Archive Result

Soundfile 19890700GRJHMalaysia3P 3

Speaker Gelek Rimpoche

Location Malaysia

Topic Three Principles of the Path

Transcriber Mark Weihe

Date 11/20/2021

0:00:00.0 Rimpoche: They show off rather than regret. So, to have a regret itself is great. It’s really a great achievement. To [human?], people don’t realize when they do something wrong, they don’t realize it’s wrong. They don’t want to ignore it is wrong. They want the wrong thing to be projected as a right thing to do. This is our human nature. And to admit that I did something wrong is a great thing for people, especially proud people. It’s very great to do that. It’s very hard, it’s not easy. It’s great! So, just having regret alone, has reduced the power of the non-virtuous quite a bit, quite a bit. So, the regret is important. I don’t believe the ordinary regret will serve the purposes. The example here given is three persons went together into a restaurant and ate the same food. One got sick and died. One is sick and dying. One has had nothing happen to him, but he has tremendous regret because one is dead, one is about to die [something is cut off here]. Whatever you can wash the stomach, throw it off, or have pass down, everything you do, whatever is possible. That’s strong regret, right? And that much regret is required. The stronger the regret it is, the purifying, it is better it is. The weaker the regret is, the weaker the purification is. The so-so regret, the so-so purification. [audience laughs] So much regret and the fourth power, promise not to do it again, is automatic. If you get sick, if someone, the three of you went into one restaurant and ate the same food, one got sick and died, one is dying, if you are well but asked would you like to go there again and have food? Probably, you will never want to. Because you don’t want it. You are sort of fed up with [Rimpoche talking to someone in audience] you don’t want to take Ujjen there [unclear]. So, in a very similar manner, that same thing that [Rimpoche laughing] they don’t want to go back, anybody, to that food, right? So, the regret is automatic. The meditation goes on, okay?

0:03:07.7 Rimpoche: So, meditate the lama who is inseparable from that of Vajrasattva on your crown. And there are three different meditations. One is called [YANG DIB?]. The other is called [MAN DIB?]. The other is called [PHUNG DIB]. So, [YANG DIB] means taking upwards and [MAN DIB] means pushing downwards, and [PHUNG DIB] means collectively clearing. One is upwards, one is downwards, the other is collectively clearing. How to explain, how does this work? So, when you are making, first, you have to have a [unclear], or something, taking refuge, bodhicitta, combined. Then generate Vajrasattva on your crown, who is inseparable from the root guru called Lama Vajrasattva and making, then meditate and regret very strongly whatever those non-virtues that you have knowingly done, and unknowingly done within the lifetime and within past lives, all of them, I would like to purify together, completely. So, then you say the mantra, at least OM VAJRA SATTVA AH twenty-one times. If possible, say the long hundred syllable mantra to Vajrasattva. While saying the mantra, the meditation [Rimpoche quoting in Tibetan] mantra, mudra, and samadhi together makes it work. I told you earlier, this. Mantra, mudra, and samadhi together, when the three combine, it works. So, here you say the mantra and the meditation here, it’s like a mudra, the meditation here, visualization. And light and liquid, white light and liquid comes from the body of Lama Vajrasattva and touches your crown and fills you [unclear] and pushes all the non-virtues and undesirable energies, all killing, stealing, whatever, any non-virtues that have lying, cheating, anything, whatever it is. It’s going. And the white powerful nectar with the light, touches us and pushes it down and reaches from the crown, throat, heart level, and it reaches different levels even you see, if you look in the bottles.

0:06:11.2 Rimpoche: The salad dressing, some have the thickness remain under, like the oil up. You see the division. Just like that, white sort of nectar above body, and black or undesirable energy, what color whatever you think the lower and upper white light and nectar pushing it down completely and getting it out of your body from your lower doors, from the [unclear], from every part of the body, lower body, getting it out completely going out of your body. And your body will become completely pure, clean, like a crystal filled up with white nectar which is positive energies that you have got from Lama Vajrasattva. That is one meditation. [unclear], okay? Now [YANG DIB]. It’s upwards. It’s like this, your body is here, and all your non-virtues and that energy, sort of black or undesirable energy, whatever the form is, you don’t like it, in that form. So, when the light and liquid from the Lama Vajrasattva’s body comes, it goes down here like the lowest part of the bottle when you pour water here. When it goes down, it starts lifting up, lifting up those undesirable energies in whatever form it has. It starts lifting up, lifting up, goes up to here, starting with the throat [over] so that means from your mouth, nose, ears, and from your crown, started going out of your body completely. Not only those undesirable forms are stuck, not only but out of it, but doesn’t stuck on your body, completely overflow and clean and clear, completely gone out of your body, not only from the inside but from the outside also. Washed completely clean. That’s why we call lit upwards. So, all the non-virtuous energies within your body or non-virtuous things, karma, or whatever you call it, it’s collected as kind of black [log], sort of lump at your heart level, sort of black, dark, collected forms here, and the darkness.

