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Wisdom teachings NYC 05 Lam Rim Chen mo

Part III

Talk 1012: 07-0714-05

[Rimpoche’s arrival was delayed by airport delays, so he came in to the middle of NY students discussing the ideas.]

[Synopsis of session up to when Rimpoche arrived] The session began with the usual prayers. Then Mark MagicGill gave a brief summary of where the New York group is, relative to the Wisdom teachings, putting it in the context of the Lam Rim. Mark spoke a little about the kind of discussion groups that had been conducted in the weeks when Rimpoche was away, where the discussion was led by a facilitator and the group used their collective understanding to address questions. Mark then suggested that the people assembled should do something similar until Rimpoche arrived. So people in the audience raised questions and others addressed them. The principle question came from Mya Mint and was about a statement Rimpoche had made regarding the object of negation. As Mya put it, Rimpoche had said that the main target was not the appearance of the object of negation, in this case 'jig ta' but the acceptance of that appearance. She wanted to know the difference. The discussion ranged around that. Rimpoche arrived and asked the group to continue the discussion.

[Rimpoche arrives and asks for discussion to continue]

[Audience] I think the distinction that has been made between the innate reflexive grasping to a self, and the philosophical understanding of the self may be the distinction that you are talking about. The object of both is the object of negation. It is just how we deal with that object. Do we accept it at face value and does it guide everything we do? Or is it something that we are analytically aware of. So I would say that is something to do with the distinction between the two.

[Rimpoche] Anybody else want to make any more comments here?

[Audience] I don’t know, but I think it is like if you saw a stick when you were walking at night and you thought it was a snake for a second, that is like misconception. But acceptance is walking around permanently believing the hallucination that the stick is a snake. So “reification of perishable aggregates” means making it so concrete and real that it is very solid. So the misconception that we are really here is the misconception, but reifying it becomes the acceptance, where it becomes a very deeply held misconception. Once we have accepted it, it becomes concrete. I think the word “reification” indicates that kind of acceptance. It means that it is a sort of “set in stone” feeling. We have all kinds of perceptions all day that are wrong, but we don’t reify all those misperceptions. We might be walking from a distance and see a woman and think it is a man. But then you get close and you see, you think “Oh I just misperceived the haircut”. But if you believe that permanently or you have a deep feeling, that means you have reified it. I think that is probably the acceptance idea. It is like, it is such a deeply held, concrete, permanent, solid feeling. That is the object of negation, I believe.

[Rimpoche] Anybody else? How about you? No problem? You want to say something?

[Audience] Mya was talking about the difference between the everyday and the philosophical. As we were talking, I was thinking that on the everyday level the sense of “me” comes out of this original misconception of a solid “me”. Then there is “mine”. Then we are separate. Then there is “yours”, and I have to makes sure that I get mine and you don’t get mine. Even when we start to get a sense that this isn’t really so, the tendency is to still accept it, and to keep going back. I think all of us experience that over and over again. We just keep coming back to “me, me” and “my, mine”. So that is just another everyday look at why the acceptance is the real object of negation.

[Rimpoche] Interesting. Do you have Tsongkhapa’s Lam Rim Chenmo with you? I think if you look in there, somewhere around what we are discussing, there is a quotation from Chandrakirti saying “all the delusions and suffering comes from ‘jig lta. When you look at the ‘jig lta, the “I” is the real focal point of ‘jig lta.” I am remembering a quote from Chandrakirti, but it is also quoted in the Lam Rim Chenmo somewhere around here. Probably, this is the source of the discussion here today.

[An audience member reads from the Lam Rim Chenmo, page 120]

Reality is the total extinction of the conceptions of both the self and that which belongs to the self in regard to the internal and the external, this being a result of the non-apprehension of internal and external things...

...In their minds, yogis perceive that all afflictions

And all faults arise from the reifying view of the perishing aggregates,

And, knowing that the self is the object of that view,

They refute the self.

[Rimpoche] Those very words will tell you exactly what is the object of negation. It is quite clear. That very verse should clearly tell you. I think what Mya was raising is whether you are negating the “I” itself, or the perception of the “I”. I think that is taking one more step beyond this. We cannot say ‘jig lta is not the object of neagation. But then, are you really negating the “I’ itself, or the way we perceive the “I”? I think the point here becomes the way and how we perceive the “I” rather than the “I” itself, as a general “I”.

You are talking about the “philosophical I” and the “everyday I”. I think the everyday I is not even an issue here. What we are negating is the perceiving mind – how we are perceiving. I am not very sure whether we are at that level yet. Since you people have had that discussion on the internet, I don’t know what is going on in there. Have you had that question in there?

[Audience] We did not have that question that Maya asked, per se.

[Rimpoche]. Maya raised it. Yes.

[Audience] We have certainly been in that ballpark, but not that particular question.

[Rimpoche] I think the question is whether emptiness is something that has been corrected. The words we use in Tibetan are me ga nges dgag [negation of a wrong position] and ma yin ga dgag [a non-affirming negative]. (me dgag, ma yin dgag) When you have refuted an object of refutation, either something you don’t have has been refuted or something that is wrong has been refuted. It is very important to say here that it is something that you don’t have which we has beenve refuted (me ga).. It is not something wrong that has been refuted (ma yin ga). .

We are looking at Chandrakirti’s words. So I am going to say that the ‘jig lta itself is the object of negation, because Chandrakirti emphasized that quite directly. In the Lam Rim Chenmo, immediately after that quote from Chandrakirti, there should be more clarification, using Chandrakirti’s commentary on the root text, from his “Clear Words“ explanation. It should be there.

[Audience] Right after the verse there is a commentary by Chandrakirti.

[Rimpoche] OK, what did that say? Let’s hear that.

[Audience reads from page 120]

Yogis who wish to enter reality and who wish to eliminate all afflictions and faults examine the question, “What does this cyclic existence have as its root?” When they thoroughly investigate this, they see that cyclic existence has as its root the reifying view of the perishing aggregates, and they see that the self is the object observed by that reifying view of the perishing aggregates. They see that not observing the self leads to eliminating the reifying view of the perishing aggregates, and that through eliminating that, all afflictions and faults are overcome. Hence at the very beginning, they examine only the self, asking “What is the ‘self’ that is the object of the conception of self?”

