Archive Result

1919

20120712GRAABWL14

00:00

Jewel Heart prayers, mandala offering

0:18 Tibetan prayer and summary of outlines so far

0:19

Do kindly generate pure motivation of bodhimind and listen to this teaching. The teaching you are listening to and where we have reached to is the completion of the patience chapter. And we are now on the chapter 7, enthusiasm.

You are probably wondering what I am talking about with this Tibetan phrase I just did. What is that? You must be thinking that. I need to tell you this.

Teaching Motivation for Teachers in Tibetan (assembled from 2 different prior teachings)

lha dang lha mi mi dang me wang kyi-i wang po dang

gya jin la sog chö kyi chog la gyal wa jä pa nam

sang gye sung pa rab tu zhi zhing de wai gyu gyur wa

di dah she ching dam pei chö nyen je ne dir shek shig

Those of you who are interested in the Buddha’s words, they will only give you peace and nonviolence and this is what we are going to discuss. If you are interested please join in and then when you’re here you can’t sit with the human beings down there, so you are permitted to stay in the open air.

na mo lha-i kye dang lu dang nö jin ke

dri bum da dang mi yi ke nam dang

dro wa kun kyi drag nam gyi tsam pa

tham che kye du dag gi chö ten tho

The teaching I’m giving I may be talking in the human language but those of you who are coming, may you’ll hear them in your own language.

Alternative take on this from a different teaching (both from 2010)

lha dang lha mi mi dang me wang kyi-i wang po dang

gya jin la sog chö kyi chog la gyal wa jä pa nam

sang gye sung pa rab tu zhi zhing de wai gyu gyur wa

di dah she ching dam pei chö nyen je ne dir shek shig

To all the gods, Indra, Brahma etc, all the demigods and all the leaders of the spirit, and whoever has good thinking, good thoughts, i.e all good beings: Buddha’s message is so peaceful. It is peace and the cause to bring joy and that’s what I will talk about here. You are invited to be part of it. Those who can’t sit with us are also invited and are permitted to be in the space either above the room or below the room or wherever. (maybe the room doesn’t bother them).

na mo lha-i kye dang lu dang nö jin ke

dri bum da dang mi yi ke nam dang

dro wa kun kyi drag nam gyi tsam pa

tham che kye du dag gi chö ten tho

In the language of gods, in the language of nagas,

in the languages of all the different spirits,

in the languages of all different human beings I will teach.

Whenever Buddha talked in his life time he might have been talking in one language, but it was heard by different people in their native tongue. Buddha spoke in one tongue and everybody thought he spoke to them in their native tongue. Everybody doesn’t have the same native tongue but they heard it that way. That is the extraordinary quality of a buddha. To mimic being able to do that we act as if that is happening.

Many of you will be good teachers, some already are but many of you will be even better in future so that’s why you should know what the words say. Repeating those words alone does not have much purposes, however this has the blessings of the Buddha onwards throughout all the lineages. This has your own motivation.

Using modern technology we can hear interpreters in many different languages, like at the UN and all the international conferences. But traditionally this is one the powers of Buddha and so those who don’t have that power at least will pretend to have it and say these words and hoping people will get it. Twenty, thirty years ago there was very little material in English about Buddhism in general and particularly Tibetan Buddhism, very little. Today there is lots, may be still not very much, but lots and so this is how earlier Buddha had manifested this himself. Those of us who cannot do that, we pray to Buddha to be able to that so that those we can reach by their own karma are able to meet Buddha’s teaching nicely and clearly and understand it in the language they speak and understand.

It doesn’t necessarily have to be really good academic English or any other language, but also not necessarily George Bush’s language - I fall under that category - but able to communicate to the individual, person to person. And sometimes when we talk about a certain subject a lot of people feel “He is speaking to me, he is telling me” - and that is nothing but Buddha’s blessings and Buddha’s prayer that his teaching may reach you in the language you understand. We are not necessarily talking about language itself alone, but communication that is reaching to the individual.

So if you feel, “He is really talking about me and telling me”, it’s not me. It’s the Buddha who is talking, it’s Buddha’s prayer, it is Buddha’s activity. So that is the reason why in the beginning of a teaching I always say those few words in Tibetan – since I don’t have the English translation. May be we can translate that into English so that in future you people can copycat it - like a parrot.

That’s how I did it, beginning with being like a parrot, copycatting it and then suddenly you begin to know. You have heard this all the time during the teachings so you don’t have to put efforts into reading it but you just learn - like kids learning from sound - and then you begin to think about what you are saying and then you begin to get it, so that is how it goes.

This is part of the teaching tradition. Not every teaching, but a lam rim like teaching like this has this. It is not a verse, but loose words, saying that the gods and demi-gods and the nem chi, that is another category of beings, are invited to listen to this teaching. The normal tale is this: the ruler of that category of beings is a horse-headed guy with a guitar in hand. He is supposed to be the last disciple that Buddha gave teachings to before Buddha passed away. Somehow Buddha was waiting for him to show up and he was the last person.

