Archive Result

46

2012015GRAATB16

00:00

Welcome to this Tibetan Buddhism with Gelek Rimpoche. Today I would like to continuously talk and deal with the subject we came to last Sunday. If you remember, over the last few Sundays we talked about what dharma practice means. From the Buddhist point of view, the Buddhist religion is referred to as “Buddhadharma”. I believe that’s a Sanskrit word. From what I understand “dharma” has two different meanings. One is “phenomena” – all that’s existent. The other is a progressive betterment of the individual. The normal American language will sometimes say, “Bringing ourselves closer to God” or something like that. That has probably a similar meaning. I don’t see a reaction from people here [to that statement]. Normally I do see some reactions. Certain people would give a little smile and nothing more. But that’s what is meant.

Dharma really refers to the individual’s practice, to their improvement. There is a difference between me and where I was brought up and things that are functioning in the west and particularly in the United States. I am an old person. I was born in the old Tibetan culture. Whereas you say “dharma practice” we didn’t use that terminology in Tibet. It is not Tibetan language. We use the equivalent term “chö”. I do know that means dharma, that’s all. But when I came back here – not came back, as though I was originally from here, no. When I came to the United States and was exposed to the American culture and began to deal with people such as yourselves, I began to realize and appreciate the name “dharma” in the Tibetan language. If you ask most Tibetans what “chö” means they probably refer you to the Tibetan books, which give you the message. These are those bundles wrapped up in cloth you can see behind me. For them, for people who are not thinking, dharma means that.

0:05

But when I look close the word ”chö” is the past tense of the word that means “correcting”. You are corrected, not because you have become a Buddhist or a Buddhist card carrying member. That’s not what is corrected. Nor does it mean you are not going to go to hell and are saved. It doesn’t mean that at all. It really means that the individual has been corrected, the person who is addicted to functioning in life on the basis of addictions. We are addicted to anger, to hatred, to obsession, to jealousy, to all these type of – let’s call them “emotions”.

When I attended the conference on Being Human a guy who works very closely with HH Dalai Lama said that there is no such word as “emotion” in the Tibetan language. Maybe he is right. First I thought, “What the hell are you talking about?” but before I opened my mouth I thought about what was the real word, but came up with nothing. There is not one single word that means ‘emotions’. So maybe he is right. I don’t have total knowledge, so the fact that I didn’t remember any specific word at that moment does not necessarily mean that it is not there. I don’t want to trust that.

But we have a funny addiction to negative emotions and the word “dharma” means having corrected that or correcting that or trying to correct that. That is what religion, from the Tibetan Buddhist point of view, is all about. It is not about being a card carrying member, it is not about believing or else. When I say it is different, even friends such as yourselves, when you are involved a little bit you may say, “I have become a Buddhist.” Just getting some dharma information and improving our own life, getting rid of those negative addictions, trying to be positive, trying to build positive deeds and emotions, that alone does not become what we call Buddhists. It is very different.

If people ask me, “Are you following dharma? What do you mean by practicing dharma?” I don’t have to declare myself as Buddhist – not at all, even those I am supposed to be one of those little more known Buddhist teachers. But do I declare myself as Tibetan Buddhist? I don’t remember ever doing that.

0:11

The most outstanding Buddhist teacher also claims that he is not a Buddhist propagandist, propagator or promoter or missionary. These are very important points to remember. So what does dharma practice mean? Do I have to sit down and meditate? Do I have to declare my allegiance? Probably not. The first and foremost in the study and practice of the Buddha dharma is learning. You have to learn about it. What is the whole idea? You may call it Buddhist philosophy or Buddhist idea, or Buddha’s philosophy or idea. But what did Buddha do? Nothing but gaining his own personal experience of improving himself. That’s what he shared. So the learning we talked about for so many Sundays.

Now the question comes: what do I learn? Do I read scriptures? Do I read the sutras? Don’t listen to my Sanskrit, it is horrible, because I have never learnt it and it is not my language either. We are mimicking the early Indian Sanskrit. For example the word prajna the Tibetan will call “tranja”. The word “jnana” for wisdom the Tibetans will pronounce gyana or dzana. So the Tibetan’s mimicking of Sanskrit is not that great. “Vajra” in Sanskrit means ‘indestructible’. The Tibetans call it ‘bendza’. Many of the earlier Tibetologists told me it is “Tibetanized Sanskrit”. That’s a nice way of covering up.

