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20140728GRAAETB54

0:00:02.1 Welcome to the Sunday morning talk. Basically I try to introduce Mahayana Buddhism. It is not an introduction to Buddhism, but to Mahayana Buddhism. Within Buddhism, as you see, there are Mahayana and non-Mahayana Buddhists. As you normally notice, from the geographical point of view, the Buddhism in South-East Asia, like Sri Lanka, Thailand, Burma (that may be questionable) as well as Cambodia and Vietnam, is mostly Theravada Buddhism.

0:01:33.6 Then you have Mahayana Buddhism very much in the northern part of India, China, Japan, Mongolia, etc. But what really makes Mahayana and Theravada different is what we are spending our time here talking about.

We are talking about the 10 instructions, and we began with the Two Noble Truths and now we are at the level of the Four Noble Truths. Many of you will think, “Yes, yes, I heard that so many times and I do know they are the Truth of Suffering, Truth of the Cause of Suffering, Truth of Cessation and Truth of the Cause of Cessation.” And that is true and it doesn’t change, either on the Theravada level of the Four Noble Truths or the Mahayana level. Also the order doesn’t change. The first two are the negative aspects of the Four Noble Truths, and they show how the individual takes rebirth within suffering lives and where suffering comes from and how it can get finished. These are the causal and resultant aspects of the Four Noble Truths.

0:04:04.1 Both are completed. There is no change. Similarly, there is no change at the positive part of the Four Noble Truths. The cessation is the result and the path leading to the cessation is the cause. There is also no change. It is the same thing. However, there is a slight difference, not in the Four Noble Truths, but in the way they are presented. In the Mahayana system, I don’t think I go into detail here, but there are explanations why there are four, why Truth of Suffering comes first, why the next one is cause of suffering and there is quite a detailed study that goes on. And also, there is something that I never did during Four Noble Truths teachings, but which many of you may have heard, is the refutation of misunderstandings about the Four Noble Truths.

0:05:39.8 At the end of the Four Noble Truths, there are 16 misunderstandings. And [the refutations to those] come out as criteria or qualities of the Four Noble Truths. For example the Truth of Suffering, we normally say there are three different sufferings or eight different sufferings and life is suffering, bla bla bla and we will say that and this is true. But at the Mahayana level we talk slightly different. What is all this suffering about? We will say, “I know suffering, we suffer a lot and have all kinds of suffering, like birth, ageing, illness, death and so on.” But the whole idea is when you look at it, what is suffering itself? Is it something permanent? Or is it temporary? There are a number of scholars and teachers and spiritualists who say that suffering is permanent. You cannot get rid of it. Whatever you do you are going to suffer. There is even the expression: you are born to suffer.

0:07:58.1 So suffering is presented as permanent. But Buddha emphasized, to clear that misunderstanding that the first criteria of the Truth of Suffering is that it is impermanent. So the four misunderstandings of the First Noble Truth are:

Seeing it as permanent

Seeing it as joy

Seeing that is has ownership

Seeing it as self

For that Buddha explains four different opposites:

Suffering is impermanent

When you look at suffering being impermanent you see a lot of different things in your mind. If it is impermanent, where does it come from? How does is happen to be? Can I get rid of it? This opens up because it is impermanent. If it is impermanent, then somehow you have to get used to it. Just get used to it – nothing else can be done. Get accustomed to it. Live with it. But Buddha and particularly in the Mahayana, never says that you have to live with it. That’s because it is impermanent. The moment you open the idea of impermanence the possibility of doing something about it if you dislike it, is there. When you want to separate yourself from suffering, there is an opportunity. Is it possible to separate from the pain that I have? Mental, physical and emotional sufferings – all of them.

0:11:47.5 It is coming from somewhere. There is a cause and is that cause permanent or impermanent? If it is impermanent, then there is room to play. If it is permanent, you can do nothing. It really opens up the practitioners to look very carefully at the truth of suffering itself. It is what it is. Not only that. Impermanence also gives you a lot of understanding. Not only the understanding that you can get rid of suffering, but also you can look at the cause of suffering and you can separate and you can purify and you can do all of that and not only know that suffering is impermanent, but the fact that you can do something about suffering not only opens in the First Noble Truth of Suffering, but also in the Second Noble Truth, cause of suffering. That’s impermanent too, so therefore there is room to play.

0:13:23.9 There is room to undo and not to do. If it is permanent you can’t do anything. Similarly, the Third Noble Truth, cessation. It is possible for us to obtain that because suffering is impermanent. If it were permanent, you couldn’t get the cessation of it, you would be stuck with it. Cessation wouldn’t happen. So it really opens tremendously when you know that is is impermanent.

0:14:18.0 Lets take our suffering. Let us try to establish in our own mind, asking the question to ourselves. Is this suffering and that suffering we are experiencing, is it permanent or impermanent? It is impermanent because sometimes it’s there and sometimes not. It is not a standing stream. It changes, sometimes there and sometimes not. Sometimes we suffer and sometimes we don’t. It is changeable. That is the clear indication that it is definitely impermanent. Something permanent will never change. It is changing and we don’t have to establish that by logic. We know it from our own experience. Sometimes we suffer and sometimes we don’t. We say: circumstances change. Whatever we may say, but it is definitely changing, a clear indication that it is impermanent.