0:09:15.0 Rimpoche: And the light and liquid from the Lama Vajrasattva’s body, when it reaches it, it disappears. The darkness, like when the room is dark you switch on the light and the darkness disappears. Just like that, the light and liquid come from Lama Vajrasattva’s body and just by touching, inside your body, all the darkness disappears at your heart level. Whatever is collected, it just goes, no trace, it’s gone completely. When you switch on the lights, the shadow, the black darkness has no trace. It's gone, right? Just like that, it’s all gone, disappeared. This is the third type of meditation. At the end of that, then you think, you have to think Lama Vajrasattva has told you, “Child, now you are cleared, you are pure. You are one hundred percent pure and clear.” And now dissolve Lama Vajrasattva to yourself. That is very important to think, that you have been cleared, you are pure, and all of this. Every time that you do that. That’s briefly about purification, and now the time is already a little after ten already, so we cannot go anything beyond that today. However, I would like to go a little bit backwards saying, what did you gain today? What did you learn today? What did you gain today? So, when you look back, you probably had the guru devotional, recognition of samsara, how it functions, half [way?] through, and delusions and purification. And you do have samsara to carry home tonight. [Rimpoche laughs] And that’s good enough. And now we will say nine times the long Vajrasattva recitation. So, the first three you meditate with up down. And the second three, you meditate with down upwards. And the third three, you get a sort of, collective clearing. You meditate that, and finally you visualize Lama Vajrasattva told you that you are pure, and clean, and [unclear], okay? And dissolve to you. You can say OM BENZA SATTVA AH also, if you are very busy in your homes. But if you do this today, and if you have difficulties, you can raise questions tomorrow.

0:12:29.7 Rimpoche: Okay, so then followed by the Migtsema dedication, I don’t think we have time to do the Lam Rim dedication. Three Migtsema’s will do for the dedication. And that’s it and good night. I’ll see you tomorrow morning. Ten tomorrow, right.

0:12:56.3 Rimpoche: [First part of sentence cut off] where we left last night. So, last night, before the purification, what we have left is introducing what is really attachment, what we call attachment to this life. What is it really? What it really means to [go down to it.] So, I did mention to you it is the mind that seeks all the best qualities, including the [pain?], for me. It’s my mind seeking all the benefits, material benefits, including the [pain], seeking for me is the real [road down?] to the bottom line of the attachment, strong attachment to this life. If you have that, then that automatically starts driving you toward all sorts of things. So, if we sort of give up that, and then [unclear]. If I seek a better future life, would that be enough? If I seek a better future life, would that be enough for a dharma practitioner? Anybody would like to answer that? [No response from audience] Seeking a good future life is it true dharma or not? What about the people at the back? What? People are shaking their heads. All shake heads. Everybody’s shaking head. A good future life is not dharma. What about you?

0:15:37.2 Audience: [inaudible]

0:15:45.3 Rimpoche: [unclear] part of it. Not purely dharma. What is it, a mixture [or not]? It’s part of it, not a pure dharma, is it impure dharma? If it’s not pure, it has to be impure, right? What about you?

0:16:08.3 Audience: [inaudible]

0:16:29.7 Rimpoche: Okay, nobody’s giving me an answer so that means I have to give an answer. I say no. No! Seeking a better future life is also not pure dharma at all. Future life, seeking a good future life, for example I have to give you, what is really attachment for future life is. One [unclear] in the future, if I could be like Indra or Brahma type of samsaric god, or if I could be a good, rich, wealthy family member, some kind of well known human being. In short, if one seeks good material comfort, a place to live, material to use, things that we consider happiness of an ordinary way, and if I could get that sort of thing. And then you may add up that I can do better dharma, but still that is become if I have this, then I can do better dharma practice. So, just seeking all of it alone hold you back rather than lets you go. So, it holds you back. This is the sort of bottom-line definition of attachment for future life. Since even the future life that we are seeking is something we can see and think and imagine, it is within samsara alone. So therefore, it is not beneficial. It is holding you back, holding us back rather than letting it go and that’s an obstacle to having pure dharma practice.

0:19:13.0 Rimpoche: [unclear] it comes in there. So, one word says [Rimpoche in Tibetan] and it says Buddha who looked at like a great white horse, or something. So, the story behind that, it is a, I’m not sure if it’s a Hindu Buddhist myth whatever it is, but the real story behind this is a group of travelers of the, I think it would be two thousand or two thousand five hundred years ago, so it’s not like today. [Rural] travelers had some island somewhere and it could not go anywhere else. The island happened to be a haunted island and also everybody in that, sort of a hungry ghost who enjoys human flesh or something. That is the myth story, okay? So suddenly, the group of male travelers somehow, they broke their boat, or whatever it is and landed on that island. And those ghosts, they would like to catch them. So, the only way to catch them is by manifesting as a very beautiful, attractive woman figure. That’s why in the Buddhist [myth], they say women given as example of cheating and this and that. It’s just because of that myth story, the [travelers] use that example. It’s not that women cheat [very often]. That’s the reason, to clarify that. As a matter of fact, I’m a very strong feminine principal holder. [audience laughs, then Rimpoche laughs] But, the story goes like this. So, all this group of males are [dropping?] on that, and so they go [unclear] and this beautiful woman figure so they can get at least you know, they’re not suspicious, so they can take him in their home and feed him, something like that. And at night, every night they noticed they disappeared all this, the woman disappears. They’re wondering, what is this? But they’ve been looking after very well, feeding them well, taking to whatever, letting them go to the beach, whatever they want to do.

