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20120311GRNYTB11

00.00 Good morning and welcome to “Tibetan Buddhism with Gelek Rimpoche”. Today I am talking to you from the Jewel Heart Center in New York. I think it is the first time during this Sunday talk series that I am talking from New York. The subject I would like to talk about today is a follow up from what we talked about last Sunday and that is the purpose of spiritual practice in general and very particularly that of Tibetan Buddhism.

Why do people engage in the spiritual path? Many times people have a fancy interest, “because so and so is interested, “or, “Many people are interested, so I would like to find out what is in there for me.” People do that very often. I am not sure whether these are the right reasons to engage in the spiritual path. Tibetan Buddhism is a very strange teaching and practice. It is strange in the sense that this particular lineage or style was sort of land-locked in Tibet for maybe a thousand years. I always say – and the truth is - that the Tibetans have sacrificed material development. True, it is a difficult area, so it has difficulties. However, any country can be developed economically or otherwise. But they sacrificed that in order to keep Buddha’s teaching as pure as possible. For Tibetans this is a unique jewel that people can get. When Buddhism was first brought into Tibet they sacrificed even the life of their king to bring pure Buddhism to Tibet. They emphasized purity so much, because if it is not pure they don’t want it.

We used to say, “If you want to drink pure water you must drink the water from the glaciers. If you want a pure spiritual path you must follow a path that Buddha has shown us and be able to trace the lineage all the way up to Buddha, without any line broken.” The reason why the Tibetan king had sacrificed his life is that there were some interesting things had happened. Some visiting Indian teachers had come and it was questionable if their teachings were pure Buddha’s teaching or a mixture of something. For that reason the Tibetans went out of their way to get an outstanding – not only scholar but also sage. That happened to be the teacher who was holding the lineage for the great institution called Vikramalashila in India. In those days there were two outstanding traditions in India, the traditions of Nalanda and Vikramshila. These are absolutely reliable. Plus there was the tradition of the great mahasiddhas or adepts, who had developed spiritual power to be able to do and undo things. In order to get one of their authentic and suitable teachers to make sure that the Buddhism developing in Tibet would be pure, the job of that particular teacher is to discard the practices that are not absolutely pure or correct.

Even if it is pure and correct, but if it is not going to be helpful to the people, then they are discarded. Also they needed a teacher who was a little younger and energetic. So it happened to be the future lineage holder of this great Indian Buddhist institute. The institute found it difficult to let him go and for that reason even the life of the king had to be sacrificed. That’s why the purity was extremely important for early Tibetans. If it is impure it doesn’t help, and creates confusion and difficulties. The spiritual path is sort of unknown to each individual. It is only really known to persons who have the spiritual development and they will not publicize what that’s all about. They will gradually share their experience in the form of teachings, books, giving a little bit of information here and there. They are not going to provide scientifically acceptable manuals for how to make a spiritual development. There is no such thing. That’s why it is an unknown road. Being an unknown road it has a lot of room for mistakes, confusion and even going the wrong way.

That’s why the early Tibetans from the 8th to the 11th centuries emphasized that so much. In order to preserve that purity they put some restrictions on what information could come in as well as go out of Tibet, which was already a land-locked country. The whole purpose was to try to keep Buddhism pure. Tibetans do know that this is the only thing that makes a difference to people’s life and lives.

0:11

Yes, I did say “lives”, because we are believers of reincarnation. The information of reincarnation was brought to Tibet with the Buddha’s teachings from the 700s onwards. It is somehow engraved in the feelings of people till 1959. No one would even raise a question. It was taken for granted. When I grew up, until I was 19 reincarnation was not even a question. Then I had questions: How is it? What is it? Is it real? I didn’t dare to ask those questions for the fear of rejection, especially since I was named an incarnate lama! If I were to ask, “Is reincarnation really true?” I am afraid people would reject me or the teachers would get upset and the helpers and people around would be disappointed. So I couldn’t ask that question. But reincarnation, as I said the other day, is real. It is not a joke. We see it in so many ways. There are so many signs. People remember this and that and these are clear signs. They pick up habits from different lives. I think I mentioned that if there are twins that are born together one of them can become a kindle, gentle person who wants to be kind even to the insects. The other can be a little tougher, and pick up a little stick and give them hardship. Both are children of the same parents, twins, brought up the same way. Why do they turn out different even when they are two or three? It is because of the habitual patterns of the previous life.

