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20070627GRALSR7

Good morning everybody. Hopefully you are having a nice time and are making nice progress on your practice. I do want to get something altogether- nothing in detail, but something solid to carry together. That’s what we’re trying to do.

I think last night we covered almost all of ‘Common with the Lower Level.’ Who did it last night? You did. So we went up to Refuge, right? Up to Nirvana. All the way, oh okay.

Well, in this case, I am going to close the chapter on the ‘Common with the Lower Level’ now.

Very briefly [we do a] meditation on that, as we said: [visualize] either the Lama in front of you, or on your crown. Then you deal with the Preliminaries: [visualize] right in front of you on the space, ground, [in that] space, [on a] throne, sits your root master, inseparable from Buddha, completely golden yellow in color; one hand is touching the earth [in the] earth [-touching] mudra; the left hand is in the meditating state; radiating light [as the] actual living Buddha. The actual living buddha- that is in reality inseparable from your root master, [from] that of all the yidams, all the buddhas, all the bodhisattvas.

[Quotes Tibetan] (3:42)

The collection of all Refuge. The lama-la, the god of gods. [Tibetan](3:53)

That is the Buddha Vajradhara. [Tibetan] (4:04)

So, supplicating, especially with the MUNI MUNI mantra. Do that if you have it; if you don’t- it’s easier to have it- the MUNI MUNI mantra with you.

That is very interesting- someone parked a car right there and there is a very strong light getting into my eyes directly.

So, normally with the OM MUNI MUNI MAHA MUNI YE SOHA, this is the visualization that you have, with Lama Buddha inseparable in front of you. You request with the seven limbs. Finally, single-pointedly, you request OM MUNI MUNI MAHA MUNI YE SOHA.

OM has three syllables: (5:40) AH-OH-EM, The three syllables combined together becomes the letter OM. It represents the body, speech, and mind of the object of refuge, and the body, speech, and mind of the individual practitioners. AH- OH-EM combined together. When you talk about OM, you are really talking about body, speech, and mind of either the object of refuge or the individual practitioners. And what we are talking about, AH-OH-EM, the three combined together as the combination of the body, speech, and mind together which means the individual living beings or the object of refuge.

That is not just simply body, speech, and mind, but that is vajra body, vajra mind, and vajra speech. Vajra here means indestructible. Indestructible. Inseparable. Indestructible. Inseparable.

Inseparable here means… you know, you have to have two… when you make a separation, you have to have two. Here, the two will be… Normally (?) there are so many twos. (7:37) There are two possibilities.

[Laughs] Whenever we say two, two possibilities, we always have a joke with Ed Huberman (7:53). Anyway, inseparable… he’s not even laughing; he’s sitting there so seriously.

What are these two? Normally, we talk about the union. The union here is the two: the internally a/rising, the pure body aspects of the enlightened mind, and the internally a/rising pure aspects of the wisdom aspects of the enlightened mind. So when you say ‘indestructable,’ we are talking about that level with OM: That body, that vajra body is indestructible – ‘body’ in the nature of ultimate compassion changed into the form of bliss; (9:57) [the] natural, physical being, and wisdom that is ultimately changed into clear light nature [that is] inseparable.

That is vajra body, vajra speech, vajra mind. So the moment you say OM, these three letters are talking about body, speech, and mind., and that of [/being] vajra body, vajra mind, vajra speech. So OM, that is the object of refuge aspect of it.

Simultaneously, the object of the practitioner here has the normal body, speech, and mind which unfortunately has not yet become of bliss-nature or compassion-completion or wisdom- nothing. Yet we still have the physical aspects of the body and the mental mind. In that [way] also we have body, mind, and speech. (11:20) That’s body, mind, and speech.

OM MUNI MUNI MAHA MUNI YE SOHA.

MUNI MUNI actually it is ‘victory over.’ MUNI is ‘victor,’ or ‘victory,’ or ‘win over,’ or ‘overcome’ or ‘gone beyond’- all of those. You know, GATE GATE is also ‘gone beyond’; Tathagata is ‘gone beyond’ - likewise MUNI, too. The direct word should be ‘won over’, sort of ‘victory over’ the delusion forces (that is anger, hatred, and all of this type of thing). that’s MUNI.

The second MUNI in MUNI MUNI is self-cherishing and ego-grasping and all of those.

