Archive Result

20141116GRAAETB69

0:13:19.2 Welcome everybody and I don’t think our webinar is up yet, but still, we should be talking. Welcome to today’s talk. We introduced Mahayana Buddhism from the 10 different points of view. Out of those ten, we reached to the 8th, the clairvoyances. The 7th were the sublime eyes. Point 8, 9 and 10 are where the individual is well established. For example, we talked about the five eyes. Then first two eyes are available in common with the Hindus and Buddhists. Really well accomplished Hindu meditators or others – it doesn’t have to be only Hindus or Buddhists – a lot of individuals who meditate and gain stabilization of the mind, who are focused, can gain the first two out of the five eyes.

0:15:44.2 Today I am supposed to introduce you to the six clairvoyances. I don’t think there is much point of talking a lot about clairvoyance. I just need to mention them to do.

According to the Institute of Buddhist Dialectic Studies they are:

Clairvoyance of Magical Emanations

Clairvoyance of the Celestial Ear

Clairvoyance of Knowing Others’ Minds

Clairvoyance of Recalling Former Lives

Clairvoyance of the Celestial Eye

Clairvoyance of the Removal of Defilements

The Clairvoyance of Magical Emanations is not a Buddhist quality. It is the success of any meditator. Anybody can achieve that level. Although meditation was introduced through the Hindu-Buddhist tradition, meditation doesn’t belong to Hindus or Buddhists. Everybody does it. It is common wealth. I don’t mean the British Commonwealth, but the wealth of common people who are exposed to meditation. Out of those, the first two eyes and also many of the clairvoyances can be achieved by many. Just meditating, particularly meditating on mind, but also on anything, when you build a little stabilization of the meditation, your mental state will be very different. A lot of mental development has been brought up by meditation alone. It doesn’t have to be any religious meditation – honestly. Meditation alone means to focus the mind and it has tremendous benefits.

0:20:13.3 I do recall the early Kadampa lamas, during Atisha’s period, before Je Tsongkhapa. The period after Tsongkhapa is called New Kadampa. New Kadampa these days – there is a society and group led by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, which is called New Kadampas. That’s fine. That’s a common name for all the followers of Jamgön Lama Tsongkhapa. It looks like they are picking the general name for their specific group. That’s fine. But we are also New Kadampas. We don’t call ourselves that, but we are. All the three, four great monasteries of Tibet from 1357 onwards, all are New Kadampas: Sera, Drepung, Ganden and also upper tantric college, lower tantric college, Tashi Lungpo and many other thousands and thousands of monasteries following the Tsongkhapa tradition. All of them are New Kadampas. It is not a new name, but an old name, but with a new face.

0:22:26.3 Whether you are supporting or going against the Protector Shugden is a different story all together. Absolutely. Even back in old Tibet there were Gelugpas who supported Shugden very strongly, and those who went against Shugden strongly too, though it was not so vivid. Now it has become very vivid. It is something internal Tibetan – a 16th, 17th century issue. Since it is not dealing with a human being, the issue never dies (laughs). Even in the 22nd century people are still talking about it. It is a non-human issues. The situation with followers and those who are anti – and for has been there since the inception, from the 16th century onwards. That’s a totally different story. Mostly it depends on the individual lamas or teachers. There are certain teachers who used to be deadly against it. Certain teachers used to be totally devoted. And all of them are great. Something being better or worse – never happened before.

0:24:26.8 Especially when you are in the possession of those five eyes and six clairvoyances, it has all completely gone beyond. But then, some people may think: Why are some people or groups making a big deal out of it today? Because each and every incarnate manifestation has manifested in the human form. So they have to behave like normal, usual human beings. Whatever the normal, usual human beings’ character and habit is, even those enlightened beings manifested have to do that. If you don’t do it, if you behave superior to anybody else, you go beyond human capacity and if you do that, your purpose of manifesting in the human form has been defeated. That’s why all the incarnate lamas, great beings, such as Kyabje Lochö Rinpoche, [do that]. Even though he has total choice and control over how long he want to live and when he wants to die – he does have it – however, he suddenly goes. That sort of thing quite clearly indicates the purpose of manifestation.

0:26:50.4 The incarnate lamas have incarnated for a purpose and one of the principles of that is that you have to be just a human being. You can’t be superior. Otherwise the purpose of manifestation has been defeated. That should answer why all these controversies are there today.