0:22:18.3 Rimpoche: But at night they disappear. So, they’re wondering, what is it? So, they decided to find out what the [unclear] what happens. At night, they can hear some kind of noise somewhere. So, they started following it to see what happens and they can’t find it. And after some time, they found a place where they locked dungeon, male and women all together, locked. They’re really locked. And they’re fat and locked in. So, they started communication with those people, and they said that, you [left it here], and we also [left it here] a while ago and blah, blah, blah. And they’ll treat you well in the beginning and after some time, they’ll kill you one by one and [unclear]. And then they sort of consumed the human beings one after another. So, it’s a storage place. So, the best thing is you better now while you are free, you better get out, time to run out of it. So, they’re sitting there totally stuck, how can they get out? So, they told a story. It said, on the full moon day, some great horse will come, and the horse comes here and drinks the water and washes himself sort of in the sandy land over there. He'll wash clean and that [sand?], without any hesitation [get the dust off?] they say this horse will make three noise, sort of normal horse noise. [Rimpoche make horse noise – audience laughs] And by making three things, what they are saying is if anybody wants to get out from here, come with me. So, at that time, without any hesitation, they said, we should ride the horse. And any of you that can’t ride all of them, the horse, the tail, or even a piece of hair will do. And sort of, you have to hold it and then go. The horse will take you away. However, if you show the slightest attachment, the slightest attachment, then you will be dropped, you will fall off, even you are riding on with [unclear]. So, that’s what story they told.

0:24:58.5 Rimpoche: So, then they waited. The full moon came, the horse came. So, everybody started jumping on the horse and some are holding a little piece of hair, some are holding the tail and all this. And the horse goes. And all these ghosts also knew, and they started coming after it and in the physical form [of the manifestation] said, how can you do this, how can you leave me, blah, blah, blah, all this, and started crying. Some started looking back, a little hesitant, and they start [dropping] more and more. [audience laughs] Those who didn’t look back, they got through. So, that’s why it says don’t look back in samsara. So, as I mentioned to you earlier, if you have some sort of attachment for the material benefit of this life, then it’s not dharma. And you are right, if you have some attachment to future life, it is dharma, but you are not seeking nirvana, okay? So, the Sakya SHEM PA CHI DA says [Rimpoche in Tibetan].

If you have attachment to this life, then you are not a dharma practitioner. If you have attachment for the future life, then you are not seeking liberation.

This is important at the bottom line. Remember it. So now, the moment you started giving up seeking benefits in either this or your future life, then all of your good work is directly focused automatically and geared towards development of either liberation or enlightenment.

0:27:17.1 Rimpoche: So, your dharma, whatever you do, will become automatic. On the other hand, you may worry all that, if I am sick for all this, what will happen to me within this life and what about my future lives, if there are? What will happen? You don’t have to worry. It is automatic. Just like if you become a [unclear], you don’t have to worry about buying food, right? [unclear] always making money, what will I eat, you don’t have to worry about it, right? Very similar to this, if I seek liberation, nirvana, or Buddhahood, you don’t have to worry about [unclear]. It’s automatic.

0:28:04.2 [Interpreter - Unknown Language]

0:28:21.4 Rimpoche: Your mind turned back from the attachment to this life is direct meditation, antidote meditation here with me, the importance of life, quality of the human life, difficult to find, and it’s impermanent. And that also, that is definite. There’s no certainty of the time limit when you will die. At the time of death, nothing but the dharma can help. So, these briefly say seven steps of the meditation will help one individual to cut the strong attachment for this life. This is the seven points. And out of those, three, death is definite, there’s no time certainty, and at the time of dying, nothing but dharma can help. It also has additional points here. It’s called the nine round, three roots. What are the nine rounds? Any one of you know? You. What’s the nine rounds? You don’t? [unclear] nine rounds, anybody else? Anybody else know the nine rounds? Hartmut. You have to take a lesson too.

0:30:38.3 Hartmut: There’s nothing to be added to the lifespan. You don’t have much time to practice anyway. And then the time of death is uncertain, and there are many causes of death, and the body is very fragile. And at the time of death, our wealth and possessions can’t help, and our friends and relatives can’t help, therefore only the, and our body also can’t help us. So therefore, only what we practice and develop our mind, that’s the only thing can help.

0:31:32.6 Rimpoche: Right. [unclear] Yeah, that is definite, right?

0:31:43.2 Audience: [unclear] Buddha died.

0:31:50.2 Rimpoche: Buddha died. No one’s lived. Anyway, there are three roots, six reasonings, and three resolutions. That’s what the nine round is. So, these are the important meditation. These are the important meditations to cut attachment for this life, okay? So, these meditations, many of you know. Some of you don’t know, but you can learn it. Read a book. Ask your questions of your spiritual masters and meditate, yeah, and that will tell you how it happens. It’s sort of an automatic push from one to another, all the steps push you. That’s why it’s called spiritual steps, so I’m going to show you from here to there how to walk, okay? So actually, the attachment to things in life hold you back, how to cut it is through those meditations. And attachment to future lives, how to cut that is knowing the karma system in general and the Four Noble Truths. Four Noble Truths, these are cutting the attachment for even the future lives. So, by cutting, by seeing the faults in here will automatically turn you toward that side. As I gave that example yesterday, when you see that your future is not very great here, what do you do? You look for immigration.

0:34:33.9 Rimpoche: Earlier, with nine round, I don’t think it’s been very clear. So, actually there are three roots. That is the benefit of meditating death and dying stage, disadvantages of not meditating death and dying stage, and actual dying stage, meditating the actual dying stage. Then nine reasons on top. Then three resolution [doubts?]. So, these are, that’s how you count it. So, this is an important point, but you don’t have to do it all the time. And when you do this, add the Four Noble Truths meditation. And then what will happen, huh? [Rimpoche in Tibetan] By that time, you will develop such an attitude, our attitude will change. Today’s attitude, when you look out and see some beautiful and nice things, you say Hey, I wish I could get that, I wanted to get that. Some people may not even think about it because it’s too [unclear], too expensive, can’t afford it. That’s not renouncing. That’s a very timid mind, sort of weak, very, very weak mind. You’re scared of the money, that’s why it’s not really renouncing. But actually, renouncing will come when this material thing will not draw much attention to you. I think it will not draw any attention even for a single minute, draw no attention. So, two days ago, I was watching a movie at night. I forgot what the movie is it. [Onassis] yes, [Onassis] on the TV, right? And when he comes back from somewhere and tries to draw the attention of his wife, he gives what, some jewelry in the right hand and left hand and says, how easy to draw attention of my wife. [audience laughs] So, that is a clear sign how the material draws attention. So, even such jewelry cannot draw attention to you, not by the [unclear] way, but sort of the desire way, and even then, you have no appreciation on that. And any one of the material things you don’t appreciate or draw any attachment to.

