Archive Result

20060624GRSR08

6-28-06 am – last file Sarah

Good morning everybody. I hope you are having a nice time here. I am hoping you are enjoying it and picking up something solid to help yourself.

So now the question rises… the difficult part comes today. The question is… we now know (we’re supposed to know, at least) that we have a precious human life. It is important; it is priceless. It is capable of delivering anything. Whatever you want: material, spiritual, whatever.

We also know that this [life] is not permanent. It is impermanent. Not only is it impermanent, but also you never know when, where, or how it’s going to end. ‘How’ is a different question, but the ‘when’ is an issue.

So therefore we have to help ourself because we know suffering is real. We are very much tortured continuously, all the time. We know that.

We also know (maybe not?) that the suffering is impermanent- as we ourselves are impermanent. Our suffering is also impermanent. It changes, all the time. It ends. The problem is: one [period of suffering] ends, [and another] one begins, one ends, one begins. That is how it looks like suffering continues. But, other than that, one [/each period of suffering] ends. Suffering is not end-less. It [/Each period of suffering] ends.

That ending gives us an opportunity. (2:29) That is the time for us to be able to intervene and try to connect with the better karma so that there’ll be less suffering. [Then there will be] less and less [suffering], and finally you’ll be free of suffering.

[This is all] because of impermanence. This is a very important reason. This is a very important reason because it is impermanent. Because it is impermanent, it is changeable. Because it is changeable, then you have the power to do and undo- because it is impermanent. If it were permanent or something solid, you could do nothing. Nothing- because it is permanent.

But what the Buddha discovered… one of the Buddhist seals of Buddhism… what do they call it? A logo? There are four signs, and they call it the sign of white virtue. It has almost become a fundamental… it is almost like a constitutional type of thing.

The first is:

Anything created, whatever it may be- it is impermanent. Everything, whatever has been created, it is impermanent.

Anything contaminated- whatever it may be- it is suffering.

Every phenomenon is in the nature of emptiness.

Nirvana is peace.

These are the four seals of Buddhism or the Buddha’s foremost fundamental things [/teachings/points] that he established.

So anything created- that means collectively- anything that comes up is impermanent. Therefore our life is impermanent, our body is impermanent- everything is impermanent. That’s [true] for whatever we deal with. Our suffering is impermanent. Our pleasure is impermanent.

When I am talking about impermanent here, those of you who have heard it before, you think, ‘I know about it.’ But think once again. Give yourself a chance to think. This is so important.

If it is impermanent, it becomes changeable. (6:42) If it is changeable, it doesn’t remain as the status quo. Whatever it is.

And for that we have direct evidence. [We see it] all the time, whether we accept it or not. It’s on our own face. Change is always. From the beautiful, young, wonderful (we see the babies here)… from that to the nice young, youthful… to healthy, young… to old and crumbling. You know all this changes.

No matter whoever thinks, ‘I am not going to change,’ it’s not going to be true. It’s [/You’re] going to change, no matter how much, or what you do. Whatever you do, it’s going to change, no matter how much botox you have (or facelift or whatever you do). How many you have, it doesn’t matter, it’s going to happen anyway.

Botox makes you look different. I didn’t know: when John Kerry started his campaign at first, he had so many wrinkles. And all of a sudden they were gone!

I didn’t know what had happened. People [told me]. We saw it on television all the time, you know. This gives us a good example.

So, it changes. Changing is in nature. (8:51) You can’t do anything. Even our hair is an example. I mean you can color it and make it look different, but it changes. It really changes. All the time.

So, I don’t want to take a lot of your time. Maybe if you can find one thing that doesn’t change- maybe you could say ‘sky’. The sky is not, in Buddhist philosophy, sky is considered permanent and not created. That is separate.

Other than that, anything created, the Statue of Liberty, or any monuments, or anything that’s supposed to be forever and permanent, all goes. Many factual guarantees does not mean much. That’s what it is. The wise ones guarantee for a number of years, whatever it is. [There are some things, like cars which come with guarantees for] Five years, or a hundred miles, or whichever comes first, or something [like that]. But actually it is impermanent, so it is really changes, all the time.

And that’s a good thing! We are afraid of changing, but change is avery good thing. It gives you a fresh – not ‘start’- people say that – but it gives you different prospects, different everything.

It is a great thing because suffering is impermanent. So whatever problems or difficulties you have or pains you have, remember: it is impermanent. It’s going to go. There’s an end to the tunnel.

So [this] is [true for] the joy, too. Whatever joy we have, peace, happiness, harmony, whatever we have, it always has interruptions, here, there, and also all of a sudden, it ends. All of those- because it is impermanent.

Because it is impermanent, we have opportunity, possibility, (12:02) to take charge of ourself, for our own good.

So the question now comes, “How?” Remember: that question which we did not answer. Actually, there are one, two, three different ways. But I would like to draw you attention to the same page 28, the continuation of that which we talked about the other day.

I’m finishing this part and getting to the beginning of… [quotes Tibetan]

Understanding that this most certainly is true

So you have to refer back to the earlier one [/stanza]- we read it already:

I must remember that death is quick to strike,

For spirit quivers in flesh like a bubble in water;

And after death one’s good and evil deeds

Trail after one like the shadow trails the body.

Understanding that this most certainly is true,

May I discard every level of wrong,

And generate an infinite mass of goodness.

