Archive Result

Soundfile: 20060124GRAAPeace

Speaker : Gelek Rimpoche

Location: Ann Arbor

Topic: Attaining Lasting Satisfaction: Peace

Transcriber: Matt Hannah

Date finished:

[00:00]

Welcome today, the Tuesday 21st? 21st February 2006. The--time goes very fast so--when I first came in the United States, I was not so busy and one of my favorite way of spending my time is watching the Days of Our Lives. That is the what we call that, soap opera, that's it. Days of Our Lives.

And when you're watching the Days of our Lives, I'm sure many of you've seen that, the sand bottle goes down. So exactly in one way that is very funny and all that, but on the other hand it always remind me the reality of our life. And that's exactly how our life goes. So our life just like the sand in the bottle, and when that turn upside down, it just goes. So exactly that’s how it's happening.

Not very long ago, we're all young, and youth, and I don't know beautiful, handsome, and all that. And then the days goes, you know without any, without any sort of special notice or anything. And suddenly we realize that we are at age what we are, and probably over here I'm the most, probably the oldest of all. So that is how it goes. [Laughs] Okay, maybe one okay. So but that is how our life goes. [0:04:20.0]

So life what we had is wonderful life, we talk last Tuesday how wonderful it is. And how beautiful this life is, and how capable of this life is. Both. In the spiritual as well as material world. Provided a solid, reliable, foundation whatever you want it to do, whatever you wanted to become, educational point of view, spiritual practice point of view, money-making point of view. Whatever you want it to do, the life has provided a solid foundation on which you can rely on and stand firmly on the life. And that is our richest and best wealth whatever we have. No comparison with the multi-billion dollars with b? If you really have to buy your life b? doesn’t get anywhere. [0:05:50.3] Although we make artificial mark, saying your life is worth for ten thousand dollars, or your life is worth for I don't know, whatever, three thousand dollars, or three hundred dollars, or three million dollars, uh people that is completely artificial.

Real life if you have to buy it, you cannot buy for three hundred dollars, you cannot buy three thousand dollars, you cannot buy three million dollars, you cannot even buy for three billion dollars, or three trillion dollars. So the value whatever we are putting by the life insurance company or whoever putting is very, very fake figure.

It is manipulated figure, artificial base on which they manipulate it. It's not really, not really. If you really have to buy this life there's no price for it, nothing. That is life we have, whether you're poor or rich, young or old. Intelligent or not so intelligent. That is the life what we have. You have, what I have what we all have it. So now the question comes: how do we make this one life worthwhile? The value what it has, how can I cash that out?

We talk about it, spiritual path, which cashes better than material aspects of it. Number of people will think: “oh yeah, stupid bunch of people over there call themselves spiritualist. And if you are so very strongly going in that and they call them conservatives. Or whether it’s Christian conservative or Buddhist conservative, or whatever, you label them as conservatives you put them separately.

And if you're not so much in that but very open wonderful mind, you call them liberals and label them. And in the society today unfortunately people think conservatives better than liberals. And that is the political understanding, the build -up for fifty years of efforts of making the conservatives are better than liberals, maybe more than fifty years. Fifty years. The efforts was put somehow, people get an idea conservatives are better than liberals. The true reality is, conservatives are not better than liberals, no/nor? liberals are better than conservatives. As a matter of fact the liberals are a little more open-minded, conservatives are a little more closed minded, closed means narrow-minded. Whether if you like narrow-minded person better than open-minded you can agree with the conservatives and call them they're better. [0:10:04.1]

But if you want to be intelligent and intellectual people, open-mindedness, you know place like Ann Arbor is the basis of the University of Michigan. Is the whole of Eastern, variety of great institutions, educational institutions here. And over here should be just like Boston, the home of intellectual people. Intelligent person. If you're intelligent person, you should not be closed minded. So should be very open-minded and open for all and choose the best. I think the word liberal means anyway, liberal or conservative whatever you might be, what makes the individual really better person? What makes the individual to achieve what you wanted to be achieved, what you can be achieved, what you need to be achieved. What makes this worthy life that what we have, how can we make best use of it?