All of those beings, like Indra, Brahma, etc, who are interested in this, please do come here and listen to this teaching. Buddha’s words are peaceful and pacifying and the cause of joy. For that purpose do please come here and listen.

Then you are supposed to give them permission to be in the air, from your heart. That’s because they are not going to remain with the human beings on the ground. So they remain in the air. You give the permission to be in a different area, so that they are able to listen and pay attention.

The second section says: “I say this in the language of gods, nagas and demi-gods and the language of human beings. Whatever the language they understand, I am expressing this in their language.” This is the gesture that Buddha took during his teachings, so we try to follow in his footsteps. Those of you, who will give teachings in the future, if you want to follow properly should do all that too. That will be useful. I don’t know if it has any direct use or not, maybe not. But it is the story of earlier masters and the biographical story of Buddha, which is the practice of future disciples. That’s why the earlier style is preserved. Some of it may not be totally relevant, but it doesn’t harm to keep it and it is a gesture of what we follow.

Not only that, when we were kids, from the teachings what we learnt, not only listening to the teaching itself, the message, the major purpose, but it is also to observe the manner in which the teacher teaches, the way they use quotation and logic and examples. Also, the physical gestures, ku yi nam. Then sung gi dang - the tune of whether they speak in a high or low voice. Sometimes they purposely make their voice higher or lower. Nowadays we can’t do much. If we go higher, they will turn it down and if you go lower they will turn it up. So you can’t do much. That was traditionally considered important. Even when they had loudspeakers later, the volume was not to be touched. Of course it sounds better if you keep on touching. Then tuk kyi kir so – the mental attitude, the way the teachers are thinking and analyzing and presenting. All three of these are supposed to be duplicated - ku yi nam,sung gi dang, tuk kyi kir so. Anyway, that maybe too much now. When we say these words you are probably wondering what I am saying. Many of you are probably thinking, “he is mumble-jumbling something in Tibetan for a few minutes.” That’s what you probably think and tell the others. So that’s why I am telling you what it is really about.

0:28

Today we are on the chapter of enthusiasm. Basically the outline will include:

There is a need to be enthusiastic

How can you be enthusiastic

There is a need to be enthusiastic

That also has actual enthusiasm and actually recognizing what is enthusiasm

Actual enthusiasm is the first verse:

Ch 7, v 1

DE LTAR BZOD PAS BRTZON 'GRUS BRTZAM

'DI LTAR BRTZON LA BYANG CHUB GNAS

RLUNG MED G-YO BA MED PA BZHIN

BSOD NAMS BRTZON 'GRUS MED MI 'BYUNG

Having patience, I should develop enthusiasm;

For Awakening will dwell only in those who exert themselves.

Just as there is no movement without wind,

So merit does not occur without enthusiasm.

As we explained earlier, we explained to be patient. We are patient with the harm that other people have created.

0:30

Why? Because we want total enlightenment. I don’t want my attention and intention interrupted by entertaining some unplanned measures, like somebody trying to harm me and I am challenging that. Most of the crisis management is driving yourself away from your major focus. We see this very well in an election year. One candidate is trying to bring the attention to one subject. The other is trying to bring the attention to another subject. They try to interrupt each other, by making incidents and by creating intentional things. Both sides are trying to derail what the other one is focusing on. This is what’s happening today between Mitt Romney and Obama. Mitt Romney is trying to get onto the economy and Obama wants something else. The Romney wants to get back to the economy. So they are interrupting the other’s focus. They try to take people’s attention to what they want you to focus on.

Patience comes in here. No matter what anybody is doing do not get derailed from your own purpose and that is obtaining enlightenment. Don’t let your attention go, because something else popped up. Something else always pops up anyway. If it didn’t we wouldn’t be in the samsaric world. That’s what it is. Really patience means to carry on with your purpose. Not only will patience stop you from getting derailed from your purpose, but then enthusiasm adds up on that.

Not only you keep your attention and focus but you bring great enthusiasm in. The English translation reads, “Having patience, I shall develop enthusiasm.” What does ‘having patience’ mean? As I have explained, not only do we maintain patience to continue our purposes, but also make it enthusiastic. Enthusiastically, continuously functioning is the real thing that you cannot do without. That’s why enlightenment really depends on enthusiasm. That’s the first verse.

Ch 7, v 2

BRTZON GANG DGE LA SPRO BA'O

DE YI MI MTHUN PHYOGS BSHAD BYA

LE LO NGAN LA ZHEN PA DANGSKYID LUG BDAG NYID BRNYAS PA'O

What is enthusiasm? It is finding joy in what is wholesome.

Its opposing factors are explained

As laziness, attraction to what is harmful

And despising oneself out of despondency.

This verse shows the difference between enthusiasm and its direct opposite, laziness. When you look at what is enthusiasm and what is laziness, you see that both are mental faculties. What is an easier term for ‘mental faculties’?

Audience: Cognitive mental processes?

Audience: Mental apps?

