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20120527GRGRHS5

00:00 morning prayers (Jewel Heart Prayers)

0:08 Thank you. Now if we are looking in the text, we are on page 10. We have covered page 9, but maybe I am going to say a little more.

Let’s look at the passage that goes

zuk tong pa-o/ tong pa nyi zuk so/ zuk le tong pa nyi zhen ma yin/ tong pa nyi le kyang zuk zhen ma yin no/ de zhin du tsor wa dang/ du she dang/ du che dang/ nam par she pa nam tong pa-o

Form is empty. [Its] emptiness is form. Emptiness is not [something] other than [its] form. Form is also not [something] other than [its] emptiness. In the same way, feeling and discrimination and compositional factors and consciousness are empty.

These are the four profound qualities of emptiness. Here feeling is knowing that this is suffering and that is joy and discrimination is not only feeling it but developing like and dislike. I have a little commentary here but it is too difficult to see on my i-pad. Let me see here.

0:11

Feeling is experiencing and discrimination is looking at the subject and say, “This is good”, “This is beautiful”, “this is not good”. You are sort of discriminating between good, bad, nice, not nice. That is du she or discrimination. Compositional factors (du che) means other mental faculties or other minds. All of them, like ascertaining mental factors that make the mind work, all of them are not only empty itself, but just like form is empty, emptiness is form, the same thing applies to the other four aggregates. So emptiness is those other four and those other four are emptiness individually and each individually is no other than emptiness. There are thus four rounds called sa mu zhin de, the four profound qualities.

The commentary I am looking at is from one of the great Amdo lamas called Trarik Damtsig Dorje. This is not very commonly available. That should be enough. Did you understand a word of what I said?

Then we go to page 10:

sha ri pu/ de tar chö tam che tong pa nyi de/ tsen nyi me pa/ ma kye pa/ ma gak pa/ dri ma me pa/ dri ma dang drel wa/ dri wa me pa/ gang wa me pa-o

Thus, O Shariputra, [the nature of all entities is] emptiness: they have no characteristics, they do not arise, they do not perish, they have no impurity, they are free of impurity, they do not diminish , nor do they increase.

So just like we have said about form, all other aggregates are also emptiness. Not only emptiness, but also they have no characteristics, do not arise and do not perish, have no impurity, are free from impurity, do not diminish nor do they increase.

“They have no characteristics” – when you say that in English, that is really saying that every phenomenon that we see or perceive is actually from its nature not there. There is no self-standing of its own nature, its own characteristics. Everything is appearing and you see it but it doesn’t exist accordingly. Many times the example given for that is the moon and its reflection.

When you see the moon in the sky, every water everywhere and every mirror will show the reflection of the moon. But there is no moon in the water. There is no moon in the mirror. It appears but it is not there. That’s what “no characteristics” means.

0:21

I am trying to figure out the meaning of the English “no characteristics” by looking at the Tibetan tse nyi, which is also known as nature. So it has no nature of its own. You can’t see it is not there, because it appears, but truly we know it is not as it is shown. So that’s what “no characteristics” means.

Then “they do not arise”. The moon rises in the sky, but not in the reflection that you see. It is not in the bowl of water, nor in the mirror on your table. Nor does it “perish”. That is the same thing. No growing, no sign of growing – what does that mean? When you really look at a glass of water it looks like the moon is growing in there, but if you really look and think carefully there is no nature of moon growing there, meaning no growing. Sometimes it looks like it disappears and it looks like it has been destroyed in there. But nothing has been destroyed. There is no growing and no destruction.

Then dri ma me pa/ dri ma dang drel wa “they have no impurity, they are free of impurity, and “they do not diminish nor do they increase”. It looks like the mind has all these negativities and they are increasing and all the virtues are decreasing. But if you look at the nature itself, neither it is increasing nor decreasing. There is no increase or decrease, because there is fault, no stain, nothing.

The next is:

sha ri pu/ de ta we na/ tong pa nyi la zuk me/ tsor wa me/ du she me/ du che nam me/ nam par she pa me/ mik me/ na wa me/ na me/ che me/ lü me/ yi me/ zuk me/ dra me/ dri me/ ro me/ rek cha me/ chö me do

Because of that, O Shariputra, in emptiness there is no form, there is no feeling, there is no discrimination, there are no compositional factors, there is no consciousness; no eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind, no [visible] form, no sound, no scent, no taste, no tangible object, no object of [mind consciousness].

0:30

It is quite simple that way: since in emptiness there is nothing so there is no form, no feeling and no nose, no ear, and so on. There is no eye consciousness, no mind consciousness up to no mind consciousness. All those are the five senses, like eye, ear, nose.

mik gi kam me pa ne/ yi kyi kam me/ yi kyi nam par she pei/ kam kyi bar du yang me do

There is also no eye constituent, no mind constituent, up to no mind constituent.

The physical organ is one thing and the ear consciousness is another thing and the basis of the ear consciousness is yet another thing. You have to think about three things here. The ear that we see is the ear. The eye we see is the eye. Then there is the eye consciousness and then this is some kind of tiny light natured thing as the basis for the eye consciousness. It is something like the home for the eye consciousness within the outer home. If one of the three is missing people will see everything upside down or something. It is supposed to be reflecting something and then turn around. So one is supposed to have all these three, eye, eye consciousness and this base of the eye consciousness and they have their own job, one after another. If one is missing then you have a problem. That is what the old Tibetan knowledge tells me. I didn’t talk to any eye-ear-nose throat specialist. Maybe it’s wrong or true, I don’t know. It is very similar with ears and nose. According to the traditional teachings the bases for the eye, ear and nose consciousnesses remain on the same level, almost side by side. Then there is the eye ball and the eye consciousness. So at least three things are functioning there.

