Archive Result

GARRISON RETREAT

10/06/2012

WISDOM/SECTION 03

20121006GRGRWis03

Begins 15:10

GELEK RIMPOCHE: Okay. Now, did you people have a nice workshop or how did that go? Nice? Did you like it? Which group you went? Rochelle's group. So what did Rochelle say? (unintelligible).

So do we have any questions left? Right. Just give it to Mike.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Rimpoche, does the realization of emptiness mean you are enlightened or is it a step to enlightenment?

GELEK RIMPOCHE: Very sharp question. Very interesting question. When you look in this, you know, it's sort of general knowledge in the Tibetan Buddhism, when you look at it, there are like five parts, right, we talk about five parts, always.

XXX Speaking Tibetan 17:10.

Five parts. When you have five parts, you have first part, part of accumulation.

Speaking Tibetan.

Part of accumulation and part of action. Part of seeing. The third one is calling part of seeing or Tibetans call is XXX tong un. So what did you see? You see emptiness and that's why it's called seeing emptiness, encountering emptiness. Then you have two more left. One more is part of meditation, and after the part of meditation, then you reach no more learning, right? So when you make these five parts, and part of seeing, the third part, that is where you see emptiness, part of seeing.

XXX speaking Tibetan 19:00.

The part of action, the action what you really taking is taking the action of seeing the emptiness. And remember this part of action is divided into four.

So now what we are talking here is we're talking about -- I'm presuming everybody is familiar whatever we are talking here, so sort of taking a lot of things for granted, but if you are, I don't know whether we have anybody, maybe one or two persons, anybody who are sort of brand new in Buddhism, are you, are you brand new one? Okay. Good.

If you are brand new and then we have to go back and go back and talk a lot about it, but basically, perhaps we can do in one statement, really one or two sentences. So when you talk about the Tibetan Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism always gives you -- there's three things important: What you are doing, why you are doing and what you hope to get.

So when we say what you hope to get it, we are talking about the purpose and goal of whatever you do, practice, dharma, whatever you call it. And what you are doing is we're talking about this dharma itself. Again, when you use the word dharma, it is very technical name, very foreign language. The true dharma means correction, correcting natural -- now, this is not theoretically correct, so do not hold me responsible, because honestly, but true dharma, bottom line boils down to correcting the individual's normal habitual functioning, which is somehow influenced by negative emotions such as anger, hatred, jealousy, et cetera. Changing that is actual dharma.

XXX speaking Tibetan 23:30-25:35

What I said, I may have to say in English, otherwise you people won't understand. So what I said is what you correct is correcting your actions that are influenced by hatred, by anger, by obsession or by jealousy and whatever is coming that influenced actions, try to change that. Change that. Change it from those. We always have the idea of me or us. We really do. We really do. We really do. We don't want to be the loser.

I was just watching day before yesterday in New York City, and I showed Colleen the guy who's doing the commercial for gold. You know what he said? We can't be sold or something. I said what did he say? We can't be undersold. That's exactly. So this sort of attitude and action, physical message, and we always do have that I and we, in a way it is very important but on the other hand it will also drag a lot of our problems, lot of them.

So there's always a moment I and we are engaged, so that is why there is automatically attachment or obsessed -- maybe not obsessed, but attachment. Attachment may become obsession later, obsession of self and me and I and we, and the moment they and their and all that separation.

Chandrakirti said...XXX speaking Tibetan 28:20-28:40

So honestly the first is me, me, I, I, I. And then you've got my, my, my. First, I. And then you get this attachment, obsession and near, close, dear, all that. All that. And then you, you, you, their, and then distance, hatred, and all that we get.

XXX Speaking Tibetan 29:15-29:45.

Some kind of old fashioned well, which has some kind of funny little either ladle or bucket or whatever, something heavy rolled over the -- you've all seen it. We used that in the 18th century here or maybe even early 1900s. And when that letting it go down, the weight will take that thing down, zoom down. When you bring it up, you have to take a lot of trouble but going down is easy.

