Archive Result

File: 19950101GRAR8FP07

Speaker: Gelek Rimpoche

Location: Ann Arbor

Topic: Questions on the experience of the Buddha Shakyamuni

Transcriber: Steve Kelly

Date Finished 12.23.2017

Saved as ODF

Rimpoche: Thank you, so I will take the questions first.

Audience: Okay I just wanted to say first that I don’t believe in wars, I don’t believe in killing, and I wouldn’t fight physically for any country in the world but I would like to go back to World War II and just ask you what you think because if we had not taken up arms against Hitler and I mean the allies. We now would be living under Nazis. Do we have to take up arms to protect ourselves against a man like Hitler? He wanted to take the world but he did just about have Europe, he didn’t have England. I mean if we had done nothing he would’ve overrun all and there would’ve been gas chambers all over the world. It would’ve been ghastly wouldn’t it?

Self defense

Rimpoche: True it is a very difficult subject to think about. But practically as you say no one likes war no one likes killing but sometimes it becomes necessary. And you’re right if Hitler had not been stopped there would been much more damage done throughout the world and particularly to the Jewish community.

There is no question. So I don’t join in the party that regrets having World War II, I will not. Even if you look from the Buddha’s point of view, Buddha try to justify in one of his previous lives that he had to kill someone when he was a captain of a ship he had to kill someone in order to save 500 passengers. That is justified. So definitely like World War II it is a necessary thing but I will not make the same justification that you made for World War II for the Gulf War or the Vietnam War. So that’s different.

Audience: I’ve heard you say both there were times when you need to remove yourself from the negativity but I’ve also heard that through meditation and the Buddhist philosophies you can stay centered and maintain that centeredness and mindfulness within within in an event that might be commotion. 000334

so I’m kind of torn because I know in the business world I go in every day I’m torn between whether to just remove myself from that particular situation or whether or not I should stay there and try to stay centered within it

Three Buddhist methods

Rimpoche: You’ve got to stay there and try to stay centered because you can’t remove it. But using of the terminology of “remove” might not be the best usage. Basically I tell you what the Buddha taught. What Buddhism offers is three different categories. 000413.

Number one is of course to stay within that be centered and then transform all the negativities into positive – transformation is offer number one. It depends on whether the individual can take it or not

Offer number two is if you cannot transform it, then don't let it bother you don't let it run your life but take from the situation whatever necessary of whatever possible advantage you can of it. Meaning that even among the negativities there may be something that you can use for positive ways and means. For example, it is like the dismantling of the Nazi unit. It is like a second category.

The last Buddhist offering is if you cannot handle it, stay away.

So that's the last way if you cannot handle it just remove yourself and stay away. If you're going to lose control, if you're going to be under their control then you better stay away. I don't think I should spell it out in very much in detail. But basically transformation is the main attraction in Buddhism particular Vajrayana Buddhism. The Vajrayana Buddhism will try to transform everything like our physical body, the feelings, the senses, the five skandas, the consciousness, the awareness, everything is transformed into pure beings, the purity of it.

Even like the five different ignorances have been transformed into the five different wisdom's. Even some deities in the Mandalas are sometimes named as the deity of attachment, deity of ignorance, deity of anger, the deity of hatred and things like this because what happens is when the individual is really able to transform those and become a pure being, pure aspect then they become a pure deity.

That is the best offer of Buddhism. Vajrayana Buddhism offers that. It's not necessary that you have to remove it totally. In Mahayana sometimes they may not talk much about transformation at that level in non-tantra Mahayana but still they do talk about maybe using attachment for some purpose to benefit of self or others – all those things are there.

See you don't really have to completely remove it. Then the last thing is that if you do not know how to handle it then you get out of it. 000840

So get away, stay away, like three different categories it depends on the capability of the individual and the luck everything. Even if you are extremely intelligent if you're not lucky enough you might not be able to handle it. It requires both intelligence as well as luck. To make a spiritual person to make it perfect to get your goal you have to be lucky too.

If you're not lucky no matter how much you work hard how much you put on efforts how intelligent you might be, if you are not lucky you know sometimes you don't make it. Both are necessary. Fortunate enough to be able to get the thing done and intelligent enough to be able to make it.

So that is the combination. (Rimpoche has an aside)

If you are lucky enough and if you are fortunate enough you may be able to get ahead. If the conditions are right... when the conditions are right the results are bound to happen.

Karma types

Actually we basically talked about karma, the positive karma and the negative karma but if you talk in detail even within the positive there are two categories. There is wisdom oriented positive karma and purely contemplated, like love compassion oriented which is purely contemplated positive karma.

