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20070626GRALSR4 – I – Transcriber: Sarah Wilkinson

Good morning everybody and welcome.

(So we try to keep that particular corner on that side a handicapped area so people can go through that door easily. I need to communicate that to people, because otherwise in the middle it can be difficult…)

What we did not touch [upon] yesterday is… as you all know, the guru devotional aspects of it. Since we have a number of newcomers here, I thought it might not be appropriate.

(3:00)

We start there. We did start with the ‘important-ness of life.’ That is allowed. That is not only allowed, but that is true to the tradition, too. In the tradition, they give you guru devotional practice at the beginning and simultaneously, they also give you ‘embracing human life.’ It is [taught] side by side.

Guru devotional practice is hard to develop, and [there are] a lot of difficulties and [there are] a lot of questions. If one has to wait to develop guru devotional practice before making any movement on the path, it is traditionally said that it is even possible that one may spend [one’s] whole life trying to develop guru devotional practice. So, one may gain nothing. It may be a huge, I don’t know, misfortune or something, and one may miss a lot of opportunity. So that’s why it is simultaneously given [/taught].

So, I will try to keep true to the tradition. If I don’t, we will gain nothing out of it. That is why [it’s important] to keep [/stay] true to the tradition. But [we’ll do] whatever is permitted, [allow ourselves] to be able to move simultaneously and [learn the two together]. So then we try to move [forward in] that [way]. (5:01)

It’s not nothing that you get out of guru devotional practice- that’s not true. There is a large number of great many spiritual people who [have] had quite good development of the individual [self]. Although their own measured practice may be solid, it only remains with the [/it is confined to only] guru devotional practice. We see a number of them, even our contemporary people, today… a number of them we see [whose practice is confined to guru devotion].

I’m not only talking about the Buddhist circle, I’m talking about Eastern tradition circle. If you look at the Hindu tradition, there is a huge number of people who have had very wonderful, great success in their spiritual thing [/tradition; practice]. Yet, if you measure their development, it is almost like only at the guru devotional level where they have reached solidness.

You see many well-known ones. When they look around, when they speak, you listen to them. You sort of make an assessment of those people, [and] that is exactly what you see. They have made great achievement.

So when I say you may spend a whole life [devoted to] guru devotional practice, you may gain nothing - that may be a little overstated.

But here we have such a wonderful opportunity, why get hung-up on that? So even earlier it is permitted [to introduce both simultaneously]. That’s why we begin with the important-ness of life. (7:02)

Anyway, where all of this is coming from is from the Guru- in this case, Guru Shakyamuni, the Guru Buddha, the Buddha Guru… Guru Dharma, Guru Buddha, Guru Sangha, Guru Shakyamuni. So ‘Guru’ in that way.

Rather than looking [at it] as [an] individual this or that [/guru or teacher], maybe this is easier for some people [to visualize Buddha Shakyamuni rather than a specific living teacher].

On the other hand, it is my own personal experience working with the Western people, that as long as you leave [/choose] the Guru [to be] at the level of the Buddha or Tsongkapa, the individual effect becomes quite distant, [and remains so] until you put [/give your Guru] a name and a face of a known person. But at the same time, it is the same as guru [/either way will work], and we’ll leave it there. (8:10)

So, what did Guru Buddha tell us? Guru Buddha’s words told us: Life is important. Each and every individual person is important. This life is tremendously rich with opportunity. Buddha told us: Life, not this life, but Life: one cannot figure out when it began. So he almost said that there’s no beginning. Life has no beginning limit [/starting point]. In other words, we all have been… life is old life. You know, you can almost say ‘all souls are old souls.’ It is very similar to that.

Buddha says: it’s limitless- life.

Buddha gave us… sort of divides us, just like any other people do. Scientists do- they divide things. Like modern ways- we organize. Buddha divided life into organized segments. Three segments. (10:00)

Two segments: The Joy/Happy segment and the Suffering/Misery segment. We’ll call that the Three Lower realms. The Hell Realm, the Hungry Ghost Realm, the Animal Realm are called ‘Lower Realms.’ The Human, Demi-God, and God Realms are called the ‘Higher Realms’ or ‘Better Realms’ or whatever, ‘Joy Realm.’

So Buddha divides that into six: three poor ones and three better ones. This is according to Tibetan Buddhism. But if you look at Chinese Buddhism, they have ten segments. Not six, ten. It doesn’t matter; it’s just to inform you. Also, you should not be a stranger [/unfamiliar with this]. If somebody says there are ten realms, and you say, ‘No, no, no, there’s only six.’ That should not be [/happen]. If someone says there are ten realms, fine. There are ten realms. And if someone tells you there are six realms, fine! There are six realms. Or someone may tell you there are only three realms. That is what in the West we call it: Hell, Heaven, and Earth.

Tibetan Buddhists, or traditional Buddhists, call it [/refer to these segments as being]: underneath a layer of the ground, above the ground, and on the ground. That’s what they say. So whether they say three, six, ten, or whatever they say, it doesn’t matter. As long as it gives [/describes] the karmic relationship, karmic consequences, karmic effects [of one’s actions to these different realms]… as long as it corresponds- whether the number is ten, six, three- it doesn’t matter. (12:24)

I remember as a kid we were taught in the monastery, Drepung, to say ‘everything created is impermanent.’ So we learned that ‘everything created is impermanent.’ Okay?

So, then you are given an example. The example is a pot: a cooking pot, or a flowerpot, or whatever. Pot is the example. Good.