Rimpoche: What I am trying to say is that both enthusiasm and laziness are mental states in which you enjoy. Enthusiasm enjoys positive processes you engage in. Laziness enjoys doing nothing. Both are enjoying, honestly. You don’t want to get away from what you are doing, you would like to continue. It is one aspect, both together. Cognitive mental processes – that seems to include two things, the thinking itself and the way how you process the thinking?

Audience: That term gives no room for the emotional components.

Rimpoche: You say that all the time and it is true.

Audience: There are two groups of people; some say that cognitive processes are purely thinking and others say that this includes emotions.

Rimpoche: What I see is that both, enthusiasm and laziness, are pieces of one mind and both have the aspects that enjoys. What differs is the subject they enjoy. Enthusiasm is moving forward, trying to do something. Laziness is doing nothing, but it enjoys doing nothing. Enthusiasm enjoys moving forward.

At the moment we have a good example for that in Washington. The administration tries to move forward with enthusiasm and Congress doesn’t want to do anything and is sitting back.

0:45

You have to recognize what enthusiasm really is, what laziness really is. Enthusiasm makes you alert, both physically and mentally, as well as fresh, looking forward. Laziness is an enjoyable state, but you enjoy being dull, doing nothing. But you do enjoy, otherwise you wouldn’t repeat that. People get high from chemical substances that make their bodies and minds do nothing. But they enjoy that state. Isn’t it? It has to be. You get the idea.

Similarly, another type of laziness enjoys doing the wrong thing, like a butcher enjoying what he or she does. Strange examples are popping up in my head. So that’s very enthusiastic but negative.

The third type of laziness is thinking, “I cannot do it, I am not capable. Me? No way. Get So and So or So and So” – everybody else except me. That’s very familiar to me, I hear that every day.

Enthusiasm is the mental state that is doing the opposite of that. If you had to choose between someone saying, “I can’t do it, but So and So may be able to do it” and someone saying, “I am not sure if I can make it not, maybe I will make a mess, but I will do it” you would definitely choose the person who does something, even if they are making mistakes. Of course you don’t want to make mistakes, but it is better than not do anything. And not doing anything is here considered laziness.

When you do want to work with that it is recommended to observe where this “doing nothing” comes from? When you look at the Do Nothing Congress you know they are doing that because they don’t want Obama to be re-elected. So naturally they want nothing to get done. That’s the purpose. So you have to find out where the “do nothing” comes from.

So enthusiasm is enjoying virtuous activities, “finding joy in what is wholesome.” Enjoying doing something that is unwholesome is laziness. That is the bottom line. In other words, enjoying positive deeds is enthusiasm and enjoying negative deeds is laziness. That is from the spiritual point of view. You cannot go and insist that someone who very enthusiastically enjoys their negative job is lazy. You can’t tell people, “Hey, this guy is extremely lazy.” He may be busy-lazy, but you can’t say they are lazy. People would declare you cuckoo in the society. So it is important to have this distinction between the spiritual point of view and ordinary point of view.

0:55

The next verse is about observing the cause of laziness:

Ch 7, v 3

SNYOM LAS BDE BA'I RO MYANG DANG

GNYID LA BRTEN PA'I SRED PA YIS

'KHOR BA'I SDUG BSNGAL MI SKYO LAS

LE LO NYE BAR SKYE BAR 'GYUR

Because of attachment to the pleasurable taste of idleness,

Because of craving for sleep

And because of having no disillusion with the misery of cyclic existence,

Laziness grows very strong.

Doing nothing includes sleeping too long. People who really like to sleep don’t want to get up, no matter how much people are pushing you. You enjoy sleeping and that’s why you don’t want to think about the joy of nirvana, the suffering in samsara. You virtually don’t want to do anything else, but just keep lying down. That is good laziness. But there is a requirement of a certain amount of sleep, which our physical body needs. You have to have it. I used to say that four, five hours sleep is good enough. I used to think that. Maybe I was young then. Now I think that this is not enough. Maybe I am getting old. Maybe it is laziness. But there is a physical requirement, which you have to give. When you are young you don’t seem to be need that much, but when you get old and become a chronic disease – oriented big, fat, old man, you need more. So taking care of yourself is important.

Ch 7, v 4

NYON MONGS RGYA BAS BSHOR NAS NI

SKYE BA'I RGYAR NI CHUD GYUR NAS'CHI BDAG KHAR NI SONG GYUR PA

CI STE DA DUNG MI SHES SAM

Enmeshed in the snare of disturbing conceptions,

I have entered the snare of birth.

Why am I still not aware

That I live in the mouth of the Lord of Death?

Like animals caught in a trap we get caught in our afflictive emotional traps. That causes us to take rebirth uncontrolled, continuously. In order to take rebirth you have to go away from this birth, which is death. So we are living “in the mouth of the Lord of Death”, but we don’t know that.

Ch 7, v 5

RANG SDE RIM GYIS GSOD PA YANG

KHYOD KYIS MTHONG BAR MA GYUR TAM

'ON KYANG GNYID LA BRTEN PA GANG

GDOL PA DANG NI MA HE BZHIN

Do I not see

That he is systematically slaughtering my species?