So this is how human beings drag in their samsara suffering like that. And who drags that? First is me, and then it is my, and then it is you and yours, and then ours and yours and all that, and so then we have hate and then we have affection -- or attachments, affection, not negative, but attachment, obsession and all of those. That is how the Buddhism described three poisons. Three poisons referred to obsession, or attachment, hatred, anger or ignorance or ego, confusing, fear, combination of it. These are the three root causes of sufferings we have.

So sometimes you see see the drawings. In the drawings they draw samsara as a sort of big fellow, and on the chest you have all the six realms, and the middle of all that, and these three little bird and snake and pig, sort of eating each other. So the pig represents ignorance, snake represents hatred and all that, and the bird represents obsession, attachment, et cetera.

So this is how one individual gets in the samsara and that will be the first two noble truths: Truth of suffering and truth of cause of suffering, how we get in. So that's what it is.

And now because of that, that is the ignorance. Ignorance of not knowing. What is not knowing? People talk a lot. Some people say ignorance is not knowing. It is wrong knowing. Some people will say ignorance is both wrong knowing as well as not knowing. Some people will say the ignorance is dualistic and wisdom is nondual. All of those we hear. We read and we think about it; we talk about it.

But we're not clear. Honestly. Why we are not clear, because -- let me put it this way. The shunyata, the emptiness. Emptiness is we have to know something, empty of something. We talk about empty, empty, empty. But empty of what? So we're not talking about that at all. So since we don't know the empty of what. Empty of what is very important.

XXX speaking Tibetan 34:45.

So we have to know what you have to negate. We're talking about the empty, and what you have to empty. You know whatever you have or something what you're holding, then it's not empty. So whatever you're holding, you have to make it empty of it. So what is that? We're not seeing that, honestly. Honestly, we -- this is interesting. This is me talking, honestly. Honestly, we say we don't recognize what you negate and all this and that. True. Why we don't recognize what we negate? And there is a very strong justification for us why we don't -- why we don't see it, why we don't know it. We have a big strong justification. The justification is that, because whatever you're going to reject or negate is not there, right? If there is something there, you cannot negate, you cannot reject. So you sort of really getting something which is not there to negate that. That is becoming difficult.

And that's why we have this apprehension and apprehended and appearance and perception and all those interesting words we're getting into it. And because I think that's a simple reason, because we're not really getting it. And when you will get it, you only get it when we really see the emptiness, and then you know what was wrong.

So try to find object of negation itself is the study of wisdom. And what you're going to find, the moment you find object of negation, you already have found the wisdom, emptiness itself.

Until that, we have all this words bringing in, you know, all these words we have, and we sort of are making a little bit of cycle round for ourself, too. Is this totally useless? No. Is it important? Yes, it is, because without which you don't get to the the wisdom of emptiness at all.

And then also comprehending the emptiness by theoretical alone doesn't do it. You really need experience. Experience alone -- yes, you can say the word cannot be expressed by word and this and that and even XXX speaking Tibetan 39:15. But still, what we used to say is, we like to say but we cannot express, and it is neither stopped nor growing and nature of sky XXX speaking Tibetan 39:35 and it is only the enlightened minds have encountered with it, and the mother of all the Buddhas I bow to. This is my paraphrasing translation. Though we say that.

But all your experience is also expressible because it is experience, and this is the some great point we always say, I feel it, I can't express, and blah, blah, blah, and it makes more, I mean it's true, as well as as it's not true. Yes. So anyway a part of seeing is the way you encounter the wisdom emptiness. That is only third path. And also, you know, they say ordinary beings and extraordinary XXX speaking Tibetan 40:57.

The special person and ordinary, the division is drawn on the part of seeing. So when you encounter emptiness and you become special person, you cease to be ordinary. I mean there's a traditional way of saying, otherwise everybody is ordinary, everybody is special, no doubt. But when you are making the division within the individual, so the demarcation line is out of five path, the third path and out of the seeing the emptiness.