[Rimpoche] Does that clarify something? Because that language goes over my head. When you are looking to negate the object, and you are looking for the ‘jig ta as that object of negation, you see that the ‘jig lta focuses on the “self”. That is why you say that the “I” becomes the object of negation. The question Mya is raising, I think, is “Are you supposed to refute “me” as the object of negation? Or are you thinking of something slightly different from the everyday “me”. The word we use in Tibetan is tug tsel las log dag chos ma chos. But I don’t know whether you are making it a philosophical question or not. That is the problem.

The everyday perceiving of the “I” that is the functioning basis, the “I” who has come from previous lives, who is living here, who is going to go into future lives, is NOT the object of negation. The “I” we are talking about, which is the actual object of negation, is the “I” that the ‘jig lta is perceiving. What you are really refuting is the way that the ‘jig lta is perceiving your “me” as your “I”; here it is the way the “ego” is perceiving “I”.

That is why Mya is using the words “original confusion”. You are using the words “original confusion” because our perception of everything is influenced by the ‘jig lta. Therefore it is confusing. That confusion that you are calling “original confusion” is not influenced by any philosophical or theoretical viewpoints. But the moment we begin to think “selfless”, the moment we begin to think “emptiness”, we are looking a little deeper than our everyday thoughts. Though everyday we say “I go here, I come here”, now we are looking a little deeper than that. That is why in Tibetan they talk about being influenced by theoretical viewpoints (“theoretical-viewpoint-influenced”) which would probably make this into a philosophical issue.

If you make it a philosophical issue it may create more difficulties. A lot of everyday people will think “let the philosophers think whatever they think, it is not really much of a concern for us.” Especially where I come from, in the Midwest of America, where there are farmers, and where the corn is growing. They are going to say “let the philosophers worry about it. I am not going to worry about it.” That is the reason I don’t like to use the words, the philosophical viewpoints.

But it becomes philosophical, because you are not leaving it as the “I”. You are seeing that the “I” is the object of negation. You are seeing that something there is confusing. You are seeing something that is creating difficulties. You are seeing something that is giving rise to pain. Like Chandrakirti says, all negativities, delusions, negative emotions, all afflicted emotions (what they call “all afflictions and all faults”) arise from that. Here you include everything that is hatred, obsession and fear. Somebody told me today, “you also have to count revenge in there. You can’t leave out the revenge”. Yes, it is true, revenge is a part of it. The idea of revenge is very strong with us.

[Hartmut, Ripoche has said “don’t quote me on this next topic. Does this mean we should we leave out this section I have highlighted in Bold font from this transcript? I think Rimpoche makes an important practical point here, but maybe it does not contribute hat much to the Wisdom topic.]

That is one of the reasons I have difficulty when people use the word “justice”. In my heart of hearts, I have an extremely difficult time digesting the word “justice”, which everybody accepts without any question. If I say it, everybody will be confused, so I choose to keep my mouth shut, since you became president [Rimpoche is joking as he addresses a member of the audience who resembles G.W. Bush].

[Audience] Only for three more years, Rimpoche.

[Rimpoche] They call him George Bush - he looks like George Bush, acts like George Bush – no, I am just joking. I really have a problem with the word justice. I will tell you straightforward, yes it is an informal discussion, so don’t quote me in the future. The idea of justice means that you have done something wrong, so you have to pay for it. They are going to punish you so we will feel relaxed. Justice is taking revenge.

I have always a problem with all these big chatterers who are talking about it on the television. They say “Yeah, we have to punish on behalf of God.” We have been hearing that for so many years. For a long time we had entertainment from the O.J. Simpson trial, and from Clinton and Lewinski. For the last two or three years, because of 9-11 there is no entertainment. It is all about 9-11. Otherwise it was all this entertainment that said “we are here to punish. We have to do justice”. Some of the pundits openly say that have to do justice “on behalf of God”. In my heart of hearts, I think that if God cannot do his job, what the hell, then who is he? What the hell are we worried about him for? If we have to do the job on behalf of God, then something is not right there. I always have a problem with this.

All of those afflictive emotions are actually coming out of ‘jig lta. We normally say it is our “ego”, and it is within our self. We say that good has come out of our self and bad has come out of our self. We say everything is within our self, and then you use the words “confusion” and "ignorance”. But the confusion arises because of the ‘jig lta. When we begin to know this, we begin to ask what this ‘jig lta is all about. What is this ego all about?” Here we have definitely gone beyond psychology’s meaning of the word “ego”. The ego we are talking about is the one everybody is talking about everyday when they say “that is your ego talking”. That ego has confusion. It has fear. It has a tremendous amount of fear. That is why the ego thinks “ego knows best”. It has almost made the individual totally powerless. You can’t say anything to it. The ego has completely taken over, like Big Brother taking us over us.

So that is why we talk about “afflictive emotions”, which really is talking about the first two noble truths. The Truth of Suffering, and the Truth of the Cause of Suffering come out of the ‘jig lta.

It says in the text,

In their minds, yogis perceive that all afflictions,

And all faults arise from...

The words “Yogis perceive...” is what it is about. In the Tibetan it says “the mind understands that.” lo (lLog). Log is mind. Log is rig pa. Log as in rig pa, in that way. They use the word log, so it means “the mind understands that...” When your mind understands that, then you begin to look at how that functions. “How does that work within me? Why and how is that happening?” That is probably the biggest question we struggle with. Even before we understand emptiness, I think we really begin to struggle with how all these things happen.

It is amazing. All of you are great, educated, intelligent, wonderful people. Here I am just quoting the work of one of those old Indian guys, and some Tibetans. According to the Chinese, the Tibetans are so backwards, so dirty, so filthy, so uneducated (like the five qualities for the Tibetans). But one of those guys said that all our faults are coming from the ‘jig lta, and you have been very kindly buying it, considering it, and looking into it. It is very kind of you. But these guys turn out to be right. It is really true. It all comes out of that ‘jig lta.

We ask, “when did that ‘jig lta develop within me?. How did that happen to me? Why did it happen to me? When did that happen to me?” There probably is no answer to that, because when and why have no answer. For why, you may have an answer, but nobody knows when. Even Buddha tells us there is no beginning and no ending. But there is the ending of the samsaric “I”. When we say it is all coming out of ‘jig lta, then the real question is “How? I think this is very important.

For the Tibetan, the word ‘jig lta itself tells us. In English it doesn’t tell us. In Tibetan, the word ‘jig stands for both “fear” and “impermanent”. Lta sort of means “looking for”. Sometimes, when you look at a very old person who has been virtually overtaken by illnesses, who can do virtually nothing by himself or herself, you can see that they have a different way of looking when they have some person there who they hope to count on for help. You can see it very often, the way parents look to their children and the way children look to their parents for help, for support. If you don’t get the picture, maybe you have not had the experience yet. You will see it, very often. When some people are at the dying stage, and are hoping that somebody will help them, very often they have a very special way of looking at the person who they are hoping to get help from. They will look differently, sort of with big open eyes, totally focused on looking at that particular person who is helping them. I like to say that it is their “focal point”.

