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SHANTIDEVA’S GUIDE TO THE BODHISATTVA’S WAY OF LIFE CHAPTER 8: MEDITATION PART III

Oral explanations by Kyabje Gehlek Rimpoche

20040803GRAABWL

Talk 1: 8-03-04

Welcome tonight. We are at the beginning of a new segment of the teachings on the meditation chapter of the Bodhisattvacharyavatara.

We are continuing to talk about meditation. Let me remind you once again: The structure of the meditation is being given in the Thurs night talks, the materials to meditate are given on Tues nights in Ann Arbor on the basis of the Bodhisattvacharyavatara, the Bodhisattva's Way of Life. This is the meditation chapter. We have now reached the main point, the meditation on compassion. That also is the ultimate compassion, bodhimind. That is technical language. What is bodhimind? It is ultimate, unconditioned, unlimited, altruistic mind. That is what bodhimind is all about.

The reason why in English we cannot just use words like love and compassion is that it doesn't match even 10 per cent of the love, compassion and caring that is the bodhimind. Sometimes it is even shocking and surprising for us. Lets briefly go back to verses 101-103.

We are talking here about equality and equanimity. Again, this is ultimate equality. We are not just talking about the usual kind of equality. Normally, equality is one of the qualities on the basis of which this country functions. Equality, equal rights, liberty - these are uncompromisable principles on which this country is formed. This is what makes America great. But when we are talking about this particular equality, it is going way beyond. Normal equality says that I have the same rights that you have. I am not only a human being, but I am a citizen of this country. But here the equality is going even beyond that, saying: What you want and what I want is equal. You want happiness and joy and you don't want suffering and misery. I want the same thing. There is no reason why my desire and my demand should be more important than yours. Am I more important if I am more well to do? All these are invalid reasons at this level. We are trying to become more equalized here. My desire and your desire are the same - equal. It really is equal, no matter whoever it is. What you want, what I want, we are all looking for peace, harmony, joy, comfort and so forth. What we don't want is misery, suffering, pain, torture and so forth. It will really be equal, when you go to that bottom line.

But we don't see it. When I look through my filter, what I want is more important, because it is me. You may laugh, and common sense tells us that it is not a good reason, but it is true. If you check in your deep mind, you believe that because it is my choice, therefore it is more important. It is right, because I and my friends agree that it is right. Something is more important because I and my friends realized that it is more important. The reason is "me', nothing more and nothing less. The spiritual equality we are now looking for is more than the usual equality of black and white, male and female and their particular rights. This is going beyond that.

So much so that your desire is more important for me than my own desire. Not only equal, but your desire is more important than my desire. This is the true picture what a government by the people for the people should be. Nowadays it is the other way round. It is government by the party for the party. Whoever comes to power, it doesn't matter. The equality we are looking for is really 'by the people, for the people', even over my own desire.

There are two ways of looking at that, a silly and a good way. The silly way says, "If people think it is okay, I am also okay, because I am a person, I will be all right." The wise way of looking is that if you help people and work for them, you will be helped yourself. In one way we say, 'Don't work for yourself, but work for other people.' But you also hear, 'If you work for people you yourself will be benefited.'

That is why Buddha recommends to the Bodhisattvas to do that. Not to everyone of his followers, but to those who are committed to love-compassion-oriented activities. They recommend you to even look beyond that.

It is true even in everyday life. If you are suspicious of everybody and think, "Everybody is out to get me", then even if they are not out to get you, they will get you. However, if you think, "I am here to help and serve people", even the ghosts will feel happy and cannot harm you.

We have a lot of good, old Tibetan ghost stories about that. I will be happy to share one of them with you. So there is this guy sitting in a cave nearby a village and is meditating on compassion for people. He is seeing their suffering and really feeling sad. When we see someone suffering who we have special feelings for we feel sad, especially if we see a suffering that they don’t even see, or even if they see it, they choose to do whatever they want to do anyway, because the consequences are not hitting them right there immediately. When you see this and feel this you feel really sad and you sometimes notice that you are shedding a few crocodile tears here and there. Just like that: this very practitioner was thinking about the suffering of the people and couldn't help crying all the time, so much so that he even got the nickname "long face".