0:37:39.2 Rimpoche: Whatever it is, form, sound, smell, touch, whatever senses they give you some kind of satisfaction, doesn’t draw much attention to you, doesn’t mean much. Then, day and night, seeking liberation, if you get that, it is a sign that you have developed spiritual development of this determination to be free or renunciation. That is a sign. If you don’t have that, you don’t have it. [audience laughs] These are the signs. We need to know the signs of development, each one of the stages, there are signs of development. You have to observe your mind, and see do I have that sign, or I don’t have that sign? And when you don’t have that sign with you, then that means you don’t have renunciation. If you have the sign, that’s good. You don’t have to do any more. Next step. Next step here is bodhimind, okay?

0:38:58.7 Rimpoche: We have to switch to the second principle, that is the bodhimind. Now, bodhimind is a very, very special mind. Most of you have read the Bodhisattvacaryavatara, so you know in that what is really the benefit you get. The first chapter is totally devoted to the benefits of bodhicitta. It is great, read it. And you should also, when you read the Bodhisattvacaryavatara, make sure you read the commentary in English [available]. It’s called Meaningful to Behold by Geshe Kelsang. It’s a very good commentary. If you read the commentary and the root text together, it’s very good. It’s very beneficial, okay? So, the benefit of the bodhimind, development of the bodhimind is, there are a lot of them. The most important is [Rimpoche in Tibetan]. The moment you developed bodhimind, everybody will call you the son of the buddhas. You don’t have to think son as a son, children of the Buddha. The reason is it was done during the old Indian society period. Buddha came two thousand five hundred years ago. Buddhism worked according to the society’s [unclear]. If you don’t work according to how society’s functioning, then you are not effective, useful. So therefore, it works with society’s functioning. At that time, a lot of caste systems were available in India. So, the caste system. So, if your father is a Gupta, you’ll be Gupta, and if your father is [Agrawan] you’ll be [Agrawan] and if your father is Brahman, you’ll be Brahman. If your father is a shoemaker, you’ll sort of be called a shoemaker. So, that was all custom. Why? The children will normally take the profession of the father, [unclear] if not all society.

0:42:08.5 Rimpoche: So, that’s why, it also giving example by the Buddha. It is giving example if you are Buddha’s children, you’ll take up Buddha’s profession. So, that’s why it’s called the moment you become, you pick up the bodhimind, you are called children of Buddha. And by being children of Buddha, and you’ll be greatly respected, even better than great, old, knowledgeable arhats. Even more respected than that. In order to satisfy you, you should read [Vimalakîrti?] and [Vimalakîrti] will tell you all these different stories, [Vimalakîrti]. And only eligible good translation in English available is by Robert Thurman. So, the [Vimalakîrti] will tell you how the bodhisattvas working with the arhats, the relationship between bodhisattvas and arhats and that fellow, what’s his name? I forgot.

Audience: [unclear]

Rimpoche: No, no, no, no, no. That bodhisattva who gave [Vimalakîrti] [unclear] and how he teased Shariputra, and [unclear] and all of them, having a smile and giving food, and all sorts of funny things, and it’s very interesting. I like it. [Rimpoche laughs] I’m sure a lot of you enjoy it. So, I can’t read the English, but I read in Tibetan. So, it’s very interesting, okay? So, you should read [Vimalakîrti] and then you know the relationship between the bodhisattvas and the arhats.

0:44:13.8 Rimpoche: So anyway, bodhisattvas are much more respected than arhats, much more, higher. No matter how senior, learned, well-seasoned, mature arhats like Shariputra or [Mahongaputra?]. And when you compare with bodhisattva Manjushri and Avalokiteshvara, and Vimalakîrti and so forth, they have to hide behind. And Vimalakîrti was so sharp, attacking the arhats and when they have to go to him, they could not go all by themselves and had to hide behind Manjushri. I remember that. Those who read it, I’m sure you remember. So, all these are there. So, why bodhisattvas much more respected? Because they are the children of Buddha. So, Buddha’s family member. [Rimpoche laughs – audience laughs] That’s joke, but it’s sort of like that. So, it is much more valuable, important, than that of any other. Example given here is the diamond against, what do you call those? Agate stones. Diamond against agate stones. No matter how great the agate and how big it is, but a small diamond will destroy

it's value [unclear] compare it. So similarly, a young bodhisattva who has just developed bodhimind, very fragile, important, rather raw, uneducated, will be much more valuable than that of well-seasoned mature arhats. And most important thing, you can read all the benefits from the book, but in short, I will mention one thing here. If a young bodhisattva [playing] in a horse cart, and if there’s nobody who pulls horse cart, buddhas will not hesitate to run and pull the horse cart. No hesitation whatsoever.

