Archive Result

20110521GRAASE2

Name of transcriber: Sally Boyer

Start Date: 05-31-2011

Finish Date: 07-22-2011

So I think it is the verse that precious human life gained but once but quickly lost. (Rinpoche read in Tibetan)… So there again, so we said we have to make life worthwhile, get something done. So probably we are thinking how we can do, what we can do. So the teaching says what we can do here is actually two. The most important thing is we have to understand the path, what it requires, how it happens. So why do they choose to talk about the three scopes, why three scopes and all these. These are the important points. Why three scopes? Because almost every path that Buddha recommended to be able to follow for us are included in that three scopes, there is nothing which is not part of these three scopes. Anything, anywhere, whatever you find single out some practice that Buddha said, that Buddha gave, there is nothing which doesn’t fall under those three categories. There is nothing. If you suddenly bring mindfulness, it will follow in this within that three scopes. You said love and kindness, nowadays what do they say? Love and kindness, right? Love and kindness, it follows within that scope; mindfulness will follow in this scope; inside meditation, which will fall in this scope; concentrated meditation will fall within this scope. There is nothing which Buddha said that doesn’t follow in this path, in this three scope. There is nothing. You said Vajrayana, that will be within this scope. You call it bodhimind, it is within this scope. You talk about wisdom, within this scope; impermanence, within this scope; death and dying, within this scope; samsara, within this scope; dependent origination, within this scope; interdependent links, within this scope. There is virtually nothing they talk about it, abidharmakosha, abidharma, within that scope. They talk about vinaya, within that scope; they talk about logic, within this scope; they talk about abidharma, abisamaya, that is three scope itself. So really, out of Buddha’s spiritual path teaching there is nothing that is not included in these three scopes. And almost all Hindu teachings too, almost all Hindu teachings are either part of it… they talked about yoga and that it is all within that three scopes. When you divide yoga into the seven steps, and then all those highest yogas, six, seven, five all of them are within that scope. The Hatha yoga, is the first step, right? First scope. That is yoga based, so yoga itself is part of this, so this is really that is the reason why this division of the three scopes is so important, so easy, so convenient but so comprehensive. Now suddenly if you bring out something like voodoo activities or suddenly you say what about drinking grass juice or the cactus juice or something and then it is... uh I don’t think it follows within that scope or the black magic or something within that, doesn’t fall in that scope. Other than that, most of the spiritual path with the traditional background, love and compassion, love and kindness, all of them will fall within that scope, that is the reason why these three scopes, division of these scopes are very important, it is extremely comprehensive. But that is just one, two, three. It is almost the three principles. Just one, two, three. So Atisha’s Lamp of the Path says (Rinpoche quoting in Tibetan), so I think this is one: one who turns his back on the…no, that one… whosoever by whatever means aims mainly for happiness in samsara and pursue it for himself is understood to be the beginning of the lowest capacity. So that, you have here on page 26, so that is when we are talking about the three scopes, this is the lowest scope, so quite easy, as it is said here: the being of the lower capacity does not concern himself much with his life but pursue the happiness of higher rebirth…this must be talking about the second, right? This has to be here. Anyway it is quite clearly says, whoever by whatever means aims mainly for happiness in samsara, the Tibetan version this one says (Rinpoche read in Tibetan), and for the happiness of samsara pursues it for himself is understood to be being of lowest capacity. So which means the goal of the lower capacity is to bring happiness and that is the driving point. Whatever may be, so my purpose is to bring happiness for me which all of us and many of us are not just happiness, many of us are some kind of definition of projection of happiness, each individual will project for him or herself within this life time, something will happen somewhere and we will make that as object of our happiness and then we pursue that. That is how normal life functions. Whatever, wherever you are and if you are student and you make aim, I’m going to be PhD dealing with this and that and then give up everything else and pursue it for the PhD ship or somebody will say, “ No, I can’t be PhD, so master degree will be enough for me, for my subject, whatever it is.” And you pursue and that’s how we are taught to function in our life. So we also similarly if you look in life we have certain picture of what life should be and then we pursue that without considering anything past or present or future. So this is the other half of the first principle. So that is how we are; actually most of us are in that category, you know, of pursuing our life, something we would like to materialize materially or physically. For the definition of happiness, that’s what we do. The problem with us is we don’t have role model, honestly. We don’t have role model, since we don’t have spiritual role model, clearly you said that gurus and lamas and Buddha and all that, yes, yes, yes but it is not really. So we don’t have a role model so since we don’t have the role model we will look at role model which is available outside, whatever, you know, suitable not so much high, not so much low, somehow we pick out in between. We don’t want on top of Bill Gate, so we are not going to be Bill Gate as our role model because we know we are not going to get it there anyway. So it is too high aim but somewhere in between will bring something, somewhere, somebody, whatever it is. So that we pursue our life according to that. May be we be something like governor Jennifer or something you know and I don’t know if anybody would like to have Snyder yet so you don’t know. So somehow we get that sort of pick up, we do pick up by certain role model within our mind and then we pursue our life on that and because that is doable and