Archive Result

Soundfile 20060617GRCHSC2

Speaker Gelek Rimpoche

Location Chicago

Topic “Workshop 102: Determination to be Free”

Transcriber Michelle J. Sorensen

Date when completed

0:00:50.0 OK, so this morning we did a talk about 101 and then we pick up from the question the lady over here raises beautifully. So, all right, we know we need to have a determine to be free, but determine to be free, if knowing determine to be free does not do any good, so how do we go about it? Knowing alone—OK, knowing, knowing, knowing, this is interesting—knowing, knowing, knowledge, know, knowing. ‘Kay. What does that mean? Know, knowledge, knowing, know. ‘Kay. I’m not ask, now wait a minute. Know, knowing, knowledge. Getting information. Understanding. Becoming quality. Can you see the thing? Getting information. Understanding, we call it digesting. Becoming quality. Do you see the link? First you hear about it, then you know about it, you think about it, and you understand about it, you digest about it, and this, it becomes your quality. In other words, it’s become a part of your life, become your quality. So it just, you know, I guess, so knowing, so knowing alone does not do the job. Knowing becomes part of our life. A part of me. You know we do have a lot of information we get, that we know about. (Laughter). That’s OK, that’s OK, I’m sorry. I won’t look that way, anyway.

0:03:41.1 Know, know, know is something. And then it is understand and digest and becoming a part of our life, parts of our life. I think that is the thing. Determination to be free has to be part of our life. In order to become a part of our life, we should not only completely understood, but you’ve got to used to it. Not only you used to it, it becomes an unquestionable part, an unquestionable part of our goal. Our goal. Sort of thing. You know, I mean, human beings are capable of doing this and capable of picking at anything, you know. So, it becomes, when you begin to have the information, determine to be free from negative emotions, and maybe I may add one more, beyond negative emotions, where the negative information is coming—sources—where the negative emotions are coming—the sources—also knowing that, you know, the Buddha’s wisdom, this Buddha’s information is this, the Buddha shared that, been saying that. What is really meant is the Buddha’s experience. And that experience tells us, whether we knew it or not know it, when we dislike the sufferings, and you just can’t fight the symptoms. If you keep on fighting the symptoms, it doesn’t do that good. Doesn’t stop. So, the challenge, whatever we will face is fight at the causal level. What it causes.

0:06:25.5 So to answer your question—what do I do then? How do go about it? So knowing, try to see it, how it comes in. One day we know, we don’t know, but we know, is negative actions, negative activities, give us pains and suffering. Positive actions and positive deeds give us joy and happiness. Somehow we knew. We don’t know, but we know. You know what I mean. We don’t know, but we know. That is our common sense tells us. Not only common sense, but every experience within our self tells us. For example, when we have nice, wonderful feelings, like faith or something—positive feelings—the result is good, nice. Almost like a good night’s sleep. You feel that way. Negative emotions like hatred and whatever comes up, obsession, even you have like that good night’s sleep type of good feelings, it is somehow robbed from us. Suddenly gone away. Suddenly it is taken away from us. And that tells us, negative things brings not so happy. It brings unhappiness, unpleasant feelings, experiences difficult, experience suffering. Positive thoughts and actions brings some kind of joy, satisfaction, happy, glad to do it. Happy to do it. And that brings it. So that tells us, not only the Buddha’s experience, but that tells us, the positive thoughts and negative thoughts making difference to our actions, as well as to our life and our feelings. Taking that into the bigger sense, when you hurt someone, no matter whatever it is, they will hurt us back.

0:09:41.8 It is the same thing. Elephant walks around and little ants bite their toe. Whatever that affects elephant or not, but that is how it works. It is the same thing that’s happening with us. We will go over there and these little Iraqis fight back. It is not only Iraqi, but wherever you go, you go take over somewhere else, and they do the same thing anywhere, wherever you go, it doesn’t matter. My statements may not be correct politically, but (chuckles), it may not be politically incorrect statement, but however it is the truth. Wherever you go, whatever, whoever it may be. So this is the reality outside. We can see with our eyes. We can understand, we’re not a fool. We can understand that. If anything happens to us, we will fight with tooth and nail. We don’t have to fight tooth and nail, we got, we’re a superpower, luckily. Believe it or not, we will fight same thing, same way. And that is human nature. If they hurt you, you are going to hurt them back. If you hurt them, they will try to hurt us back. It is absolutely, not only human nature, it is the nature of living beings. Always, you know, it is very interesting, the rabbit-lion story. And Buddha shares those funny stories like that. Lion and rabbit: do you know? No you don’t, you don’t. (Audience member says she knows that one) You know that one, good.

0:12:31.3 Somebody, I think you’re the only one who knows, maybe we are the only two that knows. Maybe we have to share that a little bit. You know the lion thinks the lion is king of animals. Especially the wild animals. With or without realizing, the lion bullies every other creatures around. Lion bullies every other creatures around. Are you with me? Lion bullies every other one. The little rabbit—rabbits are considered very intelligent—those of you who keeps rabbit as pet, you know. Or those of us who are the rabbit in our—what do you call it? (Audience: Chinese horoscope) Chinese horoscope. I almost said zodiac sign, but the rabbit doesn’t come in there. So, we know the rabbit is intelligent. So, the rabbit cannot take any more bullying from the lion. So, the lion is huge and so powerful, naturally, if the rabbit tried to challenge—if the rabbit is stupid, he will stand there and try to challenge, and doesn’t take any time for the lion, he just has to hit once with the claw, that’s the end of the rabbit. So, if you are intelligent rabbit, the rabbit is looking around saying, how I’m going to challenge this guy. So, think about it a little while. So, one day you know, the rabbit thought about it, so the rabbit said OK, he goes to the lion and says hey, you’re great no doubt about it, you’re protecting small animals like me against big ones and great and wonderful and all this. Or so whatever the rabbit did, did all the monkey tricks, and the lion played a little bit, I know you are the king, blah, blah. But there is another one just like you. So, unless you take care of that, it becomes, you know, it becomes challenge for you in the forest.