The ghosts of the villages around this cave in the mountains came together and had one of their meetings. Their chief said, "Did you notice that guy up there, the new one, the dark, long faced one? We better destroy him now, otherwise he may become very powerful and destroy us later." They agreed and one of them volunteered, saying, "I am going to make sure that he is no longer there next time."

So this ghost went up there to kill him. When he came close he found that this guy was sitting at the edge of a huge cliff, meditating. It would have been very easy for this ghost to kick him off that cliff, but he noticed that this meditator was crying. And he noticed that he was crying particularly for the ghosts in that area, because of the difficulties and suffering they had. So he couldn't push him off the cliff. He thought, "Oh my God, he is worrying about us. How can I push him?"

So he tries another time. Again the meditator is crying, this time about some guy in the village down there, who had been feeding the ghosts. He tried another couple of times, but every time it was the same story. Eventually the next meeting comes up and the chief of the ghosts says, "Who volunteered to get rid of this new guy? He is still up there!" So this ghost gets up and says, "I tried, but every time he was worrying about us, so I couldn't push him." "He is worrying about us? What is worrying about?" "He is worrying about our sufferings." So they all decided to go up there and look for themselves. They realized it was true and none of the ghosts ever interrupted his practice at all. As a matter of fact, they became his friends and helped him and served him.

That's what compassion does. Even if there is someone who had some hatred against you, you are worrying about them. Ultimately they will realize that you are worrying more about them than about yourself, so eventually they will become your good friends. That's what compassion does. That's why Buddha recommends to do that for your family, your children, your loved ones and for all the people, for everyone.

So when it comes to equalizing, it means to think about whether my desire or your desire will come first in my mind. That's what we are talking about. Of course, we will do everything in our power to fulfill our own desire first. We will use every power we have, material, political, economical. We will use that without any hesitation to fulfill our desire over the desire of others. But Buddha is saying that this is wrong. It is not only that you and I have equal rights, but your desire comes before my desire. Our mind cannot accept that. It will say, "No, my desire comes first, because it is me."

This was the argument we covered last session. Then we were saying, "Who is me? Where and what is it?" There is no such thing as a solid "me" as you and I think of today. We experience pain and joy, but there is no really solid experiencer. It is only existing collectively. That is what verse 101 is saying

Verse 101

Such things as a continuum and an aggregation

Are false in the same way as a rosary and an army.

There is no (real) owner of suffering,

Therefore who has control over it?

A rosary is nothing but the collection of beads. An army is just a collection of people. We think there is a solid rosary and a solid army. But there is not one solid army. It is just a collection. Likewise, "me" is also a collection. "you" is a collection. When a thing consists of parts and parcels, and when parts are missing, then the thing is gone.

Let me give you a simple example. Here is this table. We look at it and say, "Ha, nice table." And I agree. But then, if you break off one leg, what happens? It is a broken table, no longer a nice table. When the pieces and parts are together, it is there and it is nice. But when pieces are missing, it is not there any more. When our body and mind are functioning together in a synchronized manner, we have a well functioning human being. When it is not synchronized, we will call that a crazy person. For example, if the mind thinks, "I am going east" and the body actually goes west, that is crazy. Then, if the mind is completely gone and only the body is left, it is no longer a person, no longer me or you, but it is my corpse or your corpse. So, me and you and all things are only there because of collective establishment. You look nice, because you have a nice hair style, a good complexion, a nice face, a good body. When that nice body becomes fat you become ugly. That is exactly how things change.

Right now it is "me", "my", "you", "yours", so much black and white, however, it is simply a collection of things and circumstances. It can change any minute. When it changes it is no longer what it was. That leads to the next verse:

Verse 102

Being no (inherent) owner of suffering,

There can be no distinction at all between (that of

myself and others).

Thus I shall dispel it because it hurts:

Why am I so certain (that I shouldn't eliminate the

suffering of others)?

Right now we are saying, "I am happy to get rid of my suffering. But I am not really committed to get rid of your suffering." This is because one is mine and the other is yours. It is in our nature to think, "This is your job and your duty. I have nothing to do with this." The great equanimity over here is arguing with that. It can be very shocking to us.

The next verses deal with this point continuously.

Verse 103

But (since neither the suffering nor the sufferer truly

exist), why should I turn away the misery of all? -

This is no ground for argument,

For if I prevent my own (sufferings), surely I should

prevent the (sufferings) of all.