0:27:26.1 For me, it is none of our business. Whatever practice you do, whatever you have been guided to – if you are wrongly guided, you have to use your intelligence to see whether you are wrongly or correctly guided – as long as you are rightly guided, just follow and do not interfere or get involved in those issues. Each one of those issues are not anything new. Everything is old, very, very old. They are 16th, 17th century issues, not today’s new issues – nothing.

0:28:19.7 If you have clairvoyance or any one of those five eyes or six clairvoyances – any one of them, not even the third, but any of them, it will be clear enough for you and not to be bothered.

0:28:52.3 Since I raised the question – I was not planning on raising it, but since we are talking, and since a number of people keep on telling me that I should make it clear what my position is on this protector issue, let me remind you. I made myself very clear a number of times already. I was a practitioner of this protector practice. I did not voluntarily stop it in the beginning, when His Holiness was raising objections. I did not state voluntarily that I was not going to practice it. That is because when I received this teaching and initiation, I went to Kyabje Trijang Dorje Chang and requested it. It was not that Kyabje Trijang Dorje Chang imposed it on me. So there was no reason why I had to renounce it.

0:30:10.7 Then His Holiness very kindly gave me an opportunity to meet with him. He called me in California at Spirit Rock [Dharma Center] in 2000, I think, I forgot exactly which year, during a Buddhist teachers’ meeting in Jack Kornfield’s place. So His Holiness called me into his room in the evening. He had had a little meeting with Dan and Tara Goleman about their book and they had Tsonyi Rinpoche and his brother Mingyur Rinpoche there and after they left, from the living room, His Holiness took me to his bedroom on the other side and he took his upper robes down, folding them.

0:31:14.5 You know he didn’t throw them. I used to know that when Kyabje Ling came out and get to his room he would take off his robes and drop them wherever it dropped and keep on walking and dropping them. We would pick them up and then finally he would sit on a chair and we would pull the socks and all that. But His Holiness doesn’t do that. He picks them up and folds them nicely and pushes by hand, almost like ironing, and when they are very well folded he goes and hangs them in the place wherever they are hanging, even his robes and every one of his dresses, except the internal ones, but other than that every layer of the external robes he folds up very nicely, even the belt. He fold that too. And then he talked to me for 2, 3 hours, explaining the whole thing from the beginning to the end, why and what and all of that. Then at the end he asked, “Now, what are you going to do?” I said, “Whatever you say.” He asked, “Is that true?” “Yes.” Then he said, “All right, then give it up.” I said, “Yes, sir.” And he said, “And don’t change your mind later, all right?” I said, “Yes sir”. And that’s it. That very day I left the practice. But I am not against it. Even His Holiness told me, ”You don’t have to get angry or go against it. Just cut it out. That’s all.” So that’s what I am doing. If you want to know my position. That’s what it is, since that very day.

0:33:25.2 But then I cannot separate books and images. Some people will throw them out, but I didn’t do that, especially books. I can’t, because it’s in the Collected Works of all kinds of earlier lamas from the 16th century onwards. So how are you going to take it out of the Collected Works and separate them? No, you can’t. So leave it there. Even in one of those periods when meeting with His Holiness later, I did mention it to him. I mentioned ku sung tug den – which means that I can’t really separate out the body – that includes images – and speech and mental [representations]. He replied, “The speech is very difficult. Even I am keeping it. Even I can’t separate it. ” That’s what he told me. He replied to the speech. I also mentioned body, speech and mind, which means also images, books and all others. He replied to the speech only. That’s how the position it and so I also left it, whatever it is. I do have images of Shudgen and all that since very long time. So I collected them in a little box and put it somewhere else at the side of the altar, not internally clearly [shown]. I locked them up – not locked them up, but sort of put them on the backburner.

[0:35:27.3 I mentioned that and wanted to make it clear, since a number of our own people, directly and indirectly again reminded me, saying, “What is really Rimpoche’s position on that?”

Fortunately or unfortunately, the Shugden group lists me in Shugden and the anti-Shugden groups list me as anti-Shugden. I don’t care whatever they do, honestly. Whatever they do, let them do, it’s not my doing. I have my position and that’s what it is.