0:15:24.0 You know what the rabbit’s trying to do, catch the lion’s hatred. And the fear. So, lion’s said, another one like me, says where? Down there. Where? There’s no one like me. There is one down there. All right, show me. So, the rabbit goes, with all (unclear 0:15:48.0) and take the lion. The lion walks over there with sort of dignity and looking hard, ooh, and anybody who is coming around. He walks around. And the rabbit takes the lion near the lake. And then the lion says, where is it? It’s down there, in the lake. So, lion looks down once and sees just like lion himself. So, goes and says ARRRR, and says ARRRR, you know, ARRRR more, how many more does he the same thing. So, the lion thought I have to catch this guy and jumped in the water and died. And that is, even rabbit can challenge like big lion. Catch him by catching the hatred. And the fear of losing control. And apology (unclear 17:06:04). So no matter—whoever, whatever—hatred is, violence is always made by violence and hatred is made by hatred. Hatred brings violence. Violence brings hatred. That’s makes our life miserable. So. So don’t get confused. Don’t be stupid or naive that you can overpower by violence.

0:18:23.3 Violence cannot overpower anybody. It is the only love, caring, compassion that changes mind, that overpowers. Since I told you this story, I must tell you another story together along with this. There was a meditator in Tibet, you know at the back of—at the north of Lhasa, a little village called Pembo area. The meditator comes in, and you know, Tibet was, at beginning of Buddhism, Tibet was quite a violent place. Actually, Tibetans are quite a violent person. This is not really barbarian but very close to it. Little violent. You know, it is every problem solved by violence, you know, before, pre-Buddhism. And one of the reason that’s why earlier Tibetan masters never developed martial art in Tibet, never, they completely stopped martial arts, completely, although martial arts has tremendous benefit, but even then they stopped. So, the purpose is, the purpose is, people misused martial arts, because of the characteristic of the individuals. So, Tibetan, Tibetan areas, Tibetan quite a violence at that time. As human beings are violence, just like that, ghosts in that area are also very violent. As I said this morning, same character—human beings, ghosts, and gods, together, same character. So, the ghost in that area thought well, if I do not manage to get rid of this meditator and if he develops something great, he may control us. So, they decided to—what you call it—nip it on the bud before the guy developed and so let him finish off. So, the ghosts had a meeting and said, well you saw there is a meditator here, we better take care of that before he becomes powerful, otherwise he may destroy us, maybe. He may control us. So, one of the ghosts volunteered, says, it is my area, my territory, I’ll manage.

0:21:31.0 So he goes up and tries to finish that guy. Goes up and found this guy is crying. So, the ghost sort of stopped for a minute, and they have this karmic power of reading other people’s mind, says, why is he crying for? So, he happens to be crying for thinking of the suffering of all living beings. Those are included, those ghosts, too. Those living beings, sufferings of the living beings. So ghost goes over there and does something, and so no matter whatever he does, and this meditator is crying constantly, thinking of the suffering of living beings, and the compassion on all of them, so the ghost could not challenge him because he is not hating them, he is using compassion so they thought, well it is not right for me to go there and harm this person. So he goes away. One time, two times, three times he goes there, same thing is happening, same thing is happening. So, he couldn’t do any harm to this meditator. So, the second meeting came up of the ghosts. And the third meeting comes up of the ghosts. The guy is still there, so one day, the chief of the ghosts says, well, somebody is supposed to be taking care of that guy and still up there, so what’s happening? And this guy says, yes, I was the one who volunteered, and I was going to do it, but I went there three, four times, every time I went there, he is worrying about us, and crying, so I couldn’t harm him. Oh! silly guy, I’ll go. So the chief of the ghosts going to go there to challenge. So, the chief goes there and found him crying, so he said, this other ghost says he’s crying about us: is it right? So, he started using his power to try to read his mind: he is really worrying about, particularly living ghosts around that area, and how can, how best way he can help. So, the chief goes back and says I can’t help that person because he is thinking about, worrying about us. How can we kill him?

0:24:30.2 So the meditator succeeded. The ghosts didn’t harm him, not only harm him, but later they help him and becoming sort of friends and helping him and ghosts protect him and all of those and helpful for both. Always true, (unclear 0:24:56.0) anyways. So that’s it. It shows, violence brings violence. Compassion and love cannot bring violence. Compassion and love protects people from violence. Compassion and love goes against violence. Because it is one, it is almost like one mind to open that aspect. One one’s hurts, one one’s help. One wishes happiness, one wishes ill. The violence wishes ill. Otherwise, no reason why you’re hitting. You want to cause pain and kill the person. Is wishing ill. Ill-wishing. Compassion, love, on the other hand, wishes joy and happiness. It is two direct mind, two direct aspects, two just opposite (unclear 0:26:35.0) aspects. So that is why one goes against the other. And that is why compassion, love, brings happiness. and that’s why the hatred, anger, brings violence. And that is how our mind works. Very definitely, that is how our mind works. So, when you raise the question, what to do? This is the answer. Compassion against violence.