possible and slightly higher but we don’t think it’s high. And doable, possible and so we sort of drive our life towards that. The politicians do that, business people do that, artists do that and the teachers do that and nobodies do that I mean the person in between, nobody would do that and the lawyers do that and everybody else do that. So that is objection rising by the spiritual path and saying that is not…one of these Thurman’s translations which nobody liked it, even Thurman himself changed later and saying turn of interest in this life really makes sense. Turn of interest on that. So then we will say, “Yes, yes, yes, yes I can do that”. From the bottom of heart or not but we will say, “Yes, yes, yes I can do that but I want good future life so why not? What is wrong with this? I’m not attached to this life but I’m seeking for good future life.” Actually there in no objection but what is there is sort of you know the President Clinton’s words, it depends on what is is. Depends on what happens is you are thinking. You know, if I recall correctly, at that time the Russians thought President Clinton was in happiness. Remember those days? So…I do remember they showed on television and Moscow people saying, “That should be man and blah blah blah” and raising their hands up you know. So it depends on what is is, honestly, what happiness is? Again, same type of goal but changed the life that’s not right. Different type of goal for different life, fine. So that is why this particular verse saying when you divide three scopes, this is how the first scope was projected, happiness. The verse here is very good, whatever by whatever means aims mainly for happiness in samsara and pursuing it for himself is understood to be a being of the lowest capacity, lowest scope, lowest capacity. Then what is the next capacity? Same thing. The lowest scope people, they call it the lower capacity in this, they always look for something to look back. A lot of our culture also supports that very strongly. We talk about legacy, we talk about memorial, this thing that thing and the memorial thing for people build hospital, people build museums, people build schools and people build all kinds of things and funds behind and all of those are actually (he spoke in Tibetan)…even you die you would like to look back; so with that hope of looking back, we will live those and people with legacy which is very noble, no doubt but we do that, we pursue that. It is very commonly accepted in our culture, a good thing to do no doubt but people building up, you know, this is something rather funny. That’s not only happens in the material world it also happens in the spiritual world. I’m not sure whether I should be saying this or not particularly since it’s been broadcast and taped, shouldn’t say but maybe I should because you know one time a few years ago, maybe now two years, maybe not a few years, maybe ten years ago or something, one of our Ganden tripas you know this is way after Kyabje Ling Rinpoche, one of the Ganden tripas, and it was report people were making jokes and he’s going around, he found good piece of solid wood tree, cut tree. He said, “Oh yes this is very nice, I want that.” And Tri Rinpoche said, “What are you going to do with this?” “This will be useful after I’m dead, they can build a stupa. It is good for stupa.” So everybody was laughing, and like internal joke you know, so everybody giggles a little bit. It is Ganden tripa, right? But Tsongkhapa’s throne holder, Tsongkhapa’s substitute but sometimes… the tree is good for… I don’t whether he got it or not but somewhere in New Zealand or something and then the tree always have to be shipped all the way to India. I don’t think it’s materialized but … so that’s the idea of looking back even after you die. This is very funny but you know memorials service, memorial this thing, memorial hospital, memorial museum, and memorial foundation, all these are different but… I don’t mean they are bad but we always want to look back. People build monasteries, institutions, disciples and the students, teachers and dharma heir and all that type of thing. Dharma heir is actually never in the Tibetan, back in old Tibet I don’t know, within the Jamgong Lama Tsongkhapa’s culture I don’t think there is such a thing called dharma heir but in the West they do. And some of those dharma heirs did not necessarily do very well. Like Trungpa Rinpoche’s case, rinpoche has dharma heir, the guy called Losang Denzye and the consequences are not that great. Now we are looking back twenty years later. Losang Denzye himself didn’t behave well and he got AIDS and he infected students and even the Dharmadatu Vajradatu broke into a number of pieces. By the time Trungpa Rinpoche passed away and I was told at Trungpa Rinpoche’s funeral. I was already here, I was invited, I couldn’t go, I was in Cleveland. I was told Trungpa Rinpoche’s funeral itself, twenty two hundred people attended, each one of them represented one center, there were twenty two hundred. So that’s huge at that time. But soon after rinpoche passed away they broke into pieces, there’s residence group and some different groups and all that, so the dharma heir didn’t really work well. So leaving of the dharma heir is also hope of looking back. So number of people asked me to choose dharma heir. In the beginning I considered but finally I came to strong conclusion, everybody is dharma heir and that everybody went around with me and who learned from me anything including bad characters; that’s easier to learn, the good ones if I have any. I’m proud to have good, kind mind at least. Very hard to get infected, infectious diseases but bad characters are very easy to get but anyway, so everybody is dharma heir not one individual or couple of individuals looking for. That also for me something to look back even you die, something to look back so that’s what you don’t want. So many people do that just hope of looking back, although you are dead you can’t look back, you are gone, you have no idea where you’ve gone but you know people do and particularly Tibetans they pick up incarnate lamas so then they pick up one, they pick up two and they quarrel it and so things like that, that is not great. Look at the karmapa, the bigger one. Look at Panchen Rinpoche, you have official Panchen rinpoche picked out by Chinese and then you have the one Panchen Rinpoche picked out by His Holiness, so they have two already. And then the Tashi Lingpo had a kid, the Panchen Rinpoche’s monastery, had