Whoever remains soundly asleep

(Surely behaves) like a buffalo with a butcher.

We are going one by one and we are losing people right and left, but we are not afraid and not worried about it. Shantideva gives a buffalo as an example. You may say, “Yea, yea, yea, it is true that I have no control and will be subject to this, but still I will have time to do something.”

Ch 7, v 6

LAM NI KUN NAS BKAG NAS SU

'CHI BDAG GIS NI BLTAS BZHIN DU

JI LTAR KHYOD NI ZA DGA' ZHING

'DI LTAR GNYID LOG JI LTAR DGA'

When having blocked off every (escape) route,

The Lord of Death is looking (for someone to kill),

How can I enjoy eating?

And likewise, how can I enjoy sleep?

But all the roads are blocked off and the Lord is Death is watching and he would like to eat me up. So how can I still be sleeping?

Ch 7, v 7

MYUR BA NYID DU 'CHI 'GYUR BAS

JI SRID DU NI TSOGS BSAG BYA

DE TSE LE LO SPANGS KYANG NI

DUS MA YIN PAR CI ZHIG BYA

For as long as death is actually approaching

Then I shall accumulate merits;

Even if I then put a stop to laziness,

What will be the use? That is not the time!

While you have time, even though the Lord of Death is watching, this is the time to do something. When actual death catches you, then even if you give up all your laziness, it is too late to do anything.

Ch 7, v 8

'DI NI MA BYAS BRTZAMS PA DANG

'DI PHYED BYAS PAR GNAS PA LA

GLO BUR 'CHI BDAG 'ONGS NAS NI

KYI HUD BCOM ZHES SEMS PAR 'GYUR

When this has not been done, when this is being done

And when this is only half finished,

Suddenly the Lord of Death will come.

And the thought will occur, “Oh no, I am done for!”

Death is not going to wait, even if you haven’t finished your work, if you are only half way through or something. Suddenly death will come and get you. So at that time we have nothing else except regret. Therefore it is important to be enthusiastic now.

Ch 7, v 9

MYA NGAN SHUGS KYIS SKRANGS PA YI

MIG DMAR GDONG LA MCHI MA 'DZAG

NYE DU RE THAG CHAD PA DANG

GSHIN RJE'I PHO NYA'I BZHIN LA BLTA

Their faces flowing with tears

And their eyes red and swollen with sorrow,

My relatives will finally lose hope,

And I shall behold the vision of the messengers of death.

Tormented by the memory of my wrongdoing,

And hearing the sounds of hell,

In terror, I shall clothe my body in excrement.

What virtue can I do in such a delirious state?

Ch 7, v 10

RANG SDIG DRAN PAS GDUNG PA DANG

DMYAL BA'I SGRA NI THOS PA YIS

SKRAG PAS MI GTZANG LUS GOS SHING

MYOS PAR 'GYUR TSE CI ZHIG BYA

Tormented by the memory of my wrongdoing,

And hearing the sounds of hell,

In terror, I shall clothe my body in excrement.

What virtue can I do in such a delirious state?

1:05

By the time you are going you remember all the negativities.

There was a gentleman I used to know. He was a funny guy, very witty and I think he was a good practitioner too. This must have been 1962. He became the principal of a Tibetan High School level school. I was a dharma teacher in a kindergarten school in that area. Everybody thought he was a funny guy. He didn’t really talk much. Everybody said he was good at English. I didn’t know English well at that time. So he took me to a restaurant one time and he went straight away to the best seat available and sat down. The waiter came in to get the order and he barked at him and neither the waiter nor I could figure out what he was saying. Actually he said, “Hot dog and coffee.” The waiter came back twice and then he started scolding him. Then he told me, “This dharma thing may be very good, but one thing is very bad. If we don’t know anything about the dharma I wouldn’t be worrying even if I died today. Now we know a little bit about dharma we find out there is a hell realm and we are going to worry. If I die now, the dharma has delivered to me a worry. If it is really true and if I am going there, that worry is unnecessary. But the dharma put that in my brain and I can do nothing about it. I can’t wash it away and I can’t take it out.”

Years ago, Professor Thurman organized a conference about death and dying. I was not supposed to be there. Sogyal Rinpoche was invited. That was after he published his book, “Tibetan Book of Living and Dying.” Somehow, with some reasons he couldn’t come. So Professor Thurman called me to come. So I was sort of the second choice. (laughs). I am just teasing. He is a wonderful person. So there was a lady to came prepared to fight. She told me later, “I came to fight, but when I got here you are not the person I wanted to fight with. I had a beautiful picture of death and dying and then this book of Sogyal Rinpoche destroyed that totally. It is a huge loss for me.” So although she said I was not the person she came to fight with she did fight with me.