When we begin to see what ‘jig lta does, we begin to see that the focal point of this ‘jig lta is “I”. A self. “I”, without identifying it philosophically, as original confusion, or whatever. It is just simply seeing “I” looking at “I”. In the English language, it doesn’t do justice to the meaning, but in the Tibetan it does do justice, because lta means “looking at that particular focal point”, and ‘jig lta becomes “one who looks at the perishable aggregates.” That is what it becomes. So, the real focal point of the hope to identify “me” becomes the five perishable aggregates.

Or we say ‘jig lten. lLten is the dependent base for existence, the foundation on which we depend. Again, that is looking at the perishable aggregates as a basis to rely on. We look at this as a reliable basis, but it is impermanent. It is not reliable, so to rely on it brings confusion. The perishable objects have been identified as me. So naturally you have that tremendous fear about how to hold that together, fear about how to make sure that the perishable vegetable is not going to perish; the perishable fruit is not going to perish. We are hoping to remain between 25 and 30 years old all the time. Whether you notice it or not, you want to be at the age when it was the best for you, physically, or beauty-wise, or attraction-wise. So we look back to when we were between 25 and 30 or 35. This is exactly what the ‘jig lta would like to hold on to as the object of identification. But you know that you can’t hold onto it, because you begin to see extra wrinkles here, and extra cracks there, white hair here, so you try to protect it.

Mind separates from the ego and begins to see how the ego is functioning, where the ego is focusing, and what the ego wants to do. So we begin to see that the ego is focusing on “self”. Ego thinks it is protecting the self. There will not be anybody's ego of anybody that is not trying to protect it's object. whose object is not for protection. We call it confusion, because there is actually nothing to be protected by this ego. That is why it is a lie. It is not true. It is a misconception. A misperception. It is ego’s manifestation. All tThose ariseare all because there is nothing to actually be protected. Therefore, if you are a true yogi who really wants to be on a spiritual path, you have to destroy the ‘jig lta, and whatever the ‘jig lta is holding.

What the ‘jig lta is holding is the superior “I”, not the ordinary, normal “I”. The ‘jig lta is always a little more than the normal “I”. That is why we always have this uninvited, unwelcomed pride. Not self-respect, not self-esteem, but a real pride of perceiving our superiority. That is because of the ‘jig lta.

We must see how the ‘jig lta is really perceiving. We must see what kind of “I” does the mind of that ‘jig lta see? What the ‘jig lta perceives is some “I” that has never existed and never will exist. But we are perceiving that. If you can refute that, then it becomes me ga (me dgag), which is refuting something that does not exist. It is not the wrong understanding, it is not the wrong perception, it is that you are holding onto something that was never there. We are all driven by that. That is why the object of negation becomes so difficult.

If we get the object of negation, the emptiness is in your hand, just like that [snapping fingers]. The wisdom is just like that [snapping fingers]. It is almost automatic. But the object of negation is the biggest problem. This verse we are discussing is the verse where Chandrakirti tried to introduce the object of negation.

When you meditate on emptiness, the idea is not to just sit blank. If you just sit blank, it is a blank. A blank is empty, but it is not emptiness. If you just sit, thinking blank is emptiness, even at the beginning of the meditation, even way before shamata, when you are just learning meditation and learning how to focus, even at that level, you may have to say you are meditating on emptiness, because you are refuting or throwing out every thought. Because you are trying to focus on something, you throw out anything else that comes up. Especially if you are meditating on mind, you probably have nothing to think. But that is not looking at emptiness at all.

That is the difference between shamata-meditation with mind as object on mind and wisdom-meditation with mind as objecton mind. Shamata based on mind will be just to remove all the thoughts. And whatever you think is “space-like”. Trungpa Rimpoche used this terminology, according to Allen Ginsberg. The traditional Tibetan teachers also used the term “space-like”. Like in the middle of space, not looking at the cloud. If you are an artist, you can look at the cloud and take a picture. Other than that, space-like means just leaving it there, leaving it open.

That is learning shamata, not learning emptiness;, you are not picking up wisdom. But also remember, without establishing that shamata first, we cannot utilize it to pick up this emptiness. Therefore, when you begin to meditate about wisdom based on mind as the object, you have to see how ego perceives “me”. What “me” is it? What kind of quality does the ego or the‘jig lta see?

Remember, it is only the Prasangika Madyamaka, which we call u ma thal ‘gyur wa of Buddhapalita [or dbu ma thal ‘gyur pa, according to the glossary in Cutting Through Appearances]. In Tibetan, that is the thal ‘gyur wa. The thal ‘gyur wa is the only person who says that ‘jig lta itself is ignorance. No other schools will say that.

I don’t know where we were going with the discussions. I dragged you to a little more than you were doing. Anyway, we have to keep to that point made in Chandrakirti’s verses. When you are based on those verses, and on Chandrakiriti’s commentary on his own verses, plus Tsongkhapa’s explanation, it guarantees that we will not go wrong. It gives us a tremendous safeguard against going wrong. Otherwise, it is very easy to go wrong; that is the reason why all kinds of different thoughts and ideas become a spiritual path.

Anyway, we are somewhere around page 120 in our teaching. I think we are at the level where the horse-cart is burned.

I guess, unless you have other questions, I’ll cover about that much. [Skipping comments about delays with the airplane flight] Any other questions? Yes

[Audience] In one’s daily life, just a practical, not a philosophical question. In daily life, as we go through our 24 hours of work and sleep, and something or somebody disturbs our ego, and we get angry, what would be an antidote for that. When somebody bumps us in the subway and we get mad, or my ex-husband calls me up and is a jerk and I get mad, or someone I don’t like comes on the TV and I get angry, what do I do?

[Rimpoche] The best thing is to punch the TV. And bang the telephone.

[Audience] I do that, and throw things.

[Rimpoche] Oh! It is simple. Pick up the telephone and throw it at the TV. That would be better.

It is an interesting question. Should I be a commercial person? You should read my book “Good Life, Good Death”. There is a very beautiful chapter on anger.

