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20040712GRSR2

Joyful Summer Retreat 2004

Kyabje Gehlek Rimpoche

July 12 morning teaching

First I would like to remind you for the benefit of all beings one would like to listen to and absorb these teachings, and to practice them until [attaining] the level of no more learning. You do this not just for your sake, but for the benefit of all beings.

I will give the traditional teachings today. The teaching we are listening to is the essence of all Buddha’s teaching which has been clarified and made easier to practice by the forerunners, all the great early Indian Maha Pandits and scholars. Primarily, these are Nagarjuna and Asanga, and the great Atisha and Tsong Kha Pa. [Their] essence practice is normally known as the path to liberation.

Basically you have to think of four outlines. The authenticity of the teachings [is shown by] the quality of the teachers. [Whether or not the teaching is worthy of] respect [is shown] to you [by] the quality of the teaching itself. Next, how does one teach and how does one listen to teachings of this quality? The actual teachings lead the individual to the stages, to the way.

In order to fulfill the first outline, normally we talk about the Buddha, then Atisha and then Tsong Kha Pa. We have no doubt who the Buddha is and what is so great about the Buddha. We don’t have to talk about what the Buddha looks like, or his spiritual development. There are 80 manners and 32 major signs, which are all there. The point I’d like to raise, however, is how does one individual become convinced that the Buddha is great? The basis on which you convince yourself of that is not because it’s Buddha, not because it was 2700 years ago. The reason why Buddha is faultless is because the teaching is faultless. The teachings are the evidence of his quality.

Normally you judge a person by her/his qualities, character and the presentations that are coming out, not by prepared speeches. Prepared speeches are prepared speeches. That is [for instance, saying, “this is right”]. That doesn’t count. You know whether the person is good, bad, right or wrong by what is actually coming out of the person. Traditionally, in India and Tibet, a Buddhist teacher was judged by the quality of the teachings. It doesn’t work, however, if the teaching is good and the person is crazy, because the teacher becomes the role model for the individual. Both have to be correct.

We know that Buddha’s message, based on his experience, makes sense and is helpful. We know that many people have been liberated [following Buddha’s message]. The reason we know Buddha is great is not because he is Buddha, not that he looked different, not that he was a prince, not that he is famous, nor is it because he’s been followed by kings and queens. Dharmakirti states in the second chapter of his text on logic that Buddha is reliable. He doesn’t let you down. Buddha is compassionate. He is teacher, protector, he is well-traveled [went through many life experiences]. There are seven or eight different reasons, one logically establishing the other.

These reasons are not commonly talked about; they are hidden in the dialectical and philosophical texts. If the Buddha just made claims to be Buddha, then we must also say that Bhagwan Rashneesh is great, because he claims to be Buddha. There are many who claim to be Buddha. I’m not saying they are not, but it’s not their claim that makes it so. The reason Buddha is great is because what he shared was great.

If you really want to know Buddha’s qualities, then you should read the eighth chapter of (Avisamayaalankara?), or Transcendental Wisdom. If we go into this eighth chapter, it’s going to take two or three months to talk to you. That’s the reason why people don’t talk about Buddha’s qualities. [They just] escape, because nobody’s going to touch Chapter eight.

Since we said [Buddhahood] is our goal, the historical Buddha is the example. The reality we are talking about is our own future Buddha. That is our concern, that is our goal. [We’re] not there. [There’s] not even a baby Buddha yet. We simply have Buddha nature within us. You should understand that there’s something within our own mindstream that could take over and develop and become perfection, or [enable us to reach the] no more learning level. That is our Buddha nature. That is important. If we don’t have that, we have no hope whatsoever.

One thing is in normal circumstances, as human beings, we cannot show whether we can be perfect. We try to be good, we all do that. No one shows whether we can be perfect or not because we are not convinced that we have Buddha nature within us. If we are convinced we have Buddha nature, we are convinced we have the darker side of each individual and the nice part of each individual. We all know. We all accept it. It is vividly clear to ourself and others.

That’s why we all accept it without question. But we fail to accept that the good side of ourself [is] very deep in there. People are teaching and talking [about how] everybody is wonderful, everybody is beautiful and great and all of those, we hear it all the time. They don’t explain that what they are really talking about is the Buddha nature within us. Because [we are] Buddhists we call it Buddha nature. You can call it whatever you want. It is so deep in there, the potential is really deep in there and it can overcome all faults and all problems, and [we] can be perfect. That we all are. We all have that.

Are we [there] yet ? No we are not. We [have] a temper, we [become] overtaken by hatred and obsession, we know. But there’s a potential. We have that not only as a potential, not only as a capacity. But [we have] real possibility within us. That is what we are counting on. That’s what we are building on. That’s [our] real basis for our spiritual path because that potential seed is there. No matter how bad [an] individual person might be, [he/she does] have that seed.

You remember, a few years ago in Jerusalem, somebody asked His Holiness, the Dalai Lama a provoking question. ‘Do you think Hitler has good nature?’ He said, ‘Of course. No doubt about it.’ And this was in Jerusalem. So that tells us that no matter how horrible they, Hitler, Saddam Hussein and all of them might have been, they do have good nature. They didn’t build on it [or] do anything [with it].

Human beings have two sides. Some dark sides can go so deep, as Hitler demonstrated. At the same time, the great beings have demonstrated the good side – like the Buddha, Mother Teresa and Gandhi – all of them. [The person] doesn’t have to be Buddhist. So that shows that we have the same thing within ourselves. And there’s a fight [between them] – who is going to take over – is always with us. We support the dark side, because we are addicted.

What does the Lam Rim do? It is supposed to strengthen you to support the white side, the good side; not the dark side, the light side. That is what we call practice. That’s why we put that as ‘go.’ [We’ve reached] perfection [once] we’ve cleared the dark side completely. [It’s the] dark side that brings all the faults and negativities. And [its nature] is ignorance. The light side is total knowledge and good qualities, Buddha’s qualities. That is the balance in between. So when we say ‘Buddhahood is the goal. Buddhahood is the object,’ that’s what we are talking about.