We are not the first one here. Neither we're the last one. Great many spiritual persons have come up before us. Jesus. Buddha. All those great people, you name it. Hundreds of them might have come up, right? Before us. They have done something, they have something common what did they do? How did they achieve? What was the sort of thing what they do, did? Quite simply speaking, whether you look in the Judeo-Christian tradition or Hindu-Buddhist tradition, or you look in the Jains and Sikhs, and all those. Wherever you look. You find one common thing: that is love and compassion. [0:13:00.2]

Not only the great traditions, but great beings, the beings that we seen ourselves in our lifetime or just before, what the history encountered. Person like Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Dr. Martin Luther King. The Dalai Lama. Again, one common thing they all have it: love and compassion. Not hatred, and violence. So love, compassion or ahimsa what Gandhi calls, that is non-violence.

It’s common with the Buddha. [0:14:24.8] [Tibetan] Buddha himself said: “my followers who are hurting other people, and who are attacking other person, I do not consider them spiritual person at all.” That is Buddha's word with a period, no question, but period. Not spiritual person, period. So the love compassion is the key through which individuals can make themselves better, can make others better can cash the real, the ultimate really, what ultimate goal, the ultimate what we are eligible or entitled almost, to be able to achieve. And that is through love compassion.

But love compassion, if you just keep on saying: “love compassion, love compassion, love compassion,” you can go in the street shout: “love compassion.” You're not going to get love compassion. Even if you go in the street and go and shout: “love and compassion,” probably police will beat you up and that' s not going to be love compassion at all [laughs]. Probably consider you're anti-Bush because anti-war, you're anti-Bush, because you're anti-war you’re anti-national, because you're anti-Bush. So that probably they will interpret in that way but that's their interpretation that doesn't mean its reality anyway. But in the mean time you get beat up, that is bad luck you get beat up anyway [laughs]. So that doesn't help by shouting love and compassion, doesn’t help.

What you really need is love and compassion, is something that you have to soak your mind, in love, in compassion, and so that you will affect other people with you also with love and compassion. How does that happen? How does one do that? That is the question [0:17:29.6] I believe tonight.

So--I don’t have the basic announcement of tonight's talk, I have the explanation. But basic announcement for tonight’s talk is not this one but yes, please....should be on the table you know, so that I don't have to be searching for it. Thank you, John can you grab, that ok? Thank you.

[reads]Becoming peace, centering yourself in the meditation and life, achieving balance reveals a center of peace that serves as basis. Process and the result: meditation offers simple, straightforward, method to bring and maintain peace in your life, and that's what you have.

So which means, subject what have to talk tonight is the, through what tool you apply to get yourself, encounter, and soak yourself, encounter, develop and effective to the others.

First you have to know, second you have to become a part of you, third you will affect others. So three steps, so how do you do that and that is the question.

The answer is meditation [0:19:54.9] Becoming peace. Centering yourself. If you are artist you have to draw line make sure you're in the middle, centering yourself, I'm joking, sorry. I'm making jokes for the, for the title here. If you’re artist you have to draw the straight line, make sure the center line, so you’re not leaning towards this side or that side, so centering yourself in that.

Sound to me to become peace you have to be centering yourself in the meditation and life. So how do you center yourself in the meditation you know, who can do? Artists can do. As well as the mathematicians can do, or maybe the architects can do. Maybe the engineers can do, centralize you know see how much this side is, how many millimeters here, how many millimeters there, then bring yourself in it, right? Centering...making jokes?

Anyway, the idea is the meditation is the tool, so what does meditation mean? What does that do? I do not know whether they're centering you or not. The meditation makes you, a really the three major work?: first building knowledge; second, understanding; and third, internalizing.

Basically this is the life of earlier spiritual teachers, in traditional Tibet. Traditional Tibet whenever people started writing biography or autobiography, a simply basic three outlines, three outlines. The number one is the learning aspect of it. Number two, to internalizing what you learn, and number three how it been effective to yourself and others.

Earlier Tibetan lamas and whole life is meditation, meditation. Tsongkhapa has said [0:23:10.9] [Tibetan] First I put so much efforts of learning; second I materialize what internalize, whatever I learned. Finally day and night, I put my efforts, life in that. So the meditation really here, this not philosophical point of meditation, sorry theoretical point of meditation, theoretical point of meditation and especially what we understand in the west: meditation means just sit there, just sit there and focus and that's what we learn about meditation, right?