Now, seeing the emptiness is not only the Mahayan path, even the Theravadan path, both Shravaka and the XXX Vaibhashika. 42:40 Speaking Tibetan.XXX.

You know they talk about three vehicles to deliver individual to Buddha level. So earlier, I was saying what is your purpose? And the Mahayan, the bigger vehicle, will say the purpose is to become Buddha, that recognize that as goal of everything, whatever you're doing, any effort you're putting on the spiritual line is to become Buddha. That is Mahayan. They're different.

Theravadan or Hinayana doesn't say to become Buddha; they say to liberate ourself from suffering. That is the goal. That is the difference from the result what we seek.

But method, how you get that goal, what do you do? Wisdom and compassion. Compassion has a huge difference between the Theravadan compassion and the Mahayan compassion. There's a huge difference. For wisdom, it is the same old, good old emptiness in both places. Path of seeing in Theravadan is seeing emptiness. Path of seeing in Mahayan is seeing emptiness.

So there is no difference on the wisdom path between Theravadan and Mahayan. Certainly, there's no difference between with vajrayana too. Maybe some people think the vajrayana may have very special wisdom. No. Same good old emptiness is good enough for all of them. Really.

So the question to that question -- or answer to that question is no. No. No, it's not. As I already said it, why not.

So any other question?

That's the only question? Good.

Anybody else have any question, particularly if you are some sort of new here or something? Don't feel bad because the questions will remain only here, won't go out of the door, except this guy might be recording it.

I don't think you have to record question and answer, do you?

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Yes.

GELEK RIMPOCHE: Oh, you don't, do you?

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Yes, we do.

GELEK RIMPOCHE: Oh, you don't, okay?

AUDIENCE MEMBER: We don't.

GELEK RIMPOCHE: Okay. Well, what is it, yes, you do or you don't, we don't?

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Yes, we do.

GELEK RIMPOCHE: All right. Well, don't ask questions if you don't want people to know. I'm just joking.

Anyway, does anybody have anything you want to say or something, especially you are new or presuming or some level of presumption in Tibetan Buddhism? This is one of our problems for many years. So you know I used to use the word obvious. So then I get into trouble all the time with the my editor. So obvious. Not me. Not me, okay. So because obvious is not obvious. So any difficulties you have, you better ask question, because may be wondering what is Buddha. What is Buddha. And all that sort of questions, if you have it, and then I be happy to, whatever little I know. I'm not learned, whatever, I'm student. So whatever little I know, I'll be happy to share.

The problem is if you don't know what you're doing, then it is huge problem. The only thing what you don't do is something which you don't know what you're doing, because in one way -- well, this is sort of a reliable, great spiritual path and all that, but you don't know that. You don't know that. When you don't know that, so it is so important not to do, when you don't know what you are doing, because there's a less danger.

A lot of spiritual paths, a lot of people get into it without not -- without knowing what they're doing. They sort of presume it, because it says it's good, because so and so is good person and so and so is in there, so therefore it's good. And this is totally unreliable reasoning.

So and so may be there because of some reasons. That doesn't mean, or could be, could be good or could not be. That is unreliable reason anyway. So you really do need reliable.

We take refuge in Buddha, dharma and sangha, and we have very strong reasons why we take Buddha, why we choose Buddha, why not somebody else, because Buddha, number one, number one, Buddha is like a guide. Buddha has experience. Buddha went through with this samsaric up downs and all these difficulties and somebody who had experience of cutting through them.

Buddha had compassion that cared, everybody, whether someone who was so good to you and giving you, feeding you, and giving you the 51:15 XXX, the sandal oil massage all the time and somebody who tried to bring a little wood chipper -- chisel ,with little chisel and tried to shave off some pieces of your body .so the compassion of the Buddha is no separation between these two.

