Archive Result

2110Sound file Tape: 19950101GRAR8FP01

Speaker: Gelek Rimpoche

Location: Ann Arbor

Topic: Experience of the Buddha Shakyamuni

Transcriber: Steve Kelly

Date Finished 7/22/17

Saved as RTF

ARE sponsor: I guess I have been conference manager for about a year and ARE said to me “Rebecca, we want to send you to Omega Institute to check out how they run their conferences, You can go to any conference you would like to – Whoaa.

Gelek Rimpoche introduction

So, like all of you I’m very interested in meditation and I chose a meditation conference and so I went to spent a week with Gelek Rimpoche up in upstate New York at Omega. 000018

He was so wonderful it was such a wonderful week I just knew I had to have him come to ARE and speak to our group. This is the 2nd time I think he’s been here he has also done a field program for us very recently in Detroit and we hope he’ll do a few more with us in 1996.

So let me give you a little bit of his background. He was born in Tibet in 1939 and he is an Incarnate Lama of the Drepung Monastic University. That was the largest Tibetan monastery that ever existed and at its height it housed over 13,000 monks.000046

He was carefully tutored by some of the Tibet’s greatest living Masters and he received his scholastic degree it’s the highest degree given and he received it an exceptionally young age. He gained renown for his powers of memory, intellectual judgment, and intuitive perception.

In 1959 he fled with other Tibetan monks to India and had lived there in the beginning and he gave up the monastic life to better serve the lay community of Tibetan Buddhist practitioners. He edited and printed over 170 volumes of rare Tibetan manuscripts that would have otherwise been lost to humanity and continuously worked to to preserve the Tibetan culture during this time of communist persecution.

In the late 1970s Rimpoche was directed by both the senior and junior tutors to His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s to begin teaching in English. Since that time he’s taught Tibetan practitioners in India, Malaysia, Europe, and America.

He is an example of kindness, generosity, good humor and inspirational insight and he is particularly distinguished for his thorough knowledge of English, his familiarity with modern culture and his special effectiveness as a teacher to Western practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism.

He has a center called Jewel Heart that is located in Ann Arbor, Michigan. They have centers throughout the world and I’m sure if you’d like more information about his center we will have a sign-up sheet in the back or he may have brought some materials with them. So let’s give a warm welcome this morning to Gelek Rimpoche.

Rimpoche begins

Rimpoche: Thank you for having me here and also the wonderful introduction that Rebecca has just given and I do enjoy being with the center here because we almost work exactly for the same purpose and the purpose of betterment of human beings and the human consciousness and bringing to the level of the enlightenment which is definitely very very important in people’s life.

So I always enjoy working with the center and also I must say all of you are wonderful beings that makes me very happy to see a lot of wonderful people together.

As for today’s subject what I’ve been asked to talk to you about is, I mean not only asked to talk to you but I can only speak to you about my background of the Tibetan Buddhism.

From that prospect only I can speak because that is the only thing I know. 000308

Eight-fold path

I cannot speak about anything else which I don’t know so the background of the Tibetan Buddhism and the subject what I’ve been asked to talk about is the eight fold path of the Buddha’s way of leading the people to the Enlightenment.

So I do have some sort of sheet return all of them some where you’ll get them. Whenever it comes around that only has what 12345678 I think it’s coming there and that’s about that.

What I really would like to do is and talk to you about is the Buddha’s message or the Buddha’s way how Buddha really had reached the Enlightenment by his own efforts and his experience.

Whatever he had gained there after he tried to share with the people that is the Buddha’s message. So I would like to share whatever little I know about that. So before I do that I would like to that will be slightly different for me if I know how many of you know about or have quite a reasonable background about Buddhism or Tibetan Buddhism.

So actually only one or 2 hands oh there are quite a lot of them thank you. But still the majority is it is not in that category so I’ll briefly go over the teachings that Buddha has given is actually nothing but than that of his personal experience.