Empower me to be thus continually aware. (14:15)

Which means… unfortunately we have no instant thing called ‘How’. [There’s no] “Just do this, and you’re going to obtain it- the total freedom.” There’s no instant [fix]. Instantaneous one. We don’t have it.

We’ve been talking about how instant coffees are not good. It’s bad coffee. You all agree, don’t you? Yeah? Thank you. You see, so many people agree. It’s better than nothing, but that doesn’t mean it’s good. Even if it’s Tasters’ Choice or Columbian, or whatever it is, it doesn’t matter.

So there is not- I told you the story of the guy who was throwing people off the cliff every seventh night, after a lot of sleep deprivation. So, all those.

If anyone tells you there’s instant spiritual development, it’s not going to happen. Honestly, it’s not going to happen. You’re better off staying away from that. That’s what the Buddha says. That’s what every great master in this tradition/lineage says. Everyone does say that. It’s the reality because it works with causes and conditions. Be realistic. Be realistic, really. It works with causes and conditions. It doesn’t work instantly. Nothing. It works with causes and conditions. (16:15) That is the reality. That is the truth.

We also established that good deeds bring happiness and bad deeds bring suffering.

So now, it becomes a choice for ourself. It’s our own choice, whether we’d like to have (what do they call it?) ‘an infinite mass of goodness.’ Well, great! But we have to begin with what we can. I always believe ‘bite what you can chew.’ Don’t bite something you cannot chew. You’ll get into trouble- you’ll lose all of your teeth! [Laughs] Then you’ll have to use false teeth.

‘Discard every level of wrong.’ Try. Begin today. Many of you definitely- just by nature, by human good nature- you discard wrongdoing. We try to generate goodness. That’s what we do all the time. Just by human nature. That’s why we talked about it earlier: The good nature of the human nature within us. (18:25)

I’m not talking about Buddha Nature, if you’re thinking that. No. [I’m talking about good human nature that comes] just by being a human being. The human quality itself has feelings, kindness, and feels bad when it sees suffering- even if it’s not on your own body, but on somebody else’s.

We are happy when somebody does well - we may say, “Good for you!” This is basic good human nature that we have. Unlike animals, we have discarded a lot of wrongdoing. Animals don’t function that way. There are a lot of animal lovers and protectors- that’s great! I am not saying anything against them or against animals. But, by nature, animals [quotes Tibetan]

By nature, they create a fear among themselves. One eats the other.

And human beings don’t eat each other. Except the Jeffrey Dahmers or whatever- I know people are raising their hands- the cannibals. We call them cannibals so we don’t associate with them because we are afraid they are going to eat us. [laughs] We don’t want to be associated with that person because we’ll be afraid that that person could eat us! Cannibals.

Animals do eat each other. That’s because of fear. And the base of fear is protecting life, because the big ones eat the other ones. Even among the good ones- they eat each other. They kill each other. That’s why they’re called animals- (20:46) at least according to the BBC. [Laughs] They’re animals, you know.

So, good nature [exists within you] just by [virtue of your] being a human being. As a human being, you have a soft side. You have a kind side. Whenever we even talk about suffering, we go, “Ow,” you know? “Oh, that’s enough, enough, no more, no more!” We say that a lot, don’t we? We do, unless you are in some sort of a different society, different culture. But mostly we do.

That is the human quality within us. It automatically discards a lot of wrongdoings and automatically generates a lot of goodness.

But on top of that, we have awareness, The awareness of knowing that goodness brings joy and happiness for ourself and it is the cause of bringing joy and happiness. Wrongdoing is the cause of suffering and pain. We have awareness. Even though we don’t have perfect proof, at least we can give it the benefit of the doubt. [We can do this] because all of the great spiritual teachers- East or West or wherever- they tell you this in almost the same words. (22:51)

I am always saying this. You know it’s funny, when you look at the East at the Hindu and Buddhist traditions, both, or Jain or Sheik or any other, those ten negativities all have a uniformity that they carry. There may be a little [difference in] interpretation here and there. But they accept that basically: killing a human being, stealing, sexual misconduct (the three of the body), (the four of speech) lying (1st), creating schisms (2nd), harsh speech (3rd), idle gossip (I think that may be a little bit of dogma, though let’s talk about that later) (4th), (those of the mind) holding a grudge, hatred, and [holding a] wrong view, are harmful.

There’s a little bit of a dogma side here.

Anyway, wherever you look, you’ll get [/hear] this. Maybe they don’t count it as ten that way, but you have the Ten Commandments, the Ten Negativities, and all of this type of thing. I don’t believe there was a telephone between Buddha and the Western spiritual teachers. They certainly didn’t have email! They didn’t have a conference [across time], thousands of years apart. (25:15) Thousands of miles apart and they were telling the same thing, which has the same meaning. And each and every one of them had a different interpretation? Yeah, of course, sure.

But other than that, that is the reality.

In human nature, naturally we don’t kill other human beings. ‘Killing’ here is the killing of a human being. I’m not saying that you can kill animals, but ‘killing’ here in the ten negativities is the killing of human beings.

Stealing. In stealing, the value changes from time to time, place to place. That’s why you can’t take it according to the books. In time, the value of everything changes.

Sexual misconduct: you hurt someone sexually- that is sexual misconduct. That is the bottom line. Sexual misconduct is when you hurt the person through the activity of sex. Although you know the transcripts say all this, when they go into detail about the full moon, no moon, temple, this, that- all kinds of things they detail (27:06) but when you hurt someone, that is sexual misconduct.