So sometimes the idea of reincarnation and rebirth seem to give us a little disadvantage here and there. But we cannot forget that nobody made up these stories. It is reality. Not only that, it is you and me, we are all going to go through with this sooner or later. That may be a bad way to generate enthusiasm, but also quite a powerful way. Buddha himself said, “The elephant’s foot print is the biggest foot print that any being can leave in the mud. Likewise, the mind of impermanence has a huge impact and makes a very big difference on us.”

In one way it looks like religion has provided a sword hanging above us, ready to cut us. Some people interpret and explain it that way. But no one can satisfy us that this is not real. Let’s have a break here.

1:12

Short mandala offering

1:13

I don’t think I need to explain much about verse 10.

Ch 7, v 11

KHYOD NI NYA GSON 'GRE BA LTA'I

TSE 'DIR 'JIGS DANG LDAN GYUR NA

SDIG BYAS DMYAL BA MI BZAD PA'ISDUG BSNGAL RNAMS NI SMOS CI DGOS

If even in this life I shall be gripped with fear

Like that of a live fish being rolled (in hot sand),

Why even mention the unbearable agonies of hell

That will result from my unwholesome deeds?

Ch 7, v 12

CHU TSAN GYIS NI REG PA NA

GZHON SHA CAN LA RAB TSA BA'I

DMYAL BA YI NI LAS BYAS NAS

CI PHYIR 'DI LTAR BDE BAR GNAS

How can I remain at ease like this,

When I have committed the actions (that will bear fruit)

In my delicate infant’s body encountering boiling acids

In the hell of tremendous heat?

Ch 7, v 13

BRTZON MED 'BRAS BU 'DOD PA DANG

BZE RE CAN LA GNOD MANG ZHING

'CHI BAS BZUNG BZHIN LHA 'DRA BA

KYI HUD SDUG BSNGAL DAG GIS BCOM

Much harm befalls those with little forbearance

And those who want results without making any effort.

While clasped by death, they shall cry like the gods,

“Oh no, I am overcome by misery!”

Ch 7, v 14

MI YI GRU LA BRTEN NAS SU

SDUG BSNGAL CHU BO CHE LAS SGROL

GRU 'DI PHYI NAS RNYED DKA' BAS

RMONGS PA DUS SU GNYID MA LOG

Relying upon the boat of a human (body),

Free yourself from the great river of pain!

As it is hard to find this boat again,

This is no time for sleep, you fool.

This verse 14 is quoted very often. Many masters, besides quoting Je Tsongkhapa’s verses, quote this one very often and give teachings about it. The human life is like a vehicle that takes you across the water of suffering. It is difficult to find in future. So do not sleep now. This is the time. Do not permit yourself to be controlled by laziness.

Ch 7, v 15

DGA' BA'I RGYU NI MTHA' YAS PA'I

DAM CHOS DGA' BA'I MCHOG SPANGS NAS

SDUG BSNGAL RGYU YIS G-YENG BA DANGRGOD SOGS LA KHYOD CI PHYIR DGA'

Having rejected the supreme joy of the sacred Dharma,

Which is a boundless source of delight,

Why am I distracted by the causes for pain?

Why do I enjoy frivolous amusements and the like?

This is saying that dharma is the most important cause to be happy.

Ch 7,v 16

SKYID LUG MED DANG DPUNG TSOGS DANG

LHUR BLANG BDAG NYID DBANG BYA DANG

BDAG DANG GZHAN DU MNYAM PA DANG

BDAG DANG GZHAN DU BRJE BAR GYIS

Without indulging in despondency, I should gather the supports (for enthusiasm)

And earnestly take control of myself.

(Then by seeing) the equality between self and others,

I should practice exchanging self for others.

This probably tells you the traditional Indian powerful kingdoms have four forces. They count the four forces very differently. There is the force of the army, the elephants, the horses, etc. In their traditional culture there are these four forces. But one thing we know: in the old Indian culture, when Alexander went all the way to India he conquered everything with the force of his horses and army. But when he got to India he got defeated – the the elephant force. They were so big that the horses got nowhere. At least the movie shows that Alexander challenged the elephants by jumping with his horse to the Indian king but of course the horse couldn’t jump on the head of the elephant. Likewise, here we need the four forces to gain enthusiasm. The four forces are indirectly mentioned through the term pung tsog – here translated as ‘supports’. That’s in the first line of verse 16. In actual reality you are looking for four supports for enthusiasm.

When the kings fight with their opponents, all their people must be looking forward to the fight. If you try to push depressed people into a war you are going to have trouble. In those struggles you need some qualities, particularly everybody must be looking forward to it and be very enthusiastic. Then they must be proud of themselves and they must think they are doing right. That’s a basic requirement. If the people begin to know that they are fighting on the wrong side, if they have that feeling, then it won’t work. Remember what happened in Vietnam during the war. The people who thought it was wrong were correct. Even then, if the forces fighting the war think it is wrong there will be no enthusiasm at all. The word used in Tibetan is ‘uplifting your mind’. You have to think you are doing great. If you start thinking that you are fighting for the wrong thing, that’s what the enemy wants. So you have to uplift your mind and follow on the path. That is the armor-like enthusiasm. When people go to war they wear armor so they are protected and the enemy can’t hurt you. I mean they still do but there is a better chance. The first and best weapon for the enemy to destroy you is to weaken your morale. Even the American army talks about the morale, saying “the morale is great”. That’s what they normally say. And it is true: if you have weak morale, then that’s it. If you lose because one army is so big and the other so small that’s a different story.