Suffering is not joy, it is suffering

0:16:34.6 Then sometimes people say: there is not so much difference between suffering and joy. It is only how people take it. Sometimes people can get used to a very pathetic situation, and sometimes they can even enjoy it. We have a very funny saying in Tibetan

Kyi de na kyi tsang zhal ye kang

pag gi de na pag tsang zhal ye kang

If the dogs look in the dog house, they will see it as a mandala mansion.

If the pigs look at the pig sty, they will see it as mandala mansion.

0:17:52.9 So when you get used to it, it looks like you sort of enjoy that. Maybe it is terrible, but it is enjoyable. So therefore, whether it is joy or suffering is only a matter of how you look at it. It is only the mind and nothing else. Some people tell you, “Even if it is suffering, think that it is great pleasure. Say ‘I got one. I want another one’.” People do ask to be beaten by the zen sticks in the meditation places. So many say that it is just a matter of mind and how you handle it, rather than being suffering or joy. It is all up to the individual.

0:19:10.4 But Buddha says that suffering is suffering. Why? Because it doesn’t have its own independent control. You are controlled by another force. You have no control by yourself. You have no independence. You have no choice. It is controlled by some other mechanism. That’s why it is suffering, not because it is pain, or because you are happy to get a little hit or all that type of thing.

0:20:02.0 Sometimes we go to great extremes to get different feelings. How much people go for sexual pleasure. Don’t let me spell it out. When I first saw it, I couldn’t get rid of that image out of my mind. Even today, when we talk about that, I can get the image. Some people make holes in their nipples and everywhere else and pull that, right? Can you imagine how much pain and suffering that is? But they consider that as joy and label it by their mind and make that into joy and they go for it and even pay for it and do all kinds of things. That’s because we really don’t know that is joy and what is suffering.

0:21:25.6 Again, Buddha says it is suffering, because you have no control. You have no independence. It is controlled by some other mechanism or person, something other than yourself. Makes sense! That’s why people automatically fight so much if their independence is threatened. Especially we Americans, how much will we fight for independence? The place, the room, the environment and everything else, because we appreciate the value and when we begin to lose it, that’s what is happening. So being controlled by something else and not having independence - that is the definition of suffering. This is the reason why Buddha calls it suffering, because you don’t really want to do it yourself. You lost control. Somebody else is controlling you.

Suffering is empty – it has not ownership.

This is not the same emptiness as emptiness of self. They are not talking about wisdom-emptiness at all. This empty means that there is no one that really occupies that position. There is no one who owns my suffering. There is no separate person or owner who owns that suffering. It is the same thing with the self too. Self, suffering, joy, individual – everything is the same thing. There is no one who really owns that. There is no person called “Suffering”. There is no one who can own it. It is just a combination or collection of factors. So Buddha said, “This is not something somebody did. This is not something that somebody made. This is empty.” This is true empty, because there is no one that is really occupying it. There is no one who really is that. When you trace suffering, what are you going to find? When you trace me, you are not going to find it. That’s because of emptiness. But here also, not thinking of emptiness, simply there is nothing that is called “Mr. Suffering” who will identify themselves saying, “It is me, I am the suffering, I am Mr. Suffering.” Nobody does that.

0:25:43.0 There is no one.

Suffering is selfless

That is similar to emptiness, because there is no independent self who identifies as suffering or along with suffering or as suffering or with suffering.

These are the four misunderstandings of the First Noble Truth: it is permanent – Buddha says it is not. It is impermanent, because it is changing. It is not necessarily suffering, it is just a feeling, so suffering or joy is just a matter of mind and how you take it – Buddha says no, it is definitely suffering, because you don’t have control or independence from it. You don’t have power over it. It is not you managing, but somebody else is managing over you. It is under somebody else’s control, not yours. There is somebody called Mr. Suffering – Buddha says that’s not there. Suffering has self – Buddha says it is selfless.

0:27:53.9 Knowing the First Noble Truth and what the cause is, by its own nature, makes a hell of a difference. This basic understanding I tried to make several attempts to introduce. It really didn’t work very well. Geshe Yeshe Thapke did some part of it, but also didn’t go into that much detail. It has a little difficulty even for me to present. Last Sunday I wanted to bring that in. Somehow some obstacles come up. Last Sunday I just couldn’t come. I got low sugar and I couldn’t move. Until your sugar goes up you can’t move. Those of you who know they know. So I was in that fix.

0:29:29.0 So there are some obstacles presenting this. I faced them a number of times, trying to introduce them and somehow it didn’t work. So I am glad, at least the first four went in.

