Archive Result

Soundfile 20030828GRNYOTF

Speaker Gelek Rimpoche

Location New York

Topic Six Paramitas (patience) - Odyssey to Freedom

Transcriber Steven Krichbaum

Date 2/15/2020

Rimpoche talking to a students about schedule before teaching starts until 0:03:47.4

Continuously to talk here. I am hoping to finish this part as soon as possible. I thought I’d finish this patience last week and did not. We talked about 3 different types of patience. I must repeat here. The patience that we are talking about. Not simply what we in common language talk about patience. Patience within six paramitas are virtuous nature. Therefore the definition of the patience here. it is the mind that never gets disturbed. the virtuous mind that never gets disturbed that is the definition. Which really means any other patience that we have, if it is not virtuous nature, so we are not getting in this part of the patience. 0:05:45.5

Normally we get upset, get angry to people whether it is the faults of people or not and we always get angry with them. it is a funny traditional tibetan teachings give interesting example which might not be interesting when you talk in English. But that is why I was hesitating to talk last week too. In Tibetan language, when you talk about the weather, when you talk about the sky, there all one name. called nam kha 0:07:20.2

normally when you don’t have good weather people get angry, upset. And because “such a terrible sky” they say in Tibetan. Same language weather and sky. and so slightly terrible sky. so people get upset with the sky. so example they give here is, it is not the fault of the sky, it is the fault of the cloud. if you get angry, you shoudl get angry with the cloud who is disturbing here who is coming over overcasting rather than the sky. Likewise, when you want..that is old example so it doesn’t work here very well because of the language. Likewise when you get angry with the people, it is somehow we choose the people in between for no reason. if people really get upset with deeds of hte people than you should really get upset with the deeds of hte people rather than people. him or her self. that is old teachings says0:09:07.0.

oh no, the deed is nothing to do. deed itself is nothing. deed has no mind of its own. it is the people who did it. therefore I’m angry with the people. this is funny. old Tibet example. sometimes doesn’t work well in English. you know one at the time of meditation for compassion there is one that doesn’t work. you get angry with hand. get angry with hand because hand hits you. very similar to this. and also if you really want to get angry not the faults of the people, but the anger of hte people. if you really want to look to the culprit who is really creating the trouble it is the anger or hatred of hte other person. rather than the person themself. 0:10:30.2

and particularly our sufferings our created on teh basis of our identity and our own karma and all of those. so ultimately, ultimately it will boil down to narrow selfish interests. self-cherishing, selfish interests. that is the actual source of all our troubles. so if you really want to get upset then you have to get upset with your own self-cherishing thoughts. that really creator of all sufferings. so if you really wanted enemy. that is true enemy self-cheririshing. if you want to conquer your enemy that what where you have to work. on that you have to look. and there is an interesting example. some earlier teachers give you. in case your own mother. if your own mother gone crazy, gone mad and tried to kill you. you don’t get angry with your mother. nobody gets angry with your mother. Your mother get mad and try to kill you. you know your mother has gone crazy. so you try to help the mother rather than challenge her. Whoever is trying to challenge a mother who has gone crazy than it is a sign that you also have gone crazy. crazy is not crazy. one who tries to challenge the crazy, is the crazy person. 0:13:06.3

also it is another example is funny. if you put your hand in fire and then you can’t get angry with fire. it is your fault because you put your hand in fire. fire nature is burning. when you put your hand there going to get burned. can’t get angry with fire, although people might get angry and get bucket of water an dpour over hte fire and try to kill the fire. nothing is wrong with that. like it is almost the same thing. so the point here is, whoever tries to hurt you, don’t look at that person as enemy. don’t look that person like example of mother gone crazy trying to kill you so you don’t look at mother as enemy. try to help mother cure her illnesses. likewise when people hurt us we don’t…one should not get angry with the people. try to help them, try to cure their hatred. that doesn’t mean you should not stop them. when someone is hurting people doesn’t mean you shouldn’t stop them. you should stop the person hurting other people. But not worth getting developing anger or hatred towards them. That is the first portion of the patience. 0:15:34.6

2nd patience is some how one should be able to bear a little bit of suffering. you know we have a funny way of saying. we are not a paper. human beings are not made out of paper. if we are made out of paper we get a little water on top and dissolve. human beings don’t get dissoled by a drop of water or something. we are not papers. we should be able to accept a little bit. and then also not because it is my karma so I can do nothingl. that is the wrong way of doing it. what is it? what is it? Shantideva makes a very intersting conclusion over here. Tibetan 0:17:04.5. if there is something to be corrected, why should we be unhappy about, just go on and correct it. just go on correct it. if there is nothing to be corrected, what will help by developing sadness, sorrow and sour feelings which may get into a little more complicated than just simply sadness. and may get a little bigger trouble such as depression and all of those. so that depression is also coming to people because of a lack of patience. so Shantidea’s conclusion here. if there is something to be corrected without hesitation correct it. if there is nothing to be corrected don’t think about it. why you feel sad avout it? because nothing to be done. nothing can be done. so better way of gettin gout of that or something, rather than feeling said of thinking about it. that tells you some people think using that as a reason and saying if you are good practitioner you should not mourn losses. or what you call…grieve losses. that is not true. grief and losses and all of them…mourning…you really have to go through with this. have to see it, feel it, touch, but don’t let it overpower you. but you have to touch it. in this country. or this culture. so funny. 0:20:04.3