If not, since I am just like (other) sentient beings,

(I should not prevent my own suffering either).

All sufferings are to be removed, because they are sufferings. It doesn't matter whether they are yours or mine. All pains should be gotten rid off. When we put it that way, it sounds agreeable. Nobody will argue with that. Because it is suffering, nobody wants it. I don't want it, you don't want it, there isn't anybody who wants it, so lets get rid of it. We will all agree. Because it is suffering, we should all get rid of it. There is no valid reason to make a big division between your suffering or my suffering, because it is suffering and we should try to get rid of it all. That is sensible, even in our society today. Since there is no solid thing called you and me separately who is experiencing suffering, there is no reason why I shouldn't not work to get rid of all the suffering. Mine or yours, it doesn't matter. If I get rid of my suffering, I should get rid of yours too, because it is suffering. The fact that it is suffering is good enough reason to get rid of it.

The counter argument to that will try to say, "Your suffering doesn't bother me. So why should I bother to get rid of it?" Do we think that? Maybe not. There is a beautiful quality in the west. Though Buddhism is from India and from the east, the practical compassion is much better in the west. When we see people suffering we don't just sit still. We function. When we see that there is suffering in Africa, or in the Middle East, we just don't sit there and watch. In the west people go out of their way to do something, whatever form it may take. That is wonderful. Sometimes, if you look at traditional Tibetan Buddhism, you see that they do care - tremendously. They will meditate on compassion and sit in the cave. That is great, but it is not going to translate into practical action so much. Sometimes it its too much idealizing, which is a problem. In the west there is the beautiful way through the tradition that shows how you can act kindly, how you can do whatever you can. That is a great thing and we should always admire and follow it. We are in the habit of immediately meditating. Yes, if you become a Buddha you can solve all these things together, but that is a long time off. So in the meantime there are hundreds of people dying and being bullied and so on.

So even if it is about other people's suffering we should do something and act. That is a great way and it is what Buddha has recommended to the Bodhisattvas, not just to be meditatively and mentally active. That’s what we do. We radiate light from our heart and just by the touch of the light, all beings are purified and their sufferings are removed. In that way we are mentally very active. But then to have that materialize is very difficult. It takes time and power, which we don't have. If you have the power, it is great.

In reality, no matter whoever they may be, we should help. There are "those people", as we call them. Right now we don't recognize them. They are strangers for us. However, they are human beings. At one time or another they have been our nearest and dearest. I am talking from the background of reincarnation. Even if we don't know them now, they are human beings and have been our nearest and dearest, one time or another. Our total survival has depended on "those people". Right now we are a little better off, from the spiritual, material and economic angle. We should go out of the way to help others.

Verse 104

But since this compassion will bring me much misery,

Why should I exert myself to develop it? -

Should I contemplate the suffering of living creatures,

How could the misery of compassion be more?

Verse 105

If by one person's suffering

The suffering of many would be destroyed,

Surely kindhearted people would accept it

For the sake of themselves and others?

The question comes: when I meditate on compassion, I am feeling additional suffering. Not only am I thinking about my suffering, but about your suffering and their suffering and 'those peoples' suffering. Why should I bother to add up more suffering? Here I am trying to get rid of suffering.

The answer is: Your reason is not established. How do you know it brings more suffering? You are saying, "my suffering, your suffering, their suffering", it all adds up. You know, I saw this commercial yesterday. They are trying to sell a broom, saying it removes "the dog's hair, cat's hair, your hair, my hair.' That sounds the same. So, the argument is: one shouldn't generate compassion, because it brings more suffering. The reply is: No, you have not introduced or established the reason.

When you are writing a book your editors will tell you, "Do not use this particular term or word, because you have not introduced or established it." Every editor will tell you that. So in order to talk about something you have to introduce the terminology. In a reasoning argument you have to establish for the other person that your reasoning works. For example, I should care for you because you are a human being. That is an established reason. We know what a human being is. We know what value a human being has. Using that reason is okay. If I say, "I work for you because you are flower", then that reason is not really established. Flowers are nice, but they are only around for 2 days. It is a wrong reason. "Because it is a human being", is a right reason, because it makes sense to you, and gives you a good reason. So here we are in an argument with this other person. Actually it is a self-questioning argument. One side says, "You shouldn't develop more compassion, because it brings more suffering". That is easy to think. Many people actually think, "If I practice a spiritual path it brings me more suffering." Sometimes it looks like that is a valid reason. You may say, "Since I started to practice I have had more problems. " To a certain extent it is true. But it is not the practice that created the suffering, rather it was the circumstances of whatever you were doing which brought the suffering.