0:16

This mimicking of Sanskrit has been going on for over a thousand years and hundreds and thousands of volumes have been written with it – fantastic explanations. But the moment you have to speak, that happens. Maybe it is not only a Tibetan problem. When you don’t have somebody actually speaking that language with you don’t know how to say the words. The famous American Tibetologist and Buddhologist Wylie was a professor at the university of Seattle. He set up the transliteration system for the Tibetan language. Today we still follow the Wylie system. A lot of those diacritical marks and the inverted e and I and so on are in there. He was a great scholar of Tibetan. Once he gave a lecture in Europe – I was told it was true – and his Tibetan was all book knowledge – totally. He read and understood everything and explained perfectly well in English. But when he started speaking in Tibetan it was different. For example one of Tsongkhapa’s disciples is called Khedrup-je. He is one of the two monks you often see depicted as sitting right and left of Tsongkhapa. The spelling of Khedrup in Tibetan, however, is mkhas grub. The m is silent and the g is silent and it is pronounced Khedrup. But he was pronouncing it as Ma-kes-grub. Nobody could understood what he was saying. He shouted “Ma-kes-grub”, “Ma-kes-grub”, what is the matter with you all?” That’s because he never heard any Tibetan saying “Khedrub”. He didn’t know the m and the g was silent. So that could have happened with the Tibetanized Sanskrit too – honestly.

The way “vajra” is written is bzr as one syllable and then another r separately and somehow the Tibetans read that as bendza. So you can’t blame them.

0:20

Anyway, my main point is that we have to know what we are doing. If we have no idea but just sit down and decide to meditate, what is that going to get us? Yes, it is very good, no doubt about it. But it doesn’t do any justice to dharma at all. It just gives you a little rest for your mind and body, that’s about it. If you really want to correct your negative addictions you have to learn something. You have to learn that these are negatives. Most people will understand that hatred is negative. But many people will say that anger is not necessarily that bad. They say that you have to have anger. Some people will even say that if you want to be a man you have to have some anger to show. So people may think that. We don’t know that anger is not only an expression of dissatisfaction. It brings hatred. It brings sadness and depression and all kinds of misery and problems and even disharmony between families and groups and societies and nations. But we don’t know that. We don’t see the faults. We only see the steam and we even think it is good and we should let the steam out.

So it is important to learn that anger is the doorway to hatred. Look back a few ago. We were going to develop hatred for Saddam Hussein or Osama bin Laden until we were really angry. That was after 9-11 and we were angry and ready to take hatred to anybody who was responsible. That’s how anger opens the way for those harmful emotions to remain within us. So we need to learn a little about it. We have to learn first. I repeatedly say that we don’t learn to become scholars. For so many of us it is a little too late for that. And so many of the young ones among us are a little too lazy – honestly. But we don’t have to be scholars. We just have to know what we are doing. If you don’t know what you are doing it doesn’t help. You just look at how the other person is sitting and you try to sit like them. You may be able to hold the hands in your lap or on your knees like the other people. You can look at them and mimic what they do. But you can’t see what they are thinking. You don’t know what their motivation is.

0:25

So you have to learn it either through hearing, reading or any other way of getting information. Learning is first. I spent so many Sundays on that already. Now we reached the point of what do we learn? If you look at Buddha’s message, there are hundreds of volumes up there. Also it is done in a language we don’t know. It is in Tibetan. You won’t even know head or tail of it. And it is not only you who are going through that. We Tibetans had to do the same thing thousand years ago. All of them were in Sanskrit. None of the Tibetans read Sanskrit. They don’t even know how to pronounce it. So we went through with this. Many great people spent their lives, trying to get that message. They spent their lives trying to get the message into Tibetan so what we could understand it. That’s why Tibetan Buddhism has become so precious. Over thousand years thousands of people spent their lives trying to get the language right to be able to understand.