0:27:44.5 Love against violence and hatred. It is a true answer. True answer. Although sounds silly. But true answer. Buddha told us, meditating on compassion and love brings happiness. I’m sure you all have heard that a number of times. But somehow it doesn’t make sense to us. We can, we sense meditating, compassion, and love makes you a good person, that’s about it. Because it is a good way of thinking, a good way of making our mind, and that is what we think. We really don’t think meditation, or love and compassion, brings happiness to ourself. When you are thinking this way, you can see how it brings happiness to us. And beside that, until now, we have no scientific proof that meditation on love-compassion brings happiness. We have no scientific proof until now. But now, at least, some of those scientists are saying, when you meditate on love and compassion, it makes your brain something, cortex or something, moves towards happy side. By using the seasoned meditators as guinea pig, putting them in five hours in MRI, and creating all kinds of terrifying noises, all of a suddenly.

0:30:40.1 There are a number of scientists doing this, out of M, what is it, I-Massachusetts (audience: MIT) MIT. And even out of this Chicago, no, Wisconsin, Richard Davidson, and all of those people, they do, that is what they do. And they are telling us this is what is happening, and that this is, if it is true, if it is a scientifically commonly accepted as a scientific thing, it is for the first time, we have a scientific confirmation that meditation on compassion and love brings joy and happiness. We are very close to this now. So, to answer your question, what then, is apply compassion and love through meditative way first, is going to be the answer. But if that is the case, the question will arise, oops—this is upside down—the question will arise, yeah, that’s fine, but, there is a big difference between love and light and the meditation of love and compassion. There is a huge difference. You know when I say, when we say, love and light, people will think about something nice, wonderful, blah, blah, blah, so hey, hey, how wonderful, blah, blah, blah. And then everybody clap, clap, clap and goes. And that is love and light I am talking about it. Not a very serious. Make yourself a little happy mood and then get together—I’m fine. It gives you a little mental relaxation. And then you get a lot of different mental relaxations, too. If it is just mental relaxations, you can do all of the things, too. Lot of other things. You know that right?

0:33:35.0 Allen Ginsberg has plenty of suggestions. It is a nice poem called Don’t Smoke. Anyway, I have to learn that, because, maybe I have to do that at this summer retreat. Don’t Smoke. Do you remember that. (Audience murmuring unintelligibly). Well, I remember few, right, he says, Don’t smoke, don’t smoke, don’t smoke, no don’t smoke, no smoke, no, no, no, don’t smoke, don’t smoke or no smoke. (Audience: don’t smoke.) Don’t smoke, don’t smoke, right? Don’t smoke, don’t smoke, don’t smoke, dzz, dzz, dzz, the official dope. Multi-million dollar, Southern tobacco company, run by Senator Jesse Helms, the CIA director, don’t smoke, don’t smoke, don’t smoke, don’t smoke the official dope. Smoke dope, smoke weed, remember those OK, so if it is just a relaxation, smoke weed. Don’t smoke, don’t smoke, don’t smoke (Rimpoche mumbles this phrase a couple of times and then chuckles.)

And the official dope. OK? So, we need something to the afternoon to wake everybody up. (Laughter.)

0:35:23.9 OK. So, just for relaxation, you can do anything. You can pick up a weeds. Indeed. But little more than that. Little more than that is the question really raised in our mind will be: alright, I can generate compassion, I can generate love, but what about me? My life? My life? My joy? My happiness? That’s the question. Comes over here and says: wonderful is this life. Number one, we don’t even know the wonderful that this life. This life is really wonderful—we talked this morning, remember? We talked about, we talked about how this life is capable of delivering anything what we demand. We said, there is no different life between our life and Einstein’s or Bill Gates’ or Buddha’s. From the lives point of view, it is capable of delivering. From the brain point of view, it is capable of delivering. From the intelligence, point of view, it is capable of delivering. From our personal point of view, may not be capable. Number one, we have a determination is not there. Number two, if determination is there, we don’t have will power—it’s not there. And we do have a confusion, thinking samsara’s delights are wonderful aspects of life, which is wrong. Which is very wrong. Chocolate is not good for diabetics, unless it is sugar-free. (Laughter.) Honestly. Honestly, honestly.

0:38:09.2 So anything that what we think is good and happy and wonderful, probably not good for us, unless it is uncontaminated. Problem with ours is the contamination. Problem with ours is the obsession. Problem with ours is the confusion. That is our problem. That is the contamination. What’s going on with us. And that’s our really problem. So, remember, chocolate is not good for diabetics unless it is sugar-free. Any samsaric goodies are not good for us unless it is uncontaminated. Can you remember? Good. So, the idea of wonderfulness, I’m going to lose it, is wrong. Wonderfulness, we’ve never seen the wonderfulness yet. Remember, joy that never knows sufferings we never developed, so therefore we don’t have it. So, the goodies are not goodies. They are sugar-coated poisons. Honestly. So, how can we spend our life just to engage in that.

0:40:07.9 The life is short. Short. It is nature. Remember, it is capable, it is also wonderful, please remember that: it is wonderful. No matter how much people may think, Oh, my life is terrible, my life is terrible, I’m so bad, blah, blah, blah, blah, no matter how much you think that way, but you better live than die. Better to be alive than dead. Right or wrong? Is there anybody who disagree with this. I am glad I see no hands up. If I did, I would say, “you are depressed.” Honestly. OK, it is a sign of depression, or the next step is a sign of craziness. That’s how, when it starts going down, it goes in that direction. But that is not permanent situation with us, it is absolutely temporary. There is always a way out. I do remember someone here telling me that I dreamed, that I dreamed piece of paper somehow stuck—in my understanding, was, it’s some kind of pitch on the ground like a pool or a water: what do you call those? (Audience: a whirlpool?) Right. Where you dig the water from the ground. (Audience: well.) Some like a deep, seven layers of earth and deep down then there, but there is a wind that comes, and get out of the pitch. I’m sure who told me that, maybe about ten years ago, still remember I hope. Maybe not. Anyway, so it’s a never-end. It always changes, no matter how deep goes, it has to come up.

