Archive Result

20160228GRAAST48

0:00:06.3

RIMPOCHE’S HEALTH UPDATE

Welcome to today’s talk. I believe it is February 28. I missed two Sundays, because the Sunday before that I said I will be here on Sunday, but I had a little medical difficulties. I suddenly started fainting. I didn’t fall down. Colleen didn’t let me fall down at all, but I fainted a couple of times, and thinking back that has been going on for a little while, actually, since I was in Holland last time. I also fainted a couple of times. We attributed that to lower blood pressure. But this time, when I fainted a couple of times, the blood pressure was not low, but normal.

0:02:05.8

So then they made me go into hospital, in the Emergency. Then I was there twice. One time, as you all know, I had a problem with my toe and that’s not completely over yet. Last Friday I saw the doctor and they think that my toe may still stay here. First, when I went to hospital they were talking about amputating my leg, not the toe, but up to the knee or below that or whatever. Finally, they thought maybe a little bit lower, a little bit lower, up to the toe. Then they wanted to cut half of the toe off and that sort of thing. Then Colleen insisted not to cut so quickly. So it seems to be surviving now and it is healing and it is okay. That’s that.

0:04:21.3

The other problem happens to be the heart problem. So when they checked with EKG and so forth, it didn’t show anything. But my doctor, Dr. Morlock, kept on thinking that there is something wrong and it had better go to the ER. Then they kept me overnight and then there was a huge problem and they noticed that, when they kept me for 24 hours. They saw all these problems. So the next morning, it almost became an emergency. So to make the long story short, I ended up with a pacemaker on the chest. All of that was done within 2, 3 days. Now it stabilized a little bit, but I am not completely out of the woods yet. But I am happy to be here today to talk with all of you. So that was my excuse for not showing up for two Sundays.

0:06:09.9

So when I suddenly landed in the emergency and they said I had to stay there overnight I thought, “Tomorrow is Sunday, what to do?” So that’s it.

0:06:09.9

So when I suddenly landed in the emergency and they said I had to stay there overnight I thought, “Tomorrow is Sunday, what to do?” So that’s it.

PRECIOUS HUMAN LIFE – WITHOUT MIND WE HAVE NOTHING

If I remember correctly, the last Sunday I was here I talked about the human life and the recognition of life. The conclusion I did not draw then. Really, each and every one of us, when we are looking at our life, it has so many purposes and so much value and so much opportunity. Every minute of it is very precious, very, very precious. It is hard to realize when you are just sitting there and spending your time without thinking much. The sun rises in the morning, we keep ourselves busy, then the sun sets at night and we go to bed and get up. When you are spending time like this you don’t realize how precious every moment we have is. It is so precious and so important. When you are not thinking, you don’t realize. Whether you realize or not, the time is not standing still. It is going, because every moment it is going, it is getting us older. We are getting closer to the conclusion of life. So every second and minute of it, it is going. When you have such a precious life and it is going by, without realizing every minute of it, then it is a huge waste.

0:11:07.2

Traditional teachings give an example: some poor man, a very poor person found a bag full of gold dust. He was very happy and he didn’t want to leave it anywhere, so he carried it around, because you can’t afford to lose it. What he didn’t realize was that there was a hole in the bag, like in that song, “ There is a hole in the bucket….” Just like that, there is a hole in the bag and you carry the bag, walking around, so the gold dust is going everywhere. By the time you realize, it is almost empty. This is exactly what’s happening with our life. By the time you realize it, it has gone. In my case, 76 or 77 years have gone. It has been extremely busy, happy and grateful, yet when you look at it, it is gone. So then, why do I say it is gone? Because it is gone. Not only gone, but did I achieve anything? If I achieved something, then it is not gone. But did I? In those long 76 years I achieved very little, from all sorts of angles, from the economic point of view, political point of view, spiritual point of view. I almost achieved nothing.

0:14:03.8

That means the 76 years have been wasted. Can I waste anything worse than that? Probably not. So this is the biggest waste in my life, these 76 years. Did I have experience? Yes, a lot. My first 20 years of life in Tibet were rich, great, wonderful. Of those 20 years, the first 10 were Tibet itself. It was independent, no known foreign invasion or control. The last 10 years we spent time with the Communist Chinese. They introduced their ideas and thoughts and they were really very materialistic. This was in the 1950s. It was a totally materialistic life. Very practical, we can call it. But totally materialistic. They never believe in and actually object to any spiritual ideas, which they regarded as anti-social and anti-society and anti-people. Any gathering of groups of people were seen as a threat to the national interest. Therefore, the monasteries were treated as very anti-society and anti-national, because of a danger of accumulation of people.