There are very interesting seats upstairs in the balcony. Yayo (?), you want to go upstairs? You should go. You’ll be much more comfortable. Did you bring your own chair? Doesn’t matter, whatever. Or, if you want to get away, you can sit on this side too.

That’s why the Buddhahood is the goal. It is not a meaningless goal, because there is a possibility. We have the seed and we have the capability. That’s why we can link up, we can build up. It’s not meaningless, like a fairytale story – ‘Once upon [a time] there [was] a person called Buddha who knows everything . You try to be that one. It is not [like that] because there is a very close link. We all have that possibility, that seed, that potential within us. So we have all of them there.

That is enough about Buddha. Then I’m not going to spend time [on] Atisha, because the Lam Rim Chen Mo is available in English by the New Jersey Geshe Ongye’s(?) Tibetan Buddhist Learning Center. They have published that since last year. Also in The Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand [there is] a brief [history] of Atisha so I’m not going to take time on that. Atisha has become important out of that. The reason we pick up Atisha is because Atisha is the transition from India and Tibet. The transition was made between the two cultures, two languages and all of those. Also we talk about Atisha’s biographies because of the beginning of the Kadam tradition.

Then comes Tsong Khapa. [We talk about] Tsong Khapa not only because he was the founder of the Gelupa tradition. Tsong Khapa did not really found the Gelupa tradition. During Tsong Khapa’s period, they’re not called Gelupas. What he does is, he sort of revolutionized everything. Let me tell you one thing. We, in the west, we may just think, ‘It is written in the book, so that must be true.’ That’s what we very often think, say and do about it. But it’s not necessarily that true. What happens is, there’s one thing in the Buddha’s teaching. Buddha’s teaching is quite interesting. Buddha talks to each and every individual. Buddha’s teaching, whatever we call the Collected Works of the Buddha, or the Buddhist Canon. It’s not that Buddha sat down and started writing, composing; he didn’t do that. Most of Buddha’s teachings [result from individuals asking] a question, and Buddha [giving] answers. They are all collected [together].

So the Buddha has a habit, or is kind – when he talks to the people, he makes sure they can take it. I’ll give you one example. There was a young king. The father of that king was a great disciple of the Buddha, and totally devoted. He kept holding on to his throne, and didn’t let the kids take over. One kid couldn’t wait any longer, so somehow organized a group of ministers and soldiers. What he did, is he started a coup d’etat within the kingdom, and he arrested his father. His father happened to be an arhat. He didn’t say he was an arhat, and he didn’t show it. So [the son] locked him up. A lot of ministers really liked the father but didn’t like the son very much because the son was a little crazy. Yet the son had become king, so they had to listen, because these are old times, you know? If the ministers did not listen to the king, [they] have nothing else but to lose their head. Nowadays, we hear all the time, they cut the heads off. That’s what they used to do [during] the barbarian period.

No one was really able to say anything. One day, the present king, whose little son had some kind of hereditary disease. This king had had the same disease. His father had to suck his blood, the diseased blood. When the present king’s son got sick, his mother said, ‘you have to suck the blood.’ He asked why. ‘Because when you were sick, your father did that.’ ‘Did my father really do that to me?’ [His mother replied,] ‘Yeah.’ He began to think, ‘Oh my God, I really made a big mistake here. I don’t want to give him my throne, but at least I’ll let him out of prison, if he promises not to overthrow me.’ So his mother guaranteed that he would not overthrow him, and said, ‘You don’t know him. He’s a great man. He doesn’t even want the throne. He thought that you would not do well, and people would suffer. That’s why he was holding on.’

He and his mother [made] an agreement. He said, ‘Let him be out of prison.’ So when all the ministers were told, they started running. ‘I’ll go. No, I’ll go.’ Everybody’s running, but they were all happy. So when everybody was running upstairs in the palace, (ding, ding, ding), the king, farther down there thought, ‘Well, they are coming to kill me.’ So, he has been an arhat, and he died. When they got there and opened the door, he was dead. So they told the [young king] and he was so upset. He was very sad for days and months, and he went into a deep depression. Finally he decided to go and ask Buddha, ‘What’s it all about? What can I do?’ He wanted to do [purification]. When he went to the Buddha, the Buddha said, ‘The father and mother should be killed and the king should destroy the subjects and retinues completely. If you do so, you’ll be liberated. So he was very shocked. ‘What? What are you talking about?’

‘Father and mother should be killed.’[The Buddha] said it so his depression would not grow worse, and then Buddha would gradually be able to communicate with him. That’s why Buddha did it. But if you take literally, ‘The father and mother should be killed -- the king should kill the retinue and the countrypeople,’ where would that lead?

Buddha’s teachings are divided into two categories: the category that is interpretable and the category that you have to take literally. That is how the scholars played, at least (?) Nagarjuna, Asanga and all these are forerunners, and famous and all great because they had the key; they knew what was interpretable and what was direct, noninterpretable. That is one of the most important keys in Buddhist studies. [One] needs to pay attention because in the west, if it’s in a book, it means, ‘that’s it.’ That’s what we do; it’s true because it’s in a printed book. That is our [reasoning]. It is invalid [reasoning]. It is even from Buddha. He said, ‘Don’t take it because it’s in my words. Check it with your intelligence.’ The metaphor of buying gold is given [to illustrate that].