0:36:18.9 So in any case, if you have clairvoyance and wisdom eyes and so on, each one of them the individual people will obtain when you reach the meditation. As you know, meditation is so good nowadays. People do it. There this is sort of semi-shamata which Jon Kabat Zinn introduced and that is now everywhere, almost all hospitals are now accepting it. Probably 50 years ago everybody thought it is crazy. No one will ever, ever think that this is something you can do. Now almost all advanced hospitals have it. They do it and they find it useful. People find it useful. People meditate by themselves. Yoga too – can you imagine 75 years ago, if you did yoga, people would think you are crazy, worrying that you are going to break your legs and arms and will get very sick. Some very conservative doctors would also tell you, “If you try to do that, you will have terrible trouble.” But now everybody knows and everybody is doing it and meditation is the same thing.

0:38:15.1 That’s why I am saying: it doesn’t belong to Buddhism, but to everybody. It is the common wealth, not the British Commonwealth, but the world’s common wealth. It is wealth, actually, it is something very rich. Everybody has assets in it. No one controls it, nobody has a password control. You don’t have to pay anything and nobody can maintain it, except yourself. It is some very, very important wealth we have. We did not get exposed to it much. Our earlier generations let the opportunity pass, although meditation was introduced in the United States in the 1940s. But our previous generations almost let it go. The last generation took interest, the present is in the doubting stage, with many accepting it and many not. It has tremendous value, physical and mental and emotional and spiritual value. Only religious traditions come in to give this in spiritual value.

0:40:06.5 Other than that, everything, mental, physical and monetary value is there [for everybody]. If you teach good meditation you can charge a lot, honestly. People will pay for it, if you can show the result. That’s why there is monetary value too. It is like any other. The scientific development develops and they sell it and people pay for it. So if you have a mental good meditative stage you can sell it. People will pay for you. That’s really what it is. But spiritual value is different than monetary value. It is something where you deal with the cause of unhappiness, cause of suffering, cause of misery. That’s also what you deal with in meditation. For me, if you are thinking, analyzing, that is meditation.

0:41:32.4 Meditation doesn’t have to be only single-pointed meditation. Single-pointed meditation is necessary to stabilize your meditation. Almost every good thinker, political, economic, social thinkers, poets and any other artist, like if you are focusing on art, you are a meditator. Whether you stabilize your meditation single-pointedly or not, you are a meditator, honestly. But your focusing has to be sharpened by single-pointed meditation. Not sharpened, but stabilized. It helps you not to jump around. Otherwise, you start thinking with A and before you realize it is Z. Or it goes backwards, or up and down a couple of times. That’s because there is no stabilization. Stabilization is a little training for your mind to stay on one point. It looks like stabilization contradicts and even reduces true sharpness. But absolutely, it is helping to make it more strong and stable. Each and every professional does meditate on their own subject. We don’t call that meditation. Mathematicians have to completely focused when they calculate. That is meditation. Scientists meditate. That’s nothing shocking. It would be shocking if scientists did not meditate.

0:44:11.6 How would they find out anything? So if you stabilize your meditation and you focus, then it not only gives you peace and harmony within your mind, but also leads you to an almost unshakable position of focusing. Those incarnate lamas or great teachers who passed away, you hear about them that they are “still in meditation.” “Still in meditation” means they are single-pointedly concentrating on their mental state. That comes out of both, wisdom and focusing put together, the union of it. They are the result of the meditative thing. That also brings tremendous joy and harmony, physically, mentally, emotionally and now a step beyond that is this: we produced this chart years ago. Those of you who have been in Jewel Heart for many years can definitely recognize this. When it was first produced it was done by Steve Kronenberg. He produced this diagram. When he first showed it to me I said, “It looks like a General Motors chart.” General Motors at that time was big, the biggest next to the government. Not like today’s.

0:46:50.9 When you look at that chart it shows all these stages. There are form – and formless realms. We have two charts [one of the desire realm and one of the form – and formless realms]. When you reach to this, all of those stages, the four form – and formless stages, all of them are reachable, nobody owns them. Nobody has control, nobody has a key, nobody has a password. It is accessible to everybody. Simply, it is getting used to it, honestly. The meditation teachers can teach you in a profound way. They can say, “This is your first step, this is your second step, this is your third step.” We have the 9 stages, 6 powers and 4 conjunctions and all of those. The bare bottom line is: keep on thinking. If you lose the focus, bring it back. But make you realize.

