Archive Result

20130416GRAATB06

00:00

Good morning everybody and welcome . Happy to be in Ann Arbor. I am sorry, the last couple of Sundays I was talking to you from outside. So now these last couple of Sundays we talked on the basis of motivation. We talked about the recommended motivation from the Buddha’s teaching and particularly the Mahayana Buddhist tradition motivation and the Vajrayana, the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. That will recommend the very precious mind, the bodhimind, which seeks total enlightenment or Buddhahood.

This mind is precious. We label it precious, because it is so difficult to get. Once you have it, it is extremely helpful, in the sense that during our major efforts of achieving and contemplating ultimate spiritual development, once you developed this mind, the mind itself does the accumulation of positive virtue or merit. Also another point we need is purification. The negativities always go with us. We create them without planning and preparation. We automatically do it, because we are addicted. We are not only addicted to them in this life. I am coming from the background of reincarnation. So for me it is not only an addiction of this life, but throughout our many lives. It is automatic. You don’t have to put in efforts. We don’t have to go to school to learn how to get angry or how to develop hatred.

0:04

It is automatic. You don’t have to teach kids how to get angry. They do get mad, we know that. Yeah, true. Kids get mad, don’t they? Oh, our kids here are saying, “No, we don’t get mad.” That’s great. Like children, we also, without any training, get mad. People develop hatred, because they are addicted. The negativities are coming with us all the time. I don’t know how many heavy bags we have packed previously or even in this life since birth! Until today we have been packing our negative bags. There is quite a lot of savings of those, unfortunately. If we had good savings of positive karma, it would have been wonderful. But we don’t. We have a lot of negative savings.

What do we do with these? Even when it comes to throwing out rubbish we have to put in efforts. Otherwise it will occupy our whole house. We are afraid of throwing that out or we just can’t do it. One of our mind will say, “I need that.” If you ask the question, “When do you need it?” that mind will say, “I need it all the time.” “When have you used it the last time?” “Three years ago once.” So that’s the idea of not letting it go. It is very strong, so we accumulate things. And that gives us a lot of trouble. Our cupboards are overcrowded. Then if you have good things to put there is no place for them. Everything is filled up with junk. That happens in our material life.

0:08

Similarly in our spiritual life those negativities are there. Do they occupy space like things do in our house? No, however they are there. Do they bother you? You don’t really recognize them and they don’t pop up. They are very good at hiding. But whenever they get their chance they will catch us and nag us and give their consequences. The consequences are so miserable that everything in our life, whatever is going on, something is not right, something is no satisfactory, something is dissatisfying, not fulfilling. All these are results of our negative karma. So you have to get rid of them, otherwise they will give you huge consequences later. They are so horrible. Once the consequences start giving results, they are very tedious and mean and very heavy and will not let you go easily. It is our job to get rid of them.

The question is: can you get rid of negativities? Yes, you can. You can definitely get rid of them. Many of us think that once we have created karma we cannot get rid of it and have to experience the result. Many of us think that karma is something huge and solid and we can do nothing. It is like the Judeo-Christian tradition to think that when it is God’s wish you can do nothing. Buddhists think too that when it is karma you can do nothing. We don’t call it God, but we perceive almost the same way and torture ourselves. That’s how many of us will look. I don’t know how you look, you will know yourself. I don’t know your mind, but you do, so you have to think.

0:12

This is a major question. Many of you who have been with me for a number of years, simply buy what I say, because I said it or Buddha said so or maybe it is in the Buddhist texts, so it must be true. But many of you analyze and think about it. I am encouraging you not to just buy it, because I said so. Just don’t buy it because Buddha said so. I am not that important but Buddha is a big deal. Buddha said so many things. I don’t mean that sarcastically. But he said those things according to the time and the needs of the individuals. The need of the individual was so much. Buddha’s teachings are interpretable. We divide Buddha’s teaching into two categories: straightforward statements and the other one: said with different intention. Who can make that distinction? That is a big question. An example of the straightforward statements is: negative deeds bring negative consequences and positive deeds bring positive consequences. Such a statement is always just as it says, wherever, whenever, whatever Buddha said. That’s a well-established principle.