Tsong Khapa’s specialty is like Nagarjuna and Asanga’s; they were able to clarify whether a teaching was interpretable or direct. Professor Thurman translated one of the greatest books, Speech of Gold:[Reason and Enlightenment in the Tibetan Buddhism]. I do remember when he was beginning to translate, Kyabje Ling was so upset. I hope Thurman doesn’t mind if I share that story. When he was translating in Delhi, Thurman went and talked to Kyabje Ling Rimpoche and said, ‘I’m translating [this book]. Kyabje Ling Rimpoche was horrified. Literally, his face changed completely. He said, ‘You are going to translate that?’ Then he said, ‘The first word, ‘Namo Guru Manjoshkaya,’ okay, let’s say you know that. That’s Sanskrit. Then the next word, den jung; Kyabje Ling Rimpoche said, ‘What does den mean to you? What does jung mean to you? And what does den jung together mean to you?’ Somehow Thurman knew. It doesn’t mean at all what it directly [literally] means. Den is ‘joy’ and jung is ‘source.’ It doesn’t mean ‘source of joy.’ It means Indra. Indra is one of these Hindu gods.

So Thurman knew. And Kyabje Ling Rimpoche was a little relaxed. I immediately saw it. Then [Rimpoche] went two pages down and asked two questions. The explanation was a little bit difficult, but that was at the beginning when he was making the attempt to translate. Still, Kyabje Ling Rimpoche was not so happy to hear that one translating that. Anyway, it has done a lot of good service for us to be able to see and read [it]. So that total book actually tells you how one does [tells] with each sutra, what is interpretable, what is not interpretable. It’s also interpretable in the four schools, and which system [do you] use for what, and how.

So that is very complicated. That’s why Kyabje Ling Rimpoche was horrified, because the words, what they say, is never [what is] meant. Also each word, each syllabus (syllable?) can be translated in four different ways, on some levels eight different ways. Then you have to make a judgment [about] which system you are following, and [you have] to be consistent.

So that is the Tsong Khapa. And not because it is Gelupa. Tsong Khapa never called it the Gelupa system. The Gelupa system followed after Tsong Khapa. Those following Tsong Khapa began to call it ‘the system of the virtuous.’ What Tsong Khapa did was he gave those teachings, he had those people, and he expected each person after receiving the teaching to practice and develop him/herself and go home. Don’t hang around. Wherever you are, go home and start teaching by yourself whatever you can. That was Tsong Khapa’s policy. We don’t call it his policy, but that’s how he handled [things]. That’s the reason why the Gelupa population became so huge within the Tibetan culture, because of the way Tsong Khapa handled [things]. All other traditions [evolved in different ways; for instance,] the Karmapa became the Karmapa head and then everybody sort of surrounded [him] and hung around. The Dregumpas(?) became the same thing. But Nyingma and Gelupa have the different system.

Tsong Khapa had everybody go home and do whatever you can; practice or teach or build monasteries or retreats or whatever you want to [do] it’s yours. Finally after Tsong Khapa, they all linked up and all that. That’s how Tsong Khapa functioned. That’s not Tsong Khapa’s biography. Tsong Khapa’s biography is available, translated by Thurman, again, published earlier by the Dharamsala Library. So you have the Life and Teachings of Tsong Khapa. So read those, and you will know.

Thereafter, from Tsong Khapa through Kyabje Ling Rimpoche, there was a great master, one after another. Kyabje Ling Rimpoche used to say to me, personally, ‘You are a very unlucky person.’ So I said, ‘Okay.’ So he said, ‘You know why?’ I said, ‘No.’ He said, ‘Because you did not meet or have the opportunity to learn from great Pabongka. You’re very unlucky. He was such a great master.’ He always says that. They are all like sun and moon. They are really great up to this level. Then that’s it. That’s the tradition [the Gelupas] come from. That should cover the stories of the teachers.

Now, in order to gain respect [for] the teaching, I have to talk to you briefly [on] What does this sort of organized Lam Rim do to you? What qualities does this one have that the others don’t have?

If you want to go upstairs, Marilyn and Ed, there are chairs available. You can be comfortable up there. There are tables, chairs and everything available up there. I tried to convince Yayo(?) but she won’t go and she’s moving. You know, we used to call Jonathan Danziger(?) ‘Shpilkiz(?) and he’s no longer ‘Shpilkiz.’ Yayo is becoming ‘Shpilkiz’ now.

How can this [Lam Rim] help you rather than any of those famous, great, well-known, fancy – say like – Kalachakra? Take example. Kalachakra and Lam Rim. There are a lot of things. And number one. Kalachakra will give you its initiation and tell you the Kalachakra system and lead you there, presuming the prerequisite things are properly done. [For] the prerequisite things you have to look back here. There is no other prerequisite for that. Number one. Number two, Kalachakra will not make you understand [that] the Buddha’s teachings are better. What does this [Lam Rim] do? [It enables you to see that] everything is non-contradictory.

Like Buddha – very strange – when Buddha was talking in Kalachakra, he says the world is round, just like what we talk about, ‘global’. In Kalachakra text it’s totally global. If you are looking in the metaphysical texts, it is totally flat. So, it is said by one Buddha at almost the same time. Same time. About a year’s difference. So on one level you are saying the world is global, and on the other level, you are saying the world is flat. So Nagarjuna comes and says, ‘Actually the world is global, but if Buddha tells everybody the world is global, everybody will think he’s crazy – just a crazy guy.’ So that’s the reason why he didn’t say it. So this is again interpretable and not interpretable. A lot of those examples are there.

What’s happening is [they] are not contradicting each other. [They] look different. One says flat, one says global. It is non-contradictory, however, because [the teaching is presented] on the level on which we can understand. Though we may be sitting something like this, but if you are telling you are walking that way, horizontally, [therefore the world is flat], everybody will think you are crazy, right? [because] we know it’s global. (???) That’s exactly how it is interpretable.

So I don’t want to spend a lot of time. What the Lam Rim does is every single – just a single word alone comes out of the Buddha’s mouth are meant to be for one individual to become fully enlightened. And they don’t contradict. It becomes a level in which we give. And they give you example that doesn’t make sense in the West. We have to translate that example differently. The metaphor they give you is the Tibetan medical system. In the Tibetan medical system, what the doctors do, sometimes they say at the beginning especially, if you have a high fever or something, they will tell you not to eat meat. ‘Don’t eat meat.’ They will stop meat completely and give you a certain medicine. When the fever goes down completely, then they will force you to eat meat.