kept one little boy thinking…I know he thinks it’s Panchen rinpoche. And then you will go to karmapa but there two karmapa in Delhi alone, in India alone. One picked out by Sidhi Rinpoche, one picked out by Shama Rinpoche. Each one of those, the karmapa has dharma heir, like they call it the four regents. The Shedu Shama Geshe Kundu Rinpoche, so they had some disagreement among themselves so Kundu Rinpoche made it with the car accident and died and which is very much reported. It is ? Was a brand new BMW touched a little tree and even the little tree didn’t fall down but engine was four, five feet away and he died that way. So engine came out of the body and thrown out five feet away. They called it car crash but it might or might not be, who knows. And then Shama Rinpoche called one karmapa and Shendu Rinpoche called one karmapa, both tried to use His Holiness for recognition and put in pressure as much as they could and so whatever it is and so we have two karmapas, two Denjune Rinpoches. I don’t think there are two Kenzey Rinpoches but close to us is Trungpa Geshe Rinpoche. We have our Trungpa Geshe Rinpoche’s friend and a great being and passed away in upstate New York. Geshe Rinpoche has two incarnations now; one reincarnation accepted by the Geshe Rinpoche’s disciples in United States and another Trungpa Geshe Rinpoche accepted by the monastery in Kalinpong, I don’t know his main monastery…they have two monasteries in India, one is Kalinpong and one is Darjeerling. I think Darjeerling is going with the American one and Kalinpong is going the other one, and who knows. And so you know with the idea of looking back is not that great. Even in the spiritual field those who have, those who are supposed to have spiritual power and for them is also is not that good. So certainly not good, not reliable for us. So really what we need is the pure spiritual. Pure spiritual, that is really… the goal is to become fully enlightened Buddha, time period what we hope is within this lifetime or at the time of the bardo when you die or at least within next couple of lifetimes we want to get fully enlightened and that is the purpose, that is the goal. So bringing happiness in this life is the lowest goal and then similarly so there is terminology in Tibetan, terminology is called nyelek nyela repa. Nyela repa means a definitely good, definitely good also has two categories: short goal and long goal. The short goal is freeing from samsara and its consequences and long goal is aiming at total enlightenment. So we say nyelek tarbada tumje kenba. Nyelek tarba is liberation; liberate yourself. Tar, the word tar means, you know, somehow if the animal is caught in trap and somehow you get away from the trap that’s is called tar. So you are caught but you could get out but it is your power, you managed to break the trap and get out of it or some silly guy will come and open the door and you get out. Whatever it may be, so when you get out and that is called tar. So we are all caught in samsara, we are born not only this life but whenever we begin, we begin in samsara, so we are caught into it, we are born into it, we are born inside. But somehow if you can get out either by help of some silly enlightened ones opening the door or our own effort or maybe both may be whatever, so that is called tarba. So getting out of samsara’s suffering and ultimately total knowledge, tumje kenba, so total knowledge, total knowledge is total buddhahood. So these are the recommended out of three capacities. The first capacity is necessary without which we cannot do, but at that first capacity level our goal is just to get good life established immediately, that’s why the refuge also comes in there. The second is out of the samsara once and for all, this is called medium capacity, so there’s Atisha’s words here in the Lamrim (in Tibetan) and that is one turns his back on the delights of samsara, averting negative actions, aiming at mere peace solidly for himself is known as being of medium capacity. So these things will tell us what these scopes really are. So the medium scope our aim is to be free from the samsara’s consequences. So the next verse is quite clear: thus being of the average capacity turns his back on the highest achievement of samsara and sets the goal of completing mere liberation from samsara for himself and to do so, engaging in the practice of the three higher training, the means of attaining the exalted state of omniscience are the mantra and perfection vehicle both of which comes under the circle of teaching for being the great capacity. The Lamp on the path to enlightenment says: one who seeing the suffering within himself wishes to extinguishing the suffering of others are completely in that being the most excellent one. So the middle level, medium, common with the medium path are totally engaged to talking how to get ourselves out of samsara and even then that’s great, even then arhat and all perfect and all that, even then they are not talking about compassion, they are talking about him or herself getting out of suffering and that is common with the medium. And you say, “I’m interested to get everybody free, I am that person. Why should I bother here?” You have to, you have to because without these steps you can’t get there. Without realizing oneself having those problems, without realizing oneself the goal is not to be projected happiness, what we have been projecting. Which is wrong. Without knowing that clearly you cannot lead yourself out. When you cannot lead yourself out of this there is no hope of you can leading out of samsara. Once you lead yourself out of suffering, once you can lead yourself out of samsara, you have the know how to lead others out. So interest of others then begins, compassion begins over here. So as this particular commentary says, the highest scope or the Mahayana scope will have to be divided into two kinds of Buddhist teachings. One is called causal level the other is called result vehicle. Causal vehicle, result vehicle. Causal yana, result yana. Mahayana, vajrayana, so all of those will fall under the third capacity; third scope, third capacity. That is basically Lamrim is all about, so the whole Lamrim, the whole of those. So if you really pull down it will fall within three capacities, there’s nothing out of all Buddha’s teachings or gandruru or the Buddha’s shastas and the Buddha’s disciples dendruru and no matter whatever you bring from there will fall under one of those, any single point you bring it will fall