Another situation could be that although you may be bigger and more powerful you are losing your morale and then you can’t win. You have to go away. That way the Soviet Union left Afghanistan and maybe we will do the same thing. Probably. It is not necessarily the case that the Afghanis are so great. It is the weakness of the world power. That doesn’t mean I support the Afghanistan war, okay? If there are are number of people here, that’s okay, but then a lot of people listen to the tape and read the transcript and their interpretation could be, “He really likes the Afghanistan war.” No, I don’t.

skyid lug med in the first line of v 16 is translated as “without despondency”, wich is the low morale, and then you need armor-like enthusiasm. That is the biggest thing the enemy can do. We know that. We always look for lowering the morale, even in Syria today. The powerful people around Assad will leave him and get out. That’s exactly what we are talking about.

Then the “supports” you need is the accumulation of merit. Lhur lang – so there are two points: not losing our morale and gathering the supports. Then “earnestly take control of myself”. That is a good translation. I would have said, “try to get it.” Controlling yourslf is the major point here. Sometimes you say, “Get a grip, control yourself.” What does that mean? What are you supposed to do? You have to use two mental faculties: rememberance and alertness. Then you can manage yourself. If you let the mind do whatever it wants to sometimes you would like to stand up and scream and run in circles. But then your rememberance thinks, “I can’t do that.” Why not? You can do whatever you want to. Yes, but think about the others. They may think you are crazy. They will also tell you that you are crazy and they will believe and then you will become crazy. That’s how rememberance or mindfulness works. The other mental factor, alertness, will be watching you. Even if you are itching to get up and scream you won’t do it, because somebody else will say, “Hey, hey, you are trying to be crazy. Don’t.” That is the alertness. That is how you control yourslef.

1:30

If you do this your physical condition will give you the opportunity to function well and your mental condition will give you the opportunity to do right. And that is how you control yourself. You don’t control yourself by hitting here and there. You don’t sit there and hit yoursef. If you do that, that’s not self control. That’s physically abusing yourself. So utlize these two mental faculties and manage.

Then bdag dang gzhan du mnyam pa dang/ bdag dang gzhan du brje bar gyis - making yourself and others equal. That will come in more detail a little later, but equanimity or equalness is necessary. Our nature is such that “me” is me and I am definitely more important and better. Even if you don’t say it or don’t want to express, but deep in our mind we do have that. It comes out here and there, without saying it. Equality is in the American culture and character. We accept that theoretically, and even emotionally. But deep in our mind we have self-superiority. It is wihtin us. It is always there. Considering others are more important than ourselves is one of the themes of bodhimind. However, we are not going to get there unless we are able to accept equality, which is much easier to accept – particularly for those of us who live in a democracy and believe in democracy. It is much easier. Our culture is a democracy, so it is much easier than for those who live in dictatorships and monarchies, with the exception of England, Canada, etc, who have the Queen of England. Holland too has a queen, but it is a democratic country.

Those of us who had the opportunity to be familiar and live in a democracy, have a better opportuniy to adapt equanimity and equality. That means we have a better opportunity to be bodhisattvas than those who are working for Assad. [laughs] I am joking – completely. That’s a foolish joke, sorry.

Ch 7, v 17

BDAG GIS BYANG CHUB GA LA ZHES

SKYID LUG PAR NI MI BYA STE'DI LTAR DE BZHIN GSHEGS PA NI

BDEN PA GSUNG BAS BDEN 'DI GSUNGS

I should never indulge in despondency by entertaining such thoughts as,

“How shall I ever awaken?”

For the Tathagatas who speak what is true

Have uttered this truth:

Ch 7, v 18

SBRANG BU SHA SBRANG BUNG BA DANG

DE BZHIN SRIN BUR GANG GYUR PA

DES KYANG BRTZON PA'I STOBS BSKYED NA

BYANG CHUB THOB DKA' BLA MED 'THOB

“If they develop the strength of their exertion,

Even those who are flies, mosquitoes, bees and insects

Will win the unsurpassable Awakening,

Which is so hard to find.”

Don’t say, “How can I become a Buddha? Dont’ be silly.” But Buddha said you can do it and not only we can do it but even the weakest of all – even the insects in the mud and the mosquitoes, tigers, dogs, jackals, vultures, cranes and crows, owls and flies, bumble bees and all of them. Even the worms and the bacteria that grow on the food, who are definitely weaker than us can become fully enlightened. That is the true statement Buddha made. So do not think, “I can’t do it, because I am old, crippled, sick, less intelligent or so busy” – well, being busy is your fault anyway.