I do know a good doctor who sits next door in Drepung in my place. You know, he’s such a kind person and he gives medicine free out of his own pocket. And some poor patients, he goes and buys a piece of meat, and he carries it around, and gives it to the patients saying, ‘You have to eat this.’ And he will sit and cook and watch and make sure that he eats. Even if you are vegetarian, he will force you to eat that. He does that. The doctors did that [traditionally]. Nowadays they don’t do it. All pills are the round pills and made in Dharamsala, and available, hundreds of them. The old-time Tibetan doctors make medicines for each and every individual person, each patient, and they change week after week, month after month, they keep on changing the medicine. And they will also change your food level. So that’s what they do. And that’s one example they give you. One doctor will tell one patient, ‘Don’ t eat meat’ and ‘eat meat. Must eat meat.’ It’s not contradicting. It is the time [when] you need it.

So that’s exactly it. Otherwise if you’re looking at the Vajrayana and look in the Sutrayana there’s a big gap. So, in Sutrayana, they tell the monks, ‘Don’t look at the woman, they’re dangerous.’ And they tell the nuns, ‘Don’t look at the boys, they’re horrible.’ But in Vajrayana they say, ‘Well, combine them together.’ So that’s what we say. So it is again one Buddha telling one individual person at different times. And it looks contradicting, but it’s not.

So what does Lam Rim do? [It gives you that] capability of doing a judgment of that. So that is the first quality. And the second quality. And the third quality here says ‘thus you will be able to understand how Buddha gained developed himself, and that you can use as the role model for your own use. By doing so, the fourth quality, you’ll be automatically protected from the negativities and downfalls. Did you hear me? So these are the qualities of this teaching. So in order to make these qualities applicable to you, the individual, to me, the individual, I have to first learn it. Second, think about it. And third, meditate. These are the three steps.

Each and every point including jokes. Learn. Think. Meditate. If you don’t think, if you just meditate, you can be misled. This is called ‘blind faith.’ You learn, you analyze, you think, you accept, you reject; use your intelligence mind, because you are not stupid. If you are stupid, then the cow teachings [are used]. Cow teachings, just follow. And there are a lot of cow teachings in the Tibetan tradition too. At the end the good teachers will come to conclude cow teachings – they’ll have ‘prayer, prayer, prayer, keep on praying.’ You know, that comes to the bottom line of cow teachings. ‘Keep on praying, that will do.’ ‘I’ll pray, you pray, we all pray.’ You know, that’s what they said. That is actually the bottom line of the cow teachings. Whatever you try to explain, there’s no point, and we’re not going to get anywhere, so it’s a waste of time. Just simply say, ‘I’ll pray, you’ll pray, we all pray.’ And great. It’s not wasting time. It’s a little better than doing nothing, and it may answer somewhere and somewhere, you know, that’s what it is.

So the true way, the good way of doing , to get these good qualities to us is, to first learn. The second, think. Thinking is analyzing. And getting (???). Analyze. Use your mind. Finally, when you draw a conclusion, then meditate on that. So these are the three steps you apply everywhere. [If you] just learn, do not meditate on it. Analyze, think and use your brain; normally what we call it, use your brain. That’s what it is.

So, that should cover. So then the question comes, how can this sort of teaching bring all this quality you talk about. It’s simple. No matter how much you read Buddha’s teachings; there are 120-some volumes which are translated into Tibetan. Those translated into Chinese are even more. Quite a lot of the original Sanskrit texts are lost. They are not even there. What happened is that [during] the Muslim war in India – it is in almost every culture, you know, they have a habit of attacking the libraries, of destroying, of burning the libraries. So a lot of those original teachings were destroyed during the Mogul period.

So, anyway, whatever is left over, you will not find a single word that is not dealing with these three scopes we have been talking about: common with the lower scope, common with the middle level scope, and the Mahayana scope. These are the three scopes. Why do we call it common? It is because every teaching that comes from Tibetan translation and Tibetan tradition is Mahayana geared towards…you know, why is it Mahayana? Simple, I tell you. Simple because the goal you are introducing is Buddhahood. Total knowledge. The method through which you are going to reach that, which you are introducing is compassion and wisdom. That’s why it’s Mahayana.

The Hinayana level – the goal is not total knowledge, goal is arhat level. Simply I want to be free from suffering and the causes of suffering. That’s the goal. And the methods – they don’t use compassion. They use wisdom only so that you can cut the root of samsara and be free. That’s why it is Mahayana. That is the difference. And the base part also, and the result. In the Mahayana you use the two truths: the relative and absolute truth are the base. And the path is compassion and wisdom. Love, compassion and wisdom. And the result is the Dharmakaya and the Rupakaya; the mind and physical aspects of the total knowledge.

So that’s why everything is Mahayana oriented. That’s why you call it common with the middle scope. The small scope simply hopes to get a good one now and good future life, that’s it. The middle scope wants total freedom. The Mahayana wants total knowledge. No more learning. Lower levels are called no more learning, but still it is total knowledge that counts. So since it is Mahayana path, but it’s majorly taught at that level, so that’s why it’s called: scope one, common with the lower level; scope two, common with the medium and Mahayana. So there is not a single word that Buddha shared with anybody that does not belong to any one of those. Everything’s in there. Therefore, it is one individual how one can put them together, knit them together and make it for your own use and good. That’s why this one does. That’s why it can.

Why? Because when Buddha first generated bodhi mind, and he did for the benefit of all beings, not because he wanted to walk away, Buddha contemplated for a tremendous period. In between that he did for the benefit of beings. (???) Finally he became a Buddha for the benefit of beings only. Not for his sake, but for everybody’s sake. So if he dedicated all his efforts for benefiting all beings, what benefit are we talking about? What kind of benefit are we talking about? We’re not doing a benefit to raise money. That’s what we normally do. We raise money for Bush or raise money for Kerry. We don’t do that. That’s not the benefit we’re talking about. Or raise money for Jewel Heart – we’re not talking about that at all.