It is difficult to swallow reincarnation. But is also difficult to reject it and say that there is no reincarnation. The benefit of the doubt must be given. If there is reincarnation, who is going to be experiencing that? I, myself and each and every one of us. We are the ones that will be either enjoying that life or having misery or whatever. I will experience my life, I alone. That’s why, if there is reincarnation I better do something.

Can we really do something? Do I have scientific proof of what can be done? No, I don’t. However, all of us are educated people. If you look in your life and think about it, you can see how our thoughts and actions and bring good or bad results. It indicates that our thoughts and deeds make a difference. If they make a difference to tomorrow’s life, then why shouldn’t they make a difference for the life of the day after that? So they also make a difference to the next life. Buddha said, “You are the one who is manufacturing your future life, you are the one who is totally responsible for your own life and lives.”

Buddha wouldn’t make a silly statement without reasons. The reason here is that we ourselves are responsible for our life, nobody else. Interestingly, Tibetan Buddhism does believe that we are responsible for our life and lives. They are not created by second and third persons, but by ourselves. Maybe that is slightly different than what we are normally used to hear.

That’s why if we engage in wrong things we will get wrong consequences. If we engage in positive, right things we will get positive results. We see that happening. Our deeds of today make a difference to tomorrow’s life. That’s clear to all of us, particularly to those who are educated. It is not a secret, you know it. Today makes a difference to tomorrow. And what you are shaping today is in your hand, nobody else’s.

0:20

We have such a wonderful mind and such a capable life. That is the reason why Buddha says that this particular human life is much more superior to any other life that we have even seen or known about. That is important. Since that is the case we do give ourselves the power to change our tomorrow. The question is how? That is also obvious. The positive good deeds bring good results. The bad deeds bring bad results. We know that, whether we are really thinking about it or not. The spiritual path gives you guidance to move in a positive way. Before we even do that you have to know what you hope to gain? What is your goal?

The Tibetans were unique because they lived in this very individualized territory where nobody could come in. They developed this spiritual path and the goal of it is to become a Buddha. Each and every one of us can become a Buddha. They saw it was possible. They saw it can be done. They knew that is the best result. They also knew that Buddhahood is not a unique result for some special being or category of beings. It is accessible to all. So they chose the best possible goal as their ultimate goal. If you make Buddhahood your goal the question may arise,” If I don’t become a Buddha, or if I don’t want to become a Buddha, what do I do?” No problem.

If you really want the spiritual path then whether you like it or not you will become a Buddha. Honestly. You may not call it “Buddha” and you don’t have to be “Buddhist.” But your negativities are going to be cut down and your positives will gain. Your qualities will develop. Your negative emotions, thoughts and wrong information are going to go away. Then that is the definition of “Buddha”. It means to have total knowledge. Whether you call it Buddha or not or even if you think it is not going to happen, but it is going to happen to anybody who really works on the spiritual path. That’s my thinking, mine alone. I am responsible for that statement. But that’s what I do believe. A pure path is necessary, but a pure identification like “I am a Buddhist’ or I am a Christian” or “I am a Jew” or “I am a Hindu” or whatever, these are only labels to me, like name tags. Honestly, that’s me talking to you. It comes out of Tibetan Buddhism, because I know nothing else. If you think carefully, the target you want to get rid of is negativity. The purpose, what you want to build, is positivity. There are lots of technical names, such as karma, good karma, bad karma, etc. But the whole purpose is to build up all good karmas and get rid of all negative karmas. That’s what it is, whether you call it karma or not.

Even normal, good human beings, whether they are interested in a spiritual path or not, do that. They don’t want to hurt people or themselves. We see anybody being hurt and we say it is terrible, not that good and can we help. That’s what good human beings will naturally do. That’s what we are leaning towards. When that becomes perfect that’s Buddha, nothing else. In one way

I make it look like it is so easy to become Buddha. Of course it is not that easy, but there will be a time where everyone will gain that state – sooner or later. It may take millions of years for some, but for some it may be do-able and reachable now.