0:17:31.3

Under Communist rule, it is the People’s Liberation Army, which has groups of people together. Other than that, any group is a threat. Therefore, the spiritual side was a very big threat. Teachings are a threat, study of spiritual paths are a threat. And then Tibet was such that there were tens of thousands of monks and nuns too, not that many, but there were quite a lot, which was a threat. As I mentioned earlier, the struggle for us and me in particular was the struggle between the materialistic world and the spiritual world. Is mind important or is the material important? My studies and teachings tell you that mind is most important. Then I got all these big broadcasts. In those days it was not wireless. It was wired. There were loudspeakers put on top of a number of roofs and they were shouting all the time how mind was not important and the material is so important, because it is reality.

0:19:38.7

So that was the struggle in my mind and you couldn’t ask so many questions, because there was the fear of rejection on both sides. Particularly on the spiritual side, if you ask your spiritual teachers so many questions about material and mind, you are afraid that they think that you are becoming Chinese or Communist. For example, the question of life after, reincarnation. You couldn’t ask that, because that was the time. Ten years before that you could have asked without any problem. But this was the period where this big struggle was going on. So if you asked that question they would have probably doubted you, thinking, “What’s gone wrong with this Rinpoche? Something has gone wrong with his mind or he has become a Communist”, or something like that. So you couldn’t ask certain questions. Yet the struggle was there and it didn’t end. My struggle with whether mind or material was more important did not end until I got to the United States, really. Then it was obvious. You didn’t see it earlier, but without mind nothing can happen, nothing.

0:19:38.7

So that was the struggle in my mind and you couldn’t ask so many questions, because there was the fear of rejection on both sides. Particularly on the spiritual side, if you ask your spiritual teachers so many questions about material and mind, you are afraid that they think that you are becoming Chinese or Communist. For example, the question of life after, reincarnation. You couldn’t ask that, because that was the time. Ten years before that you could have asked without any problem. But this was the period where this big struggle was going on. So if you asked that question they would have probably doubted you, thinking, “What’s gone wrong with this Rinpoche? Something has gone wrong with his mind or he has become a Communist”, or something like that. So you couldn’t ask certain questions. Yet the struggle was there and it didn’t end.

A SPIRITUAL AND MENTAL DEVELOPMENT SHORTAGE

My struggle with whether mind or material was more important did not end until I got to the United States, really. Then it was obvious. You didn’t see it earlier, but without mind nothing can happen, nothing.

0:21:57.0

The combination of your physical identity and the entity, the person, is the fundamental basis of both, material and spiritual. Whether mind or matter are more important, both are based on this life. If one of them is missing you are either a corpse or a ghost, what else? It is really obvious. Mind is the one that really does everything. The material world is simple, straightforward. But that is not an answer for everything. Mind gives us the opportunity to choose our life - our way of living and thinking, whichever is comfortable. That is the opportunity provided by the mind. That is why people choose to have a different standard of living, different way of functioning. Happiness is considered more important than wealth. It is reality. Interesting. If you are extremely rich, what would you do? The food you consume is a tiny, little thing, and it goes through the mouth and beyond that you cannot digest. Yes, you cannot do without wealth. But being over-wealthy doesn’t mean much.

0:25:55.1

You can go and say, “I am rich, I am rich”, as we see these days in the Presidential elections, but if you are rich, so what? Anyway, these are the ways of people’s living and their choices and all of them become possible, because of mind, which is more important than the material. Particularly, for us it is very important. You begin to realize that 50 years ago in the United States, people didn’t talk much about the spiritual path. Of course, there is the traditional church and the Judeo-Christian tradition has tremendous wonderfulness of serving the people. And there is the churches and temples, but the spiritual aspects of them became a little weak. I sorry, this is my personal reading. Don’t blame Buddhism or Tibetan Buddhism. This is just me. There are wonderful people in the church. They do so well, as much as they know. But all went overly towards materialism, although in the churches they take vows of poverty and all that. But service and everything, has become materially helping more than mentally helping. Somehow my understanding is that the Judeo-Christian tradition, if you really look at it, is so rich in the mental development aspects, so much so that people cannot imagine. It is sort of gone beyond normal explanation.

