Archive Result

20060624GRSR15

JH Summer Retreat 2006

Session 15

GR: Thank you so much. I think the prayers to the Mahakala, Tabtan Chuje, Palden Lhamo, Vairashavana [deity of wealth – sp.?], and Setrabchen, think works very well. Thank you. And also the longevity, perfectly, starting with the shorter, then gradually increases, and at the end that is exactly how it should be done, and it is very, very well, thank you. And it is just good omens to all of us, we spent one week together, teaching, praying, practice, all together, we also have a nice fun, and really, we put the fun in the practice. And it functions very well, and thank you, and I think we will go for the questions, whoever is going to…

Q: Rimpoche, first I want to say that we have a great number of questions.

GR: Good. And we do have time.

Q: We do have time.

GR: I think so.

Q: OK. Then we are not going to edit, then, go straightforward.

GR: Go ahead.

Q: OK. So you said today that one of the five powers is what you call the hammer that you hit on the head of the self-cherishing that comes up, or the negativities, etc. This question is, how do you use the hammer that is one of the five powers to hit your delusions in a self-compassionate way, without hitting yourself on the thumb.

GR: Well, if you are not careful, not only you hit on your thumb, you hit on your head. So we do not want that. So absolutely we have to hit on the ego. And ego’s effects. And while you are hitting on the ego, it looks like you are hitting yourself, but you have to realize, you have to be strong, you have to be brave, and you have to realize you are not destroying yourself, your ego is the one. Sometimes when you have soft buttons been hit, and you become sensitive, and you have to realize whether you have really been sensitive yourself because you have been uncomfortable yourself, or ego. Most of the time, 99.9% of the time, it is the ego becomes uncomfortable. It is not self. Self has no control, no way of raising your hands up, until you push ego down. When ego is sort of lost and scattered, and completely destroyed, then self comes up. And that is a strong self. And like you have double image. First there is something, that somebody, somehow, something happens, or maybe look in the mirror, and somehow destroyed, disappeared, and then comes up yourself. So that means your ego has been, or going to be, I do not say destroyed already, going to be destroyed, and the self is going to be coming up. And I hope I am talking to the person. I hope the person understands. Maybe at the dream stage. Maybe some people may have dreams, or something. Jonathan is putting his hand on his mouth, like this, covering.

Q: OK, this is a question about patience. The smart kind and the not-so-smart kind.

GR: Great! Good way of telling this. Smart patient and idiot patient. Great.

Q: So, group six discussed how people are often able to justify anything, including waiting in the desert for a girlfriend who never shows, as in your example today. What happens if you really do not know if a situation is worth being patient about? At what point do you say, enough is enough?

GR: Whatever you are doing in it, whatever the nature of the work, whatever you are engaging to it, if it is the positive side, or goodness side, or to be more clear, if it is virtue, then everything is good, there is no question of enough. But if it is negative side, then you do not, it is not worth for you to spend any time, or any opportunity, it is not worth. I am going to give you an other Tibetan story with no punch-line. That is, when the Communist Chinese began to take over Tibet, it is more or, in the old Tibet, everything is appointed by the Dalai Lama administration. No one is really elected at all, in olden times, before 1950. During 1950, when the Communist taking over, His Holiness has to escape from Lhasa, at that time, some kind of very popular demand from a public, I mean, nobody is shouting, nobody is demonstrating, but some kind of, you know, the talk of town, and everybody is something, and there was, in the finance, there is one finance minister, which is my next-door neighbor, which is somehow, he and some other monk official been chosen, mostly he been chosen, then he had another monk official, so then the two of them, then Dalai Lama appointed them as Prime Minister, and he is such a character, he refuse to, completely refuse to cooperate with the Communist party leaders, completely. I mean, just, virtually, putting his foot down, not moving. So then what did he do? The Chinese come in, try to be diplomatic, they try to talk to him, and do all kinds of things, and when they go and meet him, there is such a intense, there is no ice-breaking point, yet we are not in fighting point, they are talking about agreements, they are really, so intense, they are sitting. One of the Chinese leader thought he can break the ice by asking how many cup of tea you drink per day. Because the Tibetans keep on drinking cup of tea. The butter tea. So they ask him, how many cup of tea you drink? So the translator translates, then he look round, and he said, it depends how good the tea is. If the tea is good, I even drink 80 cups per day. If the tea is not good, not even a drop. Not even a drop. You understand? Not even a drop! So that’s the, is there punch line? Not even a drop! So that is the, when you say enough is enough, that is, not even a drop.