But that’s not the only goal. When you are moving towards that goal different negativities will go down. The person becomes a better person, kinder, gentler. The person becomes more caring, more compassionate, more wise. That’s what total enlightenment is all about. It is not the result for Buddhists or only Tibetan Buddhists. Certainly not. Even Buddha himself was not a Buddhist. So why should Buddhahood be only a result for Buddhists? I am sorry I injected my thoughts here. They are coming out of Tibetan Buddhism and are my interpretation.

Therefore anybody who engages in any spiritual path, a path that reduces negativities and negative emotions, a path that builds positivities and positive emotions such as faith, wisdom, compassion and love will lead to that ultimate goal, whether you call it “Buddha” or “atheism”. Even an anti-religious person will get that goal. It will happen to them because that’s how it works. I don’t see anything other than that. So when I talk about the spiritual path I see that as the way people go. The spiritual path does not give you the scientific way of doing things through experiments, etc. We think scientific developments are side effects and not the major purpose. The major purpose is to make a different to our lives this time. We can, because of our intelligent mind and the connection we have with this physical body today. It is a unique opportunity. Since I believe in reincarnation I also believe that if we did wrong in this life we can be cockroaches tomorrow. The human life is not only reserved for us. It is the force that pushes you to wherever you link up after death. That will be our next reincarnation. And that could be to be a cockroach. I am sorry if that disappoints you.

0:33

There are people who tell us that we will always go to better and bigger things next life and never will go back. According to Buddha that is not true. You can go back and forth. It totally depends on the individual. If the individual has accumulated a lot of positive deeds, a lot of positive karma, that positive karma will connect to conditions that will provide the next life. If you have lots of positives and not so many negatives, it can connect to positive karma, which brings positive results. That’s how it works.

That’s why earlier I was talking about the two major important things in contemplation: purifying the negative wrong doing and the other is to build positive deeds. These are the two major things that are the challenge for us. If someone asks me what I should do on the spiritual path my answer will be: two things – try to get rid of any negativity and try to build good, positive karma – as fast as you can.

People who engage in business, their goal is to make money, to build wealth as fast as they can. The spiritual people’s job is to build positivity as fast as you can and as big as you can. In order to do that, to make sure that your positive deeds are saved you purify your negativities.

When I say “purify” some people may think, “I am so filthy and dirty, so I have to purified.” That’s not the point. The point is that every one of us is dirty. Every one of us is also pure. That is within us. We have countless positive and negative things within us. We may not see them, but they are there. The negatives make us dirty, the positives make us pure, clean and nice. We do have them. So purification is always a plus, it is not looking down at the individual. It is not saying that the individual is filthy or dirty. We just carry that karma and we have to cleanse that. And you can. Why?

0:37

This is important. Some people say: “I have already committed the negativity, so I can’t change that. I can’t go back and change it.” True, you can’t. However, we can make a difference to the continuation of that negativity. The result will only materialize when the causes are there and conditions are right. So what you can do, what purification does is making sure that the negative condition are not going to be right, so the negative result will not come. It also makes sure that the positive conditions are always right so that you always have positive results. That’s why this is important. These are the two things really to be done as contemplations on the spiritual path.

When you get on the spiritual path you must have a goal, you must know what you want. If you don’t have a goal then you are just doing anything, pretending to do something. So the goal must be there. Tibetan Buddhism recommends the goal should be to become the best you can which we call Buddhahood. That is a technical name. What it really means is knowing everything that is to be known, to be totally pure, with everything totally purified, and not only the negative actions, but even their imprints and possibilities. That is the definition of being a Buddha. That is the recommended goal.

Can we all get that? Maybe not – but you can get as much as you can. Thereby our futures – and this life too – will be much better. Not only do you make a difference to yourself, you will also make a difference to others. When you know how to make yourself better then you can help others. You can guide them, help them and that will make a difference. So that’s the goal of Tibetan Buddhism. There is a long way between being a Buddha and what we are today. It’s a very long way. But moving toward that goal even a single step will make a difference to different things in our life and lives. That’s why I say that the goal is necessary.