within this three scopes. So it is easy to count three, huge capacity to cover and basic, simple path yet very sophisticated, complicated path too, both are. If you take Buddhism, very simple way, it can be very simple; if you take it very sophisticated, high philosophy, complicated, it can be very that way. But one thing I tell you, if you cannot bring Buddhism in simple state, you don’t have that ground for bringing it highly sophisticated. There are people who talk about highly sophisticated in the sophisticated language but that, we you don’t have the basic ground then it becomes baseless, it becomes ice castle or the air in the sky, honestly. Very Impressive, wonderful , no doubt; but if you dig and dig and dig, you don’t get it because the presenter doesn’t have it. The presenter has the higher language, sophistication and charts and everything else there but really spiritual ground is not there. So if you try to stand on that you are bound to be doomed. The ice will be melted, you’ll fall into Lake Michigan. So no doubt, honestly. Those highly sophisticated people, have those high sophistication is based on simple understanding and simple realization. If that basic simple realization is not there, there is no ground no matter. You know if you like the usual philosophers, they can talk about anything they want to, they can present anything they want to and they will and they do but it doesn’t mean much. Doesn’t mean much to the Joe Blow here; so that is really important. So one has to know sophistication alone doesn’t get the way into Buddhism. You really have to have the ground. That is the reason why lower capacity we have to stuck on, that is the reason why we have to stuck on with the medium capacity. Medium capacity can be made into very simple, like the Four Noble Truths or can be made very simple like the Twelve Dependent links of samsara, how did that come in, how you get out; that is really simple as that, it can be. Even Four Noble Truths alone you know, two Truths are called negative truths which his really how you get in and two last Truths are positive truths how do you get out. Out of samsara and in samsara, that’s what we are talking about. Because the trap which we are caught in is samsara trap. Everything we hear, everything whatever you encounter is deluded and everything whatever you see is dualistic, all of those things, whatever you hear, all of them are the samsara’s trap. It is samsara’s trap that we are caught in; it is samsara’s manisfestation. Your own ego manifestation, honestly. Your own ego will entertain you within that so that you don’t look outside, you don’t want ego to throw out; so ego is very much in control of us but any difficulty comes, ego will trap you like crazy, honestly, and then you pick up and that’s what happens, then you pick up. So it is like singers, a group of singers who sing, maybe some singers are not disciplined, they would like to sing over the singing main singer and you know and they go, And when suddenly you are caught and dropped and then main singer will pick up in the middle because the whole singing will not go down, pick up. The chanting masters in the monasteries do that. There are some chanters who would like to make more noise and more faster and more thing and then the real chanting master, whenever it breaks will pick up and will be happy to sit behind and picks up so that happens. So the self does that. Self is behind, the ego will do all kinds of…it is dancing and it is all things and you have no idea how twisted you’ve become. So you are made into that and then if there is a challenge, ego will certainly drop. When ego will certainly drop and then it is opportunity for you to recognize the ego. So that’s even you are looking at your own ego you don’t see it right unless somebody accuses you as being a thief in the midst of ten, fifteen, twenty, group of people, they call you openly thief and then your ego will certainly shaking and talk, “ Me? Thief” and that Me is ego. And also you know, you are bound to fall in cliff and certainly we realize you are falling, certainly realize pick up and that’s because ego is twisting, dancing and doing all kinds of things. Suddenly there’s a challenge, it will drop you and the moment it drops you, the picking up person is yourself. So you have opportunity to recognize that was ego; the moment before was the ego. So that’s the whole of our thing is ego manifestation, whole samsara as a matter of fact is ego manifestation. Whole suffering is ego manifestation, honestly. Whole hell realm, whole hungry ghost, whole animal realm are ego manifestation; ego teaching you a lesson because you did not listen exactly what ego told you to do so it is teaching lesson, that is what happening. So we are seeking freedom from that and that is the goal of medium scope. The Mahayana scope is total enlightenment, so I’d better read now, a little bit more. The reasons why we talked about three scopes although we are talking about three scopes, but actually we are leading ourselves to the Mahayana path. You cannot manage to the Mahayana path without knowing two lower capacities. Highest capacity is the Mahayana; that’s what we want but we cannot get there without knowing the two lower capacities. Why it’s called even lower? Because they are not capable of delivering total goods. The first scope is capable of delivering its goal that is to have good future life. Second scope or second capacity is capable of delivering from samsara but nothing beyond that. Only the Mahayana path that is capable of delivering our goal, total enlightenment. So there are two schools; I might as well mention here. One school says the ultimate yana is only one yana. One school says ultimate yana is three yanas. So it’s known in Tibetan tadu tiba jig, tadu tiba zum. So whether you have three ultimate yanas or one ultimate yana, Tibetan Buddhism follows the one ultimate yana because two other are, as we say, the first one is capable of delivering arhat of shrvaka, the second one is capable of delivering arhat or pratyeka but not Buddha. So the human beings capacity of particularly our type of human beings who have these eighteen qualities, remember eighteen qualities? The human beings centrally born, with all organs intact and we don’t have the wrong view, and who have faith in the Buddha, dharma and sangha and karma and also it is time that you are in that Buddha appeared, taught dharma and dharma remains in live, there are followers. There are five of those