0:47:10.2 Rimpoche: So, that much respect Buddha gives to the young bodhisattvas. It shows how important the young bodhisattvas are. If you look at Chandrakirti’s work, [Rimpoche in Tibetan] all the arhats and persons [who in two words] arhats are, born out of Buddha. Born out of Buddha. What do you mean by born out of the Buddha? Because Buddha gave them a teaching, Buddha showed the path, Buddha showed the way, so that’s why it is Buddha’s children. Buddha [unclear] them. And born out of Buddha, that’s what they say. But Buddha is born out of bodhisattva. Buddhas are born out of bodhisattvas. [Rimpoche in Tibetan] Buddha is born out of a bodhisattva. So, it shows how important a bodhisattva is. Bodhisattva is born out of bodhimind. Bodhimind is born out of great compassion. So, the bodhimind and the great compassion is the cause for the individual to become a bodhisattva. Okay? So, that’s why Buddha’s have so much respect for bodhisattvas. It’s like this, Buddhas are born out of bodhisattvas. The arhats and all other are born out of Buddha. Buddhas are born out of bodhisattvas. Bodhisattvas are born out of bodhimind. Bodhimind is born out of [unclear], so the great compassion is the most important.

0:49:59.9 Rimpoche: Okay, now what is great compassion? What is compassion? What is great compassion? What is the difference there? Everybody has had compassion. A normal human being, unless it is yakshas or rakshas, or that type of thing, but every human being has great compassion, I mean a lot of compassion. For example, if anybody sees somebody [knocking?] on the street, or sees somebody suffering, or your neighbors are suffering, or something like that, you’ll feel a pinch and want to help. That, everybody has. That is part of compassion. Wanting to help means, what do we think wanting to help? Actually, we all talk a lot, I want to help, I want to help. What does that mean? I want to give relief to that person. That’s what it is. When you see the person is suffering, we wanted to remove the suffering, so I wanted to help him, to relieve him, contribute to removing his pain. That’s what actually [love] is. Compassion is sort of desire, desire to relieve or remove the pains and sufferings from the beings that you see suffering. So, that is compassion, briefly stated. Love is the other way around. It’s like one piece of paper you fold this way or that way, one face or the other face. Love is the other way. Wanting to build a joyful state, make it happy, make it joyful. That’s what it is. Sort of another desire to make the person you love, making them the most comfortable you can according to your imagination of comfort or good. That’s what you wanted to do, that’s what love is, of Buddhist love [unclear – Rimpoche laughing]. And that is compassion.

0:52:30.6 Rimpoche: So, such a compassion of what I mentioned to you is available with every one of us. Almost everybody has it, except the two [woodless?] persons. Otherwise, everybody has that. However, that’s not great enough. That’s not great, that’s not what we call great compassion. What is the great compassion that we call great compassion? Great compassion, the object just now if you take the small compassion, it is objected on one single individual, the person for whom you care. You concentrate on that or the person that is suffering in front of your eyes. So, that is one small object of that compassion, so it’s not the greater compassion. Greater compassion should be object, object of the great compassion should be equal to all beings, not all human beings, but all beings which is almost impossible for us. But that’s what it is. So, if you want great compassion, if you want to become a buddha, we have to have the bodhimind. If we want the bodhimind, we have to have great compassion. We have to work for it. It is almost looks like impossible, but not impossible. It is possible. But when you look at it just now, it is totally impossible to have a great compassion for all beings, that including friends, enemies, and strangers. And also including the other beings, such as hungry ghosts, hungry ghosts, animals, that includes cockroach, snakes, porpoise, frogs, all of them, equal. It’s impossible, at this moment. I don’t think so. It’s not possible, no.

0:55:21.0 Rimpoche: Especially enemies are not possible. We don’t wish well to enemies. We would like to harm them whatever the best way we can through mantra, yantra, tantra, [audience laughs] don’t we? So anyway, that shows inequality within our mind. As long as we have inequality, we cannot have one smoothness. If you don’t have one smoothness, you won’t have great compassion at all. So, in order to develop great compassion, first you have to develop smoothness in the mind, the smoothness. That smoothness is if you want to make a painting, if you want to paint something, you need a smooth surface. The painters will tell better than I do. But you do need some smooth surface, you can’t have something like this, something like that, making a drawing or a figure, a woman figure or something, if somethings like this or somethings like that. That won’t do, right? So, it has to be a very smooth surface. Similarly, to bring great compassion in mind we have to have equanimity. There are some meditations on the equanimity and all this, but our time is getting to twelve, so we have to do the meditation on equanimity before twelve fifteen, so [unclear] still there, so maybe we can do the equanimity meditation, short one, before we make the break. We’ll do a short meditation on equanimity. Okay.

0:57:43.0 Rimpoche: So, the meditation normally as you know how to do it. Everybody’s a great meditator here, correct? That’s no problem. What you have to visualize is, let’s say you close your eyes for a minute and try to produce three different persons in front of you, okay? There will be one enemy, one friend, one stranger. So, produce three different faces. If you don’t have an enemy, produce the person who irritates you [audience laughs] and there are people, irritators, always. You may not have an enemy, but irritators are there. So, look at them carefully. When you look at your friend or the person you love the most or care the most, meditate his face or her face very strongly and look at your mind immediately. You’ll see the mind looked happy and smiling, light, white. Okay, that’s one. Now look if you have an enemy. Look at it. The moment you see the face, [aaaaaah], a little bit of dark, [zoom], uneasiness, the mind [unclear], doesn’t want to see, that type of thing, right? Leave that there. Now think a stranger and look at the mind. No feeling, nothing. That is the nature of the [unclear]. One has the strong like. One has the strong dislike. The others care less.