Truly speaking, when you are extremely upset and angry, if you want to change that into something nice and good, compassionate, or positive, it is extremely difficult. Unless you are a Buddha. Well, maybe that statement is not right, because a Buddha doesn’t even have anger. So, let’s settle at the bodhisattva level. If you are a bodhisattva, unless you are a great bodhisattva, it is not so easy to change. That is why they always give us something to do in between, something not so extreme, but something different to think. Something that you enjoy, whatever it might be.

It is not right, spiritually, or dharma-wise, or karma-wise. But, if you can use them, attachment and attraction are helpful to cut such a powerful anger, when the anger is so burning hot. Attachment is very effective, like pouring cold water. Attachment is wrong. It is wrong karma, wrong negative, wrong dharma-wise. But we have extreme addictions to either this burning hot anger and hatred, or beautiful cool attachment or attraction. These are two extreme things that are functioning in our everyday life. We are addicted to them. If you switch from one to the other, the cool effect reduces the tremendous power of the hot temper or anger; it helps it to not become hatred.

The temper tantrum by itself might not be a big problem. But if it is left out there without taking care of it, then it becomes hatred. The third chapter of Chandrakirti’s root text (we have been talking about the sixth chapter) will tell you that patience is the antidote of anger. Also, normally in all Buddhist teachings, they will tell you the same thing. However, in order to become patient - virtuously patient - we need a bridge in between. The burning hot anger can easily burn the patience, without any difficulty. So a bridge is needed in between. Since we are so addicted, attachment can be used to reduce the power of anger. That is why in the Mahayana sutras, sometimes they said, even the bodhisattva can use real world attachment to help serve other beings. They have probably given that advice on the basis of this point.

But if you submit yourself to the attachment, then it looks like you are taking on a new boss. You are getting away from one boss and taking on another difficult boss. So, you reduce the power of the anger temporarily. Once you begin to cool down, then you can use compassion and true love. Let me put it this way. At the beginning, you may use that love we normally know, to reduce the power of hatred. You can then change that love into pure love rather than leaving it as that sticky love. So, you make it into the pure love, and bring compassion, then bring patience. That is the gradual way of changing. I think that is the best way to handle it.

That is why Buddha’s technique of meditation leads people to focus on the breathing. When you can’t think of breathing, they tell you to notice the air movement through the nostrils. There is a physical thing going on. You breathe in and out. You feel it on the nostrils. Since you are not thinking anything else, because you are blocking everything else, everything you feel, even though it is very subtle, becomes quite vivid. When you are a little bit high, with a substance, you hear things better, you see things more clearly, the colors are better, blue is more blue, green is more green. And the sounds are much more clear, although you may hear them as if they were they may talk to you inside your ear. Even if they are two doors down, you can hear them inside. That I have experienced. Somebody gave be bhang at breakfast, some Indian businessman. When they were flushing the toilet, it sounded like somebody flushing it inside my ear.

When you withdraw from all external things, things are much more clear and vivid. So this moment becomes quite strong, and that helps one to focus on breathing. Buddha himself said the he used the breathing technique because you are not able to switch from a powerful negativity into a positivity. You need to first bring it to a neutral level. What you are really doing is buying time to cool down. The moment you begin to cool down, then you can begin to use your mind, because the extremes of both emotions are quite difficult to change straightaway.

On the other hand, it is important to not encourage the anger. If you keep on acknowledging “Oh God, I lost it again”, the acknowledgement will help. That hatred and anger is the ego’s manifestation. When you begin to see “Hey I lost it again”, you are really looking at the ego’s true face. The moment you realize and acknowledge that, it becomes a little shameful. So it pulls the ego’s face down, the ego hides its face down. That is why the acknowledgement or recognition of negativities reduces its power. It brings the ego a little shame within you. Since the ego is always right, and is the “great and wonderful know-it-all”, when you encounter it a little bit, it makes the ego a little shy. So that is why acknowledgement reduces the power of hatred and anger. I hope that will help.

OK. Now we know where we are in the text, so we should try to read that section and we’ll go through that next week. Hopefully I won’t take three years to read this. I guess that is it.

Thank you.

Welcome here. Well, this is our July session, and though we make this a session, we don’t change the subject, because we are continuously talking on the basis of the wisdom aspects of Tsongkhapa’s Lam Rim Chenmo.

Before I start anything, I would like to say we just had His Holiness’s birthday celebration, and you people have been praying here, we did the “long-life". His Holiness is 70 now, so we will be looking forward to celebrate many more birthdays for the benefit of all beings in general and particularly for all mankind, and particularly for the sake of Tibetans. So we are praying for that. At the same time, we had a terrible day today in London with four bombs exploding. All the time when we think things will get a little better, something else happens that is terrible. So we pray for those people who have been hurt, lost life or loved ones, and everybody, for them. What you really do is, for those who have departed from the human registrations, we’ll pray for their purifying all their negativities, whatever they have accumulated from the limitless of the beginning. And we dedicate for their benefit all our and everybody’s, positive karmic deeds. That is how we actually pray. And for those who are left behind, also that their lives become worthwhile, and have virtuous activities, and that they are totally able to reach enlightenment. That is how we normally pray. We pPray for those who have passed away and for those who are living.

It is interesting. Sometimes many of our culture sometimes changes everything. It is called Everything you call it “closure”, and this and that. It is for the living, rather than for the departed souls, let’s use that word anyway. wWhich is not right. It must be for both, benefiting particularly for the departed consciousness that areis not around with us. That is our major job, to be able to help them, service them, help them, contribute something. What we can contribute there now is not the dollar amount, not the check, not the time, not anything except our virtues, our good deeds, our good karma. That is the material we dedicate. Even a small amount, however small it might be, saying even “Om Mani Padme Hum”, or any one of those things, particularly, the long mantra of Avalokitesvara which we say “Namo Ratna Trayaya...” and all of those. Most importantly, we can contribute our self, our everyday life, something good we are doing for the benefit of ourselfself and others, anything good in our everyday life. That is , that are the positive karma we can contribute to the departed person. That is what the spiritual people have whichthat is different from everyday people. Everyday people they may now almost say: “whatever you do it is, it is not for the departed person, b. But for the closure of the living person.” All of those, I really question that a little bit about that.

I think we do have a method of how to contribute to the departed ones, so that is what we should do, and not . That also, not just one time, but everyday. Every day, Ssome of our life, some of our work that we do, before we go to bed we should dedicate them. That is most important. By Ddedicating your good karma for the benefit of this and that doesn’t mean you are left with nothing. The virtue, the positive karma is such that there is countless inexhaustible positive karma available. So therefore, there is no end to it. You are not going to finish it by dedicating it for one or two or three things. You can do it all the time. But always you can do that. That is thea sort of thing we can take advantage of by being spiritual practitioners. We should never forget that. Always do it.