opportunities; five of those our personal opportunities and such a person is capable of obtaining total enlightenment and why settle less than the best? Because the opportunity we’ve got now, may be very rare opportunity, might not come again and again. I’m sorry, sound like Obama but that’s what he said, the opportunity in the Middle East is absolutely rare opportunity and doesn’t come again and again. Very true, actually quite true in that case but that is really…so why settle less than that? So that’s why our goal is ultimate enlightenment because we could and we should and if we don’t do it now we may never be able to do it, that’s what it is. Opportunity may not come again, that means that. So anyway, so what does again is repeated here? What does the lower one do? The smallest capacity does? The smallest capacity’s goal is samsara’s joy and the second, medium capacity does is out of samsara, just liberation for self. Plus these two and a few other things are pre-requisite of individual entering through the Mahayana path. So the other thing, what you really need in order to enter the Mahayana path is bodhimind. Bodhimind is like gateway to Mahayana, remember refuge is gateway to be Buddhist and embracing human life is the gateway to bringing self interest and to bringing strong motivation and self interest and karma is the beginning of dharma; so there are a lot of those gateways within this scope. Karma is the gateway to dharma, karma without dharma will not work; so karma is knowing karma, realizing, recognizing, paying attention is the beginning of dharma, honestly, and so all these. In order to develop bodhimind, what we need is we need to see benefit of bodhimind because otherwise we say bodhimind, you can use bodhimind as your, I don’t know, your computer key or something, computer code or something; that doesn’t mean anything but honestly, bodhimind is something extremely important and precious and wonderful. Without realizing that, just call it bodhimind bodhimind is funny. In 1975 in Sikkim, the Indian government annexed in its territory in Sikkim and when the Indian government annexed its territory in Sikkim, they did not have a war over Sikkim because Sikkim is such a tiny little kingdom and tiny little place and tiny little population, almost a little over hill station in foothills of the Himalaya, little hill station. So way and how the Indian government annexed Sikkim is they had a number of people who are demonstrating against Sikkim Rajai the king of Sikkim ruler, and demonstrated and he’s been kicked out. Just like what’s happening in the Middle East but the problem is it was reported I don’t know, the problem is people who are demonstrating are not people who are living in Sikkim, and it is nearby villages within the Indian territory, Nepalese and Baharese, Baharese are mountain people and each one of them is fed with a lot of beer, the local beer tomba and each one of them paid thirty rupees per day and so they got five hundred trucks bringing all these people in and dropped in the Gantok area and certainly they go and yell and shout, whatever they want to shout they will shout and yell. And then you tell them catch those Sikkim officials and beat them up and drag them down to the streets, they will do. They had the chief secretary, very old person, very very good scholar, very well known, very well respected by the Tibetologists throughout the world including Gene Smith who passed away and Richard Robinson in Wisconsin, all of those earlier, Wally and Alan Wayland and all of them referred to him you know. He was put in a collar and they drag him like a dog, putting him walking in the street and that’s what they did and so at the end, they said it is the demand of the people so they put them in jail and put a new government and new government was headed man named Karzi and Karzini. Karzi is a very funny guy, Karzi Lundo Dorje and Lundo Dorje’s wife is Scandinavian woman so it’s called Karzi and Karzini. So they became the new chief minister, the minister in charge and they last in power only three years and then went off. So at that time those days I had a friend a Sikkimese yava. Yava is like a lord or lady. So Yavala and his wife had two new puppies so he called these new puppies Karzi and Karzini. So every time when they put the food down they said, “Karzi, come and eat. Karzini”. The two dogs would come, they are the names of the new chief minister and his wife Karzi and Karzini. So anyway, and why did I bring that up? By calling a name doesn’t become, even you call the dog Karzi and Karzini it doesn’t become Karzi and Karzini but although the dogs respond and acknowledge, identify. You know it really shows how emptiness it is. You can label anything and that was the time I was beginning to publish those Tibetan books and one evening in Delhi in my house I was sitting at night, quite late, 10:30 if not later than that definitely 10:30 in the evening, my doorbell rang and everybody said, “Who could that be in the middle of the night?”. So we went look down and there is Pama Janydu, it’s an old very well respected Indian lady who was known to be Neru’s girl friend, sort of Indra Gandhi’s stepmother type of thing she is. So she is at the door, so we opened. Pama Janydu, he’s also governor of West Bengal or Sikkim and Bhutan and all of those will follow, Calcutta and all that. So she said, “Today we have tremendous trouble.” And I said, “What happened?” “Hoku dressed so badly, Tikipart is an insult to the Indian government.” And so Tiki wrote a note saying: Hoku dressed so badly. How bad? She is just look like coming out of shack or something. Hair is not made and wearing kapbell. It’s the beginning of the kapbell. Maybe it is fashion, who knows? So Tiki is Indian foreign secretary, so he wrote a note, pass through, this must be insult to the government. In the dinner they were there sitting, drinking and talking, but notes were going up and down. It went after Indra, so Indra said, “It could be latest fashion so wait till day after tomorrow.” Day after tomorrow is the Sikkim government giving dinner to the government of India. She said, “Then she came with the hair done and dressed up and everything so now Sikkim is not going to last very long.” That’s what she said. “Sikkim is not going to last very long”. And then she said, “I have a new dog, I want to name Lobsang but that may be insult, so give me a name.” And then she was looking at my first edited book and there’s Tukan Lobsang Chusang Yang and she said,” Is