And MAHA MUNI YE SOHA is victory over the imprints, not only the gross delusions, but the subtle imprints of the delusions. [They] are completely over: MUNI MUNI MAHA MUNI YE… SOHA. SOHA here is ‘lay a foundation,’ meaning lay the foundation of your indestructible body, speech, and mind into my body, speech, and mind. That is what it is. (13:16)

OM MUNI MUNI MAHA MUNI YE SOHA.

It is interesting. Sometimes you can make comments afterwards. What happened is we used to say, ‘OM MUNI MUNI MAHA MUNI (“moo-nee”) YE SOHA,’ all the time. Almost everybody else would say that, too. Then once Locho Rinpoche came and gave a teaching in New York at Garrison. (13:54). He said that he didn’t know anything but according to [/except for what was taught to him by]???Kunlam Rinpoche (14:02), it should be said ‘OM MUNI (“moo-nigh”) YE SOHA.’ So then I noticed the next day that the Jewel heart people had already started saying. OM MUNI MUNI MAHA MUNI (“moo-nigh”) YE SOHA. That was very nice that they followed that. I didn’t say anything. That’s fine. Great.

But you know every teacher will normally give you one thing here and here another (14:25), but Locho Rimpoche is really one of my root masters. You know, ultimate. Really, true. And all [that he teaches is] correct. But you don’t have to go and change everything immediately because some reliable person says so. You get the information, learn it, and keep it in mind, and either [way it] goes, it doesn’t matter. The people immediately changed it. I think, more or less, whoever was leading in New York at that time- was it Carla? Yeah. So Carla picked it up and then everybody picked it up, right?

But that’s good. Nothing’s wrong. Absolutely good. But normally, you don’t have to do that all the time. Every teacher will tell you this and that. Keep it in mind, it’s a learning point, then follow whatever you are doing, and that’s how it goes. (15:29)

This was a MUNI MUNI explanation, so I thought I would comment on that. that was probably five years ago, six years ago, something like that.

Now, with that OM MUNI MUNI MAHA MUNI YE SOHA, understanding the meaning of this mantra, and then thinking of the Lama… because this is the Lam Rim case, we say that the root master is inseparable from Buddha. If you are Lama Chopa practitioners, then you would say Lama Lobsang Tubwang Dorje Chang, as you know, you remember. Again, there is no separation at all, but during the teaching of the Lama Chopa you will hear, ‘you should say Lama Lobsang Tubwang Dorje Chang rather than Lama Buddha Shakyamuni.’ That doesn’t mean at this level you should change it to Lama Lobsang Tubwang Dorje Chang. That is how it goes.

In your own practice, in your own mind, if you are doing it with Lama Lobsang Tubwang Dorje Chang, that’s fine. If you are doing Lama Buddha Shakyamuni, that’s fine. Especially those who are not Vajrayana practitioners, there’s no reason why they would have to go with Lama Lobsang Tubwang Dorje Chang. But those who have [/are], they can do it that way.

These are sort of everyday things. You may be able to change the focus when you are dealing with it, but your normal practice, whatever you are doing, you, that [should be] the same thing. The subject will not change. The appearance may change, but that doesn’t matter. (17:35)

So, making strong requests, then the meditation follows in the presence of a Lama- inseparable from Buddha- either on your crown, in front of you, or on the palm of your hand.

Then the reasoning:

Since it is Mahayana influenced, you should pick up [/say] I and all mother sentient beings until now [have been] taking on a countless number of births: rebirth, rebirth, rebirth, rebirth, one after another. Countless. Each and every time, [there has been a] tremendous amount of suffering and pain. And every time, whenever we have taken suffering and pain, nothing finishes, nothing completes. It continues again and again. Somehow I could not help myself to be able to end this.

This time, I have found the opportunity with the precious life that I have- a life rich with endowments and time, opportunity. This time, if I do not make a difference and end all of this once and for all, when [else] can I do it? This life has tremendous value, important-ness. If I think I will [wait] until the next time, [we must remember that] it is very difficult to find. [I must remember] that also if I don’t do it right now, this precious life that I have is impermanent. (20:37)

Death will definitely come. You never know when it is going to come. At the time of death, nothing else can help me- not wealth, not cash, not friends. Nothing can help me. Not even my own body, with which I was born, and that [which] I cherished throughout my life, taking care of it, worried about it being too cold, too hot, hungry, or too much eating. That very body will also let me down. I have to go all by myself with no support, except my own deeds, good and bad karma.