Buddha’s personal experience

If you look briefly at the Buddha’s life then you will know it because the way and how Buddha was brought up in India, this is about 2500 years ago. How he was brought up is interesting he is one of the richest Indian princes in the state and the Royal Son and is supposed to become an extremely important person. 801

So the family and the country is hoping that he will become one of what the Indians call Charkra vaji raja which means a universal King - not only a small King which will sort of take over whatever his father estate or father’s, I hate to use the word subject or property and all this but anyway 837

He is supposed to become the universal King that’s what they were hoping. In those days the soothsayers if you have difficulty understanding me please do raise your hand stop me because I never learned English. So truly say I’ve never been to school and never learned so that’s what it is. So if you have difficulty understanding me please stop me.

So anyway soothsayers at that time they were telling those people if you can keep this fellow in your country you do have a Charkra vaji raja a universal King. So the country made a total decision sort of a unanimous decision no matter whatever it may take they are going to go all out to keep him in the house.

So what they did is they provided him a totally artificial life. They built a completely new palace and filled it up with all sorts of beautiful things and they made strict rules that people around that palace all has to be young in age beautiful, handsome, whatever. Nobody can go there if you’re sick. They provided him with a totally artificial life. So he’d been wondering but he also had off-limits areas, certain areas he cannot go out. So naturally he’s always wondering what is beyond that limit?

So he had a curious mind and he kept pushing to look for whatever is out there. That’s the only thing he wanted to know what’s out there? So finally one day he made up his mind, I’m going to go out there. So he got one of those drivers who drives the horse cart and told him take me out that way. So it was off-limits but he got this big order in this big powerful guy a young kid so he drove off the limits and the young prince sees somebody sick.

And he says what is this​? And the driver says this is called sickness people are sick with pain. So the prince asked what is pain? The driver replied there are difficulties they are in pain. The prince asked, Will I be subject to that? He looked back at him and said yes unfortunately you will be subject to that. So he said, alright lets go back.

He did this 4 times in 4 directions. So one time he saw a sick person. 1208

One time he saw a dead person people were carrying a dead body. He said what is this? The driver said this is called death. So he asked what does that do? You don’t see anymore you’re disconnected you will not talk anymore, you don’t recognize each other anymore because you’re disconnected, you are gone, it is called death.

So the same question will I be subject to this? He said yes you’ll be subject to this one day you’ll do the same thing one day. So then he saw for the first time he saw the aging people. People in old age who were finding it difficult to walk and physical difficulties and he wondered what it is. He was told the same thing.

The same question will I become like that too? His driver said yes. Then the 4th one that he saw is a meditator, a very peaceful person meditating. He said what is that person doing? He said he’s meditating. He said what does that mean?

He tries to overcome those difficulties that you have seen for the last 3 days. Oh, can I do that same thing? The driver said yes, you can do the same thing. And that’s how he made up his mind finally to leave the palace and go and meditate.

Buddha leaves the palace

So he did meditate for a long time, with a lot of effort. Finally he did find the solution to solve those problems. And that is Buddha’s experience basically. He experienced all this and so he found a way out and on that basis what he taught is the 4 Noble truths which I listed in the 2nd portion here.

The truth of suffering

So basically the Buddha’s teaching is only what he’d experienced. So he counts here the first noble truth is the truth of suffering.. It is very interesting. In American culture sometimes people don’t like to talk about suffering.

Sometimes people don’t like to hear about suffering and don’t think about suffering. I did have an experience in Texas in 1977. In Texas, I was on a short visit at that time I was mostly living in India. I was making a short visit in Texas and I was talking to a person.

I didn’t even know who the person really is but he was a nice guy. And I was talking to him about about Tibet and the Tibetan refugees and their difficulties and things like that. 1552

After little while he turned around and he wrote a check and gave me a $4000 check and said that it’s for you take it. And then he said I’m giving you that not because you are Tibetan or you are a refugee that’s because you been kicked up by the communist Chinese so I’m giving you that.

However I don’t like to hear about the suffering nor would I like to see the Tibetan refugees in India. I don’t want to go to India. I said why? He said because there’s too much suffering. I don’t want to hear about it. I don’t want to see it. I don’t want to do anything about it. So that’s what it is.