1:00:09.6 Rimpoche: So, that is the roughness of the mind. Now how to make smoothen that? One makes easier. Say, why I feel so bad when I see this fellow? Why I dislike so much? There you have reasons. Of course, I dislike because he or she did this to me, this to me, that to me. He or she did this, this, this, a hundred and one reasons to hate. Out of them that’s the most important. He or she accused me of being a thief in public and slapped me in front of everybody. Most people don’t have it, but imagine if you have something like that, a slap made in front of everybody. So, if I don’t get angry, I’m not a human being. [audience laughs] Don’t laugh, it’s a serious meditation, it’s not a joke. Looks impossible, but just imagine that way. Then I give you another silly meditation like that. Alright, I’m very angry with this person because he slapped me in public and accused me of being a thief though I am not. I did nothing. I’m very angry with you. So, when I say yes, true, you are right. The fellow accused you, you did nothing. But his hand hit you, he didn’t hit you. So, are you going to get angry with his hand? What’s the answer, what are you going to tell me? What a silly fellow you are. Nobody gets angry on hand, getting angry on the person. He used hand and he hit me. Though he used his hand to hit me, but actually he’s the one, not the hand. If he’s not there, hand won’t move and touch me. That’s true, very true.

1:03:05.5 Rimpoche: Similarly, he’s been used by his anger, not by himself. If he doesn’t have the anger, he would not have done that. So, it is his anger which really hit me rather than he, as I agree, hand didn’t hit me, he did it. So similarly, if there’s no anger, he would not have hit me at all. So, when I really look deeply, I’ll find his anger is my enemy rather than him. As the hand is not the enemy, he is the enemy, when I look deeper in him, it’s not him, it’s anger. And then watch your mind once. You’ll have some understanding; you’ll open some room. This is the beginning of equanimity. We’ll take the steps to the bodhimind after lunch.

[crowd noise – people talking]

1:06:23.1 Rimpoche: So, we had a talk about equanimity. Until you build equanimity, there’s no way you can look at all the sentient beings as one of your closest, nearest and dearest. After equanimity, it may be possible, so that enemies are not so bad and friends are not so, that much different. Maybe it’s possible. I’m going to a little bit faster, but after equanimity to development of bodhimind, you have to look at all the sentient beings as one of your closest, dearest, and nearest. Buddha’s experience recommended to look as mother beings, all sentient beings as mother beings. For a number of reasons, some people don’t like their mother. Yeah, it’s true. Some do appreciate their mother, but they think it some kind of authority figure rather than [microphone screeching]. So, I thought on that very carefully, especially in the west. I mean there’s not much problem of mother being here, but in the west a lot of people do have that problem. So, I thought of it, tried to experience, try to substitute it by using father, by using friend, by using girlfriend, boyfriend, whatever you like. Somehow it doesn’t work. There’s a lot of reasons for that, that it doesn’t work. So, the mother being is important. There’s no substitute for that, as far as I’m concerned.

1:09:03.0 Rimpoche: [First part cut off] the mother’s love for her children, never. I think only mothers will know, not me. [audience laughs] As far as mothers concerned there are a lot of kindness’s given to the children. Not only they carried in their body, not only they are giving birth, but they saved their life a number of times per day. The mothers have saved our life a number of times per day. Not only that, they choose themselves to suffer rather than their children to suffer. Whatever if there is something better, food, they want their children to eat before the mother does. If there is better clothes, they want the children to wear it before the mother does. So, in short, even if there is something substituted to getting sick, the mother without any hesitation to choose themself to get sick than before their children. If they can substitute dying, they’ll be happy to die for their child rather than the children dying. This sort of love, kindness, compassion constantly day after day, month after month, year after year shown by the mother to the children cannot be substituted by either the girlfriend or boyfriend, or whatever, not even the father. For a being, it’s really become a sort of a one of your very closest and dearest being. And no matter whatever the mother, it [unclear] you. It is one of the most kindest and nearest and dearest being for all of us, the majority speaking. [First part cut off] younger generation, some of them, when they have a little university education or high school education, they can look down on their mother who may not be educated. Saying well, you know nice way to say she is what? Old style [lowe?] Old fashioned [lowe?], or sometimes maybe Chinese educated [lowe].

1:12:11.9 Rimpoche: You begin to look down. However, the kindness and compassion that’s given to you, if they are not taking care of you, you would not be educated at all. So, they should not forget that. That’s an important point. You have a mother who has been so kind, brought you up, educated you, and made it possible to be in the line of great human beings. And we have to remember their kindness. Whatever good they did to you, we cannot forget. Not only can you not forget, but you have to repay their kindness. Though, they may think they like to make children, so they made me, and I was born. It’s not they willingly got me, whatever the reason, excuse you may have it. But whatever it is [Rimpoche laughs], but whatever the reason you may have, it’s not an excuse enough. So, they’ve been kind and you have to repay their kindness. Whoever has been good to you, you have to be back good to that person no matter whatever it is. And if you don’t do that, what we call it, somebody working kind to you, if you try to pay a kindness in a rather funny way, it’s not considered a good person, forget about a dharma practitioner. It’s not even considered a good person. So, somebody who’s been good to you, and you try to be bad with them, to repay their kindness. I don’t know if the Chinese have a saying or not, the Tibetan have [Rimpoche in Tibetan]. Somebody’s kind and who have been very kind to you, and you get a stone a hit on it. Which is not considered very good [trash or crash?], you know. So, it’s considered not a good person, and I’m sure there must be a similar saying in Chinese. I’m sure you know. And if they don’t depend on their child, who else they can go? If they don’t turn to their children, who else can they turn to? And they do expect their children to help them as well as, if they’re good children, it’s always expected them to help when the parents grow older, and when they cannot manage by themselves. If they don’t return to their children, who else can they turn to?