Likewise, consider again the argument: I should not meditate on compassion because then I have to think more about suffering, my suffering, your suffering, their suffering, everybody's suffering." The response is this:

"That's not true. Compassion does not bring any additional suffering to anybody. On the contrary, it clears the suffering of people. Besides that, a simple little suffering could clear the potential for a huge suffering that would arise in future. Isn't that worthwhile enough for people to use compassion?"

Verse 106

Thus the Bodhisattva Supusha-chandra,

Although aware of the harm the king would cause him,

Accepted his own suffering

In order to eradicate the miseries of many.

Supusha chandra is an Indian name. I have the Tibetan equivalent which sounds much better: me tog da dze. That means: The flower which is more beautiful than the moon. So what did he do? There is a story: Once upon a time it was the era of the Buddha named Jewel Lotus Moon Pure King. In this time there was also a great powerful king. He kicked many spiritual practitioners out of his kingdom. This particular Bodhisattva, I think it was actually a female person, knew that if she went to teach in this kingdom she would be killed. Knowingly she told her disciples, "I am going to teach there. It is going to help some 700 million people." The disciples begged and requested, "No, don't go. If you do so you are going to be killed." She refused to listen and went there to teach. At night she did circumambulations in the old temples of that kingdom and in the day time taught millions of people. The king got so angry that he selected 100 soldiers to kill that Bodhisattva. They didn't need 100, one was enough. The Bodhisattva was killed, and then there was no blood, but milk was flowing from her body. That is the Indian culture to prove one's truthfulness. They have the saying, "If I spoke the truth, then if I get killed there will be no blood, but milk will come." That is the proof for one's honesty. In accordance with that this story says that milk came out when the Bodhisattva was killed. The king was so shocked and surprised that he regretted his action and organized a big funeral, built a big stupa and spiritual practice was allowed in the kingdom thereafter.

This Bodhisattva knew about getting killed, but even then she chose to go and teach because it helped millions. Even in ordinary life we know such examples. We call them heroes and we honor them. It is exactly the same thing with the spiritual path too. Sometimes a small, little suffering can help a tremendous amount of people. Each and every US soldier in Iraq is sacrificing their life in order to save the great life that we have. Yes, it is suffering. It is pain. That is what we do for the country. That's what we do for people. And that is what Buddha recommended. I mean, you don't have to go and join the army, but the example is that a relatively small suffering should be endured if it helps many others.

Then if you think about compassion it is even clearer. Meditating on compassion doesn't even bring additional suffering. Sometimes we make sacrifices if there is a huge benefit. That is all acceptable to us, nothing shocking or surprising.

Next, what is the use of meditating and acting on this?

Verse 107

Thus, because he loves to pacify the pains of others,

He whose mind is attuned in this way

Would enter even the deepest hell

Just as a wild goose plunges into a lotus pond.

If you keep on doing it, your mind will be trained in that way. It will become part of your habit, your way of life. You function that way. If you do so, it will be like birds that are attracted to a beautiful lotus lake. No matter how far they have to fly, all the birds and animals will try to come to the lotus lake. It is just like the beauty and the beast story. What does that mean? When you can develop compassion, caring for the people, they will be with you. They will help you and protect you, because you serve them.

Verse 108

Will not the ocean of joy

That shall exist when all beings are free

Be sufficient for me?

What am I doing wishing for my liberation alone?

Then you can build a tremendous amount of satisfaction, joy and happiness. Not only are you able to help yourself but others as well. Not only that: sometimes you taste some special, wonderful food. Then, after that, if you taste any other food, it doesn't taste so well. Likewise, any other spiritual practice you do does not have that taste and that value. Therefore, you will become a great practitioner, because you know what is right.

Verse 109

Therefore, although working for the benefit of others,

I should not be conceited or (consider myself)

wonderful.

And because of the joy there is in solely doing this,

I should have no hope for any ripening-effects.

This verse says, if I choose my priority over others it is a big obstacle for myself to obtain enlightenment. Total enlightenment is free of narrow, selfish interest.