So I didn’t say anything I thanked him for the check, what else can you do? But in my own mind I said well by not talking about it by sort of isolating yourself out of the suffering try to put up in artificial shield which Buddhas had already received from his parents an artificial shield you know an artificial life and tried to avoid that and it didn’t help001048

That’s why in his experience is first the truth of suffering. He said that is the truth what he really discovered after he was wondering what is beyond my limitations.

So what he found was the truth of suffering. So the truth of suffering is something that is with all of us. We all have it whether we like it or not. We don’t like it. No one wants suffering but we all have it with us. By not talking by not thinking by not acknowledging it’s not going to help at all.

Though a lot of people tell you be very positive you’re very positive it will always turn out to be positive it is true it always turns out to be positive if you’re positive.

But the truth of suffering is within us. No matter whatever we do no matter whatever we do it is with us. By not talking about it, it’s not going to go away. It is with us. Buddha sort of basically outlined that his teaching about truth is he says simply the truth of suffering is something that you have to acknowledge.

If you keep on denying the suffering that we have it’s not going to help at all.

You must acknowledge the truth of suffering

That is an absolute truth. The truth of suffering here is not introduced here to get people frightened or to dislike it or you know people may say all sorts of things but the real truth is acknowledgment. Because we all have suffering no matter whatever.

Basically we Americans we normally say we don’t have much suffering but the reality is we always have a lot of suffering. The suffering of illness is there. People get sick. We are not in some kind of paradise where there’s no sickness or illness is not available we do. You have a lot of illness physical mental and emotional.

We have that. Even if we don’t want to think about it or talk about it. No one remains youthful or young forever no one does. by not going to India it’s not going to help that at all we have it. We also have suffering of aging. We all get

We would love to. Really I would like to be 16 all the time. Even at the age of around 20 I do remember I decided not get older than 16 years old but is not going to sit there it’s going to go. 2110

It does go. So that is with us which is also suffering we like it or not. It is also a great thing too, aging is also dignity and give you tremendous amount of experience in your life and in the traditional Tibetan culture the elder people is the source of guidance, source of information and people that we look for from them whatever in the experience in life that we will draw.

Tibetan look to the elderly for guidance

And always we would look to them for guidance point rather than different point. But those of us who are getting old we are getting old. We do have physical difficulties. We do have mental difficulties and all of them are there and that’s if you kind of deny that is there is requires acknowledgment. When you acknowledge it doesn’t become worse it gets even better you know and you find a way and how to adjust and how to live with dignity.

There is suffering there but there’s always ways and means of handling it. So also we have the emotional problems and emotional suffering can get stuck with anybody at any age at any level anywhere.

You may decide that I am not going to be emotional at all and we will pass that resolution 300 times a year and however we have that suffering 300 times a year maybe more maybe a thousand times or something.

It’s always there. So again that needs acknowledgment rather than denial. And if you acknowledge and there’s a ways and means and how to get out there’s always a way out..

It is never ever that people get stuck that is the Buddha’s experience. Buddha’s first problem was the denial. Denial provided by the parents and whole country giving him the artificial life. That was his first biggest struggle how to get out of this and acknowledge.

His message comes out the first thing he says is acknowledgment of suffering. Then that’s really what the first noble truth is - the acknowledgment of suffering. We do have that everything and then something goes that.

Which is always there. We don’t want to think about it but we do. But the funny thing is, the Tibetan Buddhist masters, teachers who had great development and they will always tell you think about that. But normally people don’t want to think about it.

Think about the first noble truth in order to be prepared

They will tell you think about that. The reason why they tell you to think about that is again not develop the fear of that but to be prepared, to be prepared. 2450

It’s going to come there one day. So whenever it comes it doesn’t matter let us be prepared. That is what the Tibetan Buddhist teachers will tell you, let us be prepared. That is not a problem. The problem is what happens thereafter is the problem I’m sorry I’m speaking to you as somebody who believes in reincarnation so I’m sometimes over carry that.