Some people raise the question, according to Buddhism, whether rape is sexual misconduct. Of course it is sexual misconduct! No question- because it hurts. Then they say, “Well it is not in the prescribed details in there.” So? So what? The conclusion says, when you hurt. People say, “look, I read that book, and the details are mentioned, and it is not mentioned here.” So? Maybe at the time of the Buddha, nobody was raping anybody. Who knows? Could be.

Mostly Buddha’s rules are so funny. Buddha never sat there and said, “You cannot do this! You cannot do that!” He didn’t do that at all. Never ever. If you really look at it, the incidences take place. Then people talk about it. Then they go to Buddha and say, “What do you think about this?” and then he’d say this and that, this and that. That’s what he says. So the incidences take place, and that’s why the Buddhist thing comes in that way [/and that’s how the Buddhist ‘laws’ come about].

So when there’s no incident, it’s not mentioned in there. All the rules, the vows, you know, the celibate’s vows and the lay vows, all of them, Buddha gave the vows, and that’s it. Then something happens and then they go [to Buddha] and he comes out, he talks about it. And finally the rules are established according to the incident only. He doesn’t sit there as say, “well, Number One is this, Number Two is that, Number Three is this.” He never did that. it sort of developed by itself, and that’s how it comes in [/how it came to be].

So, if rape is not mentioned in that book, written thousands of years ago, that doesn’t mean that rape was not sexual misconduct at all. That is not acceptable. That is not acceptable because of the reasoning- that you hurt people by this act. Therefore, it is sexual misconduct. The layers are different of course. You know that. when you hurt people through sexual activity, that is sexual misconduct. (30:19)

Lying here is not… just tiny little lies- I don’t think they’re talking about this. The used car salesman’s lies is not [really included] here. The big, black lie.

Especially [those who lie by] cheating people through the spiritual path. Cheating people, who try to show people that they have some kind of development and power where they have none. Things do happen, when [it appears that they] do something. Consider them [/these events] as a coincidence, or consider them a blessing, rather than it is the individual’s power that did it.

You know sometimes you pray for something, and something happens. Sometimes you wish for something and pray for something, and it happens. That doesn’t mean you have the power or I have the power; that doesn’t mean I have the power to be able to do that. No, it does not. Consider that it is a coincidence, consider it a blessing. Because if you repeat it again, it may not happen. That clearly shows that I have no power to do this. If something happened here once, twice, three times or something, then you say, “oh! I think I do have some power!” Then you pretend to have power. Then, if you try to tell people that, you mislead people. You mislead people in the spiritual path. (32:26)

This is a very, very common. This is a danger, particularly in the West. Then, you know what happens? Even you, yourself, don’t say much. You say a little bit, and then the other people will make it bigger. Other people will make it bigger and bigger and bigger! It becomes a huge thing afterwards. How many people do we have within the United States, how many people who claim to be Buddha? Who claim to be Jesus? You have those people. People who claim to be Elvis Presley! Claiming to be Elvis Presley is not that bad, but claiming to be Buddha and Jesus and all this is a spiritual lie.

This is where the black lie comes in. (33:42) If they themselves are Buddha or Jesus, and we do not know it, [then I would say,] I’m sorry, my apologies, I did not know. But if they are not, then it is misleading.

Even if you are, shut your mouth. Really. Because whatever quality you have, you have to hide your quality. You don’t brag and blow your own horn. That is Buddha’s advice. Don’t brag. Don’t blow your own horn. If you have quality, people will notice. Even if they don’t notice, it doesn’t matter: you have it. Honestly speaking. That’s how I think. That’s how I pray to be. That’s what I urge you all to do.

Don’t claim to have spiritual powers. You may be able to cheat a few people, get some money, but it’s not worth it. Believe me. It’s not. On the contrary, you get this terrible negativity called a Black Lie. It’s not worth it. And the consequences of that- since I am coming from the background of reincarnation- the consequences of that are that truly we suffer for a long time in the Hell realm. Truly.

So don’t pretend to be something when you are nothing. If you are something or somebody, then people will notice, people will acknowledge that. If you push yourself in there with all kinds of tricks and threats and seeking sympathy and all that, even then, people won’t… it’s just not right. It’s not right.

When you have the qualities, others will acknowledge it, and they will make requests [for you] to share your knowledge or do whatever. (36:29) Otherwise, it becomes a Black Lie. What is the use?

This goes to all dharma practitioners. All spiritual people. All good human beings. A good human being is spiritually correct. A bad human being, no matter how much you pretend to be good, you’re not going to be good at all.

Remember there is a story that occasionally I share with you. That is [the one about] the goat, the buffalo, and the sheep.

[There were] Three of them. And there was a sort of semi-monk, maybe a monk, wearing robes. [He was] supposed to be object of refuge. He kept three animals: a goat, a sheep, and a yak. (A yak is a buffalo type of thing).

He carried his mala, and everyday would say, “mamamamama.” Not even a single minute was empty. He kept on, “mamamamama.” He was supposed to be saying mantras, right?

So one day the goat said, “That’s not very good. It looks like he’s going to kill all of us.”

And the sheep says, “No way. He’s praying. He’s not going to kill us. He’s a good person. No way.”

The buffalo said, “I agreeee.”

Then one day a butcher came to visit.

Then the goat said, “See! I told you! And you both disagreed.”