that Lobsang?” And I said, “Yes.” “Can I call my dog Lobsang?” “You can call it anything you want to.” She said, “That will be Sikkim’s Chusang’s first name too, maybe that’s not right.” I don’t know what she did afterwards but then that was the beginning of the…meanwhile she was writing book and saying Darjeeling is part of Sikkim and not part of India and dorje is Tibetan word and ling is the island of vajra and she was writing articles in New York Times and that was going on at that time. Anyway, so sometimes names and labels are emptiness but that makes a hell of difference. So in order to develop bodhimind or bodhichittta as I said earlier is not to be password of the computer, is not enough and it really has to be true password. In order to be true password, in order to be able to open yourself up, I mean if the password works, open to computer. If password works for you, it opens yourself up. So that is why it is important to maintain our ideas and thoughts and interest to the bodhimind. Right now it is bodhimind, it is just password, nothing and if that remains there it is useless. It just remains in name, it is useless. I told you this Karzinis the Sikkimese chief minister and somebody else, their opposition groups, some opposition leader’s dog, naming their dog Karzi and Karzini, two identical little puppies running around and then they take them around to the market area and call them, “Karzi, Karzi, come come. Karzini, Karzini, come come come.” And so that’s what they do. Just name and label alone doesn’t do any good, so has to have interest. Interest is only developed if you know what is good about it. There is no interest and people develop interest on some point or you look beautiful so you have interest. Some reasons, otherwise all you share is very bright, orange shirt so it draws your attention. Orange or mustard or whatever it is. Or some reasons you have to have interest or you like it, whatever the reason is. So when you have to have interest in bodhimind or bodhichitta, there’s a reason why you want it and seeing whatever it does. When you pick up a telephone and you look at the phone and what does it do? Like Iphone, so you say, “Why I want Iphone?” Iphone can do this and that and they say so does the other one…the Blackberry, so the Blackberries do. No you can’t do the Iphone, you can’t do the Skype on it, some reasons and then we don’t forget you do Skype if you have Skype particular account on your Skype otherwise you don’t get it. I presume it’s right because the day before yesterday I’ve been hearing my Iphone ringing, a different ringing, I didn’t realize it’s my phone, I didn’t bother. By the time the last one was just ringing here so I moved and started looking for the phone and that’s my phone and it was my brother calling on Skype three times but I missed all three and then I tried to call back and it said in order to make that call you have to have an account So you buy now so I didn’t buy. So anyway, there are reasons why you want it. So when you get reasons and then you are interested otherwise it no longer because it is new it doesn’t mean anything now you know. It used to be new is good and enough reason now it is no longer, everyday is new technology. So anyway, similarly in order for you to get interest in bodhimind you need to know what bodhimind does to you. What you can do with bodhimind, what is it capable of doing? The recommended is the benefits such as bodhimind can do this, bodhimind can do that. That is very important. The Buddhists recommend the benefits of bodhimind. The earlier Tibetan Buddhist teachers talked about bodhimind benefit like looking at the bodhicharyatarra, the first chapter, the whole chapter is nothing but the benefits of the bodhimind. So it interests the individual otherwise there is no reason why they have to buy it. They have to buy it because it does something and what does it do? So what this one is talking is the benefits. Benefits also you can sort conclude the temporary benefits and ultimate benefits. The temporary benefit is the good part of life and not only this life and the future lives and both this and future lives the benefits can be delivered by the bodhimind. Bodhimind can achieve the goodness of this life and future lives. And ultimately bodhimind can deliver buddhahood, Buddha for you, so make you a Buddha. So that is why temporarily they can bring all the needs of you want for this and future lives and ultimately it can give you the buddhahood, sort of very very short way of saying it is good for you now and good for you in future. And not only just good for you but it can give you whatever you want too and it can deliver buddhahood. So that is very short and simple way of telling, so that is why it is necessary for us to develop bodhimind. So such a bodhimind to develop within us and there is prerequisite. Prerequisite of this is great compassion. Compassion is people seeing sufferings and wishing that you would like to, either yourself or other person separate from the torture that go through, wishing to be separate and that is really compassion. So here when they say greater compassion, greater compassion, the difference between the greater compassion and compassion is two things: object on which you focus of freeing and subject, what you want to be free. Greater compassion wants the subject on which you are focusing, freedom will be all living beings, not a living being but all living beings. That includes everybody, everyone, yourself, friend, the enemy, the good, the bad, the ugly and ugly includes the scorpions and the spiders and the whatever tigers as well as the buffalos and all of those and good human beings, bad human beings, so all of those are included. That’s why it’s called greater, not a single person left out. The qualification of the greater compassion is not a person but all persons. Subject is also not only freeing from direct urgent sufferings but also indirect, imprints, etc., capability of reviving the suffering, all of them. That is why greater compassion is Mahayana. Maha, the reason why Mahayana is bigger than the Hinayana is not because it is the maha but it is the focus to all living beings, not a single one left out and that’s is why it’s called bigger, maha. The reason why Mahayana called bigger vehicle because the vehicle which really wants everyone to be delivered to the total liberation, total enlightenment, total achievement but also not a single person left out, everyone totally free, and if that’s not