We always talk about it, the Allen Ginsberg poem, saying sit on the cushion, cushion is not there, sit on the chair, first thing to do is keep your backbone straight, right? And watch your breath? And these are the, and if you don't know how to sit, look at others sit like others, that is how we do. And that is the superficial of meditation. And that is the ninety percent of Americans understand when you talk about meditation for them, that's what it is. But for us meditation means total life learning. [0:25:14.7]

And internalizing. Finally becoming part of our life, and that is meditation. Whole purpose of the meditation is not to gain focus. Not to gain concentration, that is if you’re learning shamatha meditation, very specific meditation called shamatha or zhi nay in tibetan, but shamatha in sanskrit. And that purpose if just to focus, learn, becoming peace, and what you call it, combine or whatever? All of those are peace and harmony and joy, and be able to focus and concentrate, and that is the, not the major purpose of meditation at all.

You can keep on focusing and if you can focus you can do all kinds of things right? You can focus on the spoon and get spoon get twisted we see that very often with anybody can do it. Haven’t you seen it people doing it, they do it? You can focus on the penny, and penny will fly up on the door, we have seen in the movie called Ghost right haven't we seen that? We also see if you can focus by the focusing power you can read and you can understand some kind of clairvoyant, we can develop we know very well, CIA’s using that all the time. We know that, it's no secret.

But that is not the major point of meditation at all. That’s what we think it is. These are one of our biggest problem of misunderstanding meditation. Which means we waste our life believe me, we waste our life. We waste our life because thinking meditation is simply focusing try to keep focus, focus, focus. If you keep on focusing all the time you become bogus? All right? So that is how we waste our life. Because just simply misunderstanding, simple misunderstanding. [0:28:26.5]

So the meditation here beginning is the learning, learning of meditation, because, you know, if you've been asked to meditate, if you don’t know what to meditate, what else can you do? Look at other person and sit the way the other persons sitting, you try to copy that. With no reasons your hand will go like this or that or this or that whatever or this. Or this or that. So that’s exactly because not knowing.

So the learning is first on the meditation. I don't mean you have to become scholar. I don't mean you have to be Ph.d. I don’t mean you have to be master. I don’t mean, you don’t even have to be bachelor of art BA. But at least you have to be high school graduate, don’t you? You can’t be high school dropout unless you become such a genius you will not be able to do anything. So simple learning.

Because you want to do something. We know very well our life, we are not happy with our life we know our life is more capable than what we are doing, we know we have opportunity, we know we cannot do it, and so we're not we're dissatisfied with our everything. Our job, our education, our things, we do in the home and everything. Dissatisfaction because of that. So we know we have to do something, we know we can achieve better. What better, how to achieve, what do I do?

Since we don’t know anything so you do all this. So the learning simply you need to learn a little bit how can I get myself transport from this level where we are today to whatever you can get, if possible to the Buddha level, if not possible, number two, number three, number four, whatever. So that sort of thing you need to know, if you don't know, you’re never going to get it. [0:31:43.8]

Lot of us, lot of us will satisfy with the situation under control. Situation is under control. There are a lot of ways people control the situation right? Normal spiritual path, normal basic, Americans way how they do it. You bring all these spiritual things, you label them Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism, Zen or Hinayana Buddhism, or Christian or Judaism and Muslims and Hinduism. And oh certainly something pops up what is this? Oh it’s called Sikh, Sikh you know, so you put Sikh in there.

So you put them in label put them in box labeled "ha situation is under control, that is exactly how the Chinese have done with the Tibetans in earlier history. Those Tibetan lamas become, some of them become quite popular and Chinese Emperor need to contact them, and then they bring one and they don’t know who this guy is a lama from Tibet, some crazy guy from "" whatever west of ? in right? [0:33:25.5]

So they don't know, the Chinese officers do not know how to identify them, so they decided to offer them hat. So they get to mark them they offered them a hat, each one of them offered hat. One of them offered a black one said "black, black hat set," and then they offered them red one called red hat set. Red hat lama, black hat lama, and rainbow color lama, Sakypas have the hat called the multi-color so they call it rainbow hat, that's how they identify, they keep their situation under control that's how they call it. And that is one way, how the Chinese have done earlier. And exactly like the most Americans do, put them into boxes label them and then you sit off--ha situation is under control, what is it Buddhist? Oh which one is it, which box, a or b or c? A. Oh Tibetan Buddhism, Vajrayana b. oh they’re called Zen people, or they focus and concentrate and that’s it.