Q: The second question in this group is about anger and hatred. Sometimes it may be possible that a person’s angry outburst or screaming rage could be physiologically triggered, in other words, physical causes, for example, by hormones, by bad medication, by chemical imbalance, and that could cause them to have rage or anger.

GR: Sure!

Q: Well, here is the questions that they ask. Does the karmic impact of anger change if it is caused by these physiological factors? And is it reasonable to expect that practice will ever mitigate the negative factors of anger that has been caused by the physical conditions. Can that be purified, can practice help under those circumstances?

GR: Very interesting question. Chemical change, definitely change, you do not have to look to anybody else, I look to myself. When my sugar drop down, sugar drops down, and everything becomes something, I do not know whether I become enraged and screaming or not, but I sort of conversation has to be cut short, and short cut goes in, and Colleen looks at me and says, “Oh-oh, you sugar must be down.” So that is definitely effects. Effects. And whether that really effecting as anger, or angry, I am not sure. I think it depends on the person. Does that have a karmic changes? Sure it does. Each one of them have karmic changes. Can practice alone cure or help to reduce that chemical effect, anger, I do not know. Can be. However, if chemical imbalance, why don’t you balance, by taking whatever you have to take. For me, I have some kind of sweet, something that you wanted to eat, you should not eat, it is good opportunity for me to take that very nice chocolate at that time. Not the sugar-free, but the sugar-chocolate, or whatever. That beautiful cake, or that beautiful carrot cake, or the cheesecake, whatever they are, this is the opportunity for me. And I really look as an opportunity to take that nice little sweet thing because you need it, and what is the use of putting a package of sugar in your mouth. Instead of that, have a nice cheesecake, or carrot cake, which you always wanted but you could not have it, here is your opportunity. Only the problem is availability. When your sugar goes down, you have no cheesecake or carrot cake around at all, when your sugar is up, there is a lot of cheesecake available. Probably that is the karma, too. So, not only this, but anything, chemical imbalance, physiological thing. And there is a lot of treatments. And take them. Do not hesitate. If you have good doctor. And if you have second opinion. And if both comes correctly, take it, without any hesitation, because they are very helpful. We have seen it. We have see it, within ourself, we have people came very far away. Very long way. You all know. Came very long way, yeah. A lot of, we have them, even one was even here yesterday, right? So? That is what it is. That is a good example.

Q: When you talked about the five paths, you talked about the point where we see emptiness in the face, and this group wants to know, does the realization of emptiness purify all negative karma and its imprints?

GR: Sure. Positively. Just doubt alone. Doubt alone tears the samsara into pieces. Oh my dear, everything. You have pulled red carpet under the feet of negativities. You pull your ego out. And that is really the red carpet, but you pull really out, there is no way for any negative karma to stand. Pulling out. Imprint, purifying, imprint takes a little time. Imprint is already clear by that, then you become fully enlightened, and that is how, there is no doubt about that, for sure.

Q: Another group was talking about the potential tomorrow for taking refuge, for the first time. And they ask, what is the proper motivation for taking refuge, and how does one who is considering taking refuge know, who is enlightened or not enlightened, in terms of the ? that you gave in terms of not taking refuge in non-enlightened beings, after you have taken the refuge ceremony.

GR: Buddha, dharma and sangha and outstanding, you know, well-known, outstanding, great, the divine deities, and all of them, and all of them are enlightened, no question. Other than that, no question, little this, little that, little spirit here, spirit there, ghost here, ghost there, and all that sort of thing, whether it is enlightened or not we do not know. When you do not know, better stay away. So that is why, in the Buddhism, they give you guru, Buddha, dharma, sangha; guru, Buddha as one, and that is no question they are enlightened. That is why, define the object of refuge.

Q: Motivation for taking refuge?