On the other hand, for us it is much easier, thanks to the early Tibetologists and Buddhologists. They have put a lot of it into English. We can understand. Also it is thanks to the teachers who can speak English – although horrible, but they do speak English. Now there are not so many who have to have translators. Also the good ones still do – I am sorry, to tell you the truth. All the good ones do need a translator. Remember, Geshe Yeshe Thapke came and he is excellent. There is probably no equivalent. Then there is Lochö Rinpoche, no equivalent. Persons of that level do use translators. But you do have information available in English. So you have to learn something of what you are doing. Now we need to look at what you need to learn.

There are lots of ways that lead into Tibetan Buddhism, not in the sense of becoming a card carrying member, but in the sense of getting the benefits. Identifying yourself and becoming somebody to me is western culture, being interested in you are this and we are that.

0:30

For me that is not an issue. And it is much less of an issue among the Tibetans than here in the west. If you meet Tibetans nobody would ask you, “Are you a Gelugpa or Nyingmapa or Sakyapa?” Never ever. It may be understood after years or maybe a person is a member of a certain monastery and people understand through that, but other than that it is just a person, a human being. But in the west you identify immediately, “We are Gelugpas, you are Sakyapas” and so on. I don’t know why. Maybe it is traditional western culture that makes that division into “we are Jews” or “we are Muslims” and “we are Christians”. Maybe you try to do the same thing with the new teachings that come in. I don’t even want to call this “religion”. It is not, it doesn’t emphasize that you should worship or do this or that. It emphasizes that you should learn and think, get the information and think.

BEGINNING OF FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS TOPIC

There are many ways of entering into Tibetan Buddhism. One way is through guru devotional practice, the very conservative way. That is commonly known. And there are many ways.

But let’s look at how Buddha did it. When he first became Buddha he did not say, “Worship me”. He did say, “Don’t insult me, I am Buddha.” But he didn’t say “worship me.” He talked about the four points that later came to be known as the Four Noble Truths. Why are they called “Noble”? The meaning of them is proven to be true for those who can see and understand. Those of us who are confused, cannot easily get it. That is why they are called Noble Truths. They are truths, because that’s what it is.

They are the Truth of Suffering, Cause of Suffering, Cessation and Path to Cessation. Everybody knows that. Maybe that’s not true. Everybody who is interested in that field knows about it. That is Buddha’s first proclamation. He said, “I found something like nectar. If I explain that to anyone, no one would be able to understand. So I am going to keep silent.” After all the six years’ of difficulty he finally achieved his aim and then he wanted to stay quiet, which is not right. So everybody, including the Hindu-Buddhist mythological gods, marched to him one after another, gave their hand implements to him and said, “You experienced this. If you keep quiet, who has a chance to understand? Your purpose is not to stay quiet, but to say what you felt and understood.” So that’s why first these four points came out.

When we want to get the benefit out of Tibetan Buddhism first we look at these four points. The truth of suffering is the first. What does that mean to me? Yeah, I know what suffering is. I suffer. And some people will agree and say, “Yes, I suffer.” But some people will says, “No, I am enjoying my life. I am not suffering.” Particularly those of us who are addicted, do enjoy our addictions, right? Those of us who like to sleep enjoy sleeping in. Nowadays I have a lack of sleep, not only sleep apnea but lack of sleep. That’s because of jet lag. I went to Hongkong and came back and am still not adjusted. I am trying to do retreat too. So when I am finally falling asleep it is very hard to get up. People will call you and you don’t want to get up and really enjoy that cozy sleep, no matter what time of the day it is. To get rid of that addiction is suffering for me. This is just one personal experience of myself what happened yesterday.

Likewise, those of us who are addicted to other things. When you have to get away from them it becomes difficult, right? There are now not so many smokers left, but those few who are addicted to cigarettes, have to go outside the building in the snow storm, shivering and trying to finish their cigarettes, coughing continuously. If that is not the addiction torturing you, then what else is? Mind you, the home or place where you work, is nice and work, because we have heating systems and we don’t even have to wear a coat. But when the cigarette addiction pushes you, you have to not only put on coat, hat, scarf and shoes, but go out in the cold and shiver and do your smoking. That is how the cigarette addiction tortures you. Likewise, the same goes for alcohol addiction and also chemical addiction.