XXX speaking Tibetan 52:00.

One of the reason is because so Buddha's compassion is not really personalized. It is the greater compassion looking to all living beings, very much equal. So there is no near and no distance within the Buddha's compassion. That's one of the reasons why we take refuge in Buddha, why we choose Buddha as our object of refuge.

And also when we took refuge to Buddha, we don't take refuge to Buddha by saying so now I lift me up to you or under, you do whatever you want me to do. Probably not. We'll ask Buddha to be my guide, to be my role model, to be my teacher, to be my person who guides me. So the Buddha is really like going to see a doctor, right. When you go to see doctor, we have a problem, we go to see doctor and we will talk to the doctor and we hope that doctor will give us correct diagnosis and give you the correct treatment, whether it is medicine or surgical or whatever.

So the actual treatment, actual refuge is the dharma, not the Buddha. Buddha, you know like a doctor, and then dharma is like the real medicine, real medicine. That is individual, individual who does. The true dharma is, as I told you earlier, correcting your own negative way of thinking, negative way of functioning, negative way of being suspicious of others, so thinking everybody else there to get me.

XXX speaking Tibetan 55:40.

So we all think everybody's there to get at me, to get me so we be suspicious of everybody. We're not going to trust anybody. We're not going to open our mind to anybody. So these are the negative aspects of the dharma, so when you are looking at dharma, taking refuge in dharma means that is what you are changing, from that sort of the funny character that we pick up within our mind, or being like a porcupine and wear -- you know this porcupine. Anybody who comes near me I can shoot, you know.

But then the other day I saw the porcupine with the tie going through to barbershop, going to cut the hair. I'm sure many of you have seen it, a porcupine going to barbershop with the little red tie and going in there, and I don't know what they're going to cut. I didn't see that part.

So anyway when you talk about dharma, that is what we get rid of. We don't do that way. And whatever we're doing that way has to be changed. And changing is dharma, remember. Changing is dharma.

And sangha is choosing the right companion. Choosing the right companion, person who works with you. I mean like minded people is the common knowledge we choose. When you choose a friend, we choose like minded people. We don't want to choose a friend who is just XXX ___ 58:00 the way you think and do. So common interest like minded people.

So sangha is really though they talk to you like a nurse and they talk to you like person who help you and giving companion and this and that, but truly speaking, the like minded people who will help me and who I can contribute, go forward together and that is sangha.

XXX speaking Tibetan 59:10.

The best example of it is more than four Buddhist monks for the Buddha dharma point of view, sangha. Why? Because one might not be enough. Two might not be enough. Three might not be enough. But four. Because that's why sometimes you say assembly, the best assembly. Assembly means something. Collection, right? Collect of people. Collection of people. So sangha is assembly of people, like minded people. People who will contribute your movement forwards and people where you can contribute their movement forwards, and that's the example they give a nurse, but nurse benefits the patient. Patient doesn't benefit nurse much, but the patient contributes to pay the nurse, right? If there's no patient, nurse don't get paid. HMOs will not pay. I'm just joking.

So when you talk about Buddha, dharma and sangha, that is what we are talking about it. And we don't look Buddha as somebody who is son of God that has come down. No, we don't. We look someone individual like myself, like yourself, who went through with all these things and got out of there, so who can show me how to get out of that suffering, not out there, not me -- I didn't mean physically, mentally out there, but out of the suffering circle. So that's how we look.

And dharma earlier, I talked. That also, the compassion aspects and wisdom aspects, two, because we need body and mind. So the compassion aspects is huge. Huge. And wisdom aspects, what we are talking about.

So I guess that's it. Because that's the answer to that question. But many people will tell you if you are, if you have seen -- if you encounter with emptiness, you're liberated. Yes, you're liberated, but you have not become Buddha yet. But some books will say, teachers will express in that way, but that is the -- they're not wrong. It is a way of expressing. Sometimes the points will write something big. It doesn't mean literally. You know what I mean. The 1,000 light does not necessarily mean one, two, three to 1,000. So George Bush, Sr. knows that. 1,000 lights.