[0:34:49.0] Then even that's not bad, what we do, we do, we sink, we are actually sinking. We don’t know how to swim. We are sinking but we tried to move a little bit in the water, so we call our situation is under control, you don't know we're sinking and that's what we do. So these are our problems.

There's so many spiritual paths. You have a great Judeo-Christian tradition. However for all these years go through, it has a tremendous amount of corruption, no doubt about it. And now you have a new Eastern religions come in and you don’t know what to do with them, and suddenly you started picking up here there, picking up this one, there, put all of them together, the salt the sugar, the pepper, the red pepper, chili pepper, all mix them up in the bottle called new age.

Method of practice: love, light, wonderful, nothing is bad, what is the bad meaning? laughs. Anyway that sort of thing. And then you know lot of people buy that unfortunately. Lot of people buy love light wonderful, wonderful. Lot of people do, and people, not fault of people because they have no knowledge, no information, no knowledge.

So when you don’t know you can only do what you know. See the limitation? And that's why learning is important. And meditation 101 is learning, learning. [0:37:09.6] Learning is light that defeats the darkness of ignorance. [0:37:28.6] [Tibetan]

This is best wealth, no thieves can take it away from you. Learning. 0:37:46.2 [Tibetan] This is the best friend who will never let you down, no matter how weak and poor you may become. [0:38:01.8] [Tibetan] This is also the best weapon which you can use to cut the forces of ignorance. The best sword. 0:38:19.3 [Tibetan] It is your best friend who can give you all kinds of suggestions. Because you learned.

These are the Buddha's words from the ”?” itself. So the learning is extremely important. Just to be able to manage. If you only learn, you don't practice, you don’t try to internalize, it becomes dry academic knowledge. Some of the professors are dry academic professors, it is simply information knowledge, nothing else, But here in the United States it's different. I've seen some Indian professors, some of them you know year by year they have different lectures, they have them return, they have no idea what they did it, and next year when the lecture comes they go and collect the file, which collecting huge dust they clean the dust, the file, dust up and they read it, and that's their lecture and that is called dry academic information. Yes lot of information available, it is just dry nothing else. And that do no good to you. Better not have than such a dry thing [0:40:13.1]

So what you do, second: analyze them. The information whatever you have then you have to analyze, if you cannot analyze it’s never going to be internalized. So the analytical meditation is second step. It is the Tsongkhapa, the great reformist of Tibetan Buddhist 1357-1419, he's the one who put analytical meditation as meditation. Analyzing, find out what is all about it. Even I talked to you tonight, learning is important, you have to analyze: what does he mean learning? Do I have to go to school or what do I have to do? Do I have to read book, what kind of a book, how do I read it? How do I internalize and all of those. Analytical means: analytical meditation is applied to every art according to traditional Tibetan. Every art.

If you are a artist who are drawing a image of the Buddha, analyzing the figure itself, how big, what is the measurement, how, where, how it look, what shape. Is it Indian looking, Chinese looking, or Middle Eastern looking, or Asian looking, or European looking or Caucasian looking or African-American looking-- figuring that out is analytical meditation, of the measurements, they're all analytical. When finally analyze and putting them together is called concentrated meditation, be able to focus together see it from the drawing art point of view, drawing point of view. Even the paper presenters, the lecturers, and students and all have that art, learning, analyzing and internalize.

This is extremely important. Without which you cannot internalize, when you cannot internalize it doesn’t become part of you, when it doesn’t become part of you, then it becomes dry academic. The ultimate result will be just the dry, academic exercise. And that's not a spiritual. That's a money-making business. Or you don’t even make money, whatever you know, nobody will buy it. So all this and that is , that is you know really that’s what the meditation is all about it. And finally when you internalized you have to focus. Focusing this way is one way of doing it, relaxing oneself is another way of doing it.