0:29:33.3

So somehow, somewhere it happened and it has become not so much publicly accessible. Maybe a few people may have access. I don’t know. If you look at it – Yes – helping and serving and all that - but it all went more or less into material aspects. And it is admirable and wonderful, how these missionary people come out and help people, through education, through hospitals and medical supplies, through food and clothes and so on. People are wonderful. And look at the Buddhists of old Tibet. They sit there and meditate but do not go out and don’t help people that much. Monasteries became rich, because people come into the monastery and give their wealth, looking for future betterment. So ultimately the monasteries and religious institutions became very wealthy.

0:31:18.8

The incarnate lamas and their labrang institutions and the monasteries became very wealthy. People were working, like the farmers on the fields and the traders and their first priority was to take out a certain portion from their profits and invest it into their future life, meaning handing over wealth to religious institutions, including the incarnate lamas. They became wealthy. But will they go out and set up hospitals? Will they set up homeless shelters and give medicine to the sick? Not in an organized manner. As individuals and to individuals, yes, they do.

0:32:47.8

I know a doctor. A friend of mine, a Tibetan incarnate lama called Namkha Gyaltsen, has a teacher/manager, who is a very good doctor. And he looks after all sick people quite a lot. He was in Drepung, next door to me and there were sick people going there all the time and he himself provided all the medicine for all the sick people. There was no institution that supported them, although there was one institution in Tibet called Medical and Astrological Center (men tse khang), set up by the 13th Dalai Lama. But that is also organized in the way that they support their own doctors and give their own treatments, but not the individual doctors. So he involved himself, collecting the herbs, producing the medicines and grounding them into powder and he treated everybody. He went out of his way. And those who were poor, he gave them even food. He even bought the groceries for them and told them, “You are in need of this.” There are times where you have to be totally vegetarian for certain medical treatments.

0:34:55.1

And then certain levels change and they make you have meat or boiled bone soup or something. And he buys that himself and gives it to each and every sick person. So much. An individual does that. I like him so much, because he used to give me sweets all the time. He wears one of those skin Tibetan dresses, made of sheepskin or something. So inside his pocket he had all these little sweets available. In his own language he used to say aku pa ta tar – he called himself uncle (aku). So he was saying, “Uncle will give you a treat”. So he gave me a little sweet candy out of his pocket, with a lot of hair stuck to it and all kinds of things. Either it was a dry piece of molasses or something else, but it was not the western style candy with paper wrapped around it. They didn’t have that.

0:36:42.5

So a lot of people did do that sort of thing. But institutionally, like we have in the west, we didn’t do that at all. And the monasteries collected money and wealth and became wealthier and wealthier and individuals became poorer and poorer, because there was limited wealth and where does it move? That way, if you look at the Judeo-Christian tradition, it is of tremendous service, everywhere throughout the world. Everywhere you have their educational institutions. All those wonderful Catholic mothers caring for the people, caring for the kids and all this is so wonderful and we in the east, from the Buddhist tradition, like that. But again, in the west, they do so well materially, but then for the spiritual and mental development, there is a little shortage.

0:38:36.2

0:36:42.5

So a lot of people did do that sort of thing. But institutionally, like we have in the west, we didn’t do that at all. And the monasteries collected money and wealth and became wealthier and wealthier and individuals became poorer and poorer, because there was limited wealth and where does it move? That way,

PANORAMIC VIEW OF LIFE – EVERYTHING IS CONNECTED

If you look at the Judeo-Christian tradition, it is of tremendous service, everywhere throughout the world. Everywhere you have their educational institutions. All those wonderful Catholic mothers caring for the people, caring for the kids and all this is so wonderful and we in the east, from the Buddhist tradition, like that. But again, in the west, they do so well materially, but then for the spiritual and mental development, there is a little shortage.