The benefit we are talking about what people want – two things: temporary comfort and permanent joy. Temporary comfort is good, comfortable life here and good, comfortable life next one. Ultimate goal is total happiness, total joy, no misery, no problem, a picnic. Picnic without problems. First one is really coming out of two scopes: common with the lower and the medium. The last one is the Mahayana path. Even in the Mahayana path you have the causal non-Vajrayana and the result Vajrayana. Both are the path of the Mahayana. So that’s why. And also, Mahayana and no Mahayana depends on the bodhi mind. You’ll know what it is later.

In order to develop that bodhi mind, you need the root of bodhi mind, compassion – Greater Compassion. In order to develop the Greater Compassion feeling toward other people, you have to develop compassion toward yourself. That is how the whole thing works. First things first. Help yourself. You have to have compassion for yourself. If you don’t have compassion, and pretend you’re having Great Compassion for all; ‘Doesn’t matter for me, blah blah blah, and I care for that, I don’t really care about myself, blah blah, but, but but but..’ You know? Better be straightforward. First things first. Look after yourself. Take care of yourself. That’s what the teachings tell you. That’s why [we say] common with the lower level, common with the medium level. Without these you cannot [do]. You say, ‘I’m going to help everybody else.’ Then they will ask, ‘How?’ You’ll say, ‘I don’t know. How can I help you?’ It won’t do any good, because you don’t know how to help yourself. If you know how to help yourself, then you do exactly the same thing to help others. That becomes experiential. That’s the reason why we say whatever the Buddha is telling us is based on his personal experience. It’s because he helped himself. That’s what we have to do.

Buddha was asked by somebody, ‘How can I help?’ Buddha’s reply is very interesting. He says, ‘If you don’t have the capacity to drink the small stream of a river, how can you drink the total, whole ocean?’ That’s his reply. On that basis, Shantideva said, ‘Such people, to help yourself, if you don’t even dream of helping yourself, how can you expect to help others?’ It’s not possible. Shantideva wrote this verse on the basis of Buddha’s [teaching], ‘If you don’t know how to drink a little stream of water, how can you expect to drink the ocean?’ That’s what that meant. In other words, ‘If you can’t help yourself, a little one like a little tiny stream of river, how can you help everybody else, like drinking the ocean? How can you drink?’ That’s what Buddha meant.

Why do we talk about the three scopes? Why are you leading me [through] these three scopes to this Mahayana, which is the ultimate goal? It is because there are certain paths within that, without which you cannot do. That’s why we call it ‘common.’ For example, this is Buddhist, so it’s taking refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, or looking into the nature of reality through the Four Noble Truths, or through the interdependent system. These are common with the Hinayana, with the Mahayana, but Mahayana cannot hold(?) without. Refuge is the door for the Buddhist. If you don’t want to be Buddhist, and you want to be a good practitioner, you can skip the refuge. You can take refuge in a perfect enlightened one. It doesn’t have to be Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. That’s what Buddhists recommend. There are a zillion different reasons, but if you don’t want to, you don’t have to. But you need a protector. You need a helper. I don’t mean Dharma Protector. When you use the word, ‘protector,’ you can get misunderstanding.

Also, it gives you a choice. Some people may just want [to go] up to this common with the lower level; just up to that level, and then stop there, no more. You can do that. Some people may want to go one step beyond that, common with the medium level, and stop there, and no more; you can do that. And some may want to go only to the ‘Sutra only’ part of the Mahayana that doesn’t even touch Tantra. You can do that.That’s all – totally – your choice. Buddha made it possible for us. And we are fortunate to have all this choice. Really fortunate; because a lot of people do not get that choice at all. We can even see it today. Look at the right. Look at the left. Look up, look down; [they have] very little choice.

Manjushri gives advice on this. He says, ‘Because of that reason, forget about fancy stuff for the time being, like Vajrayana and all these profound ones. First, try to develop these three most important things: renunciation, bodhi mind; actually, try to develop these two as much as you can. That was Manjushri’s advice to Tsong Khapa, the first time. Forget about everything else. Just try these two first: renunciation and bodhi mind. If your mind goes in that stream, every positive virtue you [gain] will become helpful to you. The virtues have no control. They will totally go to the cause of bringing total enlightenment.

In other words, every good thing we do does not become a cause of total enlightenment. It becomes something else, something else, something else. Particularly for us, whatever good thing we try to do, it’s very hard to be on the point. It becomes very, very hard [to make it] become a cause for total enlightenment. No matter whatever you try to do, you don’t [succeed]. It doesn’t go, simply because of our habit of not really being convinced on the first important point, the point of renouncing; and secondly, the point of compassion. We are [only] superficially in. The moment you become really [convinced], then your virtues become very strong and positive.

It is like a force within the virtue. Otherwise, you work very hard, sacrifice tremendously, but you really get nowhere. It’s like working hard, not working smart. For virtues to become a way of working smart, [you need to be influenced by] these two points. You know, it’s so funny. Sometimes it’s very unfair. They compare the virtue of the Bodhisattvas just throwing a little leftover food to a hungry dog, with the virtue of someone totally dedicated, working 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for 12 to 24 years. They say the virtue of the Bodhisattvas just throwing leftovers to a dog is far greater than the virtue of this one who’s working day and night, for 24 years. That is because you don’t know how to work smart.

And the key of working smart is this. This is the key. That’s what the Lam Rim does – it tells you those things. So, Manjushri said, ‘Have patience. Spend a lot of time on this. No matter how long it takes, let it take that long. It is worth it.’ That’s Manjushri’s advice.