0:15

For the other one I will give you an example. There was a ruler in India at that time. The father of this particular ruler had been king before and his son organized a coup d’etat, captured the kind and put him in jail. Then he became the ruler. The father was not only a follower of Buddha, but highly developed, one of the arhats. Then the king kept the father in prison for a long time. The prison was in the palace. Actually I think it is the king who built the Taj Mahal, which was his queen’s tomb. So the father was imprisoned by the son and he had two requests. He wanted to be put in a house with two windows, so he could look towards the Taj Mahal on one side and to Buddha’s ashram on the other side. The son agreed, thinking that his father would die soon in prison. But he didn’t die. The son thought, “What is he doing? He is always looking through the window.” So he ordered to have the windows sealed. The old king found a little mirror and put it on a pillar and he managed to keep a little hole in the wall where the window had been. There are some funny stories there.

The point of this story however, is that at some point the son decided to release the father because he somehow become convinced that his father loved him. He wanted to let him go. But by the time he gave the order all the ministers started running to the prison and everybody wanted to be the first to release him. They pushed each other over. So the old king heard all these people running upstairs and thought they were coming to kill him. He thought it was better he died before they could kill him, because then his son would have less negativity. So he died. By the time they came to release him he was dead. I don’t know how he died. Let’s not go into that story.

The son, the new king, was so upset and had great remorse. He couldn’t eat or think and went into a deep depression. So he went to see Buddha with two reasons. His father was his father and he was also an arhat. So from the Buddhist point of view the son had committed two of the immeasurable negativities. There are five of these tremendously heavy negativities: killing one’s parents, that’s two, then killing an arhat, then creating a schism within the peaceful sangha community and drawing blood from the body of a Buddha. Drawing blood doesn’t mean taking blood like a nurse. Here it means to have the mind of killing.

0:21

So this king had created two at the same time. With great remorse he went to see Buddha. But Buddha said,

Pa dang ma ne se je she

Gye par tsong dan je nyi ni

Ju gor khor dang che chom na

Mi de tak par nyi du gyur

Kill father and mother,

Destroy country, retinue and subjects

And you will obtain enlightenment

That is completely the opposite. But Buddha had a different intention with this statement. He was talking about the father as the creator of suffering. The mother here is the one who gives birth to the suffering. They should be killed. That’s the intention. But the words themselves say that the father and mother should be killed. Then the king said, “Oh really? I didn’t do wrong?” So with that he got a little relief. So with double purpose the Buddha made that statement. It has to be interpreted. Therefore it goes into the category of statements with other intentions. That has to be interpreted.

That’s all related to the statement: Don’t just buy it or do it, because Buddha said so. Buddha himself said, “Don’t do that. Take my words and you have a brain and a mind and think about it and analyze. When you buy gold you cut the gold and make sure the gold is really pure gold.”

In those days, 2600 years ago there were no stamps on the gold, telling you it is pure gold and 999 or Krugerrand and so on. So people at that time had to cut the gold and rub it against other materials to make sure it was not plated gold and then they burnt it too. Only when they were satisfied did they buy it. Otherwise they wouldn’t buy it.

Buddha gave that as example. When you buy gold that’s what you do. Then for your spiritual path it is strange if you just take it, just because Buddha said so. Buddha said was an invalid reason. He said, “I am a human being. I say so many things. I have to say them, but you have to check and analyze.”

0:25

In the spiritual field particularly, you better check. Don’t buy it, because Buddha said so. If you don’t just buy what Buddha said, then in the case of others there is no question, we have to check. If this is applicable to Buddha, then of course it is applicable to everybody. That is important. When we buy something, how much do we check?

Let’s say you buy a second-hand car. How much effort do you put in by asking how many people’s opinion? How long do you take that car for a test drive? You pull out all your own knowledge and drive it and feel it plus you ask 10 different people’s opinions and then you finally buy it. Even if you make a mistake, you only made a mistake with a used car. So what? In about a year or two you will change cars anyway. That’s not a big deal. But we think it is a very big deal.

The spiritual path, on the other hand, for me is a huge deal. It is not just about this life, but about future lives too. It is not just about the 60, 70 or 80 years of this life. It impacts future lives. It is much important than a car or a house. You really have to examine. You are not stupid. If you are stupid you do whatever you are told to do. Sometimes it is easy. You don’t have to make decisions. Somebody else is making the decisions for you. That is not good – even if you follow a path.