Then you [would] go to the debating area where people were debating. Then you say [/would be asked] ‘What is the example?’ ‘What is the definition of impermanence?’

You’d say, ‘Everything created. Everything created is impermanent.’

[They then would say,] ‘So give me an example.’

So somebody will [/would] say ‘pillar’ instead of ‘pot.’ Then you’d jump around screaming and say, ‘How can you say this?!’

Then your reason was because my teacher taught me “pot.” You’d say, ‘You’re wrong because my teacher taught me “pot.”’ That is the wrong reasoning. And that argument is invalid. And that shock, that surprise, is not right.

So, like that, when someone tells you ‘ten,’ fine. Don’t say, ‘Because Rimpoche told me six,’ or ‘Books that I have read say six.’ No. Ten is fine. Three is fine. Six is fine. It doesn’t matter, as long as it is [indicative of] karmic relation. The karmic relation is: by having a negative karma created, you take rebirth in the suffering-oriented area. If you have positive karma created, you take rebirth in the joy/happy area. As long as you have that principle in tact, whether it is ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty, forty, or three, or two, it’s all fine.

From the ‘six’ point of view, what does Buddha mean? (15:00) Buddha was meaning the soul, or, as in Buddhist terminology- these are technicalities… In Buddhist terminology, we don’t use ‘soul,’ we use ‘consciousness.’ There are a lot of valid reasons [for this], but that is not our business right now. Consciousness.

So what happens is: consciousness travels from life to life. So where the consciousness takes rebirth, what happens to that consciousness? All of those are [/this has to do with] the terms and conditions. Conditions. What are the conditions? Conditions are our deeds, our work; [they are] our mental, physical, verbal deeds; the actions that we take.

Mind counts. Tremendously. The most important is the mind. Mind influences action, whether it is speech, or physical, or even emotional. All of them are coming [from], pushed by the mind. So the mind is the most important.

That’s why the first day we spent the whole time talking about motivation. That’s what you have to carry everyday. You don’t have to! It is suggested that you carry [this motivation] everyday of your life, because it makes a hell of a difference from the karmic… what is it?… perspective. Alright. I’m not sure whether that’s the right word or not, but I’ll say okay. Perspective means if you are looking from the karmic point of view, right? The way of looking at it, through the karmic side? But I wanted to get [to the] ‘total reality’ side of it. So whether it is [from] the karmic perspective or [if] it is [from] the real reality aspects of our life, [motivation will make a big difference].

Motivation, not only in terms of karma, but even in terms of our everyday life- feelings, and living, and connecting with people, and affecting others, all of them- the motivation makes a difference. (18:35)

If you have motivation… let’s say: this person is insulting me, looking down on me and giving me trouble all the time, and I must protect myself, and I must have my ‘porcupine attitude.’ If you keep on going like that, your life is going to be miserable no matter what you do. It is going to be miserable for that day, for that month, for that week, for that year, for that life.

If you change it… well, it may be a misunderstanding. True, maybe it’s not true. Maybe that person has a reason. The motivation is good, so why can’t I take it? That’s fine. So, if you take that attitude, and move it, and then everything is okay. There’s a bright side to it. Always.

It is so funny that life is such that if you choose the dark side of it from [/in terms of] the motivation and action, it can be very dark. If you choose the light and good aspects of it, everything can be good. So choice is not [up] to them, [but is up] to me. It is my choice. Not yours. My choice. [For] Each and every one of us. We choose. Not they choose. We choose. My ideas don’t suit some people. Fine, let it go. Democracy is all about that. Let it go. Let it go. So people chose that way. Let it go. What’s wrong with that? Nothing.

So if you still think, ‘This should not be; that should be; this should not be,’ then that is an invitation to suffering and misery.

It’s not going to change your enlightenment. It’s not going to change anything. It may change something that looks good [from something] that didn’t look good; it may change something professional [from] something that doesn’t look professional, a little disorganized. Or it may look great, or not so great. As long as your quality [of motivation] is good, you’ll be good. (21;33)

It doesn’t change your enlightenment; it doesn’t change anything. This is how motivation makes a tremendous amount of difference. Not only from the karmic point of view but also from the everyday life point of view.

If you think everyone is out to get me, then we call it [ mengse derl lampa Tibetan] (22:04) everything that appears to you, everything that you contact, becomes your enemy.

So this is the biggest point of negation in Vajrayana. Everything that appears and everything that is… everything that appears and everything that is available/ possible is the enemy of the mind. [It] becomes the enemy because they are not [/not because they are] the enemy, but I made them into an enemy because I thought they were there to get me, and I thought ‘I’d better get them before they get me! I am going to harm them.’ They are going to get away from me, naturally. This is the point of negation in Vajrayana.

There’s a name for this: lung tse dahla [Tib] (23:14) It means ‘everything appears [as] and everything, whatever it is, is my enemy. Everything. Every individual person from A to Z, you will question their motivation; you will question their ideas; you will question their attitude. Even if they have nothing to do with you, you think, ‘They did this just to get me.’ Right? Just to get me. Just to get me.

But there’s nothing to get! Nothing to get. So it doesn’t matter if have to sit up there, or if I sit down there - whatever I have to do - walk upside down, or walk straight, as long as I can walk, it doesn’t matter. If you take that attitude, you have happiness.

If you don’t take that attitude, then you have unhappiness. The tears never stop. That is how motivation makes a difference – from the life point of view.