like when people die. people don’t die home. they die in hospital. somehow they moved to a funeral home. then you watch them. dress them up. put them back out. really don’t feel that person has gone, don’t feel the losses much. in old times. people get sick in the house, they get sick, you know they are sick, you know they are dying, not only the feelings you are in touch with it, even the smells, and do all that. and you really know they are gone. but in our cases, these days, life is made so artificial so you really don’t get to touch it. so by not feelin the losses, then years after if will affect the individual again, almost like haunted again, so there is no closure that is all it is. so we don’t make it. so some poeople say you are not supposed to think about it, you are not supposed to feel sad about it, and that’s not right. you are supposed to feel the pain, supposed to feel in touch with this you should mourn that and you should let it go. don’t let yourslef get stuck, but you must touch with it. it is very important and because of this Shantideva’s verse if there is nothing to be corrected, why should you feel bad about it. so therefore you say if it is gone it is gone, why let it go, so that is also not so simply switching like that isn’t right, though we try to. 0:22:41.3

people have to feel it, people have to go through the sadness, sourness, we can pretend not to be but there is “let it be” not only let it be, let it be virtuous. let it be influenced by compasison, respect, love, affection, dedicaiton, not let it be by influence by anger. saying how dare you die on me. because people think that way. people even talk about it, don’t die on me. nobody die on you, people die but nobody wants to die, if they die. so the dying person has rights too. so that is why this is mourning should be influenced by compasison, lovel affection, dedication. not by jealousy, not by anger, not by obsession, 0:24:35.8

and some people even develop anger and hatred because somebody died. he died on me you say. there is nothing. we see that people do, but not the fault of hte person. nobody would like to die unless those who are ocmmitting suicide, but even then they die because of fear. they think there is something better afterwards. they think the suffering is ended at the ime when you die. but suffering doesn’t end with life. if suffering ends with life then what has happened with Jim Jones - Heaven ok - but unfortunately it doesn’t for sure. the suffering doesn’t end until negative karma gets, negative karma doesn’t end until we stop producing more. we do not stop producing negative karma until we end negative emotions. we do not negative emotions until we really see the true reality. the true nature of existence. not only true nature of mind, but true nature of every existence. what is truly the reality0:27:18.7

this afternoon when I came from airport. alex picked me up and we were talking in my apartment,. i was quite tired, went over to the bed, turned the tv on and I fell asleep. and then I thought I was dreaming and it is not a dream. it is on tv. laughter…it is on tv. some guy with wedding flower 0:28:12.8 can’t understand word

talking about self existence…I thought to myself what a horrible dream. thge guy kept talking aobut the self is real, I am real, I am true, I am here, it is reality, as a truth as I am here, and all this. and all this…and then by that time I woke up and realied it is on tv, not dreaming. and some friend called me, it is time we should meet somewhere. and I was watching that. they guys kept on saying he admires Buddhism, but only the thing that self doesn’t exist something unfortunate and people are shaking his hand. doesn’t really have a valid reason about what he is talking about. but hte reality is, he says the Buddhist say self doesn’t exist which is really sad, unrotunate. I don’t think anybody says self doesn’t exist. we say selflessness is the self, what is not existing is the our perception of existence, as we perceive, it doesn’t exist. doesn’t say self doesn’t exist. self comes from periovs life, remains here, goes on to future life, i come from perios life, remain here, go on to future life. but where and how we perceivce that makes difference. 0:30:47.2

there is interesting advice from the Tilopa to Naropa 0:31:00.3 Tibetan. Tilopa tells Naropa 0:30:56.7 Tibetan - Naropa told Tilopa. appearance does not tie you, but the perception will tie you. let the perception go. what you perceive and what appears is two different things. so where you have this what we call this wrong view…mistaken…and not seeing emptiness is the point really is. the bottom line is perceiving things what appears to us. that is not a delusion. nit is reality. what we see we perceive independent self existence. and that appears to us and we perceive that. that is a mistake. there is not an independent self. it is an interdependent self. interdependent meaning that it depends on the time, terms and conditions. and when terms and conditions are right then it exists and it functions. 0:33:26.0

and that existence is good enough to be exists. and when you lose this you’re losing big way. the guy who is talking on television tonight. some new york channel whenever. must be one of those local channels. local access cable. so the problem what happens is. you lost the relative truth. the relative existence is completely lost and then you think there is nothing there and then selfless means there is nothing there. that is not right. that is what people call nihilistic point. so the bottom line of really cutting hte suffering is getting the reality straight. geting the reality straight really means getting all this straight actually. laughter. when we get to the 6th paramita the wisdom chapter when we get to there we’ll be able to talk a little more. And we’ve been talking that a lot in teh 3 principals as well. so anyway.