Many friends – and luckily here it is not so much; in Asia it is more – ask me all the time, “Should I do this? Should I do that?” I say, “Don’t ask me.” People do ask me and I do make suggestions. If I suggest something with my limited capacity you may think that I have more knowledge. I may have more experience, because I am older than all of you. But I don’t have more clairvoyance than you have. You all have great education and are brilliant people. If you utilize your mind you can do it, and if you don’t, whose fault is it? You have a good thing, but you are letting it rot under the skin. That’s not good. You have to utilize it. So think and analyze, particularly on the spiritual path. You really have to analyze. Don’t just follow. If you are a sheep driven through a road with all the other sheep, all will go where they are told to go.

0:30

But there will be one or two intelligent sheep who will go the other way. Be that one! Don’t just follow or do something. You have a mind. We have a friend who says, “I am an American, I don’t have to go in there!” That’s really great. I really liked that. We should really analyze.

It is my job to suggest spiritual things to do. Whatever I say is suggestions. I am not giving you orders. I have no right to give you orders. I am not somebody who gives orders. You are not somebody who takes orders. But I have suggestions. My suggestions come from my background and the information that I have. Then it is your job to examine that or to throw it away. It is your choice. If you examine it you may find it has benefits, something you never even thought about, something you never even heard about.

Mind you, this is the Mid-West. I used to say that we are here in Michigan, in the middle of nowhere. There are things that I present to you that you have never even heard about. You never even dreamt about. But just don’t buy it. Analyzing means to examine and figure out if it makes sense or not. When you do that, don’t rely on your feelings. Don’t say, “I feel good, therefore I do it.” Many people do that and it may be great for them but it is not great for me, not at all.

If you are mentally handicapped, then I understand that you do what feels good. You are limited. But you people are not limited. I am physically handicapped, but mentally I am sharp. So are you, all of you. So utilize that. That is very important. Otherwise what you do becomes blind faith. That doesn’t serve a good purpose. If the teacher is great and the tradition is good, if everybody is good, then blind faith may work for some people, particularly people who are very old, a little senile, who can’t think and use their mind. Then you may have to rely on faith and saying mantras only. That’s meant for those people. It is not meant for educated, intelligent people like you. You have this mind and brain, so utilize that and analyze, really.

I talked to you about this motivation. This precious mind says that other people’s needs are important than your own needs. That is impossible for us to do. But if you train yourself and practice, is it possible to do it? Yes, it is. Many have done it and it gives you are tremendously good result. But before you even make an attempt to consider others’ needs more important than your own, you have to reach equality first. So I presented as the first base equanimity.

0:35

You have to try to see everyone as equal. Forget about trying to see every sentient being as equal, though that is what Buddha does. Let us first look at all human beings. Your rights and needs and my rights and needs are the same. They carry the same value. Nothing is superior. It is equal. What is different? We think, “My needs are more important for me than yours.” This is where we have a problem. We have to tackle that first and see at least that your needs and my needs are equally important. Husband and wife, girlfriend and boyfriend, live together and they know how to adjust. If you don’t adjust, then you fight. So you know how to adjust. Many times one takes over the others, but you are supposed to adjust equally, so that both are happy, honestly. So we know how to do that. Similarly you have to do the same thing with everybody. In order to do that you have to have something in your mind to respect the other. If you don’t, you will think, “Their need is not my concern. Let them do whatever they do. Whatever I want to I will do.” That is the creation of separation. Your needs should be equally important to me and my needs should be equally important to you. This is the basis and the creation of unity and harmony, friendship.

If you look in your mind, your mind will say, “To hell with you. I want to do what I want to do. I am American” - that’s a joke. This is the base. The needs are treated equally. I am equal to you. You are equal to me. That’s equality and equanimity. That is like the ground. In order to grow your spiritual food you need good ground. Equality will give you that. You are the seed. Now you need moisture. That is your love and compassion.