When you say ‘no form, no sound, no smell, no taste”, etc, they are really talking about that it doesn’t come by itself as we perceive it.

ma rik pa me/ ma rik pa ze pa me pa ne/ ga shi me/ ga shi ze pei bar du yang me do

There is no ignorance, no termination of ignorance, up to no aging and death, nor any termination of aging and death.

Ignorance is considered to be the root of samsara. That is important. It is emotion. It is not just simply not knowing but also wrong knowing. For example when you grasp at self, ignorance doesn’t know there is no “I”. It wrongly knows that there is an “I”. Then it is grasping at that “I”. Then we have to protect the “I” and then it becomes “my”. From there it becomes “my side” and “their side”. You see very huge consequences come from that. Yes, it can be a play, but there are huge consequences. Earlier we were talking about the elections in the same way. Many consequences are true, but many are projected. It is true, there are huge consequences, but in a way many of them are projected. That is going to be changed by circumstances, by conditions, by this and that. They will change a lot. That’s why we say we don’t trust politicians. Politicians and politicians. They have the protect the country. I am looking at that in a positive way. Certain things they can do and certain things they can’t, even if they have promised and gave their word.

It is very famous. George Bush sn said, “Read my lips – no taxes.” But he did have to raise taxes, because the country needed it. So things happen. We can blame him, but it is not really his fault. Honestly. All this is there. But for me it is really – I don’t know if I can say this, but since this is not on the internet perhaps I can say it – for me the politicians are politicians. They are up there. The beauraucrats are the ones who do and undo things. The politicians can set up policies but whether they are going to be implemented or not the people in the beaureaucracy have been running things for year and they continuously run that till they retire and it is very difficult to change that.

I give you one example. I don’t know whether I am wasting your time or not. I used to work for the Indian government as the head of the Tibetan unit in the All India Broadcasting network. I was entitled to certain housing by that. So I didn’t like the housing I was entitled to. I wanted a better house. I was entitled to “type four” housing. What I wanted was “type five”.

0:40

I collected a number of members of parliament from the ruling party and I gave various stories and reasons why I needed this. Many of those members, twenty of them, wrote a letter that said that “as a special case we recommend it to be given to him.” They wrote this letter to the minister and then they all went together one day and saw the minister in a personal visit. Two days later he called everybody. So we all went there. So those 20 members of parliament went there twice.

The minister said, “I really want to give that, but my hands are completely tied. The rules don’t allow it.” He had a joint secretary who was the beaureaucratic head to explain why it couldn’t be done. He was very apologetic. So then I gave up naturally, there was no other choice.

When I got out of the minister’s room many of the members of parliament left by elevator. I walked down the steps and an old friend of mine, a Muslim teacher, was coming up the stairs. He said, “What are you doing here?” I said, “I tried to get that house, but I am not getting it.” He said, “I can get you that house, no problem.” I said, “Well, I had 20 members of parliament speaking for me and the minister just said he can’t do it.” But he said, “It’s no big deal. I am quite sure I can do it. Come with me.”

Instead of going down I turned round with him and went up into a huge office, massive. It was full of noise, with maybe 500 people working there. He took me down to a section and to the guy who was the head of the section. That guy was his disciple. The moment he came in that guy got up, touched his feet and so on and asked him to sit down. So he said to him, “This is my friend and he needs that house.” He asked, “Oh, you are Mr. Gelek?” I said “yes.” He said, “I am aware of that case.” So then the Muslim teacher said, “Would you make sure he gets it?” and the guy said, “Yes sir.” Then he told me, “The letter you wrote was wrong. Don’t ask for special treatment. Ask as if you are entitled to it.” I said, “But I am not entitled.” He said, “But you can make it entitled by adding up this and adding up that. And don’t have 20 members of parliament with you, but just one. Then take the letter and give it to the hand of the minister.” Three days later I got the house.

These beaureaucrats really have control. The politicians try their best but can’t do anything. That happens.

0:45

So this came out of talking about “my side” and “their side”. The ignorance is coming from there. How does it develop? Holding onto an “I”, which becomes ego-grasping, then comes “my”. Chandrakirti (Lo pön Dawa Trakpa) said, “First we say “I”, then “my”, then we become control-less.” In all the underdeveloped nations they have wells and the bucket hangs on a little wooden wheel. When the bucket is filled with water and you let it go it will go down very fast. Then when you want to bring it up you have to put effort in. Why do human beings and living beings suffer? Because “I” and “my” make you go down like a bucket full of water on the old-fashioned wheel. I will go zoooom down. That is what Chandrakirti, the early Indian master, has said.

That is exactly how ignorance becomes the root of all suffering. That is exactly how ignorance creates samsara. It is not necessarily not knowing but wrong knowing. It is perceiving the existence of an “I” that is not truly existent, and therefore it becomes “my” well-being and “I have to do this. “I” have to protect myself, otherwise “my” side will lose. Then you project different consequences here and there. I am going to say something that you people don’t like. I am quite sure. To me there is a difference between the Republicans and Democrats, but not that much difference, honestly. This is not communism, but a democracy. But there are so many Washington insiders, those beaureaucrats. If they don’t move you can do nothing. Everybody is so difficult. This minister I told you about was supposed to have been one of the most powerful ministers in India, from whom I tried to get a house. But the beaureaucrats controlled him. That Indian Muslim gentleman, after the teacher told him to help me, I looked in my pocket and I had a nice Swiss knife and I gave it to him. So the Swiss knife got me the house which 20 members of parliament couldn’t get. That is the example.

I think we have to stop here. I didn’t realize it is 12.37. Now we are taking pictures with the Tibetans. Thank you. 0:50 end