So let’s move to the last outline on how to lead one individual to the great path. Now, here, perhaps you people may not like it, particularly if you have not heard it before. What I did in the United States, when I first started talking here, we avoided talking about the guru devotional practice completely, for a long time. Because, because, you know, a lot of because, because of whatever happened in the sixties, because of what people may misunderstand, because maybe the guru’s demanding something. To avoid all those misunderstandings, I did not talk for years. Then slowly, gradually, I began to talk about it because it is the root of all development.

The outline itself says,

The root of all development [is] having a guru devotional practice. After perfecting that, how does one train oneself?

That is how it comes out. You know what happened? Perhaps in the sixties, people didn’t explain much – perhaps, particularly from the Hindu traditions. They say the gurus are important. But they are presented as super-natural, super-human beings, unquestionable. You cannot ask questions. You cannot do this or that. [The guru] is made into some kind of super, superior thing. And later, you find a lot of problems, because they are all human beings. So then you felt cheated, and lied to and let down, and all kinds of problems [arose] because you know what happened in the sixties. Perhaps they did not explain properly. And I was also told; many of my close friends told me in the sixties, a number of those sannyasins came around and they took a bath, and they demand that the people drink their bathwater. Did you have the experience too?

Without explaining anything, when you have such things [being] done, you’re bound to, bound to, bound to create trouble. If you don’t explain this, [the fact that guru devotion] is the root of all development, there’s a huge dilemma. So, I’m going to make one statement here. When you’re talking about the root of all development, guru devotional practice, the guru I’m talking about your guru in future; the guru you are going to be, your future Buddha, Dharma, Vajra. In the Lama Chopa you have Lama Lobsang Tubwang Dorje Chang. Lama Lobsang Tubwang Dorje Chang, so the Lama Buddha, Buddha Vajradhara, that is your ultimate guru. That is the guru you become of it. That is your ‘no more learning’ stage; it is that [ultimate guru] stage. That is the reason why guru devotion becomes important, and becomes the root.

The other gurus that come in, yapping in your ear, and irritating you all the time are all representing that one. That one. Since it is vajrayana-oriented, you are functioning at the result level, rather than at the causal level, this one is representing what you ultimately become, so you see in the qualities of that what you are in future going to be. That is an important point. After making that statement, every time I tell you ‘guru business,’ you think about that. And then I’m going to go according to the traditional system. Otherwise, I always try avoid it, and that never works well. So I’m going to go exactly as though I were talking to a bunch of Tibetan geshes in the 1940’s or the early to mid-50’s. Exactly. But you have to think that way.

In order to understand, learn, think and meditate on the root of all development, basically you have to have two things. What do you do during the session, and what do you do after the session? I’m not talking about the retreat; I’m talking about your meditation sessions being as though you were in retreat; and your in-between sessions, divided into two. In sessions, what do you do? You have preliminary activities, actual activity and the conclusion; three. There are six preliminaries.

I thought I can skip those, because I thought there was a workshop on it. When Kathleen was setting up those workshops, we had been talking and I don’t know what I was thinking – I think you keep talking about the water offering and the mandala offering and all of this. I said, six preliminaries have six workshops, I thought that’s great. That was in my mind. So every other word she was talking to me, I was hearing that. So, apparently it was not [what she was saying], so that’s my fault.

Basically, of the six preliminaries, the first is cleansing; cleansing the place. Sweeping is great work. In India, sweeping was considered the worst, because the worst caste is the sweeper, and the butcher. No, not butcher, slaughterers and smithies are considered the worst caste. Buddhists, however would like to say, ‘Sweeper is the best,’ because not only are you making everybody happy and comfortable, and feel good to live, but you are also sweeping the ignorance and dirt. Remember, I shared the story of the Arhat’s small path. I am simply going to leave that level.

What I wanted you to think about is, wherever you are meditating, practicing, saying your prayers, don’t make it a messy place. Don’t make it a place where you have to swim through old dirty socks and underwear. That is called messy. So you have to clean. And mind you, you are going to invite the most important guests, the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas for an offering feast in your own bedroom, so don’t you think they deserve to have the place cleaned up a little bit? So you have to think that way.

Not only that, when you are cleaning, you are not cleaning the dirt and the dust. You are cleaning your negativities. You are cleaning your negative emotions. You are sweeping your obsessions. You are mopping your hatred. You are dusting your ignorance. You are cleaning your jealousy and your doubts. That’s what you have to think and what you have to do. The traditional teachings will tell you. The Dalai Lama is the most important person in Tibet; you know, in old times, from 1642 onward to 1959. The Dalai Lamas, from fifth to thirteenth, there are nine. Each one of those Dalai Lamas had a broom to clean their rooms. The brooms are covered with a bouquet, but they’re brooms. The good old Tibetan government used to keep those brooms for exhibition, to show the people this Dalai Lama’s broom, that Dalai Lama’s broom. It’s not that they don’t have attendants. The whole country is attendant, if the Dalai Lamas want. It’s a whole different system completely. The whole country is attendant, but they do the sweeping with brooms by themselves.

That was given as a vivid example of the teaching. [It shows that] even the most important person, this temporal and spiritual head, the Dalai Lama has to sweep his own meditation room. There are sweepers, but still he does sweep for his own development, for his own purification; so, why not us. That was the old way of talking. We can say, ‘I don’t want to sweep. Nobody pays me, so why should I sweep?’ That is our attitude today.

If you read Indian texts, the texts that come from traditional Indian culture, it says, ‘Sweep the floor and put the cow dung down.’ That’s what it is; they put the cow dung down. Cow dung is considered a cleansing thing in the Indian culture. So, we don’t need to talk about it. I just mention it, because if you read it, that’s what’s going to come out. Better wear your shoes.

Lay out the altar. The altar must be higher than where you are sitting. It must be higher. Even when you are meditating, from the level where your third eye is, you must be looking up. It’s always higher. Never lower. Lower will be disrespectful. Your altar should never be at the foot of where you are sleeping, where you are showing your feet. Preferably, it should be where your head is. If not, right or left will be fine, but never at the feet. Instead of developing luck, it develops misfortune if your altar is at your feet. It also must not be lower than where your sleeping bed or your sitting cushion is. From the Odyssey point of view, it may not even work well, but that’s how it is.