0:43:09.0 The pendulum always swings. The farther it goes to the right, it will swing that much to the left. Farther to go left it will swing that much to the right. This is life. That’s how it works. It is impermanent. It is changing. That is the key in our life. We hate, we are afraid, we are afraid, we hate changing. But the changing is opportunity, changing is dangerous, it is opportunity, and it is exciting, and it is fearful. So, it is change. When you think it is never going to change, when you think, I am stuck, when you think, I am horrible, or you are absolutely entertained by contaminated joy, then what is happening is you are cheating yourself. So it goes: don’t cheat yourself with the fleeting pleasures. So the confusion we’ve talking about it—the delusion what we’re talking about it—is the similar little samsara’s delights, we think that is joy, we think that is something answer to our problem. Isn’t that true in our life?

0:45:38.0 Many of us think money is the answer for everything. M-O-N-E-Y is the answer to everything. You don’t know that until you have, not only you have, when you have plenty. Even then you sometimes don’t know that’s not the answer. You become more greedy. You become more fearful. You become more mean. You become more everything. It is proof to ourself that is not the answer. It is a problem. We cannot do without, but too much of it is suffering. Honestly. It is suffering. You don’t have it—you don’t have it—you’re you. When you have it, there’s so many new things comes up, new relations, new uncles, new nephews, new nieces, new aunties, and all of those comes up. It’s a saying in the Tibetan tradition, our teaching tells you:

0:47:33.7 Zhang zhang med pé zhang zhang jor lé ser la chag tsal lo (slightly unclear to me).

Somebody found some little bit of gold somewhere—old Tibetan story—so it is just a poor beggar have nothing, but suddenly found big piece of gold. So, everybody knows, everybody talks about it, and he found a lot of new uncles and aunties and nephews and nieces and all of those. So, one day he says, (Rinpoche repeats the Tibetan saying)

0:48:09.5 The uncle-less uncle, I prostrate to that piece of gold. Is uncle-less uncle: there’s no uncle before, now there’s a lot of uncles came up. So, he thinks it’s not the uncle, it is the gold, so I prostrate to the gold, he says. I would use the gold, because that brought a lot of uncles. Before that there no uncle. So, more uncle and more nephew and more nieces—more obligations. Especially when they get into trouble (chuckles). It’s more obligations.

0:49:00.4 Anyway, so. So, it shows, when you think money is the answer, that is a delusion because that doesn’t solve any problem—at all. Robert Murdoch is an example. (Audience corrects Rimpoche.) What did I say? Oh, not Robert, Rupert. Murdoch. Did I say Robert Mondavi? (Laughter and joking by the audience.) Robert Mondavi is not the answer. Even Reserve. (Audience continues to chat in the background.) I believe it is wine language (chuckles). Anyway, so what do we have here? So, which means we are cheating ourselves. So here goes, says don’t cheat yourself with the fleeting pleasures. That not really true pleasure, Mr. Robert Mondavi—it’s not, even Reserves are not. So, then what? Deeply contemplate the certainty of karma. And the constant suffering of samsara. See beyond circle of life. Did you hear me? (Audience member repeats what Rimpoche just said.) See beyond the circle of life. See the joy that never know suffering. See the nirvana. So, Buddha says nirvana is peace, samsara is suffering. So you will not see the peace, we will not see the nirvana until we see beyond circle of life or samsara. What makes us not see beyond circle of life is samsara’s delights.

0:52:16.6 It is the fault of Robert Mondavi. (Laughter.) And his wineries. The problem with us is the Napa Valley. If we go beyond Napa Valley, we won’t have a problem, we don’t see it. And this is the provider of samsara’s delights. Not to mention scotisshes. Scotch comes out Scotland, the scotisshes do this. So, all this. Or South African jewel, right? Which is samsara diamonds, samsara’s—(giggling) diamonds, say, what? What the (0:53:54.0 unclear)? Diamonds, what else? (Rimpoche laughs.) That is diplomat all the samsara’s delights. And that is our, that block us, compassion for ourself. That block us—right—if I am really determined to be free, I can’t be truly determined because I can’t give up my diamond. Can’t be truly determined because I can’t give up Robert Mondavi’s Reserve, whatever that is. What is it called? Some…wine? Yeah, but the name for that I forgot. Huh? Oh whatever, whatever, the Chateau Neuf de Pape, the French or whatever it is (audience laughter). Something like that, anyway. You know, really these are our problems. Samsara’s delights.

0:55:14.0 Or the scotch. Umm, what is it? (Rimpoche seems to be repeating an inaudible suggestion from the audience.) Yeah, Red Label, Red Label what. (Audience makes more suggestions including Glenfidditch and Glenlivet.) Yeah, yeah, but. There’s red and blue and black and whatever. Umm, forgot the names. Stupid, huh. (Audience says Johnnie Walker.) Johnnie Walker, that’s what it is. (Laughter.0 So all of these are our samsara’s delights, to some people; to some, it’s gone beyond. Its great you know, the gone beyonds are great. Whatever the way: through health reason, through religious reason, through vow reason, whatever, you gone beyond is great. But you are not gone beyond, it is the samsara’s delights. And that, what do you call it, that stupefies ourself to samsara. Wrong? Right? OK, good. So, the worst, the bad thing is, you know, it’s not really the Robert Mondavi or the Johnnie Walker or those. Each and every one of these—hatred—and each and every one of those obsessions keeps us some kind of kick, some kind of, some kind of pleasure. That is the worst, that is the true samsara’s delight. Didn’t you notice? The killers who’d like to kill, what they give them: thrill. The pedophiles—you call it, right? kill, they would like to keep on repeating their work because it give them a thrill. Now bullying woman, bashing woman, beating woman—umm, they repeat all the time. These people repeat all the time because they give them some kind of kick. And that is, for them, that is samsara’s delights.