When I go, I do not disappear. As Buddha repeatedly told us, I will take rebirth. That rebirth is either good or bad. If I take rebirth in the bad hell realms, there is constant, continuous suffering. [This is true of] the hungry ghost realm, too. [In the] animal realm. [there is] suffering, as we see with our own eyes. The better rebirth is that of a human being, and that also we are very aware of how much pain and suffering we have. Demigods realm is equally painful. Samsaric gods, though they may have a little joy, it [/their lives] always ends with terrible pain.

So I must make myself free from all suffering in general, and particularly [that of the] lower realms. If I can’t help myself, I take refuge in Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, and follow the three negative advices and the three positive advices. May I be able to do this. (25:00) May I be blessed to be able to do this.

Then the light, liquid comes from the body of Lama Buddha Shakyamuni and reaches me and all other living beings. Each living being may have one Lama Shakyamuni in front that has [/from which] light and liquid coming, purifying all negativities in general, and particularly all obstacles to developing the Common with the Lower Level realizations. All are completely purified.

My body and my mind become clean, clear, crystal-like light-nature. My life, my intelligence, my compassion, etc. – all positive things – are fully developed. Lama Buddha Shakyamuni’s body, speech, and mind blessings enter my body, speech, and mind. I and all sentient beings are now under the protection of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.

That is a very short, abbreviated meditation that can cover the Common with the Lower Level [teachings]. If you want you can say a few verses from The Foundation of Perfection or the shortest Lam Rim or even in the Lama Chopa… whichever you are doing, that will be fine. (27:39) That is the short way of doing that.

If you say [lines from] The Foundation of All Perfection, the words will be what?

Because I don’t say it English, I have no idea what [the words are]. [Quotes Tibetan]

[From audience:]

following a kind master, foundation of all perfections,

is the very root and basis of the path.

Empower me to see this clearly and to make every effort to follow well.

Precious human life, gained but once,

Has great potential but is easily lost.

Empower me to remember this constantly

And to think day and night of taking its essence.

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.

Okay up to that level, it covers the Common with the Lower Level. If you are going to read from the Lama Chopa, then the first verse [b

The first three lines in the Lama Chopa go up to that level.

If you have ten minutes, that’s what you do in the morning – say these three verses in the Lama Chopa. And that is the Common with the Lower Level practice. That’s what it is. Even if you don’t have the whole time to say the whole Lama Chopa, saying, ‘I’d love to do that, but I don’t have the time to do all of this.’ You don’t have to do all of this. This is an easy way to do it, okay?

Now, the next will be the Common with the Medium Level. We have already been touching on that, circling around it, you know. This Refuge… the first time in general, the second concluding I think went a little beyond because when you go up to the Refuge we went a little beyond. Then with the third conclusion when you go up to nirvana, again you go a little overhead. (29:56) That’s that.

Now let’s deal with the Common with the Medium Level which you already did last night. However, I’d like to go over it a little bit. I also want to see what this guy says [looking at text].

Oh, one important thing I am forgetting here… this is good, this guy is reminding me here. Take Refuge to Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, and after taking Refuge… actually, just taking refuge alone doesn’t do… I mean it’s good, but following advice – that is the karmic advice.

We‘ve got the ten negativities and the ten virtues that we talked about. What we did not talk about yesterday- you all know, most of you, but some may not – but what we did not talk about this time is: we are bound to have all of these negativities. We say we are not, but we are bound to have them. We are bound to have [/commit] them.

I mean we may not kill a human being - that’s the most unlikely [negativity that we would commit] unless you have an accident or something, but other than that, it is most unlikely for people like us, we’d never do that. (32:03) We may runaway, but we won’t kill anyone.

Then, Stealing, probably we will never do. Probably. But it is very tricky. So probably we will not do thus.

Sexual misconduct- most likely people will engage in it. Right?

Lying- black lies we will never do. But like a used car dealer or that type of thing, it’s bound to happen here and there.

Then… creating difficulties with people who are friendly, many people will do that. Somehow it’s a habit. We are addicted somehow. Without knowing – that is the problem. With knowing – nobody would do it. But without knowing, we do it a lot.

Harsh words… we may not use harsh words, probably not. But we use these passive-aggressive types of words. Very often we do.

Idle gossip… [we’re] bound to be [engaging in this]. We will not stop idle gossiping. Even if you don’t gossip but you just keep on watching television. Even if you don’t get angry or whatever with the television, even then it’s just idle gossiping. Everything, including watching commercials. All of this falls under the category of idle gossiping. Gossip itself is a little worse. That’s all wasting of time, so that’s what it is. (35:04) It’s bound to happen.