On the order of the altar the systems are very clear. The guru is first, then Buddha. Shakyamuni Buddha is considered a part of guru. The most important guru is Guru Buddha Shakyamuni. In general, all Buddhas are below. Guru, yidams, because of Vajrayana; yidams are the Buddhas of Vajrayana. Lama yidam. Then Sang gye, then Buddha, then Bodhisattvas. Dakas and dakinis are the sangha of Vajrayana. Arhats are the Sutrayana sangha. So, lama, yidam, sang gye, (other names???) and then Dharma protectors. That is basically the order of your altar. That’s good enough.

Then, I’d like to say one thing. As I’ve urged you not to be nesting around, you don’t make a mess of your altar. A lot of people, especially in this country have a habit of having a dusty, filthy altar all covered with photos and posters; funny little things are all over the place. That is not nice at all. The altar you need is perfect, clean, wonderful, good in quality, put in an artistic way, clean, neat and nice. Trungpa Rimpoche admires the Japanese way of arranging the altar. That’s really beautiful; there’s an art in it.

And (---?) in the habit of sending the photographs, and post cards, each other, and they don’t know what to do; the easiest way is to put them in the junkyard; what we call the altar. It becomes a junkyard. It’s terrible. The worst thing you can do is that. Don’t have so many. Don’t have posters and don’t have photographs. I mean if you can’t afford [better], fine. The book will tell you, you don’t need it. You just simply have a single flat piece of wood and put a little rice on top of it. That is good enough to make your altar.

That’s it, if you can’t afford it. But don’t put all the pictures of the different deities and Buddhas and lamas and yidams and everything, you know, puffed(?) up over there, and what is that? That’s not nice. [It must be] nice, neat. Buddha must [be there], then maybe Tsong Khapa, your own guru or master’s picture, and that’s enough. Why do you need more. If you want to have a nice [altar], it’s good quality that counts. Don’t just accumulate junks. That is the creation of the altar.

Number two is offering. This is always [the case]: no offering should have any manipulations. People manipulate. ‘Hey. I’d like to – this is great. It is good, and it is expensive, I’d like to buy it as an investment, so I can make this as an offering at the altar, too.’ That is manipulation. If you want to make an offering of something nice, it is just meant for offering. You offer it. You don’t have to throw it away, but it is no longer yours. You have offered it. That means it is no longer yours.

Buddha stated the measurement of ownership [this way]: ‘The way you measure what you own and what you don’t own is: if you dedicate it from your mind for someone, even if it is yours, that thing belongs to that someone.’ So, when you have expensive offering stuff, when you dedicate it to the object of refuge, it belongs to them. It no longer belongs to you. So you think, ‘I can buy this, it will be a good investment.’ You may borrow it. It doesn’t matter. You can really borrow it, you know. But, that’s what it is.

The way you make an offering should be a very artistic way; artistic functioning, rather than simply just dumping them. I think Carla is doing the water offering, so I hope she will tell you. In case she doesn’t (she’s very quiet), when you are making the water offering, there is one example that is given: no cow pissing. When you make a water offering, you make the offering with great respect, as though you are pouring the water for the President of the United States or something. (Great laughter.) I didn’t say, ‘George Bush;’ I said, ‘The President of the United States.’ Or the Queen of England. So that’s what you have to do, not cow pissing. (Rimpoche makes sound effects.)

I think people up there (referring to the balcony), if you want to take your cushion up there and sit on the cushion, I think you can do that, too. Why not, right? If you want to sit on the chair, that’s fine. Those of you who are sitting up there might have an interesting view looking down.

After laying the altar, after making the offerings, then have a comfortable place to sit; whether it is a chair, a sofa, a cushion, or whatever. It is recommended that you sit down, because it is a habit. When you sit down, they give you the eight [point] posture of Buddha Vairochana. That is the tradition; that is what is recommended. It also tells you straightaway, even in the outline: [sit] on a comfortable seat with the eight qualities of the Buddha, Vairochana style. Whatever is comfortable for you [however, is okay], except you can’t lie down.

Then, generate a special mind; a special, good, virtuous mind. Generally faith, etc., are [part of] a virtuous mind. But when you talk about a special virtuous mind, here they are only talking about bodhi mind; nothing else but bodhi mind. Okay? Having that, then develop and meditate on refuge and the Four Immeasurables. These are part of this. Okay?

The books will tell you how to make your cushions and all of those. But if you already have a comfortable cushion, you have it. They do not recommend that you do your meditation on your bed, on which you sleep. But that doesn’t mean that you cannot do it. That is said, because in case you have a [familiar] cushion, you may feel more excited, or more pure, or more clean or more official or whatever. That’s the reason; there’s no other reason. If you have a comfortable cushion or chair that you can use, you don’t have to go to the level of putting a separate cushion [there]. Though they tell you [you do], you don’t have to.

Also, the tradition will tell you to put [down] kusha grass. That’s because Buddha, when he left the princely life, and went into the forest with nothing to eat, where was he going to get a cushion? So he cut the kusha grass and sat on it. Kusha is also considered the material for purification. That’s the reason why. Otherwise we don’t really have to do it. They talk about kusha’s quality [to make] your mind pure, blah blah. All those are there.

I forgot one thing that is emphasized here. Whenever you are making offerings, whatever offering [it may be]; whether it is a water offering, a flower offering, etc., the utensils are recommended [to be made of]:

the most important, pure gold

mediocre, silver

copper

brass

clear

wood

mud

or anything will do, at the end. Why? It costs you more. The more costly it is, the more merit you will accumulate. That’s the simple reason. Why? In Tibetan tradition, they go so much for quality. Unfortunately, after 1959, nobody goes for quality, including His Holiness. But that’s what the traditional teachings will tell you. It’s always the quality that counts, not the quantity. Yes, quantity counts, but the quality [is more important].