great then there is nothing else be great so that is why it is called greater compassion and great bodhimind and all great comes in because it is sort of beyond our imagination, beyond our thinking capacity. And such a suffering, such a seeing such suffering are drawing a pain from the people cannot be understood unless it was drawn from ourselves. So when I the individual experienced the pain while I’m suffering and then desire to reject or liberate or freeing will be strongly developed because pain is so severe. So such a powerful thought and such a power cannot be imagined by simple visualization or simple imagination to all living beings unless you have the experience. Problem with us is we are not liking the experience but we are forgetting the experience. We really forgot because samsara’s goodies entertain, samsara’s delights entertain us as here and there and here and there and it gives some kind of relief or not so much relief but forgetting how severe when the pain is really on. And we are good at it, reducing the severe pains, physically we give you pain killer, we take pain killers and if the pain killer doesn’t work, and they give you morphine injection and if morphine injection doesn’t work then they give you something else. What do they give?....There you go, all of those one after another. So that’s what they do, that’s how Michael Jackson died, remember? Then at least they give you anesthesia or whatever and all that sort of thing and we are good at avoiding physical pain but we are not good at avoiding mental pain because no anesthetic. Now this group of people, this scientist, this biochemical and physicists, these people begin…you just heard Richard Davidson last night, right? Night before and yesterday at University of Michigan along with our Dr. King, so we all heard, right on the live broadcasting TV, webcasting. So this is the beginning of the scientists are looking in how they can work with the mental pain scientifically, which is very good, it’s a wonderful thing. As I have said a number of times, if we can prove meditating on compassion and love, if it proves that relieving individual’s pain then for twenty six hundred years we are buying Buddha’s, we have scientific proof which is wonderful, which should have been there for years ago, decades ago but better late than never. So honestly, so we are not good at removing the mental pain so what we do, we numb them, we numb the individual, and we just make them half alive, half dead, and make them half vegetable so that direct pain will not be experienced and particularly when it’s mental pain you don’t see the pain, you don’t pinpoint the pain and you don’t apply, you cannot apply the antidote through the microscope or through the machine or something, so you can do nothing, sort of thing. May be you are not sane, maybe you are crazy. So, I mean the closest thing the polite way to put it is say you are crazy or may be they don’t want to tell you you’re crazy but they recommend you to go half institution and so sort of thing which really tells us these mental pains are equally if not more severe than that of physical pain. So the most of people who are suffering, they are suffering with these mental pains and these mental pains, don’t forget the effect, not only the effect, they interpret that mental pain physically too, so which is really very hard and so… which you don’t understand unless you experience and you listen to people who are suffering with the politeness you people listen, however, heart of hearts you keep on thinking she is crazy. People do think that or he is crazy and people do. You won’t say it but you think. Or sometimes you say oh that’s usual thing for her or for him, it’s a usual thing. (Read in Tibetan)…so it says woman named Pansom always cries and nothing to be worried, nothing to be concerned sort of thing. That is how we dismiss because of lack of understanding; because the individual person, it’s not that individual person did not have that suffering but forgotten so when you forgot it temporarily you don’t know, when you don’t know you cannot relate; when you cannot relate and so then you don’t believe it or you think that person is going crazy or something else, or something else or something else or something else, so blame it. So it is important to remember. Not that you relive your pain but understand and not only just understand, a lot of us are good to say I understand. What do you understand? Nothing. Honestly. Just for the sake of saying I understand and that’s become political or diplomatic gesture or to some people it also gives you the expression you are concerned, you are very much with you sort of you go in there. A lot of people do that I noticed. People do that. So but in reality, you are not getting anywhere. So it’s not that something mystery, something that’s never known to us; we have to remind ourselves even tiny little pain that makes you can’t walk, can’t stand and then disliking that mind, bring in that and then try to expand that on the others, something with the personal, physical, mental, emotionally personal suffering; apply that. If at all you don’t have it at least get that you’ve been bullied or by somebody else or circumstances made you unhappy because somebody else’s behavior or that have pain so at least bring that pain and hold that and then try to see the other pain that people going through is a hundred times more or a thousand times more or things like that you have a better understanding of people’s suffering. And if you have better understanding of people’s suffering and then you have better wish and desire to discuss, not to experience, not to continue so that is the reason why the lowest scope is totally necessary for us and focusing on the lowest scope is the suffering which is not that we don’t know but we remind ourselves. And then the second medium level, medium scope, medium capacity, so then even in the good rebirth there is no solid joy or happiness solid joy or happiness. When you begin to understand that, then so much desire of seeking “good life, the next life or the future life” will become hollow, it is hollow and which makes good life, good death is hollow honestly. And so the total disliking of samsara, because no matter wherever whatever as you remember in this thing samsara high level can immediately become the lowest suffering ever possible. When you are looking at this Dominique Strauss-Kahn, so anyway when you look at it, and it’s changed within one hour, just an hour. The