You have to have both, the teaching traditions will talk to you focusing on that way, but what you have to learn between the lines is relaxing this way. [0:44:18.6] Relaxing on self, thoughts, ideas, consciousness, self. Both has to go. In sequences: analyzing, relaxing, focusing, analyzing, focusing relaxing. You have to have it. That is all about the meditation.

Subject you have to change from time to time. Because whatever, whatever spiritual path means, cutting our neurosis and our addictions down, and building a positive effect on the individual so each different neurosis needs each different instructions. These instructions you analyze, you encounter, learn, analyze, focus, meditate. And relax. That’s what we need it, that is meditation is all about it. And which requires tremendous amount of efforts, actually lot of efforts you have to put in. It's not simply meditate-- yes I'm meditating, sitting down, or saying my mantras. That is not enough.

You must familiarize yourself with the subject and analyze and get essence that must internalized. Way and how I was taught, I was in the, had great opportunity and that is what we call it traditional Tibetan debate system. Through debate we learn. We go to teacher, listen to him and whatever the teacher taught we read the book and when we don't understand we debate. We meet, the purpose of one of the sangha is to assist each other. And that is, we debate. How do we debate? We don't declare debating and we don't appoint anybody else. In the monastery where I was trained in Drepung, in Sera, in Ganden, the great Tibetan monasteries what they have is there is a set period of time, and set period area.

So at that set period of time you walk in, look around and whoever you find, you say: can I ask you a question? And everybody is looking for everybody will come with a question, of any of your practice or anything, and they'll ask: can I ask you a question? So the other one says: “yes but I have another question; I'm looking for somebody else. Goodbye.”

“Ok I can talk to you, all right sit down, what is your question. My question is blah, blah, blah, this and what do you think and ...

“Well i don't agree with you.”

“Why not?”

“Because this and that.” You don't say: “I don't agree i disagree without reason.” That is called sign of stupidity. We West/waste?, we do a lot. I disagree--why? No reasons I disagree. [0:48:44.5] Get out of the door you just don' t belong here.

Actually that’s really what it is. So you say: “I disagree with you,” and they say, he say why, he or she says why, so you have to give solid reason, otherwise your answer is: I don't know. It's not that I disagree, I don't know. Well if you don't know, the person whose asking question has to come out with more explanation of what it is, you know, what we call this when you don’t know the answer, we call it darkness.

He say “I’m in darkness,” so that means person who is answering questions has to bring more and more, and more talk about it round about it, and explain it and make it light and then persons thought will come up and then you discuss. “What do you think?” “Well I think this.” “I don't think so,” “Why not?” and give you reasons why you don’t think so. The other one will say: “yes i do think so,” and give you reason. That is how the discussion the debate is all about it. The debate is not you disagree with me, I disagree with you, I will punch you. That’s not the debate, and that is what we call it wild crazy cowboys. [0:50:17.9]

Person who I said you know, I disagree, no reason, it’s a sign of stupidity. Or arrogant. Actually Dharmakirti is the one who introduced the debate system. He has five signs of stupidity. One of them is this, who says I disagree without any reason, or you have a reason, you say: I don't remember, I do have a reason. I don't remember, that is different--and then you're expected to bring the next session the reasons you want it to be explaining, then, that's how they do.

So you want like to ask that question, and then vice versa, and then when you settle it something agree or disagree by having that discussion alone, whether you agree or disagree, doesn't matter by having that discussion alone, you have built up a sort of analytical meditation yourself, so you're really familiarized much more, and it will, it brings you the real spiritual path within you. Internalize, that's how I learned.

But old traditional debate system is not possible here in united states, however Jewel Heart is very proud of presenting on experimental basis three days in May. That is May 11th, May 18th, and May 25th three nights, here in this room, between the 7 to 830 pm, just like Tuesday night. And no matter how many people comes in, you walk in, some people maybe standing and watching over somebody else’s discussion, you just walk in by yourself and find your partner, start conversation.