GR: Oh, motivation is, so we have, we have been, one of our power is motivation, remember? And if possible, in addition to that, to become a fully enlightened Buddha yourself, to become fully enlightened buddha, for benefiting all living beings, to the service of all living beings, one would like to become fully enlightened Buddha, and for that one would like to take refuge. And follow the advices. And however, this is very general thing, for everything. However in refuge, there is two things, right? Why you have to take refuge, and [Tibetan] so why you have to take refuge, because need of protection, sense of urgency, and we said ourself, we develop compassion, we develop ourself in the positive way, lead ourself to total enlightenment. If we do not have time, in case of certain problem, what should we do, then only the alternative for us, is to seek protection, and to rely on, actually, not seeking protection much, to rely on Buddha, dharma and sangha. At least that connects one more life for positive karmic way. So that you have time, all over again, if you are lucky enough to be able to connect, you have time again, continue, and so and forth. And that is why there is a sense of urgency, there is a need. Sense of urgency is the cause. And also the trust. Trust to the Buddha, dharma and sangha. Who, Buddha himself, just like us, found his way, become fully enlightened, sharing his path, as dharma, helping us to put through on the path as sangha, so it is reliable, proven to be reliable, to Buddha, and thereafter, millions of Buddhist masters and non-masters, Buddhist lay people, Buddhist kings, Buddhist businessmen, Buddhist normal citizens, and millions of them have proved. So, that is reliable, and that is how you are taking it. Sense of, you know, not only sense of need, urgency, but trust. But both of these, combination of these, are the cause, and motivation of taking refuge.

Q: Last question I have, Rimpoche. One group was talking about when they go home from retreat, and it was described to me that it was the elevator question. You are in the elevator, going home from the office, and someone says, what did you do this weekend, and well, I was in a Buddhist retreat or meditation retreat, and then the question comes, well what did you learn? And so the question is, if you were going to make a bookmark to boil down what we learned, so that it could be said in a minute, on the elevator, to the person that asked you, what would you say would be the main points that we should take home with us to answer the question?

GR: This morning I give it to you. Four techniques. Five powers. That is your answer. Thank you.

Q: I have two questions from last night, Rimpoche. You told a story about a monk who aspired to be King of Shambhala. What does it mean to be King of Shambhala, and is that a good aspiration?

GR: Oh! King of Shambhala supposed to be King of King, God of God, Lord of Lord, and all that. [laughs] Shambhala supposed to be pure land. [Tibetan] Shambhala is semi-pure land, semi-human land. Normally we say Tushita is very close, out of all pure lands, this and that. Somehow Shambhala is very, very close, although we do not see it now. I do not know when. But with the scientific development, really, scientific development, we are supposed to be, I think we will be seeing Shambhala, we will be contacting with Shambhala. With Shambhala contact comes, the probably, probably it is going to be a kind of war. Kind of war. There is called Shambhala war. And by that time, in the human land, in the human land, our wonderful life, wonderful way of functioning, all this great way, freedom, equality, liberty, democracy, all of them, may no longer be existing, and it might be taken over by some strange, very radical view, maybe completely be ruling over powering humanitarians, by that time, the Shambhala opens up, and take over, and overpower that power. And the mankind will be re-established into freedom, democracy, and all that. Democracy I do not know, freedom, liberty and all those, are supposed to be re-establishing, and that is supposed to be falling on the 25th King of Shambhala. And that King of Shambhala really, I mean, it is mythical on one hand, very mythical. On the other hand it could be reality for us in the future, on the other hand, it may be reality for us right now. But not in our direct contact, or seeing or understanding, semi-mythical, which may become reality later. So that King of Shambhala is considered to be the true universal power. So the one of the, and the very love, compassion, and spiritual oriented. It is not going to be narrow, self, selfish, I had to use the word conservative, narrow, selfish conservative, so probably that is what is supposed to be. It is a great thing, anyway.

Q: When you talked about the five limitless negativities, did you say that Buddha committed all five crimes in his past lifetimes?

GR: Past lifetimes, I do not know. Maybe. I do not think that I said that. I said that during the Buddha’s lifetime, each and everyone person committing each one of those, becomes incident, then the incident was discussed and brought for the decision of the Buddha, and Buddha confirmed them and made, this was one of the limitless negativities. And that is how it become five. I do not know whether I said, I do not think that I said it, thank you.

Q: I understand the mission of life for a Mahayana practitioner is the achievement of perfect enlightenment for the sake of all beings. The first night you said, it is to relieve our suffering and to fulfill our happiness. Are they the same thing?

GR: No, we are here to develop compassion for self. We are not here developing compassion for everybody else, at this moment. We take step-by-step. So, let us say this is step number one.