Then, three of the mind:

Wanting somebody else’s things. ‘Okay, I must get that from this person- whatever it may take, I will go around and get it.’ So, that could be.

We may not have the hatred: wanting to hurt or harm that person.

And we probably will not have that wrong view.

But a lot of these are possible to have. Plus, our vows: the Refuge Vow; the Bodhisattva Vow; the Vajrayana Vows. We don’t have self-liberation vows like monks and nuns vows, but we have more than that. Bodhisattva Vows. Vajrayana Vows. Downfalls are there- tremendously.

Atisha did one important thing in Tibet. He made a big deal out of it. Every time Atisha went around, he carried a little image of Buddha- a traveling altar. He carried it around all the time. Every time he was traveling in the middle of somewhere with all his retinue – I don’t know how many were there- 50, 60, 100, whatever, cavaliers going around – in the most difficult areas where you had to cross a river or wherever, somewhere Atisha needed to stop. He’d take the altar of the Buddha there and sit down and do purification. He did purification.

So then his attendants, earlier Tibetan teachers asked Atisha, ‘Why do you have to purify? We, yes, we understand why for us. But you?’

And he said, ‘Well, I get the downfall of breaking my self-liberation vows. Not so much – it’s like a star during the daytime.’ At the daytime, you don’t see many stars- very little [/few]. ‘But I get broken [/break the] vows of the Bodhisattva Vow very often.’ And then he said, ‘I get broken [/break the] vows of the Vajrayana Vows like a snowstorm. All the time I get it. I have to purify here. Every time I get it [break my vows], I have to purify.’

So traveling with Atisha was so difficult because, they say, because all of a sudden you would move – it wasn’t easy like driving a car and stopping. No. In the case of driving a car, he might not even have had to stop, Atisha can [/would have been able to] purify in the car! But on horseback, with all of those people going, and the moving [having] started and then suddenly it would stop. In the mountain heights somewhere, in the most dangerous places, they would suddenly stop.

Here Atisha emphasizes that in order to tell us: downfalls are real. We all get them. this is no surprise. No one is immune. Everybody gets them. but don’t leave them alone- purify them immediately. (38:54)

That’s why Atisha did it. Begin to travel, stop! Begin to travel, stop! Begin to travel, stop! Five or six miles would probably take three or four days to get [/cover]. That’s what happened. That was specially done… in one way, in the 1100s, they weren’t so busy anyway, so they might as well have done it.

This emphasized and showed people how important it is [to purify]. There we pick up that purification [should be done] at least within [every] twenty-four hours. Knowingly or not-knowingly, we get downfalls. That’s why purification should be a part of daily practice.

Purification is always done on the basis of the four powers.

The Power of… we call it the Power of Base. I need to explain that to you. [It is] the foundation on what [/upon which] we do the purification. That’s what we call the Power of Base. The foundation on which we do the purification.

Here there are two things: taking Refuge to the enlightened ones.

I do not know whether you realize or don’t realize – I will share my secret with you – to me, all enlightened beings, all enlightened beings, are buddhas. All buddhas are enlightened beings; all enlightened beings are buddhas. Whether they are named Buddha or whether they are named something else or whatever it may be, as long as the individual is totally enlightened, they are buddhas. It doesn’t matter what tradition they come from whether they come from the Judeo-Christian tradition or the Hindu-Buddhist tradition, whatever, as long as they are enlightened, they are buddhas.

So, taking Refuge to the enlightened ones… because if we have created negativities on the basis of enlightened ones… no one knows who is enlightened and who is not – nobody knows except the person themselves, and they will not say, ‘I am enlightened.’ If you say, “I am enlightened,’ we will question you. Are you sound enough? Are you a little crazy? What’s going on? We will ask those questions.

So… taking refuge… because if we have hurt enlightened ones - even though enlightened ones don’t get hurt – but if we perform the act, that is good enough to be identified as ‘hurting enlightened ones.’ So we take refuge. Non-enlightened ones, we can’t take refuge to them, because they are not fit to be taken refuge. I f you take refuge to them, it’s not good for them either. It’s not good for them either.

That’s why I will give you the one example - not only one, but a number of them.

Early in India, after the Buddha, there were like seven different people who had come – what do you call it? – it‘s dhempu dherub de [Tib’n] (43:41), which means ‘person who is really holding the Buddha’s lineage.’ There were only seven of them in India. [Quotes Tibetan] (43;56) These are the seven people who held the Buddha’s lineage after Buddha passed away.