Ah, that is one thing I have to touch on; bodhi mind. Bodhi mind is the most important motivation. There are a lot of earlier Tibetan teachers who will say, ‘The first thing to do is to sit,’ and all this. Tsong Khapa raised certain questions One of the questions is, ‘What do you think is the first thing you do in meditation?’ He raised that question, and nobody answered for so many years. Tsong Khapa asked that question somewhere in the 1300’s, and the reply was given by the First Panchen Lama in the 1600’s. His reply was,

‘The first thing to do is check your mind, and correct your motivation.’

So, the motivation comes in. It is the first thing to do. The First Panchen Lama’s reply was, ‘You, the great master, Tsong Khapa, [what] you really want, [what] the reply should be, is “the first thing to do is check your motivation and mind.” ’

A lot of people will say the first thing to do is to sit down and breathe. Breathe. But Tsong Khapa denies that, rejects that. [He says that] the first thing to do is to check your mind and motivation.

Breathing; what does breathing do? If your mind is in a negative [state], then don’t try to switch it forcefully into a positive [state]. Breathe. When you are breathing, you are withdrawing your mental focus from that negative feeling [and moving it] toward the middle level. Breathing and counting [the breath] are neither virtue nor non-virtue. It is in the middle; neither positive nor non-positive or negative. Breathing is removing your mind from negative focusing to a neutral level. Then switch to positive. That’s why the first thing to do is check. [It is by checking the mind first that you can switch to a positive state.]

Why? If it is something for negative, then it doesn’t work well. Even if it is not negative, but to have some comfortable, joyful fun tomorrow or next year or something. So that is wrong motivation. (Literal transcription.)

(Alt: Why? If you are using something like looking forward to having some comfortable, joyful fun tomorrow or next year, to move your mind from a negative state to a positive one, it won’t work well. That is a wrong motivation.)

You know, during the initiations, it is always said, ‘Don’t seek anything for this life. If you do so, you’re not going to gain anything in the future. But, if you seek for the future, what you need will come automatically today.’ That’s how it works. Well, now I’m not going to take much time here. Otherwise it’s going to be…

I will give you a brief meditation here. What you do is generation of your true altar now. Your true altar is not the altar that you laid. That’s your relative altar, not an absolute altar. That’s show biz, not the reality. The reality is your mental altar. That is, you have to meditate. Where? The space right in front of you. That’s really what I said to you earlier.

From where your third eye is,a slightly higher level, open space. Lion throne which is lifted by eight lions. Above that, a big, spacious, wonderful, huge throne. Above that, multi-colored lotus cushion and above that, moon disc and above that, sun disc. In absolute reality, your root master. In physical form looks like Buddha. Just like Buddha’s head. And wearing saffron robe, having all the qualities of major, minor developments. And it is light nature. It is pure. It is luminous. And sitting in the midst of the light generated out of his or her body sitting Vajra style. And that guru, Buddha is surrounded, surrounded with all these direct masters and lineage masters. All the lamas, all the yidams, all the Buddhas, all Bodhisattvas, all dakas, dakinis and all dharmmapalas. In front of each one of them they have their teaching in the form of a book. Light nature in the physical look like book. This altar, this supreme field of merit, or the refuge tree, or each and every one of them extremely happy to you. And you are very appreciative their quality, their kindness and your faith to them.

That’s what you have to generate. That’s your generation of your own altar. Now you have to correct your thinking. That is,

I (actually right now you can say, ‘I and all beings’), but I – actually it’s in the midst of suffering, the midst of problems, a tremendous amount of physical, mental, emotional, financial difficulties. Maybe all of them not true. Maybe most of them true. Especially there’s a huge threat of falling into the lower realms. But, I’m not even bothered. How crazy I am. But if I’m bothered, I’m overly bothered [by] some tiny, little man-made sufferings. Not the major problem that I have. Tiny, little like worrying [about a] little spark rather than worrying [about the] major fire. Today, I have achieved a wonderful body, that [is] capable of doing everything. Wonderful life, that capable of doing anything I want to. I made with this great path that Buddha shared. And today, if I do not make a difference to me, when can I do it? Therefore, I would like to cut all problems that [are] threatening me, sufferings that [are] threatening me. Not only I cut the suffering, but the cause of suffering all together. If I don’t, if I fail, then it will be just like before; I will continuously run. So here is my opportunity, my time to make a difference for me, by me, so I don’t want to [fail] this time. In case, if I can’t help it, who else can help me? You are the only one who can help me. So, I would like to become fully enlightened, made difference to me, and for which I would like to take refuge to you, the guru. Tenzin(?) Namo Gurube, (?) Focusing to the guru. Light and liquid coming from the body of the guru, purifying negativities in general and particularly that of negativities dealing with the guru. For example, according to this, the light and liquid coming not only from the guru, and all the lineage masters, all five-colored rainbow light and liquid. And reaches to myself and all sentient beings. Negativities that we have accumulated in general, and particularly that negativities created through dealing with the guru. For example, threatening. Not respecting. Not listening. Making mad. Having a unfaith. Insulting, etc. All negativities coming on the basis of the guru, all completely purified with undesirable light, liquid, liquid colored, completely went away from our body. And, out of this, the mostly recommended like a huge darkness and training(?) on the powerful light is recommended to visualize. And then, Namo Buddhaya, the focus shifts from the guru to the Buddhas and the yidams together. Then, Namo Dharmayah, focus on the books. Teaching, which representing is book form. Namo Sanghayah, then it goes to all the dakas, dakinis and all other sanghas. And we all purified complete, and we all under the protection of the Three Jewels.

Literal transcription – see alt version-meditation.doc

I try to emphasize this a little bit because there are a lot of people who are doing a lot of refuge these days. So for their benefit, I made a little more emphasis here.

Now I have to stop here, because there are some rules here. So, that’s what it is. So do have a good lunch.