0:48:46.8 How do you make sure you realize? If you have forgotten, you are gone. So every minute or two, if you have a clock or something, it will make a sound and you recognize and check: are you thinking? It is almost like if you meditate for 10 minutes there will be 10 “ticks”. It looks like this may be disturbing, but actually it is helping. And then, when you get used to it, you don’t have to have the “tick” every minute, but every two minutes, then every three, then every five minutes and then maybe you just need one “tick” every 10 minutes. When you go on those lines, and you can go over 10 minutes without losing your focus you are beginning to get stabilization. You get all these results gradually: the five eyes, six clairvoyances – all of them. This is exactly how you develop. If somebody asks me, “I would like to develop clairvoyance, one, two or three” I tell you the same thing. That’s what it is.

0:50:15.1 Now, to make it worthwhile for us, you merge it with virtue and with wisdom and compassion. You make sure that both, wisdom and compassion, are together, not separate. If you do that, not only do you achieve clairvoyance, within a couple of years, if you are totally focused you also achieve your future lives and even this life becomes worthwhile. Negativities and negative effects go down, positivities and their effects will increase. It is just like the increasing moon. And the negativities go down like the waxing moon. That’s the result of your practice. Meditation is focus, the key to how you do it. Virtue is involved in the combination of wisdom and compassion that make your qualities increase like the 3rd to the 15th lunar calendar moons, bigger, better every day. The negativities go down like the moon from the 15th lunar day to new moon day, every day little by little.

0:52:14.3 It doesn’t go down in a second and doesn’t increase all of a sudden. There is no instant enlightenment. That is what it means. It will increase gradually. If you look back at yourself ten years ago and certain difficulties, how did you handle it then and how are you handling it today? Even if you have such pleasure and happy incidents ten years ago what did you do and what are you doing today? You will see yourself, how much you have improved. We have so many friends who are extremely intelligent, brilliant. Sometimes your stabilization has some problems – some people – and you are likely to go off the chart – to the other side.

0:53:59.8 But also you don’t go completely off. You know why? Because you are increasing. You are remaining between the 3rd and 15th day of the lunar calendar. You are not going beyond the 15th. You are not. That is how it is. And if you think a little bit, if you are careful, you will remain at the 14th and 15th and then it is wonderful, isn’t it? The more you reach to the 13th, 14th, and 15th, you have more danger of getting off – to somewhere at 23rd, 24th or 25th or something, so make sure that doesn’t happen. The practice should help you not to do that.

0:55:06.1 Even if you are with one leg out and one leg in, the practice will help you to bring that one leg in. So be within the 15 increasing days. And if you are increasing you will get to the enlightenment level. That’s it. It’s not that you have to put in efforts, but the combination of wisdom and compassion will deliver you to total enlightenment. Honestly, easily and you don’t have to think about hells and hungry ghosts and all of those. We thought about that at the lam rim level and that shouldn’t be forgotten, but we don’t have to worry about it. Particularly, when you have a Vajrayana practice on it, that’s something extremely rare and important. You have that.

0:56:33.2 I am sure the retreat notices have been sent out, right? The Ganden Lhagyema retreat notices have been sent out. I will be leaving for Europe tomorrow and this is my first trip there since I am on dialysis. So hopefully everything will go well. I had to experiment. I went on dialysis end of August. Then in September I didn’t move. I stayed home. In October I experimented and went to New York, came back and went to California, came back and went to New York and back and it was okay. So now I want to go to Europe and see. But I may not be able to go to India. Normally, at the end of December His Holiness is teaching and I tried to make it and particularly this year I wanted to go, because whatever he is teaching this year, one of them I did not have the teaching on before. All these teachings in the last two years I already had all of them. This year there is one called shamar lam rim, which I had the oral transmission for from Kyabje Ling Rinpoche. His Holiness received the teaching transmission from one of the Amdo geshes who came to visit from Amdo to India and His Holiness took it from him. So I didn’t have that and wanted to go for that. Then the next days, the second teaching he is giving is the Liberation in the Palm of your Hand by Pabongka, which I received from Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche, after he finished the drafting.

0:58:53.4 So I need to go, but I don’t think my supplies are going to be conveniently available. I can’t take the risk. If you don’t have the dialysis supplies for seven days, you’ll go. Bye bye, in the future life. So I don’t want to take the risk. So I may not be able to go. Also, this is around the Tsongkhapa anniversary and we are going to have a Ganden Lhagyema teaching. I am planning to do the Secret Ganden Lhagyema teaching. So we made it open to everybody. I hope it’s okay. Particularly we made it open through webinar. So it is going to be mostly in the evenings after working hours. I will be here in Ann Arbor and it will be available as webinar everywhere.