Having said that, this is just out of nowhere, I have just mentioned it. Our main subject is the wisdom part of it.teachings we have been doing here.

Wisdom is absolutely necessary, because without wisdom, no matter how much compassion, love, and so on all of them, how much of it we may have, we will never been able to obtain enlightenment. Having said “enlightenment”, I must once again introduce it to you once again: the purpose of spiritual practitioners where I come from, inwhere the tradition ofis the Mahayana Buddhism, and especially Vajrayana Buddhism, the goal of spiritual practitioners is to obtain total enlightenment. That is our goal.

As I always insist, when you claim to be spiritual practitioners, you must have a base on which you stand. You must have ways in which that you make progresscan do. You must have a result you hope to gain. Without these three: The base on which you stand, the method you apply, the goal you hope to achieve, if you do any spiritual activitything it will not be solid. I don’t want to say that it will be show business, but I think it will havebe no solid base. The solid spiritual practitioner means that solidly you arehas to be standing solidly on the ground and that is t. The ground of the Two Truths (relative truth and absolute truth). Then the and ways and means of how you are handle ing yyour life is , conduct your life, what we call practice. A lot of people think thatto practice means that you have to sit for a couple of minutes and do all kinds of gestures and things. all kinds of things, though that does not mean practice. But eEven little animals can do that. They can sit the way we teach themtaught them to sit.

You remember I always talk to you about The late Geshe Lobsang Tarchin, the . Unfortunately he has passed away now, they call him Kheney Rimpoche Lobsang Tarchin,. Geshela once told me that his dog can say “Om Mani Padme Hum”. I said how? He said, “I’ll show you”. “Alright.” So he getsot one of those cream puff biscuits, and puts cream cheese on top of that and some ham or something on top and makesde it reallythis big, then he getsot the dog to come down and the dog stands up on its hind legs and then Geshe-lahe saysid “Om Mani Padme Hum, Om Mani Padme Hum” and until he would not give the biscuit, and the dog keeps on jumping and after a little while he says WowOw Wow Wow Wow. “See, he says Om Mani Padme Hum“, he said. . That is the story I just share. Many of you know Geshe Lobsang Tarchin, because hehe was is a wonderful geshe who came to America. Unfortunately he is also gone now.

The point is thing is, if youwe can’t think, and if youwe don’t have something solidly to back up – back behind the words you say, or the gestures you put in, if you don’t have it, then it is not really a big deal. A parrot can say Even the words of “Om Mani Padme Hum” can be said by a parrot. And, the sitting gestures, even a monkey can sit. I have told you , you know I always saidabout “the lizard meditation”. The lizard also knows how to sit with open eyes and open mouth and swallow up all the air coming in. That is not necessarily, well, I don’t know whether it is meditation or not. To be solidThe solidness really means to be grounded ing. Grounding is on the basis of the two truths, . [That is] why Buddha has two truths: absolute and relative truth. This is the ground on which youwe stand solidly. If you don’t, you will be flying. That is called flying. I keep on saying people are not grounded, people are not grounded... They say “what do you mean, what do you mean, Wwhat do you mean?” That is what I mean. You don’t stand on the Two Truths. Standing on the Two Truths establishes the foundation, the basis. Then what you do, you have to do something. If you can‘t do anything, then it is not right. You have to work ondo two things: Love/compassion as well as wisdom. Without love and compassion, then it won't bewill be not that great. Without wisdom, even love/compassion alone cannot do it all. do nothing – Iit can do something – but not completely. It is not capable of delivering the goods.

I very often quote Chandrakirti, the great Indian master. Chandrakirti always says

[extended Tibetan quote] Kun dzo tin nyi sho yen kar pu gye gur pa…

. When the bird would like to cross the ocean, itthe bird needs two wings.

When the individual would like to cross the ocean of samsara,

theyyou need two wings: the absolute truth wing, and relative truth wing.

In this case, the relative truth is the love/compassion aspects of it. Absolute truth is the wisdom aspects of it. Without either onewhich, you can’t fly straight. You go around like the Australian boomerang: you throw it this way, and it comes back. If that happens, it is not right. So you have to have two wings.

We did talk for a very long time about love/compassion, particularly about caring for your self. The moment we talk love and compassion, a lot of people immediately start looking out, trying to look for somebody else who is suffering there, saying “we would like to help”. Yeah, that is great, but help is help. Compassion is caring.. Compassion is not a pity feeling. No one would like to have a pity feeling. No one welcomes a pity feeling. Compassion is caring. You have to care for yourself. You have to care for all beings. Actually, without knowing how to care for yourself, you willcan never be able to care for the others. If you don’t know how to help yourself, you will never be able to help others. This has been said is from the Buddha onwards. All the, great early Indian masters, and the great Tibetan masters, constantly, continuously, one language, owith one voiceword, they spoke throughout the last 2600 years: “If you don’t know how to help yourself, how can you help others?”

People do have a problem. They all like to help, but they don’t know what to do. That is because theyyou don’t know what to do for themselvesyourself. Helping yourself isbecomes first and foremost. The good old American saying: “charity begins at home” is. That is exactly where spiritual practice begins: with helping yourself. You must be able to help yourself. If you cannot, you can’t help others. ThatHelping yourself begins with knowing your own situation:. Understanding your own situation, where you are, what you are, what is happening with youme, whether you are I am happy or not happy, suffering or not. Whether I am suffering or not suffering. When you look into the Buddha’s teaching of the Four Noble Truths, it is exactly the First Noble Truth. I, it is just our life, the Truth of Suffering. The Truth of Suffering is everywhere. The bombings thatWhatever happened in London today areis the Truth of Suffering. I keep on repeatedly saying, what happened in Thethe t Tsunami in Asia last year was nothing more than the First Noble Truth. That is the reality. That is what we have. That is where we are. Our life, throughout, is tortured by so many things, so many things. lLosses, illnesses, sadness, sorrows, and pains - , physical, mental, emotional. And, [we are] continuously making sure it continuesthat will continue, by engaging inusing negative emotions such as hatred, anger, jealousy, and so forthall of those. That is what we do, that is what we have. That is our situation.

Truly speaking, we don’t have to find the object of compassion. The object of compassion is always within our self. Always. Always with us. Always. Today we are happy. Great. Tomorrow we are sad. It cChanges. Change. It is true reality. That is why it is called the nature of sSamsara. Samsara is suffering. People are happy today and , good company. Ttomorrow, something goes wrong. Then there are sSeparations. Today everybody is happy, alive. Tomorrow someone is gone. That is reality. That is suffering. You don’t have to go intotake a depression because ofon that, but it is reality, you have to understand.