Just straightaway I talk what happened thereafter without thinking. But my background is that I do believe in reincarnation so in the reincarnation and we have to think about future lives we have to think about past lives

For the future lives are much more important issue than that of past life for us because past is past it’s gone whatever good or bad has happened it happened.

Reincarnation

You cannot correct or redo or re-live or revisit. You can but always do as a matter fact but it’s not a big point the big point is what’s going to happen in the future. So as a believer in reincarnation, the problem for us is not death or the process of death it is natural. People call it beautiful excuse me.

People call it beautiful, that it’s wonderful and all this and that I don’t know whether it’s beautiful and wonderful whatever it may be you can look at it as beautiful and take it that way, It doesn’t matter. But it is a natural process to go through but the question really remains for me what’s going to happen at that time and what will happen thereafter.

This is the biggest question. Not only the biggest question, when you look when you live among the the society which believes in reincarnation your perspective of life and even that total psychological aspects of it totally changes versus a society which looks between birth to death alone.

This is my experience because I live in both societies, a society which believes in reincarnation and our usual normal American society.

If you look at them and how they look at people psychologically, I’ve been talking about mental and emotional difficulties and how they look, how they treat and how they do is totally different. It is totally different. That’s because of the reincarnation.

Then the perspective is completely changed. So it’s not my subject so but I would just like to mention it because the reincarnation makes a helluva difference (audience laughs)

It’s really true one simple little thing if you look at this I’m sure among there are a lot of counselors and psychologists and psychotherapists and all this quite a lot I am sure among you but basically I have very limited knowledge of that believe me however what I’m seeing is I mean people are right.

All the time they try to get to the problem whatever it is to get at the root of the problem they always go which is a great thing to do but the root itself is limited.

You can only go to the childhood level and to go up to the childhood level and then you try to find something whatever it may be and you keep on suggesting something and if they don’t remember anything you keep on suggest something right? 002946

You say maybe this, maybe this, maybe that, maybe that, and then you how the mind works? I’m not denying I’m not accusing please believe me but you know how the mind works if you keep on telling you something then all the sudden it’s sort of might really have happened.001858

China Lama

It’s a funny thing. There was a guy in Nepal called China Lama a very funny guy every tourist in Nepal goes to see him because he was near the big stupa. He called himself the China Lama I do not know Cheena or China Lama or something.

I went and saw him one day with the American friend who was actually looking for Tibetan books for the Library of Congress. So I went and saw him.

He was a crazy guy sitting up there and I went in suit and tie and I was a monk at that time, I think.

Yes I was a monk at that time but I went with a suit and tie. This fellow was not a monk but he dressed... he has like 11 kids or something and 4 wives. But he is dressed like a monk and wearing very funny things and sitting up there and we were there to buy books and he was trying to sell an antique image he’s trying to push the antique image. He had no idea my friend was from the library of Congress library Congress does not collect antique images.

It collects books they are not from museums. So he tried to push the antique image. Then he told us he said he is the highest Mahayana priest living in Asia. So first I thought what a lie. (audience laughs) and 2nd and 3rd time I began to realize he believes that.

He believes he is! It’s amazing because his mind is…. he lives in that little village and probably he got the biggest name and largest retinue around there and all the tourists go there because he somehow he manages the big stupa there. So everybody goes to see the stupa so they have to go through him.

So he really thinks he is the biggest of all. So this is how his mind works and so that is an example. We are looking at him but when you look at yourself, our mind works the same thing

Creating false memories

They keep on suggesting you keep on repeating that to ourselves our mind somehow acknowledges that and somehow becoming that way. What I’m trying to say is basically we try to find the problem which happened and then you don’t find it and then you suggest, you give some suggestions and try to get the person try to remember suggest a little bit more and get the person to remember and finally you find somebody who had been sort of sexually molested at a young age. 003323

So then who could that be the father or the uncle so most probably you get the bearded uncle. And oh I remember some kind of bearded person I was so scared of him or something oh yes it is a great discovery here a great breakthrough.

This sort of thing and then you know you blame unnecessarily or necessarily I don’t even know it depends on the person right? And then parents or the uncle or whoever or the visitor whoever it is. And get the blame on there and then again a very strong mind builds up from that. We work that way.