0:40

I will talk to you later in detail about love and compassion. When you hear that equality is the base, examine that. Figure out if that is right or wrong. There are two reactions. Our educated mind will say, “Of course we are equal.” But our rational mind will say, “Of course, we are not equal. I am more important.” So your educated mind and your original, rational mind, are actually in contradiction. That doesn’t mean you have a split personality. You have two thoughts, two ideas, or maybe it is one addiction and one idea. Right or wrong? You have to examine this yourself. When I say you should analyze, pick up that thought and question yourself, “Is that something I should have or not?” You can accept that equanimity is the basis of all good deeds or you can say, “I am not interested in enlightenment.”

Buddhists call that Buddhahood. People may think that is some kind of Buddhist profile, with nothing to do with anything outside of that. The thought came up in my mind that when you are looking at the word ‘enlightenment’ there are so many different names for that. One term for it says “no more learning”. That made me think. Buddha’s teachings are interesting. It is the darkness and light. They talk a lot about ignorance. The point is that the ignorance can be either not knowing, or being confused or unclear. It is our biggest problem. That goes for everything, spiritual, material, professional – any field.

If you are a professional photographer and you don’t know what you are doing you have a problem of limited knowledge. Everything we do is subject to limited knowledge. If you are getting beyond average knowledge then things become better. You become an expert.

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When you look in Buddhism ignorance is the problem. It is not knowing, confusion. The knowledge is building up day by day, improving. We can call it “on the job experience”. You are dealing with it. If you have gadgets like smart phone you keep on playing with that and you get better and better and you know more than you did yesterday. That is the same with computer and programs like photo shop and whatever it is. You get better. So our knowledge has tremendous limitations. When you push through you can keep pushing and there is no end to it. You can become an expert, you can become brilliant, you can become a genius and there is no end to it. There will be a time that is called the ultimate level and then there is nothing more to learn. I think that is what Buddhahood is. There is nothing more to learn. So that is not just reserved for Buddhists. Everybody is eligible and everybody is capable. We put limits on ourselves. We know we can improve day by day, week by week and month by month in every field where we put in efforts. If you don’t put any efforts in and sit there like a couch potato like me, then nothing is going to happen. But even then you can learn something from the television. I picked up many terms and expressions from the western culture from television than anybody else. That’s why “Days of Our Lives” was not so bad for me. I used to watch that all the time.

That’s why enlightenment is for everybody, not only for Buddhists. The improvement is possible for everybody and there will be a time where you have learnt all and there is nothing more to pick up. The issue of something to learn is completely exhausted, not the knowledge. When you are competing, what is there to learn and can you learn it, that’s what is happening.

0:50

So we are putting limits on ourselves when we “specialize”. We give it a nice name. We think that our human capacity may not be able to cope, but we know that our human capacity can cope. There is no limit for the human capacity, because there is no limit to existence. There is no limit to ideas that have materialized and there are always ideas popping up. Ideas will translate into material [reality]. So the human mind has no limit. The full capacity of the human mind is enlightenment. It is Buddhahood. Please don’t feel that I made Buddhahood cheap. But that’s what I see. It is for everybody. It doesn’t have to be just for Buddhists, or just for liberals or just for yuppies or for hippies, but for everybody.

These are the things that you examine. Check if they are right or wrong. Give yourself some suggestions. Your homework is to think about and talk about it. Talk to people. Don’t think that you know all. “Know all” is a sarcastic expression. It is somebody who has everything to say and it may not all be right. I could be all wrong. That’s Mr. Know All. But when you put two minds together there is tremendous improvement. When you put three minds together there is more tremendous improvement and then four, five, six, seven and more. There is tremendous improvement. However, with that come also clashes and territorial issues.

Then people don’t get along. Their minds will clash. We really want to have concern and get everybody together and get along well and all that. It’s like Rodney King said, “Can we all get along?” That’s what we want, but the moment we interact, there are mental clashes and there are contradictions. On the one hand that is difficult but on the other hand it is a tremendous advantage. If you can take advantage of the opposite, clashing ideas, analyze them and you are going to find gold in it. But if you don’t know how to handle it you get yourself into a huge mess.

That’s it. But don’t take the mess home. Take the gold home, okay? Thank you and we have the Four Immeasurables as dedication.

0:55 Four Immeasurables Chanting 0:56