Then the emotional addictions are even worse than that. These are little physical addictions. The other ones are mental addictions and what is more powerful? The mind or the body? Think about it. You are not fools. You know it.

0:40

That reminds me of something very funny that happened when the late Allen Ginsberg was still alive. He called me and told me, “One of my best friends, William Burroughs, has a question for you. Can he call you?” I said, “sure.” Then he called and said, “My addiction to marihuana – or another substance – will that hold me back when I die?” That was his question. I said, “No. That is a physical addiction. When you go you are not going to carry your body with you. You are going to leave it behind. But anger, obsession, etc, will hold you back.” Later Allen told me, “You hit the nail on the head.” I didn’t know he was a short-tempered person. So out of physical addictions and mental addictions, the mental addictions are much more difficult to get rid of. That doesn’t mean that physical addictions are okay. I want to make that clear. Otherwise all the drug czars will come after me. (laughs). But the mental addictions are much more difficult. So you need to learn that this is suffering. Suffering doesn’t always have to be physical, emotional and mental pains – which we already have plenty of, one after another. We have a tremendous amount of suffering. There is no shortage. Look at dissatisfaction. Buddha uses the term “contaminated.” He says that any contaminated things are never satisfying. One time they may be good. But the next time it is already worse. You never get back to that point. So you try to best to re-experience that. That becomes an addiction. That goes for everything, alcohol, sex, sleep, cigarette smoking – everything, honestly. That’s why it is called the Truth of Suffering.

Those who understand, do understand it is suffering. Those who don’t get it, they don’t get it. Those who are confused get more confused. They wonder, “I got a buzz here, what’s that?” – Nothing, it is suffering. Sorry about that, but it is the truth. You have to know it. So read, listen, discuss and learn and then develop questions. Can I get rid of this? Should I get rid of this? This is what I will continue to talk about for the next couple of Sundays.

I understand I do have a question from an e mail from last week.

0:46

Audience: Rimpoche, you talked about sound mind as a prerequisite for attaining enlightenment. Can a person who is autistic, attain enlightenment? My son is autistic and finds Buddhist teachings about attachment very helpful. You gave examples in other teachings, for example there was a person called “Small Road” who attained arhatship, even though he was quite dull.”

Rimpoche: Well, even if someone is dull there is a reliable mind. Without sound or reliable mind it is difficult to develop. It is not easy. I think I had a similar question last Sunday. Someone asked for the criteria of a reliable mind. A reliable mind is not necessarily clever or brilliant, but a mind that can understand. Whatever you have understood must not be contradictable by direct knowledge. A sound mind is a reliable mind. A reliable mind is one that picks up information what is correct. How do you know it is correct? Knowing is two things. One is through direct knowledge. For example if I see someone with a beard that is a direct mind. My eye consciousness witnessed that you have a beard. And that is not contradicted by another reliable mind. Another person will not say, “I saw you at the same time as the other guy but I didn’t see your beard.” Maybe you didn’t actually see the beard, but you didn’t see that he didn’t have the beard. Not seeing it doesn’t become a direct contradiction. For example, maybe you didn’t look at him from the front, but from the back. Maybe you looked at the butt! But if you look at the beard and say that there is no beard, that’s a direct contradiction. When a direct mind refutes the other mind then that direct knowledge becomes questionable. As long as it is not questionable and thus agrees that is the criteria of a reliable mind. A sound mind doesn’t have to be brilliant, as long as you have understood clearly, without doubt that negative actions bring negativities and positive actions bring positivities. Adding “clearly without doubt” actually puts all of us in question. But that’s what sound mind is supposed to do. That’s what’s the reliable mind is supposed to do. It doesn’t have to be brilliant or super-intelligent, but it should not be crazy. If you are really crazy, then a crazy fellow is a crazy fellow, even if you don’t like it. You have to watch it with a sorry face, nothing else you can do. No other questions?

Then I say: Thank you so much 0:52:47 end: 0:53:59