1:00:06.3 It will be 7.30 EST to 9.30 EST. That will be early morning in Malaysia. I am sorry, but a number of people wanted to watch too. During the Tenzhuk it was the middle of the night for Malaysians and so many Malaysians and Singaporeans stayed up till 7 in the morning their time when they switched off. It’s day time here and night time there. Europeans did the same thing. I am very sorry for the inconvenience of that. But it will be only live, no recording, no repeating. There will be a recording done for archival purposes, but that will not be broadcast and not continuously put on weeks later. If people want to study that later they can access that archive and study like anybody else does – those who are qualified. I am making it exceptional, not having an initiation as key. I am not making that.

1:02:38.0 The winter retreat is Vajrayogini and those who did not have an initiation before they have to have an initiation. Friday night, Saturday and Sunday morning are initiations. They will not be on the web. Even if it were on the web you wouldn’t get the initiation. Self-initiations we may put on the web in future, because people who know what they are doing they will do it. But these initiations will not be on the web, because through the web I don’t think the initiations materialize. I think His Holiness does the same thing. They may be on the web anywhere, but people who are sitting in front of computers are not getting the initiations. So if you don’t have it, you have to come to Ann Arbor, take it and then go home on Sunday afternoon and then your teachings will be on the web from Monday onwards. That’s going to be the Vajrayogini winter retreat, from 23rd till 31st of January. The initiations are on 23rd, 24th and 25th of January. It will be either Yamantaka or Heruka, one of them. This is to qualify for the Vajrayogini practice. On Sunday morning there will be the Vajrayogini initiation and hopefully, those who are going back home can catch their plane or ride on Sunday afternoon. If you are buying a ticket, buy the last ticket of Sunday. We said we do it in the morning, so it can end at 3, 4 or 5 pm, that’s long enough. So whatever the last plane you can catch – the last plane could go out of Sunday at 5 pm too – you never know.

1:06:08.1 Whatever the last one is, let us know. So I don’t think we’ll have a five o’clock ending. We don’t want people to miss their plane and have additional economic burdens. We don’t need that. So whatever the last ticket you can get, tell us so we can let you go, sometimes even before the tsoh offering, and even before this and that. I have to balance. People who are going should have received the initiation and people who are living should not lose the continuation.

Like our tenzhuk was miscalculated and the time was so short. At the end we had to jump and we had a wonderful umdze who can really adapt to anything and to any speed. So that’s great. Thank you. I think that’s all I have to say.

1:07:21.1 While in Europe, I will try to talk to you through webinar from Holland. Maybe three Sundays. After that we are in December. The Introduction series on Sunday will also come almost to an end. We are reaching to the 9th and 10th, the path of seeing and path of meditation. You can’t explain much. It is just saying what they are. I will try to give you a little bit on two Sundays and then the Introduction to Mahayana is almost ending. Then after that, we do the summary on one or two Sundays and then we take a break with the Sundays. Thanksgiving will be over, the holidays are coming. Everybody has a holiday and so I get a holiday too. Isn’t there is song called, “Everybody has summer holiday?” or something, so now everybody gets Christmas holidays. In Asia they don’t get Christmas holidays, but the business people make sure that Christmas is noticed. Anyway, thank you so much

1:09:17.7 Are there any questions? I can hear something but not clearly.

Audience (in the room): I wasn’t clear about what the tickets needed to be bought for. So the retreat is here in January? How long is that retreat?

Rimpoche: January 23rd through January 31st.

Audience: Is there a fee?

Rimpoche: I think there is. Go through the Jewel Heart website. You know, I don’t deal with the financial problems. Luckily. I used to be worrying all the time. Now we have two wonderful directors and they worry and I don’t. That’s my retirement. Honestly.

Thank you. But this Ganden Lhagyema teaching on those 7 days is without fee. It is totally free, everything, including the webinar. It has to be that way anyway. You have to give teachings free at least once or twice in the year. Any other questions anybody? From the web? I am hearing something, but not clearly.

Audience: you are hearing yourself.

Rimpoche: All right, before I hear myself, I better say thank you and hand over to Karla.

1:14:13.0 May all beings………1:15:59.3