Every time, when we look at each others' faces, each one of us, looking at our face, we see nothing but the pains and sufferings that we went through. Sometimes we consider it is great that a person went through a lot of struggles. Struggles or not struggles, it is pains and sufferings we went through. The sufferings that we went through. It is always there, constant, continuous. Knowing that. Recognizeing that and then ask yourself, . Realizing that, and then saying: “Who can help?" and " How can we help?” is our main question. Being a spiritual person means thinking “how can we help?” And actually and “who can help?” The Buddha gives us the answer: “No one except yourself.” No one can help except our self. You can pray. It doesn’t guarantee the answers. Right? Or wrong? You can pray, but it doesn’t guarantee you get anthe answers. That is the pain we go through. If we can’t help our self, no one can help.

The way and how we help is by actually we have to developing compassion to ourselves. Honestly. The traditional teachings will call it tell you renunciation. , and this and that. The three most important points are : point of renunciation, point of compassion, and point of wisdom. But truly, to renounce or not renounce, whatever you may call it, it may be, it means recognizing our self and your difficulties, and determining that you are going to help yourself, that is what it is. When tThings come in between you can takeing refuge. , and this and that, Iif there is no time, or if there is no chance, then you take refuge, but t and so on. The reality is that helping your self is the most important.

Then the questions arises: “How can I help myself?” The answer is:The two answers: Through lLove/compassion and wisdom. That is really the two answers. So you don’t really have to asksay “how can I help?” I havemake thata joke with Ram Das all the time. He wrote thate book called “How can I help?” I said to him, "Bbecause you did not help yourself, so you have to write a book called “How can I help?” I am making jokinges. I mean Ram Das is a great man. I am not looking down on him. He is a great man, a good friend of mine, really a great person. Wonderful person, I have the highest respect and . But the title “How can I help?” is a very effective title. But it is also effective for me to sayin saying, “if you don’t help yourself, how can you help others?” So that is why you have to write a book saying: “How can I help you?” That is a joke. But Tthe reality is: helping ourselves, having compassion to yourself is first. You may not be able to develop bodhimind for yourself, but you can definitely develop caring and compassion for yourself., caring, compassion. Remember, if you don’t help, nobody else can help you. That is the reality.

In a situationAnd situations like today, to us, with this wonderful human life, with a wonderful mind capacity, with the unlimited capacity that we have withinof our mind, if we you cannot utilize this, when can we help ourselves? For us, there is no situation better than today to help ourselves. That is because of this human life we have. And the condition we are in today. In today’s societycondition, we are open minded, a, At least those of you here and those of you who are listening on the internet, you do have open minds. You are not blinded by certain extreme ideas or thoughts. You are open, and you have the opportunity. The opportunity we have today is not there all the time. If you lived iEven if you look in the United States, if it were before the 1960’s, youwe would not have beenbe that open. You would not be open that much. Because, It is only what had happened in the 1960’s that , people like Ram Das, Timothy O'Leary , and the beatnik poets created , all that openness has come in ourthe society. So, today, you can talk about it, we can talk about it. we can talk and think. It is such a great opportunity. You can think about it. You can entertain the idea of reincarnation. You can entertain the idea of karma. You can entertain the wisdom. You can entertain compassion. Compassion is not just “love your neighbors”, or “if you are hit on the right cheek, turn the left one”. It is much more than that. It is tThe compassion that cares; it is the compassion that feels the pain and the joy of the people and yourself; the compassion that is the willingness to go all-out to help, to serve all living beings, including yourself; the compassion that is longing towards total enlightenment to serve all living beings. These are the kinds of compassions which are more than “love your neighbors”, or “turn your right cheek and then turn the left one and then walk away”. So these are the compassions we are talking about. These compassions are great. They serve the individual. They serve society. They serve all mankind, and they serve all living beings.

And yYet this compassion, the ultimate unlimited, unconditioned compassion, which is really called bodhimind – no – that alone cannot achieve the goal. I’ll give you thea reason why. Love/compassion is so great, wonderful, but it is not the direct opposite of ignorance. If is not the direct opposite of ignorance, Iit can take you away from the ignorance and its effects, however, it does not directly contradict ignorance.

I used the traditional terminology purposely. Ignorance is “wrong knowing” things. Today we call it ego. Ego, the ignorance: a wrongly-knowing, confused, fear-dominated, stateus of mind. It is tTrying to control everything, t. Trying to turn the individual into the porcupine state, t. Trying to sell and buy all these preemptive words, such as “preemptive”. Remember? You hear it all the time. Unfortunately, today’s bombing incident in London really makes it worse now. It is really unfortunate. It is nNot only the loss of life and all that pain, but the terrible warthis will give, it is additional longevity to this terrible for this war. , that is really what it is. Very unfortunate. All of them are the ego-influenced effects. It is , fear-dominated thinking. No one, even in this administration, the Bush administration, even in this administration, no matter whatever it might be, I cannot say. If they do not have to fight a war, they don’t need to. really wants to fight a war. They don’t want to. No one really wants to hurt anyone. Honestly speaking. No matter how bad the Bush administration might be, w. But who will volunteer to lose their life? Yes, they made a wrong calculation, no doubt about it. But Ttoday, you know, it is quite clear. But it is the fear that drives you. It is ego that drives you, the fear, confusion, combined together, which traditionally is called they call “ignorance”.

So Tsongkhapa has written a praised the Buddha, there is a very famous praise of Buddha. It is called “Praising Buddha because of the interdependent system.”

In that praise the first few verses say: one verse, I just remember, it says [Tibetan phrase] Jig lten golpa chin nye pa.

Reverence to the Guru, Manjugosha!

I bow to that perfect Buddha, Supreme Philosopher,

who taught us relativity, free of destruction, creation,

nihilism, absolutism, coming, going, unity, and plurality;

the calm beyond all fabrications, the bliss supreme!

I bow to Him, whose insight and speech

make him unexcelled as Sage and Teacher;

The Victor, who realized ultimate truth,

then taught us it as relativity!

Misknowledge itself is the very root

of all the troubles in this fleeting world;

who understood that and reversed it

taught universal relativity.

Thus how could it be possible

that the geniuses would not understand

this very path of relativity

as the vital essence of Your teaching?