Q: If spiritual beings, and higher beings cannot take away our karma, can they create a buffer between us and our negative karma, and if so, how can they do this?

GR: Well, the answer is no. There is no, does not rise. You know why? Because we are responsible for ourself. Totally. Do not take it personally, OK? Please? I like to say this here. Do not be baby anymore. Grown-up. Now what would you say? Grow up! Do not be baby. And do not cry for Mommy. Grow up, OK? Thank you.

Q: All right, this last question. If I can accumulate positive merit by rejoicing, and thereby develop positive karma, can I rejoice myself all the way to enlightenment?

[laughter]

GR: It sounds like very happy way! The word rejoice, what I understand is, the RE-joice. When you are talking about self. Self did something joyful. And think of it, and then second time, thinking, joys again, I think it should be rejoice. I do not know English at all, it is street language. But the word, re-joice has value for that. Let us have that happy road all the way to enlightenment. I think it is very good, I am very happy, and a very good happy road, and we should all enjoy on it. Should we say ha ha, ho ho, and yaw yaw yow! How did that go? Ha ha ha, ho ho ho! OK. And I think it is really time for us to say, ha ha, ho ho, and yeow! And tomorrow as we say, usual, nine o’clock, we have the usual nine o-clock we have the longevity initiation, followed by, you all know, we always have the summer retreat, we end with the smoke puja, for peace harmony, and joy. All the way through the enlightenment. So after the initiation, and we will go over the designated area, I am quite sure, Kathy is going to announce tonight, oh, you are not going to say it. Designated area, if I understand correctly, that is where we had the fire puja. At the bank of the river, down there. And those of you not been there, you know, I think we are going through the road in the front, cross the railway track, and turn left, all the way at the end of that building, then turn right, go straight towards the river, there is a little, sort of metal gate there, and go through with that gate, and then you are going to see people down there, so that is where it is, so we will do the usual smoke puja. So what we normally do is, we have a little piece of paper, which is the smoke puja paper.

Hartmut: Go to the blue book now.

GR: What page number? 123. And that is what we do. And so you have to bring your blue book down there. So that is what we do. And then we depart from there. That is it. Oh, I am sorry, I should not make you get up, sorry, for that. That is the conclusion of our retreat, and then we still have lunch. And that is it. That is how it is going to be. And maybe I will be able to say it, but we are all looking forwards to be meeting with you again. And I would like to make two announcement. I think our department people here maybe aware of it maybe not. That is the next meeting, larger gathering, is the labor day weeking, is the Vajrayogini practice, so if you have a Maha annutara yoga initiation, and if you do not have Vajrayogini initiaition, you can come, because there is going to be Vajrayogini initiation. And if you do not have Maha annutara yoga initation, you cannot come in there. If you wanted to make inquiries about that, please contact Hartmut and Kathy by email, by now you know the Jewel heart email address, jewelheart.org, and Kathy@jewelheart.org, or Hartmut@jewelheart.org, whatever it is, right? And the second, this winter, winter retreat, I will be visiting Lama Chopa, along with the Mahamudra, combined together. That Lama Chopa has seven point mind training together, along with Mahamudra, I will be reducing time, early seven limb, because most of us studied lot, so I hope to cover the seven lamp in one day, or at most two days. And we do not know the date yet, I hope it will be more than seven or eight days, if possible, a little more than that. So a minimum of eight or nine or ten days, and that is what I hope, and that is Lama Chopa with the Mahamudra together, and seven point mind training, all combined together. And that is the winter retreat subject, and date we do not know yet, we wanted to know today, but we did not get time to look at it, but in our usual time it is not going to be Christmans time, no, because it makes a lot of difficulty for family, but some family easy, other times difficulties, but we sort of ratioed it, so way more inconvenient for the people during the Christmans people, so that is why we are not doing that, it is a little later. So I do not think we could do a little earlier, I wish we could do a little earlier, but you know, we have such a holiday, from Thanksgiving to Christmas, in between that is not a good time anyway. So somewhere between late January, February, round there, we be looking for, depends on how time is working, so it is going to be, I will be very happy if I have ten days, if not nine, if not eight. I will not settle less than eight. So that is what is going to be so that is that.

2006 Ngawang Gehlek Rimpoche