanent. Every situation is impermanent. Every condition is impermanent. All is going to change, increase or decrease. Everything is possible. That’s what it is. All is changing. (Quotes Tibetan).

So whether you are going to make good (1:40) forever, or bad forever, it changes. We are on the borderline of going upwards or downwards. It is all in our hands. That’s what impermanence will do. So temporarily to help ourselves, take refuge to Buddha, dharma and sangha. Follow the advises, the advises of the negatives and positives, consequences and advantages. Following it, taking total advantage of whatever you can. That’s what you have to do. So we teach to the point of thirty-three. That’s it and thank you so much. Have a good night’s sleep and see you in the morning. (Chanting “ By this merit…, mig me…deb)

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