0:38:36.2

The way of thinking and functioning alone; you have a wonderful education. It is tremendous, way beyond any imagination. Practically looking, examining and finding and following, all of that is fantastic. But then it is only focused on the human well being up to death and that, also the physical points more than the mental points - This life more than the life after. I think this is the basic difference. When you are looking at your life, somehow fortunately we are very much balanced. We are not lacking the material-based physical-oriented education. We are not lacking that at all. Plus you have the mental side of looking way beyond. So we have both. That is very rare. 99.99% of human beings on earth today, whatever they may say or claim, they are more material-oriented. Only one percent, or maybe one hundredth of a percent are thinking beyond that. And that is so precious, so important and all of you, all of us are in that little, tiny percentage. So your view of life and lives is panoramic, rather than having a limited focus. Honestly.

0:42:14.5

Life and lives are for me common language. For me, life doesn’t end at the time of death and it doesn’t begin at the time of conception. It is something continuing. It is panoramic. Very few people, extremely few people, will think that way. When you think that way, then everything doesn’t begin at the time of conception and everything doesn’t end at the time of death. Although certain physical points do end. They do no longer function, but change, so that your understanding, your view, is much more panoramic. That’s why when you are planning your work, your view is much longer than a hundred years or something. Similarly, you think not only of yourself, but also everybody else together. That is very important in our life. We all know that. But when you have a narrower view, then self becomes very important and the center of all. When you have an open view you see that everybody is connected.

0:45:53.4

Looking back in our life, we all have the opportunity. We have it with us, we have been using it, which not so many of your friends, your peers and colleagues have. Maybe three people are sitting on chairs together. One may have that understanding and two may not have it. But there is nothing wrong with those who do not have it. But for those who have it, it is a great quality. It is a quality, because it is true reality. It doesn’t end at the time of death and doesn’t begin at the time of conception. Somebody is coming from before, remaining here and then going out somewhere. That probably is the basis of the importance of this life. People to plan things. They plan for the next 5, 10 or 100 years. But often someone will come and carry out the planning by the time you go. We don’t think we need to have a plan for ourselves to function when that happens. We don’t. We see the death at end of all. As a matter of fact, we see so many – maybe I shouldn’t talk so much, but the reality is that our previous identity is not necessarily showing up again.

0:49:16.4

It is not. If it does, it’s not a good sign. It is a ghost. We will have a new identity, with new things. That’s how it continues. Therefore, planning should be for much longer, much broader and much more panoramic than simply ending it.

PANORAMIC LIFE PLAN

0:42:14.5

Life and lives are for me common language. For me, life doesn’t end at the time of death and it doesn’t begin at the time of conception. It is something continuing. It is panoramic. Very few people, extremely few people, will think that way. When you think that way, then everything doesn’t begin at the time of conception and everything doesn’t end at the time of death. Although certain physical points do end. They do no longer function, but change, so that your understanding, your view, is much more panoramic. That’s why when you are planning your work, your view is much longer than a hundred years or something. Similarly, you think not only of yourself, but also everybody else together. That is very important in our life. We all know that. But when you have a narrower view, then self becomes very important and the center of all. When you have an open view you see that everybody is connected.

0:45:53.4

Looking back in our life, we all have the opportunity. We have it with us, we have been using it, which not so many of your friends, your peers and colleagues have. Maybe three people are sitting on chairs together. One may have that understanding and two may not have it. But there is nothing wrong with those who do not have it. But for those who have it, it is a great quality. It is a quality, because it is true reality. It doesn’t end at the time of death and doesn’t begin at the time of conception. Somebody is coming from before, remaining here and then going out somewhere. That probably is the basis of the importance of this life. People to plan things. They plan for the next 5, 10 or 100 years. But often someone will come and carry out the planning by the time you go. We don’t think we need to have a plan for ourselves to function when that happens. We don’t. We see the death at end of all. As a matter of fact, we see so many – maybe I shouldn’t talk so much, but the reality is that our previous identity is not necessarily showing up again.

0:49:16.4

It is not. If it does, it’s not a good sign. It is a ghost. We will have a new identity, with new things. That’s how it continues. Therefore, planning should be for much longer, much broader and much more panoramic than simply ending it.