From the karma or dharma point of view, seeking enlightenment, make every effort [/every effort you make] - even if you give a piece of food to a dog or any animal [all the way up] to [the effort involved in] the highest level of meditation - everything goes [/becomes] a direct cause for obtaining total enlightenment. A direct cause for obtaining enlightenment! (25:23)

That’s what you do. From the dharma point of view, with the desire to obtain enlightenment, as I said, nothing - other than seeking enlightenment - is any good. That is because then, anything you do… for example, this retreat: the moment you wake up to walk, drive, whatever you do…

You know, it’s funny, [you think to yourself] ‘I have to go and attend the teaching and the practice, but before that, I have to eat breakfast.’ So your breakfast-eating will become a virtue because of that motivation. Attending a teaching for obtaining enlightenment, for which this empty bag will not stand, I have to fill it up first [/is not possible unless I first fill up this empty bag]. I have to fill it up first. That motivation makes that junk you eat down there, really, a virtue. (27:42)

That doesn’t change whether it’s going to hurt your body or harm your body or help your body- it doesn’t change that. But from the karmic point of view, it becomes positive. Although, with attachment to the bread, or the eggs, or the cream, and if you keep on shoveling them with attachment, maybe… [but] it still becomes a virtue because of the motivation.

So every step that you take towards this becomes a virtue. As I said earlier, [it is] Milarepa’s idea that this is how motivation makes [a difference].

But: ‘I have to be obtaining enlightenment for which I have to eat, [and therefore] for which I shall kill this sheep’ – that is not virtue, that is a negativity. Because the action itself is an action that hurts a living being, that’s why by the nature of the act it is a negativity. Don’t overstep.

Some people may do that. ‘Because my motivation is pure, I should do this.’ This means the end is justifying the means, which doesn’t work in dharmic language. Buddha doesn’t accept that. The end does not justify the means. That goes for everything. The nature of the action – if it is hurting anything – that is a negativity. No matter what it may be.

As long as you are not hurting anything, anybody, including yourself, then if it is positive, great! But all neutral things can change [/be changed] by motivation. (30:02)

Buddha gave permission for the sick(?) people to do whatever they want to, so I am not here to say, ‘No, you cannot move.’ [Laughs] (30:17) (This is in reference to someone in the audience?)

This is how it works.

Buddha told us… I’d better not lose my ground here. Buddha told us that consciousness, when the conditions to remain in this life, the moment that [these] condition[s] cease to be, we go away from this life. Then we go somewhere else. We will not disappear. We will go somewhere else.

Where will that somewhere else be? Either a good one, or a bad one. In this case it is black or white- no gray. [Laughs] I have been accused of ‘no gray’ for a long time. There is no gray here, again.

That’s why there are two: positive life or negative life. But that doesn’t mean that every negative life is totally negative; every positive life is not totally positive. Our own life here is supposed to be a positive life, but we know that we have a lot of negative interrupting every day, every hour, every minute almost. We have negative aspects and positive aspects that come- zillions of them come in a day- every day of our life.

When these conditions come in, we switch back and forth, all the time. All the time we go back and forth. But we do have a little control within ourself. Control. Control is a control issue. Control is within ourself. It’s not that ‘I control you, you control me.’ No.

But I control myself. If you can’t, then you have the opportunity. That control is not so much controlling, but like a driver. Like the driver driving, you know, who turns the wheel, driving the wheel around. So you start this way or that way. That control we have. That control we have.

So anything that is negative that is coming, you try to turn right or turn left, or whatever. Even make u-turns if necessary. That is really how we really have to manage life because it is a positive life yet it is full of negativities. (30:30)

Positive [lives] are not necessarily always positive, but more or less they have a positive side: positive result created by positive karma, run through by [/accompanied by] positive karma- sometimes. But sometimes the driver changes. Sometimes James Bond comes in and takes over the driver’s seat. You won’t know until he turns around with a gun pointed at you. You won’t know. Sometimes this will happen. That’s why it is important to have alertness and awareness.

Anyway, if you go [/are born in] the negative side, that’s the hell realm. There are eighteen of them. I always make a joke to our Catholic friends: they run away from the Catholic ‘Hell’ and get into the Buddhist Hells- there are eighteen of them. Not just one, but eighteen of them!

The hell realms are full of suffering, hot and cold. There are two hell realms that are nearby. That means normal, literally, our life that we have [and its accompanying] sufferings. Although the traditional teachings and the scriptures will tell you it is a zillion miles away. [They will say:] In certain areas, this is what it looks like in the day, this is what it looks like at nighttime.

But truly speaking, the slums in Calcutta and Old Delhi are true hell realms. Nearby hell realms- I mean where else [would they be?] These are the ones. Really. Honestly.

Even within human life, even within the beautiful city of Delhi or Calcutta, you have all of them [the realms?] together simultaneously. We don’t have to go to Delhi or Calcutta, we have enough ourself- thanks to the conservative governments shutting down all of the hospitals for the psychologically affected – we have enough in these streets.

So the hell realm is not that far from us. It is very close.

Then [there are] the Hungry Ghost [realm] [and the] Animal [realms]. Then the Human Being, Demi-god, and God realms.

Our life is free of those pains and [from the] lack of understanding. (37:00) Look at the animal realm. You know I always say, you may think your pet – the cat, or the dog, or the snake, or the rabbit – is extremely intelligent. I won’t argue with you, but give your car keys and let them go and buy your groceries. You know how intelligent they are. That in itself gives you the answer [as to] how good we are.

When the Buddha said we have eighteen… [He said you have] leisure and opportunity because you are not in those suffering [types of realms]. You have opportunity; you have capability; you have possibility; you have opportunity. That’s how you look into it [/have to look at it].