There will be no supervisions there will be no guidance, there will be no referee [laughs], there will be no referee. And there is no disciplinary person who’s standing there, and it almost no rule. You can't punch each other, you can't drink in here, you can't smoke in here, you can't sleep here. Other than that you find a, sit in the corner, pull out chair, sit down, or sit on the floor, have a conversation. And we really like to bring the good old Indian masters during the Buddha's lifetime and thereafter hundreds of years in India, the tradition of the Nalanda, and the tradition of the Vikramshila, which was brought to the Drepung, Sera, Ganden of Tibetan monastery, which we like to bring in the United sSates.

We like everybody’s cooperation and everybody’s support, I mean this is first experimentation. Nobody who is, there's no abbot, there's no disciplinary person, there's nobody. You can come in, have started discussion two or more, no more than five or six people together. Then you don't have, people do that even in the monastery they do sometimes, ten people will get up together and blah blah blah they'll go.

They throw their robes out and even you know hold each other, because I want to say this, and they push each other and do all that I've seen it, I'm sure you've seen that in the pictures and things like that. But we don't expect that, but have a conversation, have a conversation, and see how you feel. And these three days experimenting, and after that experimenting, and we would like to know how you feel and this is going to be, I'm really hoping this is going to be the way the traditional debate system was brought-in discussion.

So the effect to yourself, any doubts whatever you have you should raise it. Anything, one rule here: anything, whatever you have discussion here is you cannot be hold responsible, you cannot blackmail, because oh you remember in the debate you said this, and debate is like a political campaign. Anybody can say anything to or against anyone. No one can be hold responsible. We know that right? We know that we know that. [0:56:09.0]

We know they say so crazy things against each other, no one can sue anybody in this country where everybody sues everybody for no matter whatever right? But no one can do that in the political campaign system.

Very similar to that, no one can be hold responsible, that statement, whatever who makes it, or that argument, whatever who makes it, a. do not take it personal, b. it's not personal, it’s the point of discussion. So much so that in the debate in the monasteries sometimes debating person will right on your neck and take his mala and put in your mouth and pull it, message is: “you are donkey you don’t know anything, you are donkey,” that’s what they’re talking about. Not the democratic party's donkey, but a real donkey, you know nothing, you can just make noise. "OHH," that's it, nothing else, your word has no meaning, that is what they do. Indicate right on your neck and put the mala through your mouth and pull it back, but you're not going to punch it they don't, that's how it is. Nobody will do here hope not, right? You're not going to [laughs].

We used to tease Doug?, no we can tease you--and that is, I really hope that . So that it will help us to bring the spiritual path in our hand. Lectures like this, talking like this, is learning and then analyzing internalizing, after that you draw conclusion. Your conclusion will be your understanding, that is your subject of your meditation. I'm really looking forward that. I'm not going to talk too long, and I like to say thank you for being here, and next week, that is the 28th of February which happens to be Tibetan New Year.

So we will not be meeting in the evening here. However every year we celebrate in the morning, 10, 10:30 in the morning we do a little Lama Chopa tsoh offering here. And those of you who are not busy working, or those of you who are not lazy, sleeping, if you like to join you're welcome, and other than that we have no evening teachings on next Tuesday. So morning, 10:30, this very room so we have tsoh, those whoever can come and um—and I believe this weekend I will be in Cleveland.

And Saturday and Sunday talking in Cleveland the subject is Three Principal Aspects, I think, the three principles, three principles that is from 10-12 and 2-5 for both days. Saturday and Sunday in Cleveland Jewel Heart.

If you want to come you're welcome, and Three Principles is very good path, those of you who have three principal of number of time, that's fine, if you don't have three principal before, you're welcome to join there. But if you're really coming, quite a number of you should call them, because Cleveland Jewel Heart is not that big, so they can accommodate about, I guess, maximum 50 to 60 maybe 70, I doubt it 50-60.

So if you're going you better call Cleveland Jewel Heart, this moment I think the coordinators are Bill ? and Susan? and Sarah R?, and I think either one of the, their numbers are available in the Jewel Heart telephone directory. We do have Jewel Heart telephone directory. I hope you all have it, and if you don't have it, get, demand from office tell them “I want your telephone number; my name is not here why not?” And also tell them, or tell me, my number's wrong why? And so then that's what we should do, that will be your contributions, so that's there okay? Good, and I guess I have nothing more to add up here, thank you. [1:02:02.3]