One of them, the seventh or sixth, had never seen Buddha at all over the past years. He had a challenge with Mara, the devil. He defeated Mara, and then Mara had promised, ‘Well, if you defeat me, I will do anything that you want me to do.’ Se he said at the end when he had defeated him, ‘I want you to show me what Buddha looked like.’ So Mara manifested himself into the form of Buddha.

He was so impressed that he started prostrating, so Mara as Buddha fell off. He said, ‘Look, you agreed that you would not do such a thing, and it cuts my good fortune again.’ So he immediately dismantled. (45:14)

Similarly in Tibet, there was a shepherd guy who went into the mountains, and there was a little naga in a little spring. He always offered a little milk to the spring. One day a little spirit came out of that, and taught him many tricks, so many things. And it became a huge cult of its own at that time.

Then whoever was a great teacher then – I forgot the name – it became his duty to go through and say [what was] right and wrong and [what was] good or bad and make that clear. So he had sort of siddhihood given by this spirit that you can [/he was able to] get very tall grass, and this guy could sit cross-legged on the grass, on one single [blade] of this grass, sit cross-legged on there and give his teachings… of all these things he was teaching. (46:31)

So this teacher, what he did is… where and how he defeated him was he prostrated to this guy. When he came from a distance, he prostrated and he fell off the grass. He couldn’t get back on the grass. So then he realized that was wrong. Among them, many useful things also came. Many useful things came of this... all [forms] of black magic was discarded.

So taking refuge to a person who is not fit to be taken refuge [to]. If you spiritually have a little bit of basis, if you have it, it is harmful for them, too. (47:26) That’s why we don’t take refuge to all living beings. We generate compassion for all living beings; we take refuge to all enlightened beings. We generate compassion for all living beings.

Taking refuge and generating compassion combined together make power one: power of base. Meaning on what base have we created. If I have hurt you, you are the base of my creation of negative [action]. It’s not your fault, but you become the base. To compensate for that, I either take refuge to you or generate compassion. That’s what is meant by power of base.

Then, [power of] regret. Without regret, never, never… I mean, you are forced to say, ‘I will not repeat.’ It’s not a real thing. I mean, if you really regret, you will go out of your way specially to not repeat it again.

They give you [the example of] the three people who went and ate poisonous food and one is dead, one is about to die, and one didn’t even get sick. That person didn’t leave any stone unturned. That is the regret they are talking about. Not simply lip service, ‘I am sorry, I’m sorry.’ Some people have ‘I’m sorry’ on the tip of their tongue. All the time, ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.’ But that doesn’t mean anything. This is not regret. Real regret is deep heart-felt regret. If you have regret, non-repeatable is automatic. You won’t.

As I remember myself, I got sick [from one] of those dry oranges. You know you get them in Tibet. They smash the oranges and dry the orange, and soak them in sugar. They sell them in Tibet. I used to enjoy them all the time. There might have been some rot (50:24). Even though the bad ones…. The good ones have the skins off the orange and that’s the only thing there. The bad ones have the skin smashed together. Even then with the sugar coating, I used to enjoy them a lot. But one of them probably must have been bad- I was really sick, sick for a while. Since them, almost for about twenty years or so I couldn’t stand the smell of oranges. I could not. Even when I came to India and there were beautiful oranges, really beautiful large tangerine oranges that were available in Bhutan and Sikkhim – really wonderful ones- even then I couldn’t eat them. it is only lately that I have begun to eat them, not lately but ten or fifteen years ago I began to eat them. Otherwise, I couldn’t because I really got sick. So that is regret [that makes the action] non-repeatable. (51:38)

How wonderful it is. When I was in Bhutan you can pick them up from the tree. You can eat the oranges. Bhutan and Sikkhim, both. But you can’t [/I couldn’t] dare to touch it! So that’s what it is. That is regret.

Then, [the power of] antidote action. Antidote action, among the American Buddhists, you hear all the time: Vajrasattva recitation, blah blah blah. It is true. Vajrasattva is meant for purification, Vajrasattva is for that- the hundred-syllable mantra. All this is definitely true. But also any virtuous action – saving a life against killing [/rather than killing it]; serving people against [/rather than conducting] sexual misconduct; telling the truth against [/rather than telling] a lie; developing compassion against [/rather than developing] hatred; meditating on reality, how ugly, horrible we are against [/rather than feeling] attraction. All these are antidote actions, especially compassion, bodhimind.