Not only that, but from the opportunity point of view, we were not born in a place, in an area, in a time that just does not accept anything else but one way of looking at life. You know what I mean. Don’t make me spell it out.

If you were born in the 1920s or 1930s, even the 1940s, you would have [been in] that time, here in the United States. The openness came in the early 1940s, 1950s, and thanks to the 1960s. That’s why we have very open opportunities for an open mind. Before that, you would have been totally shut out. All opportunities [did not exist like they did later]- just because it was society’s point of view. Just because of their acceptance…

Even today, we have people who simply cannot accept the [truth of] cause and result; simply cannot accept enlightenment and non-enlightenment; simply cannot accept that human beings can improve themselves beyond what you [can] measure in terms of dollar-making. (40:00)

This is another lack of opportunity. So Buddha recommended us all the time to look at ourself and realize that you are not only exactly at that level yet [/you are not at that level of non-acceptance]; you are not only exactly in that category [/you are not in that category of denying that there is the opportunity for self-improvement]. You should appreciate and be proud of what you are. This, Buddha counts as an opportunity. If you just shut [yourself] out, just shut [yourself] out completely, then you are cutting off your opportunity.

We had an experience once – Aura, Sandy, and me- we had a nice neighbor when we were living together, a very nice neighbor. But the neighbor was in that category, in that mind[set]. When they would walk with their children, they’d look at us. And the mother would catch the two children and would make them look down- straight down the road - make them not look at ‘that side.’ [Laughs] They told somebody, ‘they seem to be awfully nice people, but they don’t worship the good Lord, so we can’t look at them.’ [Laughs] So, it happens sometimes. (41:42)

That falls in that category. And vice-versa. Some very conservative Buddhists will also think in that way. When you look at one side, and say, ‘How?’ Then you look back, and you ask the same thing. It’s always a two-way street. It’s very interesting. Always we have to remember this. It’s always a two-way street.

Because of that, we have opportunity. This is a very important point.

[Quotes Tibetan]

Nay-la-te means ‘one who has faith.’ (42:44) One who has faith. One who has faith is important. ‘Faith’ here is very important. It’s not blind faith. Blind faith- it’s not blind faith. Blind faith leads you to trouble.

Intelligent faith. Faith that is brought to you [through] reasoning- analyzing and reasoning. I don’t have much time to talk to you [about this], but faith with reason. Realiable reasons. It’s called intelligent faith. I, at least, call it intelligent faith. Reliable. Reasoning.

Non-reliable reasoning [is this]: ‘That’s right, because Rimpoche says so.’ That is non-reliable reasoning.

‘That’s right because I analyzed it; I thought about it. I’ve been convinced by this reasoning.’ That is reliable reasoning.

With reliable reasoning, you develop trust. That is intelligent faith.

Actually, this faith is categorized as three different faiths: Trust, Desire to be enlightened, and Profound. Three, you can sub-categorize this faith into three. But all of them have to be intelligent faith.

Blind faith gives you crazy results. Jim Jones, Heaven’s Gate are the results of blind faith.

The result of intelligent faith is the Buddha. (45:31) Gandhi. These are [the resultant beings of those with] intelligent faith.

Faith is necessary. The language may tell you, the English language may tell you, may give you an understanding, that faith is almost like blind faith. Maybe. I don’t know English. You are native speakers. I am a foreigner who tried to learn the language. I never liked learning it. Never.

When I look back, I wasted so much opportunity, particularly during [my friendship with] Allen Ginsberg, who, word-by-word, tried to make it [/my English] correct. Every new word, he would give me the background of it, whether it was from Latin or Greek, or whether it came through an Italian medium, or some other European language. Each and every word, whatever it is, has an explanation. Even cat, dog has an explanation behind it. So much.

That it was a great opportunity, but it was all wasted by me. It’s just that [kind of thing] that Buddha is warning us [about]. We have a great opportunity, but if nothing is achieved when it comes [/presents itself], you go away empty-handed.

I had that great opportunity, with Allen putting it all out [/making such an effort to teach me]. Any opportunity, [he would try to teach me.] Even during the break, in the bathroom, Allen would come in and start saying, ‘the language that you used was…’ While he was washing his hands, he would explain where the words came from, what its background was, what the Oxford dictionary may tell you… all of it. And then politely I would say, ‘Yes, yes,’ and would try to run as fast as I can! [Laughter] (48:09) Then we’d go to eat, and Allen would be following me with a tray in hand, and would be continuously telling me about the words again [laughs]… until it made an impact here, you know?

I still have those, tape after tape. He would [make] tapes, and would give me the tapes. I still have those tapes. And readings. You know he would read certain portions of some easy sentences, probably four, five, six, seven times in one tape. And he would give me the tape.

But I wasted all the opportunity. Buddha tells us so you don’t do that. Because this life, you don’t get it [more than once]. Once Allen’s gone, he’s gone. You don’t get him back. Just like that. Our life will be like that. The opportunities are right in front of us.

I think that should do. That’s why this life is extremely important. This life is important for us, extremely important for us. We may not think about it- why it’s important. Anything you want to achieve: it is [/you are] capable [of doing so]. If you want to be very successful in mundane, worldly activities, life is [/you are] capable [of doing so in this life]. You can do it. You will achieve it.

But if you want to have a good future life, this life can give [it] to you. It is capable. If you want ultimate, total enlightenment, or at least freedom from samsara, this life can give it to you.