0:41 Then know what to do. A little knowledge is necessary. I am not asking everybody to become a scholar. But a little knowledge of what you are doing you should have. If you don’t know what you are doing it will waste your precious time. I should not say: in that case better not do it, that’s wouldn’t be right, but it will waste your precious time. A little information is needed. That information must be analyzed and processed by you. You have to figure out whether that is right or wrong information. How do you process that? You compare with the experience of experienced persons, their books, their statements, their teachings. You can ask questions. If you compare and it is going in that way, that tells you that you are going in the right direction. If it is going the wrong way it indicates you are going the wrong way.

In short, as a 17th century Tibetan teacher said, “It should be the highway leading to total enlightenment. It should not be a side road that makes you fall in a ditch.” This is important to know, because we are traveling on unknown roads. Remember the two things: accumulating positive deeds and getting rid of negativities. Make sure that everything you do goes towards your goal, rather than being scattered all over the place. Put all your energies together and focus so that that whatever you do will be very beneficial.

0:44 That’s all I would like to say today. I understand there was a question sent in last week.

This is a question of a student in Athens, Greece, who with some others is following the webcasts teachings. This question is about Verse 31, of chapter 1 of the “Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life” or Bodhisattvacharyavatara.

Verse 31, Chapter 1

ཕན་བཏགས་ལན་ལྡོན་གང་ཡིན་པ།

དེ་ཡང་རེ་ཞིག་བསྔགས་འོས་ན།

མ་བ�

ོལ་ལེག་པར་བྱེད་པ་ཡི།

བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ་སྨོས་�

ི་དགོས།་

Alexander Berzin’s translation:If some consider as worthy of praise Even someone who’s paid back for helping, What need to mention a bodhisattva Who does good without seeking (anything in return)?Stephen Batchelor’s translation:If whoever repays a kind deedIs worthy of some praise,Then what need to mention the BodhisattvasWho do good without it being asked of them?Please note lines 3 and 4. There is a different meaning. According to Berzin the Bodhisattva is not asking anything in return for his good deeds and according to Batchelor the Bodhisattva is doing good without being asked.

My question is:1) which translation is closer to the original ?2) How important it is to have the right translation for this specific verse?3) In the case of one of the two translations is wrong can we consider it as promoting a wrong view to the reader?

Rimpoche: Thank you for the question. I have the verse here in Tibetan. I will read it. Just looking at the verse itself in Tibetan, with my background in Tibetan I would paraphrase it as this:

(line 1) Whoever returns any kindness

(line 2) if that is fit to be praised or uplifted

(line 3) The bodhisattva who is not asked, but automatically does it

(line ) that is not even to be talked about

My bad English paraphrasing does not get anywhere near either Berzin or Batchelor but what I understand it is this: if without asking one helps, it is to be praised. Bodhisattvas, who always practice the perfections without asking, why not are they fit to be praised?

I don’t want to say which translation is better than the other. Because of my weakness in English I can’t make that judgment. Secondly, from what little I know, these two translation don’t have that much difference. They are very similar. The translation from Tibetan to English is not easy, very definitely. Many people really translate from meaning to meaning, rather than from word to word. Besides, many other translators give a commentary on the translation rather than the translation. So to me both are quite good. The gist of the message is this:

If someone does something good to you, when you ask them, you will be grateful and praise the person. The bodhisattva does great to everybody all the time without asking, why wouldn’t they be great and to be praised?

That’s how I read it. I am glad this question came up. The Bodhisattva’s Way of Life will be the subject of our upcoming summer retreat. It will go from July 5 – 15. I would like to complete all the 10 chapters. I have done the teachings here and there, but chapter 9 is not finished and was left. So this time, if everything goes well I would like to finish the whole bodhisattvacharyavatara teaching in 10 days. We will be able to discuss more in that time. The name bodhisattvacharyavatara is very technical. It means the “Bodhisattva’s Way [of life]”. But it really talks about how to be a good person, how one should become concerned with the well being of others, of everybody, oneself not excluded. It is about how to improve oneself and become a better person, how to develop love, compassion and how to be better, kinder, gentler. It is about what it means to be an altruistic person, about what the altruistic mind looks like and what altruistic people do and how they function – how they get up, how they sleep, how they walk, how they think and talk. That’s what it is going to be about.

I am looking forward to the opportunity and all are welcome. Thank you so much for today.

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