As a reincarnation believer we don’t do that at all. Our sources don’t begin there it’s goes beyond. It’s gone beyond our life the problems what we been carrying on with us we been carrying in our life after life.

It’s not the parents who are creating the problem it’s not the bearded uncle who created that problem at all. It is gone beyond. That’s what I mean on the perspective of it it’s completely widened and goes completely beyond level.

So that is the thing. It is part of the truth of suffering what I have been talking about. So the experience of mental and emotional difficulties and the fear and the experience in being left lonely and all of them is nothing new for us, according to the society which believes in reincarnation.

The experience whatever we been going through has been gone through before and we have been we have been repeating that that’s why were afraid of it, right from the beginning..

That’s why we are afraid, the fear is tremendous among us.. Whether you believe it or not whether you acknowledge it or not people are unnecessarily or necessarily afraid of it. They are afraid sometimes afraid of nothing you don’t even know what you’re afraid of your really afraid of it.

You’re afraid of losing that’s what it really is. The fear of losing the fear of losing me of losing myself of losing the self the discontinuation of the self. That’s what we are afraid of.

It is your right to be afraid because we’ve had so many experiences of that. We repeated a number of times. We’ve died a number of times. We take rebirth we took rebirth a number of times. A number of times that is basically our experience. And that we don’t remember but it doesn’t matter by not remembering doesn’t make it go away or it’s not there.

There is always a way out

I don’t remember China at all so that doesn’t mean China is not there. The true reality is I’ve never seen it. Anyway so that is basically the suffering that we have. But then there’s another problem we add up. We say well this is my problem I’m stuck with this. This is my problem I’m stuck with this. Buddha says no it’s definitely not true. This is my problem it is true I’m stuck with that it is true but there is always a way out.

I don’t have to live with that. So to introduce that Buddha goes and says the truth of the cause of suffering. That is his personal experience. We keeps on asking will I be subject? The answer is yes you will be subject. How can I avoid it? How can I overcome this difficulty? 003804

So he did find a way out. He did not find a way out in terms of how to not get old but he did find a way how I should not suffer by the old age. He did find a way how I should not suffer by death.

He did find a way how I should not suffer by illness. Basically illness and aging are part of our physical structure no matter whatever we do. You can eat brown rice all day all the time and you know the macrobiotic diet and if you have them all the time even then you’re going to get sick too.

There’s no way really but you body is going to get sick and you’re going to go too. But the question is - the illness will be there, aging will be there, death will be there, but how can I not suffer from those?

Don’t treat the symptom

That is the question and Buddha found a way out. That is the truth of the cause of suffering, that he tells you. He says what really causes that pain? Don’t treat the symptom. Symptoms are part of life we go through with it but what is the truth of the cause?

What causes those sufferings? So he goes the 2nd truth. Then he will find a way out and he says the truth of cessation of suffering.

The way to find that is the truth of the path - the truth of the cessation of suffering. That basically is what Buddha’s 4 noble truth are.

So the 2nd truth what causes the pain that we experience? What causes the difficulty in the experience? Take an example like an emotional suffering or something which is very common in the United States because the other physical sufferings are not so common in the United States.

I mean the illness is there. I’m not denying there is homelessness and all of them are there. But if you think of the basic physical difficulties, the other countries, the underdeveloped nations or the developing nations, as they like to call it, such as India or any other country, there’s a tremendous amount of physical pain. This overpowers the emotional pain.

They do have emotional pain there’s no chance or opportunity to express their emotional pain. You know, I lived in India for a long time. If you really look at how people live, like there are porters in India in the railroad station002600

Indian Porters

I mean this is an extremely difficult life they sit there and they sleep at the railway station and during the train transition. The moment a train comes by a light comes on and they get busy. They sort of virtually grab your luggage and snatch it from your hand no matter how heavy it might be.

2 or 3 for trunks of things they put on their head and then right and left hands and on the shoulder they carry that. And also they run so fast you have to catch them otherwise you lose your luggage you really literally have to run.