[There are] three reasons why it is important. You can achieve anything in the material world - life is capable… you are capable. In other words, you are capable of achieving anything materially that you want to achieve - if you focus right. (51:03) If you don’t focus right, you don’t achieve. It’s true. Even in the material world: you want to make money, you want to work, you want to make money, you want to work, ha! There’s some attractive thing that comes, [and you think,] ‘I’ll leave this here and do this attractive thing,’ and you come back and try to build up whatever your business is. It won’t work! Then another attractive thing will come, and you think, ‘I’ll just drop this and go over there.’ It won’t work again, right? True. We see that everyday in our life, with ourself, with our friends, with our colleagues. Everybody does that. You know it. It’s not the fault of you; it’s the fault of your focusing. If you focus, if you put your mind in it, your energy in it, if you stand behind it, [then] anything you want to achieve, you can achieve it, you are capable.

So, same thing [works with] if you want to achieve a good future life. You put your thoughts on it, put your focus on it, work with it, put all of your energy on it, and don’t get attracted [/distracted] here and there, and [as long as you don’t end up] not focusing, then you will make it. (52:39) You are capable.

And your scope goes beyond the future life [all the way to] liberation from samsara. Focus. You will make it. You are capable. You want enlightenment? You are capable [of achieving it]. That’s why you are important.

Three reasons:

Material

Freedom from samsara

Total enlightenment

You can. You are capable. Three reasons.

Another point: ‘Yeah, at this time I have so much to do, I have so many responsibilities in this life, and my debt is hitting the sky and I have to make some money to pay off my debt and the money that we owe.’ You know, everybody has that. You know, ‘my credit cards are at their limit’ and that sort of thing. ‘I have to work and I won’t be able to do much, but what about next time? I’ll do better.’

There won’t be a next time like this. (54:00) Because it costs so much, even if you can’t afford it right now, how can expect to be able to afford it next time? This is really expensive, this life – from your virtue. You pay out of your virtue.

It’s like what Bush say’s, what was it? ‘I have political capital.’ Before he [/it, the capital?] got exhausted. Two elections ago he said he had got the mandate and political capital that he was going to spend, right?

So, just like that. You know, its costs. It is a virtue investment. It costs tremendously. It’s very expensive, this important life of ours. It’s extremely important. The major, major cost is morality, and how good we are. It’s known to ourself. You don’t have to ask others. It’s known to ourself how good we are. And that in itself will tell us, ‘Not so fast!’ [It will tell us not to be so hasty] to say, ‘[My] future [life, my] next one, [will be a] good one.’ No? (56:00)

It’s very difficult to find such a life. So one has to resolve that we must help ourself this time. Don’t waste [the opportunity]. I gave you the example of Allen’s [offer of] help for me. But I walked away with empty hands. I didn’t get anything. So just don’t do that.

What you have to do… you say, ‘Do, do, do, do, do!’ Do what? Create positive karma. That’s what it is. Whether you call it dharma or non-dharma, create positive karma. This is important.

What is positive karma, anyway? It is not so mysterious. Sometimes people want to look at something and say, ‘Oh, this is dharma!’ [Sometimes they think,] ‘This is positive… this good karma is some kind of - another thing,’ you know. [They want to think of it as] Another world, another world- on the other side, something else than what we normally do.

I think it’s a very wrong view. Especially those of us few who have access to a few yidams, who have a few sadhanas, and a few guru yogas, a few sessions- we think dharma is another world. Completely. [We think] It’s the World of Tara, the World of Vajrayogini, the World of Yamantaka, the World of the Ganden Lha Gyema. That’s how we look at it. It’s wrong. Totally wrong.

The World of Tara is here. The World of Vajrayogini is here. It is not somewhere else. It’s right here. The time in this world is the moment we have access until we lose access. That is the time, day or night. Whether you are in the bar, or temple, or toilet, or in bed, it is always [right here?] – [it’s] not [some] specific time that you allocate, say fifteen minutes in the morning. No. It’s not. It’s always. (59:29)

Positive karma is nothing other than that of non-negative karma. Are you with me everybody? Non-negative karma. Non-negative. Okay? Non-negative. In other words, killing is negative; not-killing is positive. So creating positive [karma] means creating no killing karma.

Normally, if one had the opportunity to kill, and then decided not to kill (killing is bad)… [and decided] not to kill, [then the] restraining from killing is [/would result in] the positive karma of not-killing.

[It’s] not just simply sitting there and not killing – that does not become the positive karma of not-killing… in general.

But [it works differently for] those of us who have vows - the Refuge vows, the Bodhisattva vows, the Vajrayana vows. These vows we have accepted, committed [ourselves to]. ‘I shall not kill.’ Because of that vow, by sitting here not killing, and not thinking of killing, creates automatically not-killing karma.

That’s what I said: motivation makes a huge difference. In this case, a vow becomes the motivation, because of the committing. Not-killing has the positive karma of not killing. Just because you are sitting here and not killing anybody! So you have a huge advantage. (62:12)

Just like that, if you did kill, you would have a huge negativity. [You’d have] more [negative karma] (equally negative to the positive karma earned from not-killing), because not only have you killed, but you have gone against your vow, too.

There are advantages and disadvantages.

This is creating the positive karma of not-killing. When you talk about the ten negativities, you are talking about the killing of human beings. Actually, the killing of human beings is what we are talking about [when we speak of the] ten. That doesn’t mean you can kill animals- it doesn’t mean that. That has it’s own killing karma, too. But when you have the ‘big ten’ over here, it’s talking about human beings. Why humans are more important than anything else is because humans have these opportunities and endowments- not because we have two legs, or because we show our head to the sky, or our back to the sky. (63:47)

Likewise, stealing. You don’t need much explanation for this. Stealing here is value - measurement by value. Not just because I picked up your… whatever. It doesn’t make a difference [what it is]. But value. And motivation, with the satisfaction of getting [the stolen object], and all of those [requirements for it to be considered a negativity].