The real source of all the bad things, all the sad things, all the sufferings of pains in the word is that very ignorance: ego. That is truly what it is. From the bigger point of view it affects : in the societies, nations, the world. From In the smaller point of view if viewit affects each : individuals. Each and every individual, Eeven the family quarrelsing are is nothing but ego-created. “I am better than you, you are not better than me.” “I know better than you, you don’t know better than me.” “I bring more money, you have to do exactly what I tellold you to do.” “You don’t bring in enough.” It is the ego that makes this. Love/compassion helps. But it does not directly defuse that ego, for which you need the wisdom. That is the reason why you need the second wing.

As So then this “Praise” sayscontinues: Jig lten golpa chin nye pa te ye tsel wa ma rey te. Kang chik tong way den ta pa ten jen ren pel jo wa tzos. If you are an intelligent person, youone should see this and get away from it. Get away from it. In order to get away from this, Buddha, not only taught but personally learned and experienced the understanding of the interdependent system, the interdependent nature. You can hear it from the word itself: “interdependent” means “notnot an independent”. Right? So you “depend on”. Nothing is independent. Everything is dependent, d. Dependently arising. What depends on what? Everything depends on everything. Terms. Conditions.

How did I become a human being? I became a human being because my terms, my conditions weare right, b. Because I happened to be in the right place at the right time, , at the right place, where my parents were in bed together. (in other words). So my consciousness found shelter. And I have been able to maintain that shelter against all odds by the right terms and conditions. I have been able to grow up, develop my mind, develop my ability to think, to get up to thise age, whatever, because Iwe have dependently arisen. Nothing exists independently. If one thing goes wrong, we collapse. We know that. If something is wrong physically, something completely overtakes us, we collapse. If something goes wrong mentally, we know, even though physically we are right, we collapse. If something goes wrong emotionally, even if mentally and physically we are both OK, even then we collapse. So therefore we are [we say] “dependent”.

Not only are we dependent on our physical conditions, we are also dependent on environmental conditions. If you are at the wrong place at the wrong time, what happens? You get a collapse. We saw what happened on 9-11. We saw what happened with the tTsunami. We have heard what happened in London today, all of those types of things. Even Iif you happen to be at the wrong place at the wrong time and the wrong place, even in the name of spirituality with the spiritual name, things go wrong: Remember Jim Jones, Heaven’s Gate, and so on. all of those conditions.

The Buddha’s teaching of wisdom, though [it is] normally called “emptiness”, is they are not talking about emptiness. The essence of the emptiness is existence. The essence of the existence is interdependent nature. That is why [Tibetan phrase].Tsongkhapa says, Therefore,"I intelligent people realize, understand that the essence of the Buddha’s teaching is interdependent nature." If you think we are not dependent, Tthe whole world is interdependent. The whole environment is interdependent. The whole human existence is interdependent. If we think we have nothing to do with Africa, or we have nothing to do with Asia, perhaps we have nothing to do with ourselves. It will become that way, because it is actually completely interlinked.

Today’s science alsoeven comes to this conclusion. I don’t how much it is accepted, but there are scientists who will say that movement of a the butterfly in China makes a difference in the weather conditions in the United States. All kinds of different theories will come in. Actually, we have to beare very grateful to Einstein. Without Einstein, Buddhism would not have been understood at all. Can you imagine? How can we talk about interdependencet-ness if there is no Theory of Relativity?. Even if I try to say it, If I tried to explain that you would thinkyou will think, “Wwhat nonsense this guy is talking?.” Right? That would be. But luckilyit is great. Einstein happeneds to be a nice Caucasianoccasion guy. So people will accept that theory. Somebody asked me “Ddo you think Einstein understood emptiness? Do you think Einstein is one of those Bodhisattavas?” I don’t know whether he is or is not. The point is that when you are looking for the truth, whether you are looking through the spiritual path, or you through the scientific point, at the end you are going to come together. That is what is happening. That is reality today.

It is Iin the old times that we separated the spiritual and the scientific, e. Especially if you make the spiritual practice be just simply “faith based”. , yeah, then that is what happens. When it goes beyond just simple faith, when you begin to look into it, the actual reality of how we exist, why we exist, what we are, if you really begin to look, it will come to this point.

I never asksaid, ": “Wwho are we?” because people will oftennormally mix that upthem together. Who are we? Who cares? We are somebody all the time anyway. Even if we can find we are somebody, let’s say “I am Joe Blow, medical doctor of the 16th century living in Sussex England”, h How many things does that depend on? Joe Blow, the name – medical doctor, the profession – 16th century – England, the country – Sussex, the countyvillage. To identify, you have to have all those. So you put them together. So Tthat is why I don’t say “who?” What happens is you will shift the gear, the gear between the profession (the medical doctor) and the name (the Joe Blow). Who is Joe Blow? A mMedical doctor. Which doctor are you talking about? Shift the gear - Joe Blow.

Why do we do that? Because we are dependent arising. We depend on all of those. Number one, we depend on the physical identity. Better than a driver’s license is . Tthe physical identity - . tThough the U.S. government may not accept the physical identity without at driver’s license. You say “I am here”. “How do you know you are here?” “I am here.” “No, you are not here.” That is emptiness for you. Honestly speaking. Did you hear me? That is your emptiness.

Why? Because there is no independent “you”. No independent “you”, Wwhoever you may be, you have to depend on identity. Physical aspects, mental aspects, emotional aspects, name, label, whatever. You are So and so, son of sSoo and so. It is a tradition in our culture. We say “Houppermansuberman's, son of Houppermanuberman’s”. Our usual mantra. I don’t know today whether it is legal or not. When I was in India, you hadve to write your name, but that was not enough, you hadve to add “son of Sso and so”. That is what it is, right? ItThat may make createmore additional dependence, you are now further make [dependent] on the father. So that is dependent arising. Dependent arising and the interdependent nature of existence is the essence of emptiness.