Also we had earlier today the lotus is called 100 petals. That doesn't mean there is 100 petals, maybe four or five or six, seven, at the most eight won't even fit around -- oh, yeah, maybe double triple maybe. So anyway, so that doesn't mean it's really literally that number and this number. So that is what I thought.

Well, what else do we have? I guess that's about it. Maybe I should stop that question and answering business here, and I have to go a little bit more here because though this is not in quantity too much but in quality it's a little too much here. So the text, I don't know what did we cover this morning? Where did we get today this morning?

XXX Speaking Tibetan 1:06:25

Vicissitudes of mother's smelling face -- smiling face. I was caught, .I said mother's smelling face. Smiling. I get into trouble with that all the time. Anyway.

XXX Speaking Tibetan 1:07:15

I think that portion we've done, right?

XXX continuing in Tibetan

Truly, dear old mother, my hope of liberation lies only in the kindness of your being singular in aspects. For if apprehended and apprehender were really dual as they appear, indeed, even the status of the Buddhas of the three times would be powerless to protect me.

XXX speaking Tibetan 1:09:00.

So what they are saying if you needed liberated from samsara, and there is no way any individual who can be liberated without wisdom emptiness, without wisdom emptiness. That doesn't mean some people may think, some people when -- when we say here without emptiness, no one can be free from samsara. That doesn't mean no one can become liberated without being Buddhist. These are very interesting thing we have to think. Is the wisdom -- to me -- can I say what I think? I'm sorry. Yes, from the Buddha's teaching, we get so many of these.

Now, a huge thing called shunyata or emptiness here, huge thing. We have the huge thing, compassion here. So on this part of Buddhism, sure, this part of Buddhism, no doubt, but without being Buddhist, can you have emptiness? Sure you can have emptiness. Without being Buddhist, can you be -- can you have compassion? Sure you can. This is -- this is my thinking. These are the ways how Buddhas and bodhisattvas have shown to us how we can help ourself, how we can contribute to the others as well. Whatever I can help myself, same thing can help anybody else the same way. Is this coming out of Buddhism? Sure. Do you have to be Buddhist? No. And this is very important to be able to recognize. A lot of people may say, no you have to be Buddhist first. You have to take refuge in Buddha, dharma, sangha first.

True, refuge in Buddha, dharma, sangha was given in there. When you lined up order, you looking through the line how you go, XXX 1:13:10? *squints is what they give. Refuge came much earlier, no doubt about it. But without refuge can you pick up emptiness? Yes, you can, you can pick up.

Emptiness does not belong to anybody. Emptiness is is everybody's property. Emptiness is everybody's property. Honestly. Does not belong to Buddhism. Does not belong to Judeo-Christian. Does not belong to anybody. That's a wonderful idea, the wonderful fact which is really lying there.

So that is why, but if you have to get out of suffering of -- the Buddhist, we call it samsara, Nirvana, but again, Buddhism -- samsara, Nirvana does not belong to Buddhist or Buddha, honestly. So there are a lot of people in samsara without being Buddhist. So naturally, they all can be free without being Buddhist. And you can't say every liberated person, maybe in reality they may be better Buddhist than those of us who claim to be Buddhist. That is different story. So I think that's -- but according to this, and in reality, even the logical way of thinking without wisdom emptiness, no one can get freedom from the suffering of samsara. No one.

And that's why we hope the brother can help. Remember? The brother's revealing the secret. May be able to help. So not only that true reality, every phenomena, every existence, everything is one of the dances of emptiness. That's why the word what we have that says -- what is it?

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Vicissitude.