1:15:06.7 Rimpoche: If the children did not look after them, who else can look after? [somebody tells Rimpoche something inaudible – Rimpoche laughs] If every children taking care of their parents, there’s no need for old folks homes. But since it’s not, we do need it. Anyway, that is joke. But that is the true situation. So therefore, for now, going back to really a dharma position, when you look at it, that doesn’t mean you have to keep your children present all the time at home twenty-four hours, fighting with them. You don’t have to do that. But you have to take care of [unclear] you know. You know that. Because sometimes when I talk like this, and people get misunderstanding. It’s not really necessarily you know that way, but you take care of [her] and that’s good enough, whatever is suitable. Circumstances, conditions, all this sort of thing, the well being of a person, circumstances, conditions, areas, persons, availability of the rooms, it all counts right? So anyway, taking care of is important. Also, the balance will depend on the children, otherwise who else will do it? The children have to take care of the parents because they took care of when you have not been capable of taking care. That’s sort of a dependent relation, I think, a very close relation. And as much as this life’s parents have given kindness and dependent relation, as much as we have previous lives also. So, in reality, when you begin to look after all the sentient beings one after another, there is not a single sentient being you cannot take out saying this has not been my mother. There’s none, whatsoever. Our life circle brings life after life, one after another life. Every time, you don’t have the same mother, otherwise mother has to rush to keep giving you birth all the time. It’s not going to be here, right? It’s not possible. So, you change your life, you change your parents too. So, each life you have different parents. So, when you look at it close, sometime your father could have been your mother and your mother could have been your father in another lifetime. Vice versa the child could have been your parents, you could have been your children’s parents. Versa versa, this relation is with every sentient being truly speaking. Buddha said so. Buddha could not find any single person who had not been the parents of another person.

1:18:22.2 Rimpoche: Look at sentient beings. Because of our death and birth, we do not recognize each other, because of the shock that we go through during the death and birth we forget our previous lives, so we do not recognize each other. But otherwise, countless lives, limitless live that I have been through and of the other sentient beings gone through, so every time we have been giving birth to each other. To all the sentient beings, there is a very, very close link, relation with all of them and me. So, when I have all of the different mothers here, and I cannot be so close to one and but can be so distant to another one. They are really all of them been kind and compassionate and taking care of, saving my life, brought me to this level. So, I’m grateful to all of them equally. I’m [indebted] to their [gratitude] sort of equally. That’s what you have to make up your mind and [unclear]. So, when you are sort of indebted to them, you have to look at their condition. How is their condition? Now you are concerned. You’re concerned, so you begin to look at their condition and you see most of them suffering. Actually, suffering is something that is very important. So, this one is interdependent development. Unless and until you see yourself as suffering and unless and until you develop compassion to yourself, it’s very difficult to develop compassion on others because when you look in yourself, you don’t see suffering yourself. When you try to see other people are suffering, it’s very difficult to feel anything. It’ll be simple words which have no feelings. It won’t move your heart.

1:21:05.3 Rimpoche: But when you see, meditate yourself sufferings, sufferings and difficulties on you, then you will promise that on the other persons, as I am suffering here there, here there, and all these persons that I care the most are suffering here and there and here and there, then you can feel it at the heart. It will not only be words like a parrot said, but it will like a human being thinking and moving. And when that happens, we are moving a step. So, when you meditate, I mean these are the, when I talk to you it looks like talking, but I’m giving you material to meditate. And when you meditate like this, in the beginning you should meditate on your closest and dearest and nearest rather than going to enemies or some people you don’t like. You know, sometimes the mind is such a thing it can revolt. So, from closeness and then extending to a variety of people. At the same time, when you’re meditating, sort of recognizing as mother beings all and remembering their kindness, all this, you always, though when you say all sentient beings, when you close down, you sort of have the idea of a big guy sitting over here, big one close in, but all mother sentient beings are small little dot, dot, black dot surrounding all, the sort of the ground filled with little dots. And you are this big guy you may visualize it sort of that way. And that’s not very nice. And what you have to do is go and see personally, each individual. You see your friends and the near and dear ones that you know, you care, you recognize them by each and everybody by their face and name and look, shadow, sound, whatever so you have a personal touch. It is so important. If you begin to lose the personal touch, and it becomes black dotted beings, then you become very arrogant. When you close your eyes and meditate, ah, great love, compassion, all these, but when you have to deal with the person to person, you are arrogant. You cannot be touched. You’ll become and act like as though superior human being, all this at fault of the individual meditating.