The teachings will say, if you look for the emptiness in zero, you are going to find zero. Remember Tsongkhapa’s Three Principals Aspects of the Path during the wisdom part, says, . When they are talking about the wisdom, they talk about [Tibetan phrase]. "Therefore, try to understand interdependent nature." He didn't say[It] never said “try to understand emptiness.” If yYou are going to look for empty, and sit there looking for empty, you are going to get empty. You can wait there for emptiness to be revealed to you until the cows come home. Right. You can sit there, it is not going to happen, according to that I know where I come from, from what I know. So, the real wisdom examines how do we exist. That is why [Tibetan Phrase]

The real essence of Buddha’s teaching is the interdependent nature. Interdependent-ness. That will cut your ego into pieces. Really, it makes the ego into pieces. When the ego is cut into pieces, you begin to function. We are completely overpowered by this ego, which is . Who is not our self. I have used various terms:All these terminologies we use: the dictator within me; I the precvious; I the Queen Ant; I the Queen Bee. All of those are referring to this guy, called ego. Cutting the ego into pieces is cutting through , truly. It is cutting through, “spiritual materialism” in terms of Trungpa Rimpoche’s language. If you cut the ego into pieces, you cut the spiritual materialism. If you don’t cut your ego, no matter what you do, you build up your ego: “I know better”; “I know this”; “I do this”; “I do this”. It happens eEven without saying “I am better than you.” It happens wWith or without any reason. That is the false pride. IT is the pPride that is like the lion who thinks “I am the king of animals.” But nNo matter how strongly the lion maycan think “I am the king of the animals”, the intelligent rabbit can take him down.

I think I shared that story during the summer retreat. Not because I am the rabbit. But all oft of us are rabbits too. Are you a rabbit? You are? See, there you are, the dangerous one. Dangerous rabbits.

[Audience:] Rabbit with horns.

[Rimpoche: ] Rabbit with horns. Yes, you are right.

[Audience:] Horny rabbit.

[Rimpoche:] Horny rabbit, OK, whatever.

So, the intelligence wins. No matter , even how small and weak the rabbit might be, itthe rabbit can lead and kill the lion. I told you the story. It is a very commonly know Buddhist tale. The rabbit tells the lion “Hey, there is another king who looks like you, if you don’t destroy him (there comes the “preemptive strike”) he is going to destroy you.” The lion says “where is it?” So he takes the lion down and shows him the lake and says “down there”. The lion looks down and sees another lion looking up, and he goes ‘Ohwee” and that one goes “ohweee” and more “ohweee” they go more “ohweeee”, then the lion jumps in. So the lion can’t get out any morejump out of it. No matter how weak the rabbit might be, it can destroy the lionthat. No matter howwho weak we might be, we can destroy our ego. That is what wisdom is all about.

I just wanted to establish that ground with you. The wisdom we are going to talk about is the wisdom of emptiness, which is interdependent-ness, not empty-empty. That is why it is called “empti-ness”. If it is empty-empty, you could just say “empty”, and not need to say “ness”. Or you may say “nothing”. The idea is quite simple. I must give you that idea as well. Why do you say interdependent-ness? By looking at interdependent-ness there is no solid thing there. We have toWhen you destroy the solid-ness of what we think is “me – the most important one”, “me that I must protect from all kinds of hatred, obsession, all addictions”, because and all this, that that very me has really made us hide all our negative emotions. It says, "in order to protect “me”. Then that creates, then I have “my”. My retinue, my friend, my this, my head, my hand, my thought, my name, my this, my that, my leg, my tongue, whatever. So, anything coming near “me and my” must be “theirs. That side. The Republicans. What happened to the Libertarians, anyway?

[Audience:] There are still some left in New York.

[Rimpoche: ] You think so?

[Audience:] They sometimes take ads in the paper”

That is where the division comes in. That is why you have all these emotions build up. That is why we createmake this porcupine- style of self, because of the hatred, because of the obsessions. That creates negative karma. That creates the continuation of suffering and pains. That is why we need to take out the root out where it is all coming from. It is not enough to cut the branches and leaves and flowers of the tree. In order to stop not grow the poisonous tree from growing, you must root it out. Rooting it out is the rooting out of that ego. That is why Trungpa Rimpoche calls it cutting through spiritual materialism. We all have spiritual materialism. No matter how great a spiritual person you might be, you will never want to give it up. The earlier teachers used to say even a totally dedicated person who truly renounced everything, who has gone into the mountains, who is trying to meditate in the caves, will also sometimes hope that “people down in the valley will know I am still here and I hope they will look up tofor me, I hope they will like me”. , and they think that.

That is why there is one of those great stories, about a person who went to a teacher and said: “I’d like to meditate”. The teacher said “Oh yes, you would like to meditate, what would you like to meditate on?” He says: “I’d like to meditate, and I’d like to destroy my anger.” He said “Oh, very good, then you’d like to meditate on patience. Yes, very, very good. Go up behind my house, go up to the mountain, you’ll find a cave, and do meditate on that.” So the guy goes, and is sitting there meditating. Then this teacher got another visitor, and he said: “Would you do me a favor?” He said: “yes, what can I do for you?” He said: “would you please go up on the mountaintop, there is somebody somewhere sitting and meditating in a cave, on patience. Go and insult him as much as you can, and then come back.” So this guy goes up, and sees the meditator there, sitting in meditation ng with a big holy looking, and he says to him,id “what do you think you are you doing?” “I am meditating.” “You? Meditating? My foot. You and meditating? You?” The meditator He said, “Wwhat is wrong with me?. How dare you to say that to me?” AndSo he started chasing the guy, throwing stones down the hills. So eEven up in the mountain cave, where nobody is there, these negative emotions come up. there.

If you destroy the source of the negative emotions, whether you go up on the mountaintop, or staybe in downtown Manhattan, it doesn’t matter. [Tibetan phrase] The great Marpa Lotsawa, the founder of the Kagyu tradition remained in the family as what is , what they traditionally called a “householder”. He was a, the farmer who greows the food, who cultivateds the land and collecteds the crops, and drankinks chang, and ateeats meat. [Though doing] that, He [he] also obtained total enlightenment and became the founder of the Kagyu tradition.

So it does not matter if you sit in a cave or sit in the city. It doesn’t matter whether you shave your hair or grow your hair and become a hippie. It doesn’t matter. It does matter what you do with your ego. When you challenge that, cut it into pieces, your liberation is in your own hands. That is what we intend to do with this rest of the year and the next year. We tTry to do the wisdom in that way. When you are reading the book on the wisdom, it is hard, and boring. But why do why we work through indulge through the hardship and boredomness and boring-ness? Because it will give usyou will make a breakthrough. Thank you, I have nothing more to say.

I will be here for three more Thursdays. I am not going to entertain any questions today, but next week I will entertain.

07/118/2005

© 2005, Gehlek Rimpoche, All Rights ReservedAnnouncement about a concert in New York, at 4:30 PM on Saturday the 30th. Two lamas, Losang Samden and Tenzin Tserig [sp?] are going to have a traditional Tibetan concert.

Thank you so much, let’s call it a day, and we do the dedication, with a couple of nice Migtsemas. Three.