Then there was a big conversation that happened… This is Tibetan story… so they served tea, butter tea, cookies, and it went on and on. Then they listened to the conversation, and the monk was insisting that the butcher should butcher them all together there. And the butcher kept on saying, “look, I don’t have time, you don’t need that much. What are you doing it for? Why all three? Maybe one is enough.” He was trying to bargain.

The monk would not listen at all. Finally the butcher agreed, and they all got killed.

That’s what it is. That’s the story. [Laughter]

The punch line is: Even a religious, devoted person - with a mala in hand and saying mantras – kills. Even the butcher hesitated. But, they go [/were killed anyway].

That’s why pretending is not that good. (41:09) That’s why I encouraged… remember? When I first came, people in Jewel Heart liked to carry their malas in their hands and do all kinds of things. I completely discouraged it as much as I could by making jokes and making fun of the people and doing all kinds of things. That’s because to be a dharma person, you have to be so from the bottom of your heart. Not just by your look. We had the look in the sixties, [during] all the hippy period. It is gone now.

So, even if you keep a mala, it [should be] a nice simple [one]. [Laughs] If it’s an ornament, that’s fine. But it should be simple. You don’t have to show it- it’s not show biz. (42:16)

Dharma practice is serious. It comes from the bottom of your heart. You don’t have to show people at all. Be just like normal - what you are. It’s wonderful. It’s beautiful. It’s nice. It’s appreciative. Whatever changes you do [/make should be] within your emotions, within your heart. That’s what you do. No show biz.

If you pretend to be something that you are not, it becomes a Black Lie. What is the use? Try to gain something. Nothing is gained [from pretending], plus you get unnecessary heavy negativity which will [cause you to] pay horribly in the future.

That’s it. That’s what the Black Lie is all about.

The rest you know: Creating Schisms between people. Whoever [/When someone] is comfortable, happy, and you don’t like it, so your jealousy creates more trouble. These are schisms- you know that.

This also comes out as a friend. It doesn’t come out as an enemy. Although you may have it in mind, you may go on to create it. But they [/schisms] come out as one who likes you, one who loves you, one who cares for you, and is good for you, and you have no awareness- that way it comes out. (44:16) It is schism, creating a schism.

Harsh Words you know. You know Harsh Words. Even [within] in the culture of the United States we don’t use harsh words. If someone uses a hrash word, we go, “haah” [sucking in breath], right? We don’t use f-words. Unless you are forced to! There are some bad character people have ‘f’ on the mouth all the time- that’s called ‘bad character.’ [Laughter]

Harsh words create negativity when you use them. Try to change it, please. Don’t take it as a criticism. I am not criticizing anyone.

We had two days of a conversation with a very dear friend here, saying that… I told you about bacon, butter-frying? The friend worried that it may be taken as some kind of insult by the schizophrenic people or the mentally difficult people. In this country there’s a problem and it may have added to the problem. It’s a very genuine feeling and I appreciate it. But whatever we made of it, we said it and we laughed at the bacon in the butter and putting it on the stove. I mean can you imagine stir-frying butter in the bacon? Not laughing at the person, not laughing at anybody else, but [laughing at] the bacon in the butter.

Here, again, it’s the same thing. (46:29) Using bad words is considered to be not good. Spiritually, it is a negativity. Some people do. Some people use it in a joking way. They say, “I’m joking.” You know, this is interesting. In Tibetan, we have a saying [quotes Tibetan]:

People try:

If it goes, then it’s Chinese language.

If it isn’t understood, then it’s Mongolian language.

Meaning if it goes, let it go; if it doesn’t go, it’s a joke! [Laughs]

In the karmic world, it won’t work. That’s a saying in Tibetan, but in the karmic world, it doesn’t work. (47:29)

Unfortunately here, when you are talking about spiritual practice, we have to give all these examples and say [that certain actions are] ‘good’ and ‘bad’, and that this is the message from Buddha’s words. You have the same thing in every other [tradition]- even in the Western traditions. But they are very polite and they may not be saying it! (I don’t know really, of course I have no idea.)

The point over here is you have to say it [that, for example, it’s not okay to use the f-word all of the time], but it doesn’t mean any criticism to any individual or group of individuals or anyone. But in case, if you happen to be in that category, then you should realize it and try to change it. That is the whole purpose of mentioning it- for you to try to change. (48:27)

So, harsh words, you know what that is. What is next?

Idle Gossip. I’m not sure how much of a negativity it is. But it is a waste of time for sure. Nowadays, we waste much more time by watching television and all of that, you know. You glue yourself to the TV. That is more [time wasted] than [we waste on] idle gossip, you know. Some of the idle gossip may bring some [negativity]. If you are basically sort of doing okay, then it’s not that bad.

But it is counted here by Buddha, and it’s not for me to say it’s not something not to do. But it is a waste of time. Mostly it’s a waste of time.

And… the three by mind. The three by mind are: [firstly,] waiting for revenge. Wishing for that person to be punished, and waiting for revenge. This is really, according to Buddha, it is part of hatred. Part of hatred. You know, truly speaking… let’s say, if you lost a loved one, let’s say, if you lost a loved one, if someone lost a loved one, yeah sure, you bet you’d be angry. You bet you’d want revenge. But keeping continuously that mind will constantly, continuously torture us. It doesn’t work. It doesn’t help. You cannot bring the lost person back. (50:51)

On top of that, you create another negativity. You add one on top of the other. This is where the material world and the spiritual world differ, I believe. Otherwise, it goes side by side. Here, it slightly differs. From the spiritual point of view, if you seek capital punishment for the person, until you get that [result], you’ll be tortured yourself. By the time the capital punishment –let’s say it is given- [happens], again, there’s one more killing. And that multiplies. Then, on top of that, we will be satisfied, we will show our satisfaction, and that creates another negativity that is almost equal to that of killing. (52:01)

It is true delusion, when we see that thing happen, and think, “ah, there goes my hurt, my pain has been removed, the weight has been lifted.” This is true delusion. The pain is not removed. The loss is still there. Still, it is a loss. Time may begin to heal, but the loss is still there. Why add another negativity on top?