And sexual misconduct. Sexual misconduct is a big thing. A big thing. Sexually hurting anyone at any level, anytime, is sexual misconduct.

Lying.

And creating mischievous statements: trying to make this, this way and that, that way. I don’t know… All of these political things - whether you get [involved] in there or not - you know, whether you politically support your own candidate and this and that. I don’t know whether that gets into this [negativity] or not, I’m not sure. (65:29)

Creating disharmony among people, trying to turn one person against another, by creating funny stories between them [is a negativity].

And harsh words. Harsh words. Harsh words are terrible things. Harsh words don’t have to be harsh. It [/the words] can be very sweet, very smooth, totally leaking all over. But still, they can be very harsh. Earlier Tibetan teachers have said:

There is no sharper weapon than the tongue.

The tongue can cut the human heart into two pieces. The harsh words can be very – they can be harsh or sweet – but they come with motivation, with agenda. And [they can be] delivered very sweetly like a flower, and create the result of disharmony between two individuals. It counts, no matter what the relationship between the two individuals may be. Two good friends made into enemies, (67:38) or pulled [at a] distance.

So, not doing those are the virtues, remember? Not doing those are the karmas, good karmas. Doing bad [actions] [leads to] bad karmas.

And then, this is nothing new to most of you anyway, but it’s a reminder to ourself: when we talk about creating dharma and virtue, it’s nothing [inherently?] bad, but this is the one, in here. [GR pointing to self?] (68:28)

And then mind by three [/has three negativities], right?

Wanting to hurt. Wanting to create trouble, and then taking the opportunity away from yourself [to do virtuous deeds]. Totally… saying, ‘How do I know this karma [stuff is true]? It’s just a fellow called Buddha who made up all those stories, and [they have been] running into [/for] 2,600 years. Even now [they are still being told]. This is a big lie.’ Even you yourself realize, even then. (69:22)

These are basically the ten negativities. And not indulging them is the ten positive karmas. That is dharma.

So you don’t have to think:

I have to do dharma work, so therefore I must say, “om, om, om, om ah hum, om ah hum, om ah hum.” Yeah, yeah. I killed that one. “Om ah hum, om ah hum, om ah hum.” Oh yeah, get that out of there! “Om ah hum, om ah hum, om ah hum.”’

That won’t work. (70:06)

Remember, we heard the story of the goat, sheep, and cow, and the dharma practitioner, and the butcher? Remember?

The butcher kept on talking to the dharma practitioner with his mala in hand, saying ‘Om mani padme hum.’ [He said,] ‘You don’t have to kill all three, one will do [for] what your needs are.’ (70:35) Blah, blah, blah. ‘Om mani padme hum.’ ‘I need them, all three today, I need their meat, I need their skin, I need their horns, I need their bones.’ Om mani padme hum, om mani padme hum, om mani padme hum.’

Remember?

So this is a picture, really, of our vision of dharma as something separate, a mystery, [seeing] life as something separate, [to be] dealt with differently. And also [think of] how we try to have hourly time, you know, like five minutes, or fifteen minutes, or half an hour, or one hour, maybe one and a half hours, at the most two hours, devoted to om mani padme hum. And the rest of them [/the hours] [we deal with completely differently].

That doesn’t work. That doesn’t work.

If you don’t say om mani padme hum, who cares? Who cares? [Nothing matters] But [for you] to be a good person, to be kind in the heart. Kind to yourself. Kind to others. To everyone. Bring a little compassion to yourself, to others. Conduct your life in that way. And that is dharma. Even if you don’t say a single om mani padme hum. If you don’t even know what is A-U-M, it doesn’t matter.

If you can do that, you’ll make a difference in your life. That will make a little difference in your life. You can make much more if you want to, you have all of the opportunities, all of the methods, everything there.

But, [what you really need is:] ‘Yes, I want to do that! I’ll start from today. But I have achieved not that much, so in case death comes before I have made a reasonable impact, what should I do? Give me an emergency measure. There comes in: Taking refuge in Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.’

Buddha, the historical Buddha, represents total enlightenment.

But before I go into the Refuge you have to have made an impact on yourself from [/have to have felt the impact of a] meditation on impermanence and death. (73:45)

One thing we all know, that is absolutely clear to us, no matter how healthy, how bright, how wonderful we might be, [is that] death is definite. [No matter] how young, how beautiful you might be, death is definite. Definite. It’s not even a question! But we don’t want to think about it. Then people will tell you, ‘Don’t think about it! If you think about it, it’s depressing, so terrible.’

No, it’s not terrible. It’s not depressing. It’s reality. If you have a surprise, then it’s sad. Definitely, we’re going to die. No matter who [you’re talking about]. No one can live [forever]. No Buddha. No Jesus. No one. Nothing ever [does not die]. (75:04)

We count 2007. What are we counting from? 2007. We don’t say 2007 B-C, do we? So? We are counting from somewhere. No one ever lives [forever]- no matter how healthy, how strong, how powerful a physical body we may have. The elephants don’t live all the time [/forever]; the dinosaurs are gone. So [having a] big, strong, physical body will not prevent death.

That doesn’t mean you don’t have to look after yourself, okay? But it [/being strong and fit] doesn’t [prevent death].