in order to cut the suffering, the process has to be cutting hte cause of suffering which is negative karma, negative karma will be stopped when you don’t produce anymore, you’ll stop producing it when you change the negative emotions. negative emotions can no longer function with you, when you remove the red carpet under the feet of the negative emotions. that is the 0:36:18.3 independent self existence.

so all of those have to be done first through learning, understanding. 2nd through analyIng and 3rd through meditation. the meditation will make…learning will give you idea, analyzing will give you understanding, finally focusing meditation will make it part of your life. and that is how the process works within an individual. i don’t know any other process. Again, I’m not emphasiing everybody should be scholar, but I’m emphasizIng you need enough information to be able to make up your mind. draw your conclusion. you can only draw your conclusion if you analyze. if you don’t analyze you draw conclusion - you may simply be following the policy or simply speaking on the party line or the official whatever - mushu 0:38:00.9 doctrine. if you are tiptoeing with that. so then that is it.

otherwise you know when you analyze and you understand and then you meditate and then become part of your life. then it works. and that has to be done I believe on everything. not only spiritual things. even political things. if there is no such hatred so strong and there will not be so many sufferings. that we saw last whatever months and you know loss of lives and loss of American lives everyday. one or two, one or tow, 3 or 4 all of those because of hte hatred. and all come down to hatred, hatred bring violence, violence brings violence. and it is really true. the anger problem the hatred problem is huge problem. and then we can’t change that by force. you can kill so many people you want to. that is fine, but that doesn’t end the anger, hatred at all. how can we expect human attitudes, human minds changed by force. it never happens. communists never succeed. They tried. Hitler never succeed. they tried. how can they expect the human mind to change by force. yes people get killed, people get scared, they will say yes, yes, yes, no no no tiptoe official line they do, but the moment they have hte opportunity, the moment they have a little bit and they go around. because they are human being we won’t do it. 0:41:21.0

I won’t do anything for communism. not at all. not as an individual person. communism idea is horrible, it does horrifying things. so it never go for it. whatever, whenever there is opportunity to go against. not go against the person who has communist ideas, but 0:41:56.3 because it creates trouble. so it is the same thing. so the hatred can never change. If India constantly, continuously followed Subsuashi’s 0:42:32.0 idea of revenge, fighting against the British. I don’t even know if India would be independent today. probably not but but Gandhi’s non-violence really does work. because after all ordinary beings. even living beings. the dogs, cats they all know. we would like to teach the dogs and cats to behave I think sometimes. it never works. if you beat a lot the dog runs away. then you being to wonder why did the dog run away. the dog says because you beat him. so it never change. so that is th anger. anger never gives us peace. as long as you have anger within you. no matter how much you try to hide. it pops up. it pops up in different forms. and if you try to forcefully control it. it translates into physical illnesses. it is easier to translate into mental illnesses. so that is reason why Shantideva goes on saying if there is something to correct it, correct it. if there is nothing to correct it, why worry all the time. 0:45:06.0

And especially when you practice in dharma practice you have difficulties. financial, illnesses, obstacles. and all of them what you really should do is something different than what you can do. what you should do, should do all this. all this suferring whatever way it is showing ot me it si the result of my negative karmas. may all my negative karmas be absolutely exhausted by this experience of mind. whatever the other result i have to experience, this little suffering may substitute all of them that I don’t have to experience any more at all. so sometimes you know the teachings will tell you, sometimes you should be happy about it because you know example given here. have committed some kind of huge crime, the punishment for that would be, should be, will be the capital punishment. someone decided to substitute that with life inprisonment. or in olden times cut your finger off. in the old days they do cut your finger off, your eyeball, terrible things. so eventhough it is bad, one would be happy because you are not going to get killed. likewise our negative karmas are so much, you should have so much suffering that such a little pain here will substitute everything so I am happy aabout it. that is another type of patience here. that is what we call acceptance of the suffering where you accept suffering. not that i can do nothing so I have ot acept it. I have to be under it. not I accept this so that it may substitute for eveyrhting i have to suffer. or as a bodhisaatva this may substitute for everyone who may be diabetic. that I try to pray all the time doesn’t materialie, but I am taking advantage. 0:48:51.4

even the sufferings have qualities. tibetan shan 0:49:24.1 so gthe suffering also has qualities. suffering reduces pride. suffering reduces ego. suffering makes you to hesitate to commit cause of suffering if you have any idea what causes suffering and what 0:49:58.9. there are a lot of them. these are hte important qualities of suffering too. so that is the second type of patience.