That is my way of looking at it. That is what I learned from my background. I am here to share that with you whether you do it or not. That is entirely in your hands. I am here to present that point. You are the judge. No one else can judge for you. You know that. It is a principle in the spiritual path. No one should judge anyone, unless you are fully enlightened. I think Buddha wanted an exception for himself! That’s why he said, [quotes Tibetan] (53:38)

Either me or like me can judge

[Laughs] Buddha is making an exception for himself! Meaning [one who is] totally enlightened, [one who has] total knowledge, [one who] totally knows everything- only they can judge. Other than that, no one should judge anyone else. That is a terrible thing to do. No one should judge anyone else. That is a basic spiritual rule- according to Buddhism. No one should judge anyone about anything.

If you are the judge for yourself, you have to be informed, you have to know. If you have the information, and you still want to go out and do it, then that’s your choice. No one can stop or force you. That’s entirely your choice. According to the spiritual path that I know, that I come from, that’s what it is. Then, whether you appreciate it or not, is entirely one’s choice: revenge. (55:04)

Hatred. That you know- we don’t have to explain anything.

Then, this [next one] is called Wrong View. Wrong View is a delusion: not knowing it truly, but sort of saying, ‘it is [this way]’, and being stubborn that ‘it is [this way].’ Truly, you don’t know- whatever it is. Somehow we think it is [a certain way], and we claim it with stubbornness. We do not [leave ourselves] open to anything. Not for anything. That is Wrong View.

Although, that includes that there’s no such a thing called ‘karma,’ no such a thing called ‘divine,’ no such a thing called ‘refuge,’ no such a thing called ‘enlightenment.’ You know, all this type of thing is included in there. But the truth is that without knowing, without having [proof?], without properly knowing, being stubborn and insisting, falsely you believe, forcefully you try to make others believe in that. That is true Wrong View.

That [stanza that we read] is about the ten negativities. [The stanza] is saying basically:

Discard every level of wrong

Basically that [the ten negativities] is what is included in there [where it refers to ‘every level of wrong’]. But then the good thing is:

And generate an infinite mass of goodness.

[This means] every opposite of that: not killing a human being, not telling Black Lies, not conducting sexual misconduct… everywhere [/to every negativity] you add not, not, not, and they become infinite virtues, (57:33) ‘an infinite mass of goodness.’

It’s very simple. When you learn the negativities, just add ‘not, not, not.’

The question rises: When we are sitting here, and we are not killing anybody, do I have the positive karma of not killing? That’s the question.

What do you think? Think about it. Maybe you want to take a break and come back and tell me. (58:22)

[Break]

Welcome back.

Okay, did you find it? What was it? If you are just sitting idly, not killing, do we get the positive [karma] of not killing or not? What did you find?

[Audience says something inaudible] (58:58)

Thank you. I think it’s right. just simply not killing alone does not generate the karma of not killing.

But, to make it useful, to make it work… to make it the karma of not killing, if you have a vow or commitment or something, then because of the commitment, by not killing, you have the karma of not killing. This continues as long as you are not killing while you eat, sleep, or go to the bathroom. Whatever you do, wherever you are.

It is the commitment and vows that make a difference. Even if you don’t have a vow, even if you don’t have Refuge vows or anything of that sort, the Refuge vow will do that [will give you the positive karma of not killing while you are idly not killing]. Some people wanted to know about the Refuge vows, so it’s different here [/so that’s what makes the difference here].

Also, someone asked me… yes, I might as well mention it… someone asked me, “When you take refuge, then you cannot take Refuge in anything else or anybody else?” That’s not true.

What the truth is: When you take Refuge, then you don’t take Refuge in non-enlightened ones. You don’t take Refuge in ghosts and spirits, and things like that. That is an important aspect of it. (1:01:15)

All enlightened beings are, for me, considered buddhas. It can come from any tradition- it doesn’t matter. Enlightened is enlightened, no matter whether it is yellow or red or green or blue or whatever it is. Enlightened is enlightened. Man, woman, or children, it doesn’t matter. Enlightened is enlightened.

These are the two nagging questions that a number of people have been asking, so I just took the opportunity to share that with you.

So, killing is the example, but all others are that way also. All others are that way. All the ten non-virtuous, all others are that way.

Rochelle told me that something was wrong with my three [negativities of] mind. ‘Waiting to take revenge’ is a part of Hatred. Therefore the other [negativity of the] mind is- I think I did say it earlier- covetousness.

In other words, the truth is this: when somebody has something beautiful and wonderful, you always wonder, “ I want that. How am I going to get that? What is it? What can I do?” If you buy it, I think that’s okay. That’s not bad. But if somehow you want to get it without buying it, without paying for it, that’s how it falls into that category, okay?