The Second Noble Truth also has four misunderstandings. There are 16 misunderstandings, four for each of the Four Noble Truths. 4 x 4 = 16. Is it? I could be wrong, I don’t even know if 2 + 2 = 4. Maybe it is 3, who knows. I never learnt arithmetic. Tibetans do have arithmetic, but I never learnt it. It is very strange. Besides that, the old Tibetan education will definitely teach you how to read and read well and strong and fast and understand properly. But it is no compulsory to learn how to write. Never. One of my teachers, Gen Pema Gyaltsen, was an extremely learned, outstanding scholar. He was the Loseling abbot for a long time. I forgot, when I was living in Delhi, he came visiting and we had to change his plane and he had to sign his ticket. I could have signed for him and I regret and also appreciate both. These scholars are very great, no doubt, they will dictate like crazy, but if have to write themselves, they won’t, because they never learnt. I gave him the ticket change, just to write his name for the signature. I had to go out somewhere for 20 minutes or so and when I got back he had not finished signing. It’s just four words Pe ma Gyal tsen and he sort of carved the letters in half printed, half hand writing form and he was taking that long. That means he never learnt how to write. But he has written volumes and volumes on philosophy – all dictated. So this was the old system and I never learnt arithmetic. So I don’t really know if 2+2 = 4 or 3. I do know what it is, but I am not convinced yet, because I don’t know how the system works.

0:33:14.8 Anywhere, so there are 16 of them, four for each of the four truths. When you talk about the Second Noble Truth, the Cause of Suffering, we normally say that there two causes, delusions and karma.

It is a cause

Here you have to think slightly differently. Nothing is changing, but the moment you think about causes of suffering, what are we talking about? If you have to identify the cause of suffering, it is probably the contaminated attachment. That’s not the definition, but the example of the cause of suffering. Uncontaminated attachment might not be the example of the cause of suffering, but contaminated attachment is. What is emotional delusional cause of suffering? It is contaminated attachment – or contaminated hatred.

0:35:29.7 Is there uncontaminated hatred? Possible. Yamantaka is the ultimate example of wrath and anger and hatred. But it is uncontaminated. Because if is it contaminated, then we are in big trouble, tremendous trouble, all would be upside down, topsy turvey. That’s why I say it is possible that there is uncontaminated hatred. Is there uncontaminated attachment? Yes, but the cause of suffering is contaminated attachment and contaminated hatred and contaminated ignorance. In general, ignorance is contaminated. There is no uncontaminated ignorance. However, if you look at the Guhyasamaja, it is the pure part of ignorance, appearing as yidam, as something that we could become, as something that we pray to and worship and want to become.

So it is all there. So the real question is about contamination and uncontamination. The bottom line between negative and positive is also maybe drawn at that level. That is what it shows you. Otherwise, why do they talk about contaminated and uncontaminated? That’s because contaminated makes it a bad effect, whereas uncontaminated will not make it a bad effect.

0:38:03.9 We know that even from the language point of view. Say you have a cold. It is contaminated, because it can affect other people too. There are certain illnesses that don’t affect other people, but the individual who suffers, suffers. Like that, the word contamination really tells us something more than what it is. So the line between positive and negative are almost drawn here. As you have heard during the summer retreat, the Aryas, the special persons and ordinary persons, also are divided on the basis of whether it is contaminated or not contaminated. Whether you are a land lord or landless, that is also based on that.

0:39:24.8 Contamination is a very terrible thing. The example of the Second Noble Truth itself is contaminated attachment. This is the cause. Why is it a cause? Some people say that suffering jus comes and nobody causes anything and it is nobody’s fault, nothing was done wrong, and it is what it is. But it is somebody’s fault. It is caused. Why is contaminated attachment a cause? Because the suffering result is coming from you. You produce the suffering. It is your production and therefore you are the cause. The criteria here is that contaminated things are causes of suffering, because they produce suffering.

0:41:06.4 They become suffering. Suffering is coming from you. That’s why it is cause.

Not only one time. The second criteria is:

2. Cause of suffering is the source of suffering

Why is it the source? Because it is not only one time, but very often it makes the suffering grow through the contaminated attachment or hatred, or whatever, the contaminated emotional effects.

It makes suffering grow stronger

Gyu (cause), kun jung (origin or source), kyen (condition), rab kye (strongly growing) – these are the four. It is not only growing, but very strongly growing.

Not only that, it is also the direct cause of suffering. Not only the cause, but also the condition that makes the suffering materialize.

So that makes the suffering grow together along with the things. So that is the four misunderstandings of the Second Noble Truth with their corrections. That probably makes 8 and there are 16.

0:44:25.2 Then, I also understand that I will be here for a while and I hope I will be here next Sunday, because I could not go to Mongolia, because the tour to Mongolia and Malaysia was scheduled but I could not go, because my kidney numbers are not so good, so I will be looking for some change of life and alternatives. That’s why I will be here for at least for a couple of months, not moving. That’s why I think I will be here probably next Sunday.

0:45:21.6 I did say that I will talk the continuation of the teachings from the summer retreat, which are not finished at all. Chapter 6 has not even begun somehow. So I will do that, but not right this moment, but after a little while. So whatever the changes that I may have to do I hope will be done through August and September, so that I can function normally in October – nearly normally. That’s what we are in and I guess that’s about it.

0:46:33.2 Four Immeasurables - 0:46:33.2 end