Ch 7, v 19

BDAG LTA RIGS KYIS MIR SKYES LA

PHAN DANG GNON PA'I NGO SHES PAS

BYANG CHUB SPYOD PA MA BTANG NA

BDAG GIS BYANG CHUB CIS MI 'THOB

(It will be) so, if I do not forsake the Bodhisattvas’ way of life.

Why should someone like myself, who has been born in the human race,

Not attain Awakening, since I am able to recognize

What is beneficial and what is of harm?

Ch 7, v 20

'ON TE RKANG LAG LA SOGS PA

BTANG DGOS BDAG NI 'JIGS SHI NALCI DANG YANG BA MA DPYAD PAR

RMONGS PAS BDAG NI 'JIGS PAR ZAD

-Nevertheless, it frightens me to think

That I may have to give away my arms and legs-

Without discriminating between what is heavy and what is light,

I am reduced to fear through confusion.

Some people think, “Yes, yes, yes, Buddha said we can all become Buddha, but he also said that you have to sacrifice your arms and legs and body and this and very proudly tells us that he sacrificed his life to help the tiger family to survive. I can’t do that. I will be afraid of doing that. I am afraid of even a little cut or wound, a little blood and I freak out and faint.”

Look at it, it looks really difficult and hard and we will be very afraid of it. But there are ways of thinking about that. Yes, Buddha said that and did that. However, if you look from the limitless beginning, we have been taking rebirth after rebirth, had death after death, punishment after punishment, having our body cut and beat up, burnt and so on. It’s not very long time ago that we have burnt people here even, those who didn’t weigh enough and were considered witches. How many people were burnt in European history? How many Indians and Chinese rulers and kings – and Tibetans too – have punished and locked up people, thrown them in the water with leather covering them? That is old punishment, maybe coming from China or maybe Tibetans developed that themselves. Almost everywhere in the world people punish other people all the time and one of the torturing methods is to take people’s life in a rather harsh way. How many times have we gone through this? How many times have we taken rebirth and fought in wars, cutting our body into pieces? We wastes a number of lives, countless ones, and we got nothing for it. Everything was wasted. None of them delivered total enlightenment to us. From that angle, it is not that bad.

1:45

From another angle, you also develop certain steps and for bodhisattvas who give their lives, it is reported and said, it is almost like giving vegetables away from your fridge. When they get to that level there is no suffering and not only no suffering, but maybe there is joy in it. But don’t try, okay? Honestly. When you see some funny thing on television they will say: don’t try that at home. So don’t try that in your meditation home. So from two angles it may not be that difficult for them at that time. Besides that, when you are ready – and that doesn’t mean you say, “I made up my mind and I am ready” – but when you are sure that by doing such a thing you sure to benefit and reach your goal – then that sacrifice may be worth it. If you know your sacrifice is going nowhere, if you keep on burning yourself, then it is definitely a waste of life.

1:48

That is a tremendous loss for the individual and the result is not only not materialized, but sometimes it is even twisted and then it is a total waste. People do twist things with an agenda, which is not a good thing, but people do it. I don’t want to spell it out, but we see what is happening.

Ch 7, v 21

BSKAL PA BYE BA GRANGS MED DU

LAN GRANGS DU MAR BCAD PA DANG

DBUG DANG BSREG DANG GSHEGS 'GYUR GYIBYANG CHUB THOB PAR MI 'GYUR RO

For over countless myriads of aeons

I have been cut, stabbed, burned,

And flayed alive innumerable times,

But I have not awakened.

Ch 7, v22

BDAG GIS BYANG CHUB SGRUB PA YI

SDUG BSNGAL 'DI NI TSOD YOD DEZUG RNGU KHONG BRLAG GNOD BSAL PHYIR

LUS RMA BTOD PA'I SDUG BSNGAL BZHIN

Yet the suffering

Involved in my awakening will have a limit;

It is like the suffering of having an incision made

In order to remove and destroy greater pain.

Sometimes some difficulties are violent and difficult, but sometimes they help, like a surgeon who does surgery. That is of course violence. Of course it hurts, but it is worth it.

Ch 7, v 23

SMAN PA KUN KYANG GSO DPYAD KYI

MI BDE BA YIS NAD MED BYED

DE BAS SDUG BSNGAL MANG PO DAG

GZHOM PHYIR MI BDE CHUNG BZOD BYA

Even doctors eliminate illness

With unpleasant medical treatments,

So in order to overcome manifest sufferings

I should be able to put up with some discomfort.

Those practitioners who aim at total enlightenment, may sometimes have a few difficulties here and there, but that may substitute so many samsaric difficulties. So it is worth taking those.

Ch 7, v 24

GSO DPYAD PHAL PA 'DI 'DRA BA

SMAN PA MCHOG GIS MA MDZAD DE

CHO GA SHIN TU 'JAM PO YIS

NAD CHEN DPAG MED GSO BAR MDZAD

Yet the Supreme Physician does not employ

Common medical treatments such as these,

With an extremely gentle technique,

He remedies all the greatest ills.