The purely contemplated karma like love, compassion, generosity, morality, protecting morality, patience, enthusiasm, concentration - all of them create karma that brings luck or makes you lucky so to achieve things.

Lucky here is not going to be in the sense of being wealthy, I’m not talking about that way. Even being wealthy can be lucky too.

In the spiritual field when you talk about being lucky, it means you have the conditions right. When the conditions are right things can function and that is the luck. The lucky part of it.

Audience: Astrological really 001139

Rimpoche: Not really alone, I am not going to go into the astrological thing. Things are happening in the individual that are external and internal that are building it. Astrologically it is the becoming very good for you and also you become lucky, the conditions are right for you.

Okay, I had better stop there because I am going into a completely different field. Yes

audience: (not clear what she said) Is that the form of energy that was generated through the meditation around his body?

Meditation energy shield

Rimpoche: yes with this guy it is probably the Chi gong power or the kung fu power. It is a meditated energy shield. Oh yes yes meditation or practice, in the sense of meditation… in the Tibetans, practice and meditation are combined together when you say prayers you meditate.

With Tibetans it's together but in the West meditation seems to be one thing and practice seems to be another. They don't always go together.

Audience: The quality of the energy is particularly different in the sense that it is manufactured by vibrations that are generated through...

Rimpoche: Energy, it is the energy shield which you can provide. I think a few years ago when I was here I did that White Tara practice with you and all the meditation of that.

I'm quite sure I did the shields at the time yes thank you. I did the shields at that time. So there they tell you how to build the energy shield and all this which I did a few years ago. I'm quite sure they do have tapes available or maybe not. If they don't have it here then I may have it at Jewel Heart. It is available anyway somewhere. Or even the open center in New York they have that tape and the Omega center they also have a tape on that too. Yes?

Divine intervention

Audience: Yesterday you referred briefly to divine intervention and miracles would you comment on this?

Rimpoche: Divine intervention and miracle are there. That's something you should never deny no matter how scientific you might be. Because sometimes some scientific people will say - that's not scientific. 001509

But whether this scientific or nonscientific, divine intervention is definitely there. What happens is enlightened beings, what we call enlightened beings, like Buddha, fully enlightened beings have a very strong commitment to help all the sentient beings. That includes us, we are not excluded, I'm not excluded and you're not excluded. We are very much in it.

So the enlightened beings have that commitment and whenever there's an opportunity for them to be able to do something, they will never fail to do it. They will do it, whatever they could. They also depend on the opportunity. 001607

We cry and shake and shout and yell and scream, however we are not really giving them so much opportunity. When you're shouting you're not giving them an opportunity, when you're crying you're not giving them an opportunity. When we become open and the conditions are getting closer then there is an opportunity for them to do anything to help us.

They would help us with anything, they would. I'll give you a simple little example. There was a great early Indian Buddhist saint and master called Asangha.

Asangha and Maitreya

Asangha is very much interested in the meaning or the understanding the essence of the nature of reality, the wisdom, the nature of reality. And he couldn't get a straight answer from any living teacher or from the materials.

So he thought, my only opportunity would be to meet one of those divine beings. So he chose to seek a meeting with the divine being called Maitreya who is the Buddha of love.

Maitreya is supposed to be the future official Buddha. There are millions of Buddhas but one becomes the official Buddha. So Maitreya was the future official Buddha.

So Asangha went and sat in a cave all by himself as the way for him to get in contact with Maitreya Buddha via a retreat in total meditation. He totally retreated from everybody everything he was simply going to sit there and do prayers and say (mantras?) and meditate and try to link up with Maitreya Buddha.

So he sat three years in there and nothing happened. So we came out. He said, well its almost a joke because nothing is happening. And suddenly he saw there was one Indian guy with a huge piece of metal. The Indian guy is taking a little cotton cloth and rubbing the metal.

Asangha thought about it. He wondered what is this guy doing? He's not cleaning the metal so what is he doing? 001907

So we went over to the man and said what are you doing with this metal? Why are you doing this? And the man replied I'm making needles, stitching needles. And he had a huge piece of metal and he was rubbing it with a cotton cloth to make needles. So Asangha thought about it thinking “this guy has so much patience he's going to sit there and rub that big iron piece to make needles!” My sitting for three years is nothing.

So he went back and sat three more years. Nothing happened. So Asangha came out of the cave but he was going to go and he looked up and down and he saw that on the cave’s rock when the birds flew into the cave their feathers would touch the rock. These feathers touching the rock had made a big sharp hole like this.

So he thought such a soft bird feather just going through like this back-and-forth cut that big rock like this? So he thought my effort is not enough and he went back into the cave.