[There’s] no place to hide. No place to hide. (76:34)

[Quotes Tibetan]

When death comes, you fly, and stay above the clouds, you die.

People die in planes, too. [People die] Behind the mountains, wherever you go, under the oceans, wherever you go. There’s no place to run away from death.

It is difficult to add up all of our life’s strengths. Physically, mentally, spiritually: the strength and capacity of our life is such. You know, it decreases.

When I was having kidney problems, I saw kidney doctors. I saw three of them. Each one had a chart to show me. The chart tells you: 100 years, and how the capacity of the kidneys decline year by year. So whatever age you are, 60, 70, wherever you are, you will hit at a certain spot. That’s how charts work, right? So there’s nothing to increase, but it always decreases- from a physical point of view. Every physical doctor will tell you that. Decreases. Nothing to add [to make it go] up.

Spiritual people will tell you the same thing: the life’s strength goes down. Year by year, it doesn’t increase. You may do longevity ceremonies, initiations, retreats, and all this, and you may feel better for a while- that’s how it works. But other than that, in reality, whatever the original karmic length of whatever… creating karma, already created, there’s nothing more to add to it.

That’s why some people count breaths, how many breaths you take, that’s how [they measure one’s] life [to its] exhaustion. They talk to you [about this], the people who do the breath business will talk to you about that. When you listen to them, they tell you not to do too much exercise, because you’ll breath more! You have some [finite] 200 million [breaths], I don’t know what it is, some number there, and the number goes down. [When you exercise,] The shorter the breath, the more [breaths] you’ll take, and it goes down more, and then you’re finished! They will tell you that, but it doesn’t mean they’re correct. (80:05)

Anyway, there’s nothing much to add up [/that is added] to your life, and you [/your abilities] continuously decrease. There are so many causes that shorten our life. Pollution. That goes on increasing all the time. Toxics. Environmental toxics. Food toxins. The toxins we create within ourself. All of them continuously cut down [our bodily system]. What else can we expect? [Old] age. Decaying body parts: bones, nerves, flesh, circulation, organs. We’ll definitely go, no question.

Sometimes even if you are well and healthy and strong, suddenly there’s no time to do anything. So, it’s definite. Not only definite, but there’s no certainty. Generally, human life has no certainty. Particularly this modern life that we have, [it] has no certainty at all, because there are so many negative effects in our environment.

Just recently when I was in Malaysia, all of a sudden there was bird flu. It was a local issue. There was bird flu. Immediately, some people died (“Yesterday, three died from bird flu”). It happened from the bird flu. (82:51) Threats are in our life like this.

It’s also interesting: local people seemed to not pay so much attention. Maybe they knew what they were doing, but there was no hesitation. They were still eating chicken. I think three times I tried to very politely move around the dishes! [Laughs] I wanted to be polite; I didn’t want to make the people feel bad. You know, you have to be polite. “My kidneys not very good, so I’d better eat the vegetables.” But this is just an example.

Modern life definitely has so many causes and conditions for bringing death closer. There’s no certainty at all. In one way our physical body is so strong. But on the other hand, it is so weak, like a bubble in the water. The tiniest little thing can burst it.

Remember what Tsongkapa said [quotes Tibetan] ?

‘…Bubble in the water’ in The Foundation of All Perfections. What? [Asks audience]

Someone replies:

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…

You know I am becoming deaf a little bit, so I can’t hear you very well, but I am sure the others heard you! (84:55)

Then one [of the] most important [things to discuss is] what can help us at that time? Nothing but positive karma. I don’t want to say ‘dharma.’ Traditionally they say, ‘nothing but dharma.’ But the truth is it’s nothing but positive karma- everything else hurts you or harms you. Negative karma harms you; positive karma will support you. Positive karma is your cash, you can spend [it]. You buy a positive life by paying [with] positive karma. Negative karma becomes a minus[?] (86:32). That is what death is all about.

At the time of death, nothing really helps, not even loved ones. In some cases, there’s a possibility that loved ones become more of a burden. I don’t want to say that, but I hope you don’t mind it- it’s also reality. Sometimes loved ones can help. Sometimes loved ones can be a little difficult, too. It requires understanding- understanding from those who are living. [Those] who are alive have to have a better understanding. Understand.

You think your loved one is going to ‘die on you’, and that is very wrong. The poor person is dying, not dying ‘on you.’ They can’t help it; no one chooses to die. So that understanding is needed. Otherwise it can create big difficulties for the departing person, the departing soul. It brings obsession, anger, and hatred all together. Then, [at] the time of transition, instead of being pure and clean and nice, it will be crowded with hatred, anger, obsession and sadness all together. It will definitely have an affect on the nature of the mind at that time. [It’s important to be with a dying loved one] with a very good understanding [of this].

Tibetans have a way… the earlier teachers in a very wise way, a funny way [would do as follows:] the moment you know the person has stopped breathing, then they immediately light the butter lamps all over the place so that nothing can go near the body. This was sort of made [/built] into the culture [as a] rule. (90:09) Everyone would take a step back and immediately people would put the butter lamps, so there would be no disturbing the [departing one].

Some loved ones who like to cry and pull the body and kinds of things like that – people do that! – or scream and shout, ‘Don’t die on me! How dare you die on me!’ But the poor fellow is dying, going through the biggest transition, the most difficult thing, and here you are still yelling. That’s not good- not good for you, not good for the one who is going.

Everyone has to have [/should be] looking forward, not looking backwards, especially during the transition like this. One must look forward. A lot of people contact me, or call me, and say ‘this is going to happen, what should I do?’