So, that’s the ten negativities counted. By counting the ten negativities, then we have the ‘not-‘s being the ten positive ones. It becomes quite simple: not killing; not stealing; not having sexual misconduct; not lying- the Black Lies; not creating schisms; not using harsh words; not wasting a tremendous amount of time in idle gossip (nowadays for wasting time we don’t have to have gossip- there’s that box in your room that talks to you all the time, 24 hours a day if you let it, it’s non-stop, it will never end!); not [engaging in] covetousness; not [engaging in] hatred; and [not holding] the wrong view (which I just explained). Not not not. These are the positives. (1:06:08)

These are the goodnessses and wrongs.

These are the mundane, normal [rights and wrongs which are] absolutely in our [own] hands [to control]: what we should do, what we should not do.

This is the information we have- you don’t have to believe it. Check it. Re-check it. Talk about it. Argue [about it]. And finally find a convincing point… you’ll be convinced, because it’s true!

When you are convinced, then it will register with you. Then you will truly have learned. Until then, you will [only] have heard. [Until then,] It is the Japanese ‘yes:’ “I heard you, yes. That does not mean I agree with you.” That’s what it is.

That is truly what happens.

In America, every ‘yes’ means, “Yes, I totally agree.” If you don’t object, it is considered that you have agreed. That’s not the case here, I think.

You have to be convinced yourself. When you are convinced, then you have learned it. Until then, you haven’t learned it, you have heard about it. When you are convinced, you have learned. And then you are an educated person, an intelligent person.

With your knowledge, with your understanding, what you want to do - the choice is yours. I told you: you be your own judge. (1:08:07) You make choices by yourself. Don’t listen to anyone. That is very important.

We used to say this- in Jewel Heart very often I’ve had to say it – if someone tries to tell you, “I’m your guru, I’m your master,” forget it! Run away- five hundred miles without looking back. Honestly. Just run. It’s not going to happen anything good to you. Remember there was a time when we had a couple people in Jewel Heart that called people at night and said, “I’m your guru.” [Laughs] That incident took place.

Really, clearly, you choose your own guru if you need one. No one should be imposed upon you as a guru. That is a choice you make- nobody else. Every body, every guru tries to sell it [/themselves]. [Whether or not to] buy it is your choice. Honestly. If you don’t check it, then whoever has a better PR person… it doesn’t mean it’s good for you at all.

[Finding a] guru is not just buying another [pair of] blue jeans. It’s not. It is something very important for your life. Definitely you have to make your choice. Don’t let anybody, any organization, or anything, any monastery, anyone- don’t let them push you around. Be yourself. (1:10:09)

So I should be stopping here about this.

Then the next point is: these [positives and negatives] are truly you can choose [/your choice], you can do it. Then you are convinced [that] good brings good, bad brings bad. Then that’s how you function in your life.

I must say this: when you make up your mind, and you decide to do it, you are doing it. Sometimes this thing happens, that thing happened, this thing happens, and then you say, “Oh, sorry, I lost.”

It’s good that you say, “I’m sorry, I lost,” but that’s not the end of the world. Every one of us breaks our commitments and vows ten times a day, if not a hundred times. We are, again, good human beings, but [we are good human beings] with the influence of negative emotions. A good human being is like the sky; negative emotions are like a cloud. It comes in and takes over. Sometimes we don’t see the sun shining for days. But then sometimes we see it shining all the time. Whether we see it or don’t see it for days, we know the sky is clean and clear and is there.

Likewise, human beings’ natural, pure, clean, wonderful- it might not be the Madhyamika Prasangika’s viewpoint, but however [quotes Tibetan]

The mind itself is naturally luminous. Negative emotions temporarily come as clouds, clouding it. (1:12:09)

So, [it’s in] your hands, you can make the choice, because the natural luminosity is within you. The lack of information, which is traditionally called ‘not knowing’ or ‘wrong knowing’ influences us and makes us not do the right thing or make the right decision.

You pick up information and you [gain an] understanding- that makes a difference in your life now and in the future. That is why information is power. That is how you use your power- by you, for you, for your own good. That is what I call ‘spiritual work.’ Whether you worship or don’t worship; whether you sit with your eyes rolling all over the sky or not; whether you are lying down or standing up or whatever you are doing. If you keep that as a principle of your life yourself, then you are a good person; you are a spiritual person; you are a dharma person. You are okay. You’re right. You’re good.

If you don’t do it – as I told you about the monk who decided to kill cows and buffalos… the same thing, whatever you do, I don’t know, you may decide to roll your hair ten times up in the air, or whatever you do, maybe carrying skull cups and (1:13:55) ??tsampa bowls, whatever, or you blow, whatever you do. Nothing – nothing! – makes a difference. Nothing makes an individual good or spiritual. It’s not the external look, the external show, external put . (1:14:14)

You know, the mark of the human being is on the inside. The mark of the tiger is on the outside. External is external. Spiritual practice is internal: the individual person, the good person, the kind person, the compassionate person, the person who cares for [him/herself] and for others.

Maybe you have a limitation in caring for others – at least care for yourself. Because if you don’t care, who else is going to care? I’m quite sure that your pet cat will care more for you than sometimes you care for yourself. That is the level of our own compassion for ourselves. Don’t be that.

Unlike before, now you have some information [that you have gathered] by putting our efforts together for the last few days. Now you have to make your own decision. What are you going to do? Many of you made the decision a long time ago.

Now try your best: “I appreciate” and “I rejoice.”