the third type of patience are seeing the qualities of enlightenment and you know it can’t be odne over the week, over a cojuple of years, and one should have a willingness to be able to continue. in other words don’t get burned out easily. that is a very serious word. the spiritual path sometimes is very simple, easy nice little singing, changing. wonderful things. and you get very high and all that xxx especially churchs sunday service. people keep singing and people get quiet high after 2-3 hours of singing. that is one way and they have paid choirs who constabntly sing, continue, that is just we call spiritual, but the relaly ture spiritual very solid, very deep, not that easy. but when you make it easy, it becomes eashy. you can’t take all the , but unless you take a littl easy, if you take so serious you’ll never be able to go through beause you’ll have ot give up after a little while. have a headache. really give you headache 0:53:12.9

so chugyi 0:53:37.1 Tibetan - some of the bodhisattvas are even willing to die for the sake of dharma. happy to. remembver we talked aryadarva’s story - nagarjuna’s discipline - happy to give his eyeball to someone begging. 0:54:11.9 Tibetan. Bodhisatvas sometimes they are so happy to hear the sound of giving alone. not only giving, but even a word of giving 0:54:34.5 tibetan - even sometimes even the joyt isn’t measurable as the samadhi joy. that is what the bodhisaatvas say. so even buddha in his previous life give his life to rise to sort of keep alive a tiger family. all of these are common stories but they are happy to do it. glady did it. did it for the benefit of all beings of become enlightened. who they serve. so we should be able to help the harder ones. if you expected to have englightenment tomorrow then it is not going to be good enlightenment.0:55:52.7 I think I did share with you over here. there is something calling one week enlightened. some guy sits in the opposite side of the Potala in the big hall and says if you meditate with me for a whole week. at the end of the week you’ll be enlightened, but you are required to give up every belongings. so give it to me. (laughter). so guy takes everything and don’t let the person sleep - don’t let me eat anything - and finally at the end of the 7 days in the hall - so what happened - so that is called 7 days enlightened. 7 day enlightenment not going to be a good and true enlightenment at all. so you have to have a lot of patience. particularly us. we have commitments. when we do practice and sometimes are work is so much. the practice becomes so much. becomes a trial. 1am-2am every day. and sometimes it threatens our health. and so all of those - of course you have too many - make sure it doesn’t become threaten to health. make sure doesn’t become threat to work and well being. and your own success…material success also. also you have to think. this is going to happen. and yet I’ll be willing to go through with this. because the ultimate result is beyong imagination. beyond our comprehension. so fantastic. and the other choice. if we don’t, the other thing is … falling through. looking through that way. until now nothing ever happens. zilliopns of lives we took. it is suffering. we never hear about circling. never even imagined it is possible. we don’t have to think that. not so hard to understand. if you look at th e majority of ht epeople in the city. no one ever know 0:59:11.7 no one knows hyou can end the suffering. no one even thinks about it. ultimately when they get sic, when they die, at that time they’ll worry and do all that. and that time those poeple who have not done any practice. those people dying in the hospital. that dog dying in the street. will have no difference escept one dead body in hospital and one in the street. otherwise to those indiidual beings at the end it will be equal. so seeing that and going little willingness to tkae a little hardship is 3rd type of patience. 1:00:36.0

So to conclude this - Tsong Khapa has said - 1:00:49.4 tibetan - so Tsong khapa said the patience is the best ornament to empower the person. 1:01:18.3 Tibetan - so this is the best patience that can tolerate a little suffering for the result of negative karma and negative emotions. The patience is also like the eagles are the enemy of snake - ust like this patience is the antidote of hatred. 1:02:12.0 Tibetan - Tsong Khapa also says this is the armory which protects yourself from the weapos of the sharp swords that are being used on you. So the buddha himself said, 1:02:49.7 Tibetan - patience give you beauty. I the Buddha achieved this wonderful golden color looking body as a consequence of patience. or the result of patience. this is 80 minor and 32 major - most of them are coming out of patience. in other words - patience becomes beauty afterwards. the direct cause of handsome/beauty is the patience and the direct cause of ugliness is the anger and the hatred. so the Buddha himself said, my look of the golden color is the result of my patience.

so that is it. the choice between the hatred and the patience. and also the antidote of the hatred and anger is patience. as you can see now. though normally we’ll have to talk about compasion and loe and all those. yes it makes easy bridge, but reality is patience. Ok? so I think I am going to stop here. Thank You

next will be enthusiasm next Thurs. 1:05:01.0. (then talks about calendar and logistics). By this merit chanting dedication.

By this merit. May I quickly attain the stat