So I say, ‘practice dharma, say dharma things, don’t create a scene,’ and all of that sort of thing. But more than that, I cannot say.

But during teachings like this, I have the opportunity to tell you, because it’s not really addressing one individual, but giving you general information. I am not specifically telling you about anybody, but [I am speaking] generally.

One has to have this in mind, remember: this departing person is making the biggest transition, [this is] the most difficult time - this is the one - the most difficult time. Here you support, you give as much support as you can. But if you cannot support [the person], don’t create obstacles. Don’t create unneeded, unwanted, unnecessary obstacles to having a good future life. (93:10)

Anger, hatred will connect to negative karma. Even if the person has had a wonderful life for their whole lifetime, and [has been] wonderfully positive [throughout this life], at the last minute [this person] could spoil the whole thing. It’s like the overly enthusiastic cook who puts extra salt and spice on your soup at the last minute. The whole soup will be spoiled. Just like that. Little additional things will create [/spoil] the efforts of a whole life.

I am making a big deal of all this so that we all remember in the future. At the time when the individuals [ask], you can’t make that big a deal of it, because it becomes ‘adding salt to the wound.’ (94:46) A place like this gives us the opportunity. So now you know yourself, those who are living.

Those who are going, try to focus the mind totally on the Buddha, on guru, on bodhimind, compassion, emptiness, refuge - whatever you can fit yourself [/manage]. Don’t try to bite something you cannot chew. But do something that you do everyday, something that you are comfortable with. Whatever level it is. Taking refuge. Even if you don’t take refuge, think about Buddha, guru, dharma. I will not emphasize sangha, Although sangha is great, I will not emphasize it. Because the mind will [think of] sangha, and then [there’ll be] faces, then positive and negative emotions, and… you know, it’s not a good idea. (96:15)

Then [try to focus the mind totally on] bodhimind, wisdom and emptiness. Then clear light. Illusion body… whatever level you are.

That’s what it means: at the time of death, nothing can help but positive karma. That’s how we [should] handle our life.

That is almost the same as you did yesterday, right? It’s almost the same as you did yesterday. So I am going to stop here. (97:54)

But I would like to say one thing here (this has to do with meditation). And I really would like you to… again, I would like to remind… I am addressing whomever is leading the meditation or teaching, teaching courses or classes, or leading the group guided meditation…

We were taught, when I was a kid, we were taught, the moment we were climbing on the stage, the word that has to come up in my head is ‘impermanent.’

[Quotes Tibetan]

It is the ‘star’ mirage; magician’s magic; a dream; it is the morning dew- the water on the grass and flowers; like lightening. Everything is impermanent. It has to be remembered – impermanence – very strongly. Why do you have to remember impermanence? Because it cuts down [the thoughts], ‘I know better.’ ’I have all of the information.’ ‘I am well prepared.’ ‘I can do better than everybody else.’ ‘I am the chosen one.’

So, with all this, I know no one in Jewel heart thinks that way, because you’ve heard it a zillion times. Yet, our human ego is such that it pops up here and there. Even Naropa, the greatest mahasiddhi had that. The dakinis had to come in his dreams and show him millions of different tantras that Naropa had never even heard about [to shake his ego]. Even Milarepa, the greatest mahasiddhi the Tibetans ever produced, had that ego, such that Marpa kept having to beat him up. Physically, literally. Because of that.

Why? If such thoughts come up, [even] the slightest thought, all the efforts that you put in will not help you, and won’t help others. No matter how scholarly it is; no matter how wonderfully it is presented; no matter how cleverly it has been built; no matter how entertaining it may be; no matter how wonderful the language presentation is. It becomes showbiz. It doesn’t help.

This is very important from the dharma [point of view] and especially the tradition that Tsongkapa teaches us. It has to have that.

One time I remember you had a skit here. Mark was the one who was thinking, and I think Matthew was the one who was saying it behind him. ‘I am the best! Who is this guy? What do you know?’ I am not saying that Mark does that. I am not saying there’s any one of you who does that. But I want to make sure that [you don’t]. And I wanted to make a big deal out of it. I wanted to make a big deal out of it because it helps the individual, the self-individual. (103:43) Because it helps the self-individual, thereby it helps others.

In my case, even me, after twenty, thirty years, even now, when I call [/say; or: I have a calling to teach] that ‘I teach,’ ‘I am teaching.’ I feel a big hesitation. I feel, myself, like this. (1:04:15) ‘Teaching,’ you know. [I feel this way]- though everyday I use [/do] it. I get this [/have this feeling]. I have difficulty using ‘I am teaching,’ I have difficulty with the words ‘teaching.’ (104:40)

I am teaching! I teach! I am the teacher! I am teaching!

You know? I have that hesitation.

As long as you have that hesitation, it’s a great quality. And when you lose this, it is the ego that picks its head up [/that rears its ugly head]. And when that happens, it is not helpful for the individual; [it is] not helpful for the group; it is not helpful to anyone.

This is important for everyone. I am not addressing any individual, but I am addressing all of us- myself included. Always we have to have that attitude with that mind.

[Quotes Tibetan]. Tsongkapa’s and Atisha’s tradition is this:

The quality of the self-individual must hide like candlelight inside the pot. Hiding.

This is an important key for helping ourself and helping others. This goes for everybody, myself included. Always, please remember this. Particularly [with respect to] teachers who are teaching classes, who are teaching courses- always, always, always, always- the moment you turn around and other people are looking at you, remember impermanence. (106:44) The dew on the grass in the morning.

Thank you.