Shantideva himself said, [quotes Tibetan](53:33)

Such a powerful negativity cannot be destroyed by any other deeds besides bodhimind.

That much bodhimind has power [/That’s how much power bodhimind has]. Emptiness. Wisdom. [quotes Tibetan] (53:56)

Just the arising of doubt alone will tear the root of samsara into pieces.

These are the most powerful antidote actions. Bodhimind. Wisdom. Then any positive deeds: circumambulation, mandala- offering; prostrations; 100,000 seed-syllable mantra od Vajrasattva recitations. All of those. These are antidote actions.

All of those four together makes the purification work.

Other than that, we just say, ‘I purify.’ I am sorry, but some people are not going to like it and normally I avoid saying it because I try to avoid what people don’t like. But the truth is many of you have the habit or culture, the good culture of the West. You do something and then you go and seek forgiveness. I mean it is culture, it is very nice and there are good deeds, no doubt about it.

But, in my mind, when you go and seek forgiveness, if somebody says, ‘Okay, I’ll give you forgiveness,’ Fine, that’s good. But many won’t. Many will say, “Over my dead body’ or something. Then you’ve created another anger or hatred or something. So, what is the point? Number one.

Number two. The person who says ‘I forgive you’ has no power whatsoever to forgive you for anything. It is your bad karma, you created it, You are the only one who can make a difference – not the other person. (56:21) That person has no power to forgive you, and by saying, ‘I forgive you,’ it does not purify your negativities. It does not do anything.

But it is the culture, it is a beautiful culture, follow it! It doesn’t matter. But take a precaution. Don’t go to somebody who will probably say, ‘over my dead body,’ so that you create more problems. But, other than that, if you want to go, it’s a good culture, fine. But the reality is that the person has no power to give forgiveness.

Maybe it contributes to the Power of Base. Because you go – instead of generating compassion – you go to that person and say, ‘please forgive me,’ and he or she agrees to forgive you, maybe contributing to the Power of Base. Maybe. But it’s a beautiful deed. Fine – as long as you are safe. You don’t want another problem on top of that.

So, this is Purification. Purification: try to be [/make it] a part of your daily chores. Especially [I am] recommending [that you do it] before you go to bed. But then sometimes we have funny, busy activities (57:59), so if you can’t, then do it in the morning! Just have a short purification done within your twenty-four hour life [/Just do a short purification every twenty-four hours].

That’s why there are the seven limbs. The seven limbed [prayer] has all the seven limbs there together. The purification is there, too. You say, ‘I purify all of my wrongdoings,’ or something like this. That’s what it is. That’s what you should do.

That Purification is included in the Common with the Lower Level. Okay? Good. So, by following that, by purifying all of our negativities, and by following the advice of Refuge, you are sort of making yourself available [so that there’s] only good karma left with you. Not so many negative karmas actively can function- although we keep on creating them all the time, but at the same time we keep on purifying. If you keep on doing it this way, almost we can see ourselves that we are not going to fall into the Lower realms. This is a true, solid guarantee that you can give to yourself. (59:53)

[This is so] because if there is no cause, how can there be a result? When there is no seed, how can the tree grow? When there is no tree, how can there be flowers, how can there be fruit? Nothing can happen. That is the solidness of that guarantee.

As I said yesterday, even though we have that, we sort of safeguard ourself [with working for this])(60:30) one life. That’s it. And that’s not good enough, because [the] next [life] will be, again, we’ll repeat it. Just like yesterday when I kept on saying [in the] next [life] it will be repeated. Just like this time, [we’ll] repeat [it] again. And the chances of opportunity that we have may or may not be there. We’re not likely to have that opportunity. It is [/will be] déjà vu all over again. Honestly.

Buddha tells us: we need nirvana that is totally free of all problems. Now we begin to open our eyes: samsara is suffering; nirvana is peace.

Last night, I went back to Ann Arbor because I forgot my blood sugar strips. (61:53) I was going back and I turned the radio on. The subject they were talking about was: everything that is born has to die. They were talking about molecules and you know, all of those, and [how] cells can be divided and divided, and it went into the whole thing. I heard it from here to Ann Arbor, the whole thing.

Everything that is born has to die. That’s what the Buddha has been saying [for thousands of years]. [Quotes Tibetan]

Everything created is impermanent.