0:58:13.1 So you can definitely excuse Johnnie Walker and Robert Mondavi. No comparison between these two. That’s why we lock people up. Because we don’t want them to repeat what they’re doing. For me, for me—honestly speaking, the prison is a correction center—got to be—not a punishment house. It’s a correction center. Honestly. And then the punishment should never be the capital punishment. It should never be. It is unfortunate we, in the United States, have capital punishment. It is very few countries in the world today. Beside us, it’s Communist Chinese and Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. So, we are in that line. So, we go to keep them off because they don’t repeat thing, they don’t hurt the society. Give them the opportunity of correcting themself. I am quite sure, our, you know, what do you call it, our forefathers, earlier, when they set up this, they probably set up that to give them chance and opportunity to improve themself and to safeguard society, both together. And not for punishment. But that’s what’s happening with us. And that is samsara’s delights for those people. It is easy for us to look at them and say, “Oh, for those people. Jeffrey Dahmer.” Remember? He’s from the neighboring state, Wisconsin.

1:00:55.4 Soon forth (unclear) is those. And that also, by chance, if you and I could get that habit easily. Luckily, we are not associated. If we are, we could pick up that easily. It is not impossible at all not to pick up this. And to pick up that’s also not impossible at all. We have all the tendencies, we do. We do have anger. We do have hatred. We do have obsession. We do have jealousy. We do like to satisfy ourself, whatever the way. Lucky, be happy: we don’t have that. At this moment at least. Really, be happy ‘bout it. Knowing the value of our life, knowing the capacity of our life, particularly, knowing we are capable of cutting our negative emotions once for all. We do have the way. We do have the know-how. We do have a role model. We do have experience that received and recorded by the great many spiritual leaders, one after the another. And this is our facility. This is our opportunity. This is our value. If we can’t take that now, when are we going to take it? This is the way how we help ourself. The moment we say help, we are in habit of looking our bag and taking out checkbooks. And that is good, thank you. When you are receiving end, you know.

1:03:38.2 But that is not the help we needed. We needed help ourself to cut our pains and miseries that what we don’t want, for once for all. We are capable. We have possibility. We have know-how. We have intelligent. We have everything now, if you don’t do it, when you die, it’s too late. That’s why here, Tsongkhapa says, “wonderful as it is, short.” What he say, yeah. Wonderful is this life; short, is this natural. It is short. Our life, no matter, in one way, when I am looking myself back: 65 years of life. Looks long, but when you think about it, it is gone in a matter of few seconds. Honestly, sometimes I begin to wonder, you know we have a phrase, one of them said—

1:04:53.0 Gang gi drin gyi dé chen nyi ké chik nyi la char wa gang la ma rin chen ta bü ku dor jé chen zhap pé la dü.

1:05:01.7 Through your kindness, the great bliss is bringing to us within the matter of a second. When you look in that way, it is true. 65 years when you talk about it, sixty-five is long. But when you really think about it, it was just yesterday. And the whole our melodrama of our life sort of, you know, shows out in very short time. It is. And if you don’t organize ourselves, I really wanted to use every day common language, if we don’t organize our life now, we will never organize it. Because habit or a way we spend our life—we are so used to it—day after day, week after week, month after month, daily chores: get up late; get up late, late.

1:06:30.4 You know when I was in Tibet, in the young practicing period, seven or eight is really late getting up. In the monastery, disciplinary persons will say,

1:06:52.3 (unclear) gang sa nyang go khang gang kup te gang nyi ma ‘od zer xxxx gang nyam ma las

They will beat you, saying the sun is shining on your butt, but the darkness has still not left your head. That is how they beat you up. So that is how it works. So getting seven or eight is really late. Then followed by daily chore every day, whatever it is, keep on repeating so nothing can be done. In our spiritual practice, the best opportunity for us to have spiritual practice, to do, is first thing in the morning. Though we Americans number one we sleep late whenever we can, and number two you just have to wake up, jump into the shower, and grab your coffee, and maybe hamburger together and run and drive. You know, drinking coffee, eating hamburger, and driving together with your, I don’t know, with your eyeballs on your knees and you know, the cars driven by knees, and, you know, both hands are busy. (Audience laughter.) So, where do you do when you have yourself? So, give ourself a little time. Get up in the morning. So don’t behave like the sun hits your butt and darkness is still on your head. Please remember that. It sounds very strange, but it is.

1:09:11.3 In order to do that, get up early, you got to go to sleep early. You cannot reduce sleep. You do need certain amount of sleep. You have to go to bed early. Again, the disciplinary persons have a saying: in the morning you can get up like a horse, you remain, horses remain all the time, don’t sleep right. And that, what is it,

1:09:54 (Unclear) Kha sa koray sho ya lang xxx

Alright, early morning you cannot get up like a cow. At night you cannot go to sleep like a horse. Isn’t that funny the disciplinary persons in the monastery say normal, regular—what do you call those sayings they say all the time, so in the morning you can’t get up like a cow.