But the road is not smooth. It has a lot of difficulties. A lot of ups and downs happen. That’s because our negative emotions are so strong – they just don’t want to let you get away easily. For sure! They’ll fight you tooth and nail. (1:16:14)

So you have to be steady, relaxed. Don’t be nervous. Some people are nervous by nature. You can’t do much. Being nervous is not going to get you anywhere. Be relaxed, and don’t be lazy. There’s a big difference between being lazy and being relaxed. Lazy will take refuge in tomorrow. Relaxed doesn’t take refuge anywhere. Lazy is “tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow.” It never comes. That is the refuge of laziness. Relaxing is not getting nervous. Don’t move and be steady on the point.

Don’t try to be holy – we know you’re not holy! You don’t want unnecessary lies or negativity. Even if you’re holy, let people judge you, acknowledge your being holy. Don’t blow your own horn. I said that already.

That is, practically, what you can do for yourself. Now, side by side, when you have compassion for yourself, this is the practical way.

Another way [to achieve] the point of bringing happiness, joy, nirvana, or enlightenment [into your life], is [/will come as] the result of merit. Merit is almost the same as positive karma. Technically, they may be different. But [for the sake of this discussion this definition will do] as we were talking about positive karma anyway. So when you’re looking at this, Nagarjuna said (1:18:43) [quotes Tibetan]:

Unfortunately… maybe we have it in the Jewel Heart Prayer Book, do we? I don’t think so.

[Quotes Tibetan] (1:19:07)

Perfection. Let’s say Perfection. This goes for [/is a result of?] freedom, this goes for [/is a result of?] the Arhat level of enlightenment, or this goes to [/is a result of?] the total enlightenment of the Buddha. Both are the same thing.

[Quotes Tibetan] (1:19:31)

What does perfection look like? There are physical aspects of it and mental aspects of it, as we know. When you look at the Buddha’s image – I’m talking about the Buddhist point of view – if you look at the Buddha image, He looks different. I’m not sure, though it said so, but I’m not sure, physically what the Buddha really looked like. If it’s true [that He looked like the images we see of Him], if Buddha appeared in the same way, then in New York City, people can’t [/wouldn’t] be bothered [to notice that He looks different because there are so many different types of people in New York]. So, they might look a little bit, and then go away. But if he appeared that way in Michigan, then we would all run away!

So I’m not very sure. New York is such a place where anyone can dress up as anything, whatever. (1:20:33) If you run naked, they’ll arrest you or what? Maybe- after a little while. If the police know and don’t feel lazy!

So, anyway, what does goodness look like? From the Buddhist point of view, Buddha is an example. [He is] perfection: physical and mental. Emotions are part of the mind. So the mind and the physical, both are perfect. Where does that come from?

That comes from merit. Merit of… merit and wisdom merit. That’s what Nagarjuna says [quotes Tibetan]

By this virtue of mine, may all beings have perfection of both merit and wisdom merit.

Both ‘from the merit and wisdom merit’ may develop two forms (they call them kayasin Sanskrit): the physical form and the mental form of enlightenment. I’m not going to go into detail about the physical form, mental form.

So, in other words, all positive deeds, whatever efforts we put in, bring the physical aspects of enlightenment (or whatever perfection). (1:22:22) You do need both physical and mind.

If you are physically wonderful, and your mind is horrible, you’re not a good person because your mind is horrible. You’re better off with a good mind and being physically bad. Both [aspects being bad] are not acceptable. It should be: both are perfect, wonderful. That’s what we want, at least. We have to do better than that.

So simply wanting to help ourself is a wish. Just wishing alone may not necessarily give you the answer.

I’m sorry, I’m going to use another funny example, which you’re going to laugh [about] for sure. Or maybe not.

This is for me… when I was a young kid in Tibet, there was one movie theater in Lhasa. They called that movie theater [quotes Tibetan] (1:23:56)… I actually forgot. Because [the first part] means ‘joy illuminating” or something, [the second part] means just luminous. So whatever it is, something. It was built nicely in the old British style. They had those old movie theaters with the boxes.

You know the boxes, one of them belonged to one of my relations. So I got to go for free all the time, whenever I wanted to go. I got one box free, with however many people I wanted to take, as long as there were enough seats- 4 or 5 or 6 seats. I used to go all the time and watch [movies].

You know what you really find… [laughs] the monks are not supposed to watch, right? But all the time you’d find it filled with monks, and everybody would cover their heads with their robes while they were watching. [laughter]

One movie [went on] for a long time. It was an Indian movie called ‘Anagari’ (1:25:28). It was a love movie, some kind of Indian love movie. You know how that is. Now looking [back], it was crazy, absolutely.

The one thing I remember there, the one thing, is the prince and his girlfriend were having a nice picnic time and were lying under a tree which had a lot of those grapes on it. They were lying down there, sort of hoping the grapes would fall into their mouths without doing anything. But the grapes never fell. Unless they pushed out a little bit and grabbed it- otherwise they would never fall.

So that stuck in my mind.

Unless you do something, the goodness doesn’t come to us.

The positive merit doesn’t come to us, the wisdom merit doesn’t come to us at all- unless we take it. It is right there hanging right over there. But you have to move and bite or something, get your hands out or something you have to do! Otherwise, it will never come down.

I do not know what reason they had in the movie. The movie wasn’t even translated, [it was] just Hindi. I had no idea what was going on, except that thing that was running over there. As a result of this, now, anything I watch, I don’t have to know the story, I just see it and that’s enough for me. Maybe that’s [due to] the influence from there [/that time], because we didn’t speak Hindi! We didn’t know anything about [what was going on]. (1:27:40) But we enjoyed it. We could have watched it forty times- especially since I didn’t have to pay! I presume that they didn’t send a bill!