Then the next verse 110 is going to go into the actual exchange meditation which we are going to talk about next Tuesday.

Question and Answer Session

Audience: If you just observe what is going on, whether it is painful or joyful, in any case your awareness will develop.

Rimpoche: If your goal is to gain awareness only, sure, why not, to ahead. If your goal is only the narrow, selfish interest, fine. But if your goal is compassion and love and service to the people then it is the wrong thing to do. Awareness, sure you need it. But it is not an ultimate goal of a spiritual path. It is simply a method we use. This meditation here is going beyond awareness, beyond concentration. This meditation is to achieve enlightenment, to serve all living beings. This meditation is to bring a compassion in ourselves that is unlimited, unconditional. It is a huge difference. Awareness, yes sure, you have to have it. You have it anyway. It tells you whether there is nice incense smoke or the smell coming out of the bathroom. The smell brings the notice and the awareness. But the smell is a big difference. The taste of jalapeno pepper and honey both bring awareness. But it is a big difference. There are a lot of examples like that.

Audience: Is the point then that the concentration ability which you talk about in New York and the subject of compassion are related in that the concentration allows you to hold the subject of compassion in your mind more deeply?

Rimpoche: Definitely. I am glad you asked that question. Shantideva, in this chapter, almost builds up towards the structure of concentration meditation and then says, "The structure of the concentrated meditation you can learn from somewhere else and what you really should meditate is the compassion, especially the exchange stage of exchanging self and others." That does not mean that you should switch places where you are sitting. It means to switch what my priorities are and what your priorities are. In order to do that, first I have to be able to say that they are the same, like equal rights and opportunities. It is equal everything. If we cannot equalize I cannot switch your and my priorities. I have to deal with my mind to equalize our desires. That's where we are. This is one of the major meditations, not only in Buddhism, but in almost every tradition everywhere. Compassion is such that every religion and tradition has it, without exception. Even some of the religions that are built on the basis of wrath, accept compassion as the major principle. Compassion is seen as the basis of the wrathful activities. Today many followers of religions may not accept that, but that is how they were conceived.

For example, there have been problems between Hindus and Muslims for generations, for centuries. The Hindus eventually formed the Sikh (Kalsar) tradition. It was formed by Hindu gurus for wrathful purposes, in order to protect the Hindu tradition, which was too much love and compassion and love and light and peacefulness to be able to deal with the threat. They felt that they needed protection against the wrathfulness of the Muslim tradition. So they formed the Sikh religion. So wrath was the principle on which it was formed, but even then, the underlying principle for the wrath was compassion and caring, not just anger, temper tantrums and hatred. The essence of wrath is still compassion. So that is the essence of all the major traditions.

I happen to have a little knowledge of why and how the Sikh religion was formed. I do not have any knowledge about the Muslim tradition, so I can't say anything from that side. I can only share what I know.

Audience: As much as it is inspiring to follow the way of the Bodhisattvas, many times we see a lot of suffering in the world. Even if we don't recognize some of our own suffering or that of people closest to us, these days we are bombarded with news of war, suffering, starvation, people getting sick and dying. It is easy to get overwhelmed. Sometimes it is so overwhelming that I can't even allow myself to think about it and sometimes I can't even contemplate my own pain and suffering. It becomes a slippery slope, it seems, because you are trying to develop this consciousness and focus on it in order to overcome it for yourself and others. At the same time the constant bombardment becomes so overwhelming that you can go too far the other way and become numb to it. How do you get through that, gradually, so that you don't become so completely overwhelmed?

Rimpoche: It is interesting. "Completely overwhelmed" is not in my vocabulary, but it seems to be in everybody else's. Yes, you are right, it is very hard to look at what everybody is going through, but on the other hand it depends on how numb one becomes. Out of that numbness you have to build understanding. You will build the understanding. You know why? What is the alternative? There is none, except submission. But every intelligent, educated person will not submit to suffering. The only alternative left is to overcome it. Even if that numbs you, out of the numbness one will be able to build up and one will come out of that - just like the Phoenix story. One will come out of it. Otherwise, the future belongs to fear. That is not right. Therefore, one will come out - even out of the numbness. That is the phoenix. I am not even joking. I really think that - honestly.

8/6/2004