GELEK RIMPOCHE: Vicissitude. One of those appearings and showings. And performance of wisdom, emptiness, every existence phenomena. So only we even call Chandrakirti

XXX speaking Tibetan 1:17

So we earlier talked about it, everything appears, every phenomena is natural of empty, from that emptiness growsgrouse these and that, everything is possible. Nagarjuna says XXX speaking Tibetan 1:17.

So Nagarjuna says one who ever can accept emptiness, they can have everything. One who cannot accept emptiness, they cannot have anything. These are the true reality. If there is no emptiness, there's no place to do anything. When there's no space, empty available, you cannot walk, you cannot do anything, that's why when the wall is there, you cannot go through. Unless you break the law of physics you cannot do.

XXX speaking Tibetan 1:18:50

So due to the only -- the singular -- what did they say? Singular aspects. The singular aspects of the mother. Singular aspects of the dear old mother, which is emptiness. The singular aspects refers to emptiness.

The singular aspects of the emptiness is the aspects of -- what is it -- singular aspects is emptiness itself. So if we are liberated, due to the kindness of these singular aspects alone can liberate. If not, everything is -- if everything is true as appears, then even the old Buddhas of past, present and future, all will come but they won't be able to help anything because there's no room to do anything.

XXX speaking Tibetan 1:21.

Why? Why? If everything appeared to us, if that is reality, what see, we see true existence. I don't know whether we see in heaven existence or not, but what we really see is we see true existence. Our skull is quite thick, honestly, quite thick. According to the Chinese, we are told we have green brain. Our brain is green. It's gone bad. Green. So quite thick, quite rotten, no longer white. It's green. And that's what we are supposed to be, green brain person. The brain has gone so bad it's been rotten and it's been green. So if anybody opens, probably have a huge smell, so sort of open can of worm with your own risk or something, you know. Anyway, so it is quite thick, honestly.

And what we really see is the -- we don't see emptiness. We don't see -- I don't think we even see inherent existence. We just see existence as large as life, that's it. We don't see that transparentness of separation of what appears and what really is. We don't see this beautiful for this marvelous functioning of interdependentness has really been functioning, carrying out everything from one minute to another minute, one time to another time, one hour to another hour, one day to another day, week, year, life and all this. We don't see it. We just simply see it solid. If that is case, even all the Buddhas cannot do anything for us, because there's a solid. Solid means do not depend on anything. It is solid as it is. There's no increase. There is no decrease. When there is no increase, your quality doesn't get better. When there is no decrease our faults will not go down. So there is no liberation. There is no enlightenment. That's what I said earlier. Nagarjuna said.

XXX speaking Tibetan 1:25:17.

So Nagarjuna says who can accept emptiness, you can accept everything. Who cannot accept, you cannot accept anything. Because it is just solid. That's it.

XXX speaking Tibetan 1:25:50.

There's two lines. However, since these diverse dependent change are mainly manifestations of my -- what is it?

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Changeless.

GELEK RIMPOCHE: Changeless mother, for sure one can become liberated.

So everything, if it is solid like we appeared, we accept. If that is the truth, there's nothing to be liberated or anything. But that is not it. Because of the dependent origination changes so much, there is change. So these changes are, these changes of our reality are the performance of unchangeable mother's nature.

Did you get it?

So it is that nature is not truly existing. So the wisdom that understands that naturally it is not static true existence; wisdom that understands changing and conditions depends on dependent origination will be able to cut the root of samsara, and therefore, we can definitely liberate. That is these two words.

XXX speaking Tibetan 1:28:38.

So however, since these diverse dependent change are mainly manifestations of my changeless mother, for sure one who can become liberated. That's it.

I'm going beyond time. I didn't realize. Okay. So that's it. And I don't know. So let us stop here and maybe we will have a little longer evening. I don't know. I mean evening longer in the sense they may sing and dance and all that kind of thing, you know, and not only they, you can sing together. That's the whole idea of -- what do you call it? What did you say, Amy? Mixing the community together. All that. So we see how we're going to mix. So anyway, thank you so much.