1:10:29 Cows don’t get up (unclear) in the morning and horses don’t sleep in the night, they are standing there all the time. So, you can’t do that. You make a difference between human being and horse. You make a difference between human being and cow. When you are done your practice, when you are old age like me, it is exception now. (Audience laughter). It’s me exception now. Honestly, so when you’ve organized you live your life a little better. The Buddhist tradition doesn’t say organize, they will say practice, practice, practice, contemplate, contemplate, contemplate. You can contemplate, you can practice, if you are organized. If you are not organized, you can’t do anything. The laziness will take over us completely. Usual routing, usual chore, usual curiosity, usual everything one after the another.

1:12:00.9 Hour by hour, minute by minute, day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year, and suddenly our time is gone. So don’t let that be. That is most important. If you do this, you have to realize we’re cheating ourself. Don’t cheat ourself. That is become addiction again. Daily chore has become addiction. To change that is very difficult. But, having willpower, when there is a willingness, there is a way. Always, always, always! That’s the truth. The willingness is the difficult. If you have that way, most definitely you’re going to find it. We are capable. So, what practice do you do? Deeply contemplate the certainty of karma and constant suffering of samsara. This is the reading. I told you yesterday, I told you this morning: looking how our mind influences by emotions, by the positive emotions, by negative emotions. Didn’t you hear a number of times we say, why did I do that? Why did I do that? Did I do that? Why did I do that? Number of people say that, right, why did I do that? You did it because you’re influenced by your emotions. Either positive or negative. Every action, if you look at back, what you don’t want to do it, we did it because our mind’s being influenced by our negative emotions. People do that, people do get involved when they should not be involved because of the attachment. To spell it out clearly. People do drink when should not be drinking, because we do this because of our addiction to alcohol.

1:15:06.6 People smoke: don’t! They should not be smoking because our addiction to the dope. Whatever—joints, marijuana, ecstasies, or cocaine, whatever. We know very well we should not be, but we do it. Quietly and nicely, we try to hide, but everybody else are more clear than you, how much you can hide other people will know better than that, all the time, just by looking at or whites in our eyes, they will know it clearly. We think the only who knows, I’m the only one that knows I did it and I’m hiding it, but other people just give you one look and we know it. So, these are because they are our negative emotions made us to do this. And therefore, preventive measure is controlling the negative emotions. Don’t let that negative emotions, which I call it, colored light bulbs, don’t let them change the color of clean, clear, crystal lampshade of our mind. That is called contemplation, that is called practice, that is called meditation. That is called how we handle it. But you know it, you promise not to do it to yourself, but your going to find you do it again and again. What do I do then? Don’t give up. If you fall down once, get up again. If you fall down again, get up again. It’s like you are thrown off from horse. If you don’t get up again and ride the horse again, you’ll never ride your horse in your life. You know that, right? Likewise, whenever we fell, fell, fell, no matter if you fell 300 times, get up 300 times. If you fell 3000 times, get up 3000 times. And idea of getting up again is the most important than actually falling.

1:18:07.5 Falling—we’re going to fall, for sure, because addiction. But if you keep up getting up, getting up, getting up, there will be a time one day that I manage my life. The way truly I wanted to. And that is spiritual is all about to me. It doesn’t really depend much, so much, saying prayers. It doesn’t depend so much giving worship. They are all great, they are all needed, but most important thing is helping ourself. Remember, if you don’t help yourself, no one else can help you. And the way and how you help yourself, just do it. There is an interesting commercial I saw on television—it is very interesting. There is somebody who walks through the street, and some kind of wastepaper, whatever it is, instead of throwing inside the basket, throws outside. The next person comes up, oh how terrible it is and blah, blah, blah, the other one comes up and says, terrible, blah, blah, blah, how can you do this and blah, blah, blah. And there’s 10 or 15 people standing saying how horrible it is. No one is picking it up. Then suddenly some kind of guy with a backpack comes in and just picks it up and throws it in the basket and walks away. And everybody have to look at each other and the conversation is over. You saw that commercial, right? I am sure everyone of you have seen it. Or there is another one similar to this, somebody turn on some hot water or something, some and then, or somebody left the water running, and someone comes up, don’t stop the water, keep on talking about leaving the water and its terrible and waste of energy and water, and another person comes up and it becomes a conversation, a subject of talk, but nobody switches it off. Then some stranger walks by turn off the water. And that is the end of it. Just like that: don’t talk about it, do it.

1:20:55.8 Just do it. If you know how emotions influences mind, and then recognize these emotions—good and bad, false, in the reminding yourself constantly—I don’t mean brainwashing—if you know the reason, it’s not called brainwashing. Without reasoning, if it does things bad: it’s bad, it’s bad, it’s bad, it’s bad, it’s brainwashing. It’s good, it’s good, it’s good, it’s good: brainwashing. We know how the politicians brainwash us, all the time. No matter whoever it is, the Democrats or the Republicans. They don’t tell you what is really wrong. And they just tell a little bit here, a little bit there, a little bit there, and it gives you and makes people sort of acceptable and understanderable (unclear 1:22:10). You know gradually, they give you all this subliminal messages and a little bit of some telling you and gradually, nothing so much a surprise, at the end we’ll buy whatever it is. At most all those politicians. And that’s it. We’ll buy. Right? And that’s how they know how to manage our mind. Why don’t, why can’t we do this same thing for ourself? Rather than we let the Republicans and the Democrats to brainwash us. Why don’t we do this for ourself. Really truly, and that is what we should do. This is answer of your question. And that is one or two.

1:23:21.9 Ahh, I’ve got only 15 minutes. Any questions, anybody?