Buddha’s treatment does not have much violence.

Ch 7, v 25

TSOD MA LA SOGS SBYIN PA LA'ANG'DREN PAS THOG MAR SBYOR BAR MDZAD

DE LA GOMS NAS PHYI NAS NI

RIM GYIS RANG GI SHA YANG GTONG

At the beginning, the Guide of the World encourages

The giving of such things as food.

Later, when accustomed to this,

One may progressively start to give away even one’s flesh.

First one’s practice is to give one’s vegetables away or something. Gradually, there may be a chance that you may be able to give away even your own flesh. Remember, Asanga’s story.

Ch 7, v 26

GANG TSE RANG GI LUS LA NI

TSOD SOGS LTA BU'I BLO SKYES PA

DE TSE SHA LA SOGS GTONG BA

DE LA DKA' BA CI ZHIG YOD

At such a time when my mind is developed

To the point of regarding my body like food,

Then what hardship would there be

When it came to giving away my flesh?

Ch 7, v 27

SDIG PA SPANG PHYIR SDUG BSNGAL MED

MKHAS PA'I PHYIR NA MI DGA' MED'DI LTAR LOG PAR RTOG PA DANG

SDIG PAS SEMS DANG LUS LA GNOD

Having forsaken all transgression, there would be no suffering,

And due to wisdom, there would be no lack of joy;

But now my mind is afflicted by mistaken conceptions

And my body is caused harm by unwholesome deeds.

Ch 7, v 28

BSOD NAMS KYIS NI LUS BDE LA

MKHAS PA YIS NI SEMS BDE NA

GZHAN DON 'KHOR BAR GNAS KYANG NI

SNYING RJE CAN DAG CI STE SKYO

As their bodies are happy due to their merits,

And their minds are happy due to their wisdom,

Even if they remained in cyclic existence for the sake of others,

Why would the Compassionate Ones ever be upset?

Ch 7, v 29

'DI NI BYANG CHUB SEMS STOBS KYISSNGON GYI SDIG PA ZAD BYED CING

BSOD NAMS RGYA MTSO SDUD BYED PHYIR

NYAN THOS RNAMS PAS MCHOG TU BSHAD

Due to the strength of the Awakening Mind,

The Bodhisattvas consume their previous transgressions

And harvest oceans of merit:

Hence they are said to excel the Shravakas.

So this is clearly telling you that being a bodhisattva and developing this mind is [amazing]. The first two lines say that the bodhimind purifies the earlier negativities. It also accumulates oceans of merit and wisdom merit. That is more superior and much more powerful and more effective. That is why it is considered to be more helpful and more superior than the self liberation teachings or those of the pratyekayana. That is the reason why even a little hardship is worth taking.

Ch 7, v 30

DE BAS SKYO NGAL KUN SEL BA'I

BYANG CHUB SEMS KYI RTA ZHON NAS

BDE NAS BDE BAR 'GRO BA LA

SEMS SHES SU ZHIG SGYID LUG 'GYUR

So, having mounted the horse of an Awakening Mind

That dispels all discouragement and weariness,

Who, when they know of this mind that proceeds from joy to joy,

Would ever lapse into despondency?

So by understanding this you ride on the horse of bodhimind and then you travel from joy to joy. So who will have despondency, you won’t despair. That is a form of laziness. The word in Tibetan is gyi lug, which is laziness. Who can have laziness there? Bodhimind is the mind that will clear the sadness in our mind. Bodhimind is the mind that will clear the tiredness of the physical body. It is like a powerful horse. By that horse you yourself will travel from the joy of body and mind to the joy of the result level, meaning the level of Buddha. From the practitioner level to the fruit level one can travel – that is what from joy to joy is referring to.

Now we can increase the enthusiasm, the causes and conditions.

Ch 7, v 31

SEMS CAN DON GRUB BYA PHYIR DPUNG

MOS BRTAN DGA' DANG DOR BA YIN

MOS PA SDUG BSNGAL 'JIGS PA DANG

DE YI PHAN YON BSAM PAS BSKYED

The supports when working for the sake of living beings

Are aspiration, steadfastness, joy and rest.

Aspiration is developed through fear of misery

And by contemplating the benefits of (aspiration) itself.

Again, here we have the four forces. Again, the traditional Indian king has to have four forces to defeat his enemy’s forces. Likewise, here we have to have the four powers. The power of thinking of karma and honoring karma and avoiding negative things is the power of aspiration. You don’t do something when you don’t know what you are doing. Sometimes when I say, “Don’t do something that you don’t know”, you are probably thinking that I am just saying this as an advice, but it is the force of stability or steadfastness. First don’t do something that you don’t know, but once you decided that you understand whatever you do, make sure it gets done. That’s the second power. The third one is joy: be happy about what you are doing. Honestly. They say that when the kids enjoy playing you can’t stop them. Likewise you should enjoy doing that. Lastly, if you are too tired physically, make sure you get rest. And when you are rested, make sure you continue.

Now we have to stop for lunch: short mandala offering: 1:21