I used to run to the markets in Lhasa, to all the Indian and Nepali shops. I wanted to buy all kinds of things and this and that. I would get back and then my mother would start scolding me, “What did you buy? Where did you go? What is this?” I didn’t have any money, but I would go into the shopping area and get all these things. They delivered everything- I didn’t have to carry it! [Laughs] I hope they didn’t send a bill! I presume they didn’t. (1:28:53)

We have to work for it. The positive, straightforward, analyzing, thinking- that is one thing. The other is… a lot of them are mind activities, like the mental meditation and practices. Among them, the most important thing is the seven-limbed [prayer] (which we do in the morning- we chant). The mantras have equal power. So, literally, whatever we know, [what is] straightforward, [we should be] doing that, plus adding a mantra power, plus adding a meditative power.

So, the three of them together is the answer to the question you asked, “How?” That is answered by these three.

So, I’m getting close to the time, but what I’m going to do is explain this short prayer of Jewel Heart which says “For nothing we did not create that.” (1:30:30) this has tremendous meditative information in that. that I am going to share with you, along with a mantra. Don’t expect me to translate those mantras!

Somebody asked me two days ago, “Why do you say the mantras in Tibetan? Is it the sound?” and I replied, “It is Sanskrit, it is sound.”

Mantra works on the sound. That’s why you don’t translate mantra. Mantra works on sound. If you translate mantra, it probably loses its power. In traditional Indian culture, they had four different languages. The language of Sanskrit they call the ‘language of God.’ [quotes ?Sanskrit] [?](1:31:35) language is supposed to be human language. There’s something called the natural, local language. Then I forgot the third one. There’s something called the Ghost language. God’s language, ghost language, normal language – something like that.

So anyway, Sanskrit is considered pure. It is god’s language, meaning that it carries blessings. That’s why the sound doesn’t change.

In the middle of those mantras you find:

Om tare tutare ture soha

Because I have to promote my CD! [Laughter] I have to work it together here- I have to kill two birds with one stone. That’s a bad metaphor! Alright, anyway.

So, you have this Tara mantra: om tare tutare ture soha. I have to explain these mantras to you, so I might as well do it now.

So om tare tutare ture soha. You know ‘om’ is… there are so many explanations of the word om. It is often used at the beginning of mantras. But ‘ah’, ‘oh,’ ‘em’- the three of them are [combined] together and make [the sound] ‘om.’ There are a lot of reasons, so I am going to postpone it until [we come to] another mantra because I only have a couple of minutes here. (1:34:39)

Tare, tutare, ture.

[quotes Tibetan](1:33:53)

Protection from suffering. And actually om tare tutare ture soha, the tare tutare ture soha [portion]- this is the Four Noble Truths. [These are the truths] of Buddha’s discovery: the Truth of Suffering, the Truth of the Cause of Suffering, the Truth of the Path that leads to the Cessation, and Cessation itself. That is what every life has. There are positive aspects and negative aspects.

The first two truths- Suffering and its Causes- are the negative aspects of the truth. The last two, the Path that leads to [Cessation] ([about] which we have talked about for the whole day) and Cessation are the positive aspects of the two truths.

So Tara represents that.

Tara also is the feminine principle in Tibetan Buddhism. There are a variety of reasons that I give throughout the year all the time. You have lots of information- there are a number of transcripts available [on this subject]. Every morning you have Tara meditation, led by senior experienced instructors, giving you guided meditation.

Personally speaking, Tara is a special yidam. In reality, it is Buddha; in reality it is dharma; in reality it is sangha; in reality it is guru. But it happens to be in a different physical form that is also a female form. It also is in the form of a mother, who gives all kinds of compassion, love, and care without any hesitation.

That is what Tara is all about. We do a lot of activities, because as you all know, a few years ago, probably now years ago, it was perhaps time for me to go. (1:36:45)

Then there were a lot of incidents. One of them was the late ???Derem Tulku, (1:36:58) who lived in Denmark. One time I saw him. Derub had the funny vision. He looked at me and he said, “Oh Rimpoche,” and I said, “What’s wrong?” and he said, “You’re about to go. Yeah. I think so.” And he sort of thought about it for a little while and he said, “Oh yeah, okay, now I see the White Tara coming on your crown and radiating light and making your body completely physically changed.”

So, that was many years ago. I have still survived. This was just one incident. There were so many incidents.

Once I was in Delhi, it was probably about time [for me] to go again. Phagula Rimpoche (1:37:56) said, “Oh Rimpoche, you have to do a Tara practice, a Tara longevity practice. You have to do it. You have to do it!” I said, “Okay, okay.” “I have to send my attendant to you. He will make a torma for you.” So they made a torma, and I never did it. But just by making the torma alone and deciding to do it alone, is good enough. And that works that way.

So it has been very special. And this is the day that we do a Tara blessing, which is, without initiation (initiations may have some difficulties, a little baggage). So without baggage, we have these Tara blessings made. This is what the DVDs and CDs are- they are of the Tara blessings that we made in New York September last year. Right?

The DVDs and Cds both came out. This is my first officially published DVD. Honestly. So, I’ll be happy to sign it! I hope I have one of those golden pens. It has guided meditation. It is very simple, easy to practice, and is very helpful. That is also one of the ways to help yourself, through the one mantra, one yidam, one meditation.