Audience: How would you, would you clarify for me the difference between obsession and passion?

Rimpoche: Interesting. I wish I’m an English professor, I would know. I told you I never learned the language. But let me come back to you here. What I understand, passion is something you are happy, something that you like to do, obsession is I must get it, I must do it, I must get it. If I don’t get it, I’ll make sure no one else get it. See the difference? I don’t know, this is English, maybe I’m wrong in that language. But when I’m talking about emotions, I’m not wrong. Passion is something good thing to have it. Obsession is something, depends on, if it is obsession on compassion, why not? It is obsession on something else, (Audience member says sex), sex, (audience member says love, l-o-v-e), love. Obsession, love is not necessarily bad. It depends on what kind of love: sticky love or pure love. Sticky love, which has some sticky stuff, you know. The moment you have sticky stuff, you don’t want it. Walk away. That is not pure. Ahh, one minute, I think it—OK, go ahead.

1:25:42.5 Audience member: OK when you were talking about the samsaric delights, you said something like it is OK to enjoy pleasures if they are not contaminated, and you used the sugar-free chocolates as an example, the box of chocolates is clearly labelled sugar free, how would you say we are able to recognize the pleasures that are not contaminated that don’t carry such a clear label, necessarily.

Rimpoche: is that sticky or not sticky? If it is sticky, then it has a problem, even though it is put in the sugar-free box. Even if it is labelled sugar free. It is a problem. If it is not sticky, even does not have a sugar-free label, but it is not going to harm you at all. Let me tell you a story: That years ago I was in Hong Kong, actually, I was invited by this FPMT, this Lama Sopa, Lama Yeshe’s organization. And they made the arrangements, I was given talk, that was maybe about 15 years ago, maybe 18 years ago, in Hong Kong, and then it was in a hotel. Big public talk on their behalf. And I was talking similar to this, (unclear 1:27:30) attachment or something. And the gentleman at the back raised hand, said “What do I do with my Rolls Royce?” That is the Rolls Royce, the guy must be having a hand-made British car, Rolls Royce. Right? (audience corrects his pronunciation from Rolls Roy to Rolls Royce). OK, he must be having that car, so he’s what do I do with that. I said, “As long as you drive the Rolls Royces, you are OK, but the moment the Rolls Royce started driving you, you in trouble. That was my answer. It was, I don’t know, 15 or 18 years ago, and it was true to me then, and it is true to me today.

1:28:52.1 Rimpoche: You sir, you raised hand, remember? You don’t have a question or what?

Audience member: I have a question. I’m trying to clarify. I teach English, so I was going to clarify passion. (inaudible 1:29)

Rimpoche: It’s a very good question. Passion. And obsession.

Different audience member: Yeah and sometimes where do you draw the line cause they do kind of similar symptoms in many ways.

Rimpoche: The question remains: does that bring suffering or joy; not observing the mind itself does not really clarify it that much. Although it’s for me easy to say sticky or not sticky. But, for you, for anybody else, for any one of us, really to know, does that bring suffering or does not bring suffering. And that is what we know. OK? Thank you. Is that your question, too?

Audience member who teaches English: I like your sticky analogy. (unclear1:30)

Rimpoche: Good. If it is sticky, even sweet, it’s not that good. Baklavat. (Audience laughter and inaudible chatter.) Right, I think it is called baklava. (Audience member spells out b-a-k-l-a-v-a and pronounces the word). Baklava, OK, thank you. That’s it. So if you don’t have questions anymore, then I’d like to conclude.

1:31:01.7 And that is, I think, yeah, yeah, sir.

Audience member: Forgive me, but we did 102 this afternoon.

Rimpoche: I did one in the morning and two in the afternoon.

Audience member: Yeah, 102 this afternoon. and I came to the same end point which is simply that one has to pay attention, aim to achieve—seek clarity, to understand the—what comes from fear and ignorance and ego, and it’s the same message as last night.

Rimpoche: True

Audience member: OK

Rimpoche: True, I believe that is the doorway to get in. It is the door, the gateway, the doorway. It is really, that’s how we get in.

Audience member: And then if we can get just inside there, then maybe wisdom and teachers might become more valuable or?

Rimpoche: Well, then there are two steps, three steps, but, the first and foremost is: avoid what is hurting you. If you are diabetic, don’t eat sugar chocolate. Don’t eat sugar coated chocolate—anything. Isn’t it? It’s obvious. And that is a good understanding, I should say. I think that is what bottom line, boiled down to. But it is going to take time to get to know this. It is going to take time to see this. Do whatever you have to do: meditate, repeat, do a repetition. Say it: negative emotions bring suffering. So one day you are going to think why? why? what have I been saying, then why? Then you begin to get it. And when you get it, unless you fool, you are not going to repeat it. You don’t have to put too much efforts. If you get it, if you don’t get it, then you keep on, no matter how much time you try hard, but you always get fell down, fell down, fell down, fell down. That’s what I said, if you fell 300 times, get up 300 times. If you fell 3000 times, get up 3000 times. Keep on adding zeroes up.

1:34:07.1 Honestly, that is how we help ourselves. So, I’d like to conclude here by saying, thank you so much for the organizers, to organize and thank you so much for all of you to participating. And most importantly, your willingness to help yourself, and that is priceless. Keep that for yourself. Really, honestly, and do whatever way you can help to yourself. And there are various different traditions, religions traditions, great thinkers, and all kinds of things available. The religions traditions: Judeo-Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, whatever, they all supposed to be focused on that. Great thinkers, philosophers, all of those, they’re focused on that. And I think of Krishnamurti. And Madame Blavatsky, right. And all of those: they have put efforts in that, we should benefit out of. As far as we at Jewel Heart concerned, and we tried our best, I tried my best, what little I know and what little, by chance I happen to be born in Tibet, by chance I happened to have a great many teachers. It’s just by chance. By sheer luck. I happen to be born at the time when I was born. End of the earlier civilization of that great Tibet. But really the last generation in Tibet, before Communists, traditional good ol’ Tibet. Happens to have, just happens to have, great many teachers: the masters of the Dalai Lama, the senior and the junior masters of the Dalai Lama. And many others.