This is interesting to see all these good, new discoveries coming up! [Laughter] There were a number of people talking, a number of people talking about cells and this and that. Some people had been doing forty-seven years of research, cells had been dividing, and after 50 [divisions] or something, they stopped. Then, they did something else and it started multiplying again. Forty-seven years they put in there [/ into that]. That’s a very good discovery, no doubt about it. I keep on saying, oh my god, at least half of that, if you put it in this, you know…. [laughter]… everything created is impermanent. (63:40) Here you are.

This was 2600 years ago. This is where that is coming from.

Until you really have… Bigger Scope now…Common with the Medium Level – the scope has become bigger. Not only are we looking for one lifetime to become better, but for many lifetimes to become better. The scope is bigger. Bigger. So the subject that you deal with and the focus that you put on it is also bigger.

Now the focal point is: samsara and nirvana, rather than suffering and a good life/ bad life. Samsara and nirvana. Samsara: that’s what we are in. as I told you yesterday, samsara is: what? What was samsara?

[Inaudible voice from audience] I am glad to hear from the back rows. Continuation of what? Of contaminated identity? Good. Very good.

What’s that, anyway? What is the continuation of contaminated identity? If you don’t want to answer, that’s fine, you can say, ‘I pass the bucket.’

[Inaudible voice from audience] Imprint? Imprint of what? What is identity anyway? Do you have an identity card? Do you have a drivers’ license? Yeah? That’s your samsara- throw it away!

How do we identify you?

[Audience:] There are a lot of ways. It depends- there’s no one way to identify me.

But give me one easy way to identify you. (66:58)

[Audience:] Special Ed. [laughter]

Special what?

[Audience:] Special education. I am a little slow.

[Laughter] Somehow I am not hearing but everybody’s laughing and I don’t know what’s happening…. What did you say [about him], Glenn?

Glenn: I said he’s a retard.

I don’t know what’s going on.

[Audience:] He’s making a joke out of it.

We identify you from your physical appearance, from your sound… maybe your smell. Maybe Jill can identify you with smell, maybe not us! The five skandhas will identify you – through those five skandhas [we identify one another].

The continuation of identity or entity that is contaminated- is samsara. This is the deepest level of understanding samsara. And there the effect of whatever is happening and experiencing difficulties are the… not necessarily… it is within samsara, though we don’t identify that as samsara.

When you say samsara is suffering as long as the… yeah, I did say that yesterday… the entity, when it is contaminated, it is samsara. When you have become uncontaminated, you are switching that, and that becomes nirvana. We said that yesterday, right? Do you remember? You don’t remember. Vaguely? Oh good. if you heard it vaguely, that’s fine.

So now you know your target is different. Your target of ‘what you have to get rid of’ becomes samsara; your object of [what you want to] obtain is different – nirvana. It is no longer: a good life, free of pain. It is, but it is more than that. It is nirvana. (70:21) Peace. You know Buddha says, ‘Nirvana is Peace. Samsara is suffering.’ It is one of those four Buddhist logos: Everything created is impermanent; All contaminated things are suffering; All phenomena is empty in nature; and, Nirvana is peace. Those are what we call the four Buddhist seals, or Buddhist logos, or whatever. These are the principles [upon which] Buddha stands.

So, according to that, our object changes.

Now: method. How are we going to get that? We talked yesterday briefly about the Four Noble Truths. Also, there are the twelve links of interdependence system. If you trace/trust/twist that, that will go side by side with the Four Noble Truths. (71:39)

The bottom line here will come down to three main points. What do they call it? Three higher trainings, or three basket teachings of the Buddha, or three higher trainings. So the bottom line of the method for us to be able to obtain nirvana is… is… first, the morality. Morality. Second is concentration. Third is wisdom. So these are the three higher trainings they call it. [Tibetan] (72:45)

Three special points that Buddha emphasizes for the individual to practice. And morality comes first. Concentration comes second. Wisdom comes third.

Now, the question comes: why do we need all this? again, we dismiss this a little bit. We say smasara is full of suffering. You know, we know. yeah, we know. but I’d like to emphasize this a little more. That is, according to this teacher, great. It’s not so well known, but it’s very nice. Sometimes not-so-well-known people have very good things. (74:00)

If you don’t have that freedom - which is totally free of all pains, and which is nirvana - if you don’t get it, then you will take rebirth for sure. Where and how you take rebirth – this rebirth is actually controlled by your own karma and your own delusion. This is coming out of your own karma and your own… our own karma and our own delusion will give us rebirth.