They go. At the end of that, no matter how much you give to them they will argue. So naturally you have to give less than what you really wanted to give. So then they keep on arguing with you argue little bit and finally what you really think is reasonable you give it because if you give that right from the beginning what you really think is right, they will never say thank you, never.

They will fight more all the time. So that’s basically their life you know? 004248

That’s their total life 24 hours a day 7 days a week. That’s how they live. They have a family of maybe 6 or 7 kids and a wife which probably live in an 11 x 11 foot house. They probably live in that, that much. That is the total life that they get because they’re carrying the load.

What we argue about is probably less than $0.50 we are arguing for that. So that is how they live. That is that much physical suffering there. There’s no opportunity to express emotional problems. But we are fortunate to be able to express and experience our emotional problems because there are not so much other pressing problems.

Americans and emotional problems

So naturally the emotional problems we have. We have an opportunity to express them, to feel them, otherwise you don’t feel. The others don’t have an opportunity. This is one of our biggest problems too.

Believe me the emotional problems are equally painful and sometimes even worse than those of physical pain and difficulty. And it really is and really extremely painful and that is pain we have. We cannot deny that we do have it..

But if you deny that it’s not going to help us at all because it’s going to go there and I do have some friends that I know. One friend that I know in Europe and she had a difficult emotional problem. She denied it for so many years and finally she got some kind of treatment but she told me she’s better when I saw her last time.

She says she’s better but what I notice is completely….. she said I’m better and I said why and she said have been able to say no to the guy. Basically yes its really true she’s been able to throw the guy out of her house and told him no.

She’s very proud of that however to me she’s sort of completely changed the personality. She lost the basic original personality completely and restructured some kind of funny person now to be able to say no. That is the big achievement. And that is another suffering.

That base of suffering and that person is in Europe. However basic similar problems are very much around here too. So that is the suffering which goes beyond the thing. It comes within the United States border in the cities and in the rural areas.

Basically people who live in the city are not happy they would like to go and live in the mountains or whatever. When you have been there for about a couple of years then you are no longer happy again and you want to come back to the city and all these are basically we always have that.

That is the suffering. Now I don’t want talk too much about suffering what Buddha calls them conclusion. Or the Buddha calls them people who have those difficulties are not free.

They’re not free that is what he found himself was not free - lack of freedom. You can’t tell that to the Americans because they will say well we are Americans we are free.

Sure sure sure we are politically supposed to be free but we are totally dominated by either the Republicans or the Democrats whoever comes it doesn’t really matter the same old person or the same old party comes to the power and they dominate us.

Even what we really claims to be political freedom is not there. It is almost like, well it’s not for me to say that because I suffered under communist control in Tibet we lost the total country right? So I’m not supposed to say that here. But compared with that of course it is freedom no question. 004826

But in true reality it is neither freedom too, it’s not. No matter how many people, there are like 500 Congressman and Senators or something? They make your decisions. And the president makes the decisions, we don’t. Though we say the government by the people for the people and all this and that but who knows you know?

Whatever we have even the Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security, they will never save these anyway so where’s the freedom?.

Anyway that is the political part of it but then what is the economic freedom? What is the spiritual freedom? We don’t have them. So the Buddha calls them lack of freedom is the suffering the basic suffering which is very suitable. The Americans also understand that language lack of freedom in spiritual.

I mean your own future your own life future lives or even this life that is the suffering to be acknowledged. So Buddha always tries get people interested for the first seeking freedom they want freedom.

That is the Buddha’s main thing to work for freedom. Free from all these problems we have. The true freedom that is the Buddha’s main point. The whole teaching of what you have the eight fold path or the whole basic totality of Buddha’s teaching is how to find freedom.

That is how he did it. He he goes on to say this is what I did, this is what I thought, these are my problems and that’s how I found my freedom…. That is basically Buddhism basically Buddhism. What I’ve been talking to you about so far this morning is basically suffering and repeatedly mentioned to you, one doesn’t have to live with the suffering. There’s always a way out..

That was the essence of this morning half session or whatever it is. The 2nd half we will try to devote to how. I understand we have take a break here. Thank you (Audience applauds)