1:37:44.6 So whatever I know, whatever little know, and I brought that to the West to be able to serve to the people. Nothing else that I have brought from Tibet as a gift to the West. There’s nothing else. There is a little uraniums (? unclear 1:38) which the Chinese took and gave it to the Russians. Nothing else left. So, that is right here, and we present that specially, I insist, that I remain in midwest, though I go and teach in New York and here and there, but and I insist to have the Jewel Heart remain in midwest. That includes Michigan, Chicago, and all this. Because this is the place where there is not so many alternative available. It is harder. Very easy to go to New York, especially California. And it is not that I have not been invited. I have invitations right and left. Not invitation to teach once, but remain there. But I didn’t move and remained in the midwest. And because this is the place where, really, I thought we can serve. We’ve been a number of years here, decades, actually. This is not my first visit to Chicago. Been a number of times. Particularly the first one I do remember. (Unclear 1:39) Pinda Roshan and Gene and Barry and that white-haired lady (audience says Jan Conrad), Jan Conrad. And who else there. (Audience says Al Brock.) Al Brock. Pam, you’re not there that time. (Audience inaudible.) Ahh, you’re there! Ohh, there you go. That Pam’s not there that time (audience inaudible).

1:40:45.4 S4o anyway, and we did work hard and I did taught my first, we called it, lam rim, in Michigan. People here dropped every weekend (audience: every month) every month, every weekend, wherever I’m giving teaching there, the whole group drove from here. And it is now to have a huge transcripts: like two volumes or something. It is three volumes now, right? That big lam rim. (Audience member: Rimpoche, it is four volumes.) Four volumes, now, see. That was every week I taught (problem with microphone). So, see, I’m blaming this. Actually what happened is big, fat, butt of mine, because I’m sitting on it, so when I move, it falls off, so but I blame this one. It is exactly how we do in our life. The problem lies within our sublimin external. Always, that is what it is. So those transcripts available. And we did work hard, and it was very great. And being a number of times here, a number of times here, worked. We have a number of friends here. Are you there on the first day, Christy? You’re not there, you came a little later.

Christy: First day of lam rim?

Audience member: The Oasis Center.

Rimpoche: The Oasis Center, that’s right.

Christy: No, I wasn’t at the Oasis Center, I was still in Michigan then.

Rimpoche: I’m trying to remember the Oasis Center. It no longer exists, right?

Christy and others: No.

Rimpoche: OK, anyway. So, we do have a lot of information available. I did sign a few books, and I said people like you should read my transcripts. Not those books, those books are commercial books, they are edited and always in the interest of selling is involved. So, anything that doesn’t think they’re going to sell it, they cut it out. And anything they going to sell it, they probably add it. You know (chuckles) and do all that. And that is the there. But this is really easy, not bad book, good book. But there are a lot of transcripts available. You should see and read all this.

1:43:46.9 Also we do have a lot of classes are running here by our senior friends—constantly here. And so, I hope that will help you, serve you. We also have retreats. Summer and winter retreats. Apparently summer retreats are coming very soon. (Audience member: Next week.) Next week. A week from today we meet in Michigan. So, my thing is to, very similar to what I talked here today, but it is going to be in seven days not two hours or four hours. And umm, if you can come, you are welcome, but if you are not planned to coming next week is impossible almost. But constantly we do have things happening here. I do hope you take advantage of those courses. And I also keep on promising that I come back, I come back, I come back, but it becomes difficult. And it not difficult because I did not find time, but it becomes difficult in what format I am going to coming in. So, you know there’s always these difficulties comes in, but I’d like to be as much as possible here. And as well as I’d like to inform you one thing, one advantage what we have is that I do teach every Tuesday in Michigan. Every Thursday, I mean, not every, but we do make segmented courses, when the segment come, it used to be every Tuesday and every Thursday, now it is no longer because I cannot manage. So, in order to avoid that, we made segment of courses. During that period, every Tuesday, every Thursday, I talk, the talks are available on internet. They live there 24 hours, not just period: 24 hours is available. There’s also (unclear 1:46:20) casting of the talks. There also podcasting of the talk. And all of them available, so I hope you do take advantage of it.

1:46:38.0 Podcasting is not yet started, but it is going to be soon. It is going to be coming. (Unclear 1;46:47) casting is already started. And the live thing, whatever is going on, beginning when I am talking there, and then it remains 24 hours; you can hear them on computer and I think you need—Jonis is not here (audience member: just go to the website). Just go to the website; that website is jewelheart.org. And when you go to the website, it is called Rimpoche live, so just hit that and it’s there. So, hopefully you can make best use of it. And the most important: put a little time, keep yourself a little time to help yourself every day, preferably in the morning. If not, anytime, anywhere, particularly if you are traveling by train, it is good opportunity. 15, 20, half an hour in train. But don’t do it if you are driving: I’m not responsible (audience laughter). OK. So please, so make use of it. And then, the time is pushing, so I just want to say thank you so much and hopefully we’ll see you soon. Thank you.

1:48:38.4 Closing remarks and prayers.

1:52:08.8 End of recording.