You know we have someone called Arya, a special person? Special and not special, it has been divided on this line. [Quotes Tibetan]

As long as we are ordinary – normal, ordinary …in American culture, ordinary is perfect, wonderful; even in Buddhist culture ordinary is not bad - it’s fine, normal. But if you’re not a special person, the ordinariness is: our lives are controlled by this negative karma and delusions. So rebirth, death, even life is run by karma. And I’m sure you’re aware of it.

Each and every one of us are born with the result of one karma, but each and every one of our lives are run by hundreds of thousands of different karmas. Each and every one of our lives ends with one karma. It is the result of one karma, the cause of one karma, run by zillions of karmas. That’s how our life functions. So as long as our lives are controlled by that karma - thereby that delusion - then our problems will continue.

When you become special persons, Aryas… why are they called special? These special persons’ life-giving karma [/have the karma to be reborn in this life that] is not the [result of] delusions and negative karma, but [rather] their life is given [/they are reborn in this life] by [the result of] compassion and prayer. ‘Compassion and prayer’ means actually they chose to be, they have chosen to be what they are.

This is the choosing business: nobody else chose it for you. You chose it for yourself to take rebirth here or there, in this form or that form. (17:15) That is the difference between an Arya and a non-Arya, special or ordinary level.

Out of the five paths, the Path of Seeing… the first two paths are ordinary paths, and the Path of Seeing and above are special paths. When you reach the third path, then you become special. That’s the difference.

Aryas are, you know, it’s funny… in Tibetan language, Aryas we call pagpa (78:22). Pagpa means ‘better person,’ ‘special person.’ At the same time, there’s one spelling difference. The same word without the suffix means ‘pig’. The one little spelling [change] makes a difference. That also is fix after fix, not the suffix, but fix after fix makes a difference here.(?)

When somebody tells somebody, ‘I have seen emptiness,’ and that [other] somebody says, ‘now you have become pagpa!’ That is interpretable! Anyway, just [thought I’d] mention that. (79:28)

Until you become an Arya, you have this continuation of uncontrolled rebirth managed by karma and delusion. Continuing… he has one word here… saying… the print is very bad – I can’t really see it. Since it is taking rebirth by [/happens as a result of] negative emotions and karmic effects, naturally it is full of suffering. Nothing good comes out of it.

Then you also have changing so much between the enemy, friend; friend and enemy changes so much. You remember. We all know this very well. Especially in certain sangha groups, we know this very clearly. Today’s friend is tomorrow’s enemy; today’s enemy is tomorrow’s friend. It changes so much.

Not only between friends and enemies, but suffering and pain [/joy]. Joy becomes suffering. Suffering doesn’t become joy, but joy becomes suffering all the time. Then, in samsara, what do we call it? Picnic spots. No matter how much you have [of these], you are never satisfied. Lack of satisfaction. You know the teachings normally tell you: you having a samsaric picnic spot is [like] drinking salty water – the more you drink, the more you want. Do you drink soya sauce? No satisfaction.

Then the changing of our physical body [happens] all the time. [Our] physical identity [changes] all the time. We never see the end of taking rebirth. It continues. Even within one lifetime, the individual experiences zigzag – the upswings in your life create the downswings. Changing all this- changing, changing, all the time. All the time.

At the time of departing, without any help, without a single [person to keep you] company, you go all by yourself. That is the reason why samsara is not trustworthy. One should not rely on samsara. These are the reasons. [There are] countless reasons.

Normally we say: suffering of suffering; suffering of change; pervasive suffering. We all say this, right? And in addition to that, we also not only [will experience] tremendous pain in the Lower Realms, but even as human beings, as long as we have this contaminated identity, we take a physical form/body. And because of that, there’s: a continuation of pain, birth, death, aging, illness; meeting with the enemies that you don’t want to see; separation from friends; desire for things-that-no-matter-how-much-you-look-for-it-you-won’t-get-it; undesirable things that no matter how much you don’t want it, you get it all the time. This is the conclusion of our life, and this is the conclusion of samsara at the human being level. [This is] Very similarly [true] with the demi-gods; very similarly [true] with the samsaric gods.

These are the reasons why we must admire nirvana. We must get out of samsara. We must change this contaminated entity into an uncontaminated entity. These are the solid reasons. And that’s your meditation material. The method of getting to nirvana is the Three Higher Trainings. Why you need to get out of it – these are the reasons. Where you are going to go is nirvana. Okay?

I guess that’s it. (86:16)