hour when he left the hotel he was still the IMF chief and all the presidents of Greece, Ireland and Spain are waiting for him to call back and he forgot his phone, so the next hour he’s a prisoner. So that’s changed and then suffering what he experienced is beyond us because for us if we are caught we are caught and if we are taken to jail we are taken to jail, bad and horrible but then he has tremendous anger at that moment, it has to be. There’s no way he doesn’t have anger. He is probably angry with everybody else especially his staff, the hotel people, the police, the judges, the prosecutors and you name it, and probably his own defense lawyer and probably must be screaming, “I don’t understand why you can’t get me off here?” probably that sort of thing, that’s really how it is. And then the suffering for him is not only the anger but the contrast between the world’s most important person in the earlier hour to next minute the most suffering person in the world at that moment; the world most important, powerful person is led to that position by his addiction and we may say French culture but truly the addiction, the addiction leads to it. So if you make yourself a minute that Dominique for a minute and see how you going to feel. I mean you are the most important person in the world and suddenly two law enforcement officers holding you and you can’t do that, right? Otherwise if he were to do that and that won’t help and you won’t do that too so all these things going through your mind-pains- then you can understand better. So when you are experiencing that then it’s almost like beginning to say not only me and I will pray even my enemies don’t have to experience that; so you get that much disliking that situation. And that will be able to bring the love, and that will be able to bring the compassion and that will bring bodhimind. But prerequisite of that you need to go both the lower scope and the medium scope. So now is the time that a lot of you who are doing lamrim retreat and who are meditating lamrim, so that is very important here, now so at this moment it is the idea that you have to take all your thoughts internally, thoughts in, so which means you are not thinking anything, not looking at anything and it is very, very hard looking at the television and try to meditate, it requires skill. And that is also same thing, listening to the radio and meditating. Also it’s the same thing, reading some book and meditating both, all of them almost the same and it really requires skill other than that it becomes superficial. When it becomes superficial then the meditation is worthless; so how you train your mind here? Bring all your thoughts internally, focus inside. So such a life which you know is important, difficult to find and by chance we have one now. We also know, I also know absolutely clear this doesn’t last that long, we will definitely die and that also we certainly don’t know when, there is no certainty when. So if I don’t utilize opportunity now then you never when. So it is important, I have to do now. So if you look around, so many people, well known, not so well known, my equal level, many of them have gone and we look at the photos, when you look at the photos and when you see the group photos and when you start looking at the group sometimes almost everybody’s gone except yourself. So myself still left here which is great fortune, no doubt good. But how come the person at the right, the person at the left, the person at the back, the person in the front, all gone but I’m still here. And when you think about that sometimes, there’s a sense of urgency. Not only a sense of urgency, when that happens neither your wealth nor your health nor your near, dear, no one, we have no power to go with you; you can’t take any one of them. For my sake, for their sake, I have created so much negativities. And for their sake, for my sake, I have created some virtues. Both of them I have to take it, it will go with me. So up to now I have spent so much of time with some excuse or another, with some title or another. Title I mean it is the Fourth of July, it is a holiday, it is Christmas, it is sort of you know, it is birthday and it is Children’s Day, it is Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, Secretary’s Day, Boss’s Day, whatever, all these excuses or another, so all these things help me to waste my time and then the parties, chitchatting and entertaining and we have tremendous amount of entertainment through news, through shows, through movies, through all kinds of things; we are wonderful to waste our lives because we are afraid of being bored, so it is one of our objectivities is to avoid to get bored and that is why so much entertainment. So much entertainment, so much so that sometimes even the entertainment almost kill you. When you turn off your radio or television a few minutes is a relief. That is the entertainment over entertain you, about to kill yourself. So that much and then with all sorts of excuses, your birthday, my birthday, it is Mother’s Day, Children’s Day, blah blah Day, blah blah Day, so all kinds of things, so we really really spend our life up to now. Spend our time for enjoying good food, spend our time enjoying good drink, spend our time to have a good chat, gossiping. All our life is gone, all our life, our wealth, our food, all gone, now whatever left over of my life, whatever it may be. This is not meant for old people, this is meant for everybody whatever left over of life, whatever I may have I will definitely do the perfect dharma. That also today itself. So that will be the beginning of bringing yourself into the three capacity level. If you like it you can do that; if you don’t like it you don’t have to do it, nobody can force you to do that and that is the beginning. And next time, whenever the next is, whenever this next teaching will be….doesn’t seem to know when the next is…it should be in New York. Well, let’s see what happens. May be something before that because we do have uncertainty of schedule between June and July that’s why and then August we have Summer Retreat. That’s why it goes after September. I hope something before that. But I do want Hartmut to remember I am on Tibetan page 43 I think. English 30. So whatever we talked briefly today particularly the last portion and if you could think Buddha in your own words and run over through your mind again and again, and so if you meditate that and that will make a lot of difference for you. And I’m going to stop here.