People talk about legacy. That’s fine and good for limited purposes. The true legacy should be total enlightenment, not only for yourself, but for everybody. That’s what Buddha shared with us and what so many earlier masters, spiritually developed adepts, siddhas and retreaters have done. Not only retreaters, but even people functioning in the public. They have done that. So we should be looking in that light. That’s what it is. In that manner, within that context, if you waste a certain time, like 76 years, it is a big waste. Realizing that, try not to waste. Recognize how important life it and then make sure you don’t waste it. You have to meditate on that and get it into your daily attitude, daily life. True meditation is adoption of the points in your life. True meditation is really changing the individual for betterment. Let’s say you are wasting your time and energy without realizing, by recognizing this you will not waste your energy and then the purpose of meditating on this has been served.

0:53:48.1

Then if you look at the opportunities, we have tremendous opportunities. We have access to self liberation, to compassion, to love, to bodhimind, to Vajrayana and we have access to total enlightenment within the life time. All of those. So when you are wasting time you are wasting those. That again doesn’t mean you have to be rigid, conservative. Sometimes that can lead you to that. But that’s not the way. The way is to be open-minded, happy, jolly and enjoy life but at the same time achieve the purpose. So this is one of the important things here.

Q & A

0:55:24.0 Are there any questions? No one emailed any. Any from the webinar?

Audience: No. There are 100 people on the webinar. It does look like someone has raised their hand back there in the room.

0:56:19.0

Audience: You said in the beginning that you had not achieved anything in your life, whereas most of us feel like you have achieved a great deal. If you feel that way what hope is there for us?

0:56:45.9

Rimpoche: Well, I could have achieved much more. Yeah, if you look at regrets in life, then the list is very long. Number one, I could have become Buddha. I could have and would have. But could and would doesn’t work now. That is the No 1 failure. And there are so many. But let me not go through that. There are a lot of them. But on the other hand, the other day I mentioned to you the appreciation. That way, it has not been so bad. But it could and would have been much better. No doubt about it. Also, the humbleness of the individual will also make you think “I achieved nothing and everybody else has achieved something. I personally achieved nothing.” That’s how I look myself all the time. Each and every one of you has achieve something tremendous in your life. No 1, you have this beautiful life. No 2, all of you are educated. You have a degree to carry and show. I don’t. See? That is the difference here.

0:59:09.9

I had better [spiritual] opportunity than you do, because of the way I was born and the time I was born in. But what did I achieve? Nothing. That’s how I look at myself. I never think, “I did that, I did this”, etc., actually I achieved nothing. Each and every one of you has done tremendous, wonderful and if you still do it, you can do much better than what you have been doing so far. Honestly, that’s how I feel. I always feel that I didn’t do enough. Maybe it’s my childhood training in being humble. What little I know is not counted. What you know is counted. I believe that’s what is called respect for others. Anyway, thank you for the question and I have shared my thoughts now.

1:00:55.1

Audience: There are some questions on the web now.

Audience: How can we help others heal and what does healing mean?

1:01:10.0

Rimpoche: Interesting. You know what I experienced in hospital? I got tortured by pain and then they give you medicine and injections and that reduces the pain and it normalizes. I believe that’s called healing. Also looking at people and their suffering, whether it is physical, mental or emotional, and trying to relieve the pain and give a little rest or something normal and if possible, complete healing, otherwise a little relief, I believe that’s called healing, whether physical, emotional or mental. That’s my understanding.

1:02:59.2

Audience: What can we do as beginners to make best use of our time?

Rimpoche: Ah, good question. Recognize the importance of life. Realize and acknowledge and don’t spend your time, just letting the sun rise and set. Don’t do that. Each and every day recognize and acknowledge. Sometimes we forget the days of the week. It is not that there is anything wrong with forgetting the days of the week, however, it shows that we are paying not attention in life. The sun is going to rise in the morning and it is going to set at night, and darkness is going to come. So letting the time go and without realizing, engaging, that is wasting time. And so better aware of it. Thank you. One more question.

1:04:54.1

Audience: Holding the tension between the one life and many lives with your spiritual teachings is a technique in itself. Is that correct?

1:05:28.1

Rimpoche: I believe so. Yes, you are right, there is tension between the one life and many lives. Allen Ginsberg used to say, “I don’t know whether there is a future life or not, because I haven’t met anyone who said ‘I am back’. However, I cannot strongly suggest and believe that there are no future lives. So I don’t want to be the loser.” So yes, there is a tension in the minds of the people. I don’t know, thank you for the question.

Okay, thank you so much and I hope I will be here next Sunday. Thank you

1:07:07.1 May all beings……1:08:41.0