1:24:05.5 Rimpoche: When you were meditating, you thought you were superior and that’s why it’s a fault. Even in daily life, you become arrogant, superior, superhuman being type of, you might as well add the six million dollar man or something. [audience laughs] As dharma practitioners, the more you become a dharma practitioner, the more you’re involved in dharma, then that much you should have a human touch, a human touch. His Holiness the Dalai Lama emphasizes always heart to heart, he says. A warm heart that’s it, not heart to heart. He says a warm-hearted feeling. So actually, you need that warm heart feeling, that heart to heart touch. The relation between the person to person, the relation between the spiritual guides and the disciples, the relation between dharma friends, relation between dharma practitioners, relations between all beings should be heart to heart. Otherwise, what is the use? One is a superhuman being and one is a helpless human being. This doesn’t do good at all, doesn’t do any good at all. So, there should be a personal touch, the heart to heart. That is so important, okay? So, what are you going to build up, practical relation with other beings as a heart-to-heart level, or you want going to build up a superhuman being level? It totally depends on where you meditate this level. At this level, if you lose the human touch, the heart-to-heart touch, if you lose this then you become an arrogant guy who’ll go somewhere else. I don’t think you can develop love compassion at all to all sentient beings. I don’t think so. It will only be a dotted line, so when you close your eyes, you will have great love compassion but when you deal with human beings, you don’t have it at all. So, that will be totally useless bodhisattva. [audience laughs] I remember I saw yesterday somewhere a book and I remember this. When Atisha was in Tibet, Atisha told Tibetans [Rimpoche in Tibetan] he says, you Tibetans know a bodhisattva who doesn’t know what is love and compassion is. Did you understand what I mean? It’s you only to a sarcastic remark.

1:27:17.9 Rimpoche: Bodhicitta and all this come from India and uh, Atisha brought, right? So, he says, you Tibetans know a bodhisattva who does not know love compassion at all. In other words, it’s only you Tibetans [tense?] have a bodhisattva who cannot deal with sentient beings. That’s only you know, and we don’t know. [audience chuckles] That’s what Atisha says. So, it is a very important point. So, there is no bodhisattva who does not know how to deal with sentient beings, right? If you find an arrogant fellow, it’s a clear sign that he’s not a bodhisattva. Whether there has been a bodhisattva who doesn’t know because you cannot do with love and compassion or not, but what we need is we should not produce ourselves a bodhisattva how to deal with bodhisattva who does not know how to deal with sentient beings on the basis of love and compassion. We have to take care of that. In other words, our future bodhisattva should be a real bodhisattva who really has good love compassion be able to deal with all sentient beings. And we should take care now that we will not produce a future arrogant bodhisattva. Thank you, and that’s enough.

1:29:00.9 Rimpoche: Next step is the third step to make your mind, to convince yourself, that I have to repay their kindness back. When you remember the kindness, repaying the kindness is automatic almost because we all want to be good human beings, good person. Nobody wants to be a bad person, right? I don’t think there’s anybody who wants to be a bad person. Everybody wants to be a good person, that’s why you are here. That’s why we try to put the [heart level?], everybody wants to be good. Who wants to be bad? Nobody, right? Maybe except me. [audience laughs] Nobody wants to be bad; everybody wants to be good. So therefore, if a good person means person, people who have been kind to you, you’ll be able to return their kindness and be good to them back whatever the way you can. It’s the normal standards of being a good person, right? So, everybody wants to be that. So, you make up, [suggest] to yourself that all the sentient beings have been good to me, more than good. I mean it’s almost like you cannot repay their kindness. But now I should pay, whatever I could. Why do I have to pay? Because they have been good to me. And I can see their problems, their sufferings and pains and they’re like a mother to me. I’m like their only child, whether it’s a girl or boy, doesn’t matter, only child [unclear]. So, if they don’t seek help from me, from whom they shall seek? If I don’t try to help them, how can I be a good person? So, I’m indebted. I have to pay my way. So, helping here is a lot of ways. Well, to building a shelter for the homeless is one way of helping, to saving a life is one way of helping. To giving medicine to the poor who needed medicine is another way of helping. And to help whatever is needed, it’s very famous around here to support a monastery that needs it. That’s a good way of doing it. But also, you have to think the younger kids who cannot educate themselves, to help them. There’s another way of doing it, you cannot, some people, I mean, they have no problem at all to educate, some of them do have a lot of problem to get educated. To help them is great help.

1:32:13.9 Rimpoche: And of course, the elder people who don’t have a place to go, providing them shelter, food. Shelter and food is also very good. At the same time, you need the warmness, personal taking care of, building a personal relation, [getting] to each other. I mentioned that the other day also, now I’m not going to talk too much because there’s not much time. Helping with a personal relation, building something, some warmness, not a physical concrete building built up or whatever it is and regular [mail] comes through and it’s sort of unhuman treatment that normally you get in the western hospitals and all this type of thing. It’s not the right way to serving [wrong?]. There should be like a little personal touch, warmness. They must take care of that too. So, that’s another way. And the most important here, most important here, is you have the opportunity here to give them a permanent happiness and be able to guide all the sentient beings to Buddhahood. What else can you do more than that? I mean really! This is the ultimate help we can give. All other are great, but they are secondary help compared to what you can lead them to dharma and lead them to the Buddhahood. And that is the greatest help. And as I’m telling you, we are by chance having the opportunity to do so. It is by luck, by sheer luck that we happen to be in this condition. We happen to be at this atmosphere, we happen to be connected with pure dharma. We happen to be connected with Buddhahood. We happen to be connected to be the children of the Buddha. And with this condition, we can help them. And if we don’t help them now, when and where are you going to do what? [words cut off] you have love [words cut off] because you want to make them happy, you automatically have compassion because you want to remove their pain. So, that means you’re really having a good love for all the sentient beings as well as great compassion to all sentient beings. And now the next [unclear] comes, I’m going to help them whatever, it doesn’t matter, whatever it is. I’m going to take total responsibility of helping them. So, sort of passing a resolution by yourself saying I am dedicating myself to help all of the sentient beings, whatever it is. Whatever it may take. So, that’s taking a personal responsibility of liberating all the beings. It’s called special mind. And this is the division, this is where the line is drawn between the Mahayana and Hinayana. Because it’s not that Hinayana doesn’t have love compassion, they have great love compassion. But they don’t have the personal [tape ends]