So there were a lot of things but finally he sat for 12 years. At the end of 12 years suddenly he found a huge female dog and her entire lower body was completely wounded with a lot of sores and a lot of maggots in the sores. He was leaving the care but he looked at the dog and he had a tremendous amount of compassion.

He had a tremendous feeling of compassion and he didn't know what to do. He knew that he had to do something and he didn't know what to do. So he thought it and he said well if I leave it like this, dog is going to die painfully. If I remove those maggots then the maggots are going to die. So what do I do? He had very strong compassion and finally he said alright, let me cut a piece of meat from my own thigh and I'll pick up these maggots and will put them on the meat from my own thigh and let them eat that meat.

Maybe then I'll be able to save all the worms plus the dog. So without hesitation he cut a piece of meat he was going to pick up the maggots and put them on that. And then he thought if I touch the maggots with my fingers, since I have rough fingers, I may squash the maggots completely, so I better not.

So he went around looking for another method and finally he decided to lick the worms up. He's going to lick them up one by one with his tongue and then put them on the meat that he cut from his own thigh.

So he stuck his tongue out and tried to reach the wounded dog and he was reaching quite far but his tongue was not reaching anything. Suddenly he opened his eyes and he saw Maitreya Buddha standing there. There was no dog or maggots or anything but instead Maitreya Buddha was there. The first thing he said was, Oh you're such a terrible person and you have no feelings and no compassion. You have a compassionate name but you don't have any feelings at all. I've been here for 12 years and didn’t you realize and blah blah blah. There was no dog, everything was gone. Maitreya Buddha replied, I've been there since the first day you decided to begin sitting 002333

If you don't believe me, these are your “splits” here on my body and you did this and that. But it's only because of your lack of fortune that you are unable to see me as I am. So you didn't see. But because of your compassion that grew in you for this wounded dog and maggots, because of that compassion and because your compassion was so strong that you have been able to cut a piece of flesh out of your own body without hesitation, that purified you and that built your fortune and so now, you're able to see me. That’s what it is.

So that's how Maitreya Buddha appeared. Asangha said look I spent 12 years and he was a very well-known great master and Indian saint. At that time he had the title of “the ornament of the Buddhist world”. Asangha said I have to show you to everybody so no matter what you say I'm going to carry you on my shoulders. So we carried the Maitreya Buddha on his shoulders and ran through the street in the market shouting everybody look here I am carrying Maitreya Buddha! Shouting and screaming Asangha went through the market and everybody thought he had gone crazy because nobody saw Maitreya Buddha - except one old lady saw Asangha was carrying a dog on his shoulders and saying Maitreya Buddha is here.

All the rest didn't see anything and they thought he'd gone crazy because he retreated for 12 years and did not seen anybody and now all of a sudden he burst out of the retreat and he says I have Maitreya Buddha on my shoulder. He's gone crazy, that's what happened.

This is an example of divine intervention but the hard way. (audience laughs)

The Tibetan prediction of bringing Buddhism to the west

Audience: I read somewhere that was particularly long time ago that Tibetan Lamas and monks would come to the West and bring their message is the true have you heard of that?

Rimpoche: yes I heard something like that they said when the iron birds fly in the air the red man will do something something they normally talk about that yes. It is true because it's happening. And I'm sure there is a protection they have been giving and maybe can come across and maybe don't come across.

The predictions are always there always. It also depends whether a prediction is going to be materialize or not it depends on the karmic conditions of the collective individuals. Really the collective individuals will have different karmic conditions. Some of the predictions come true some of them don't because the karmic conditions change. 002731

People who are predicting at that point they may be seeing in that direction but sometimes…. matter whatever it is the predictions always work but they never work one hundred percent. It's true. They work 80% 90% 60% 40% they work.

It never works 100% fully because the karmic condition of the people changes. The later ones are better the early ones have a different thing. Did I say something wrong? So the predictions are there and it is yes.

Audience: (inaudible)

Rimpoche: oh yes there's a very famous prediction which says when the iron birds fly in the air the Tibetan Buddhism develops in the land of the red face or something. (8th century famous prophecy by Guru Rimpoche foretold that,"When the iron bird flies and horses run on wheels, the Tibetan people will be scattered like ants across the world, and the Dharma will come to the Land of the Red Man.")

Audience: United States?

Rimpoche: yes it means the United States. I think it corresponds with some sort of Native American prophecy too. They keep on saying this.

Audience: what is the iron bird airplane?

Rimpoche: It is an airplane.

Audience: The airplane has been around for a long time.(inaudible) Is that why you are all here? (audience laughs)

Special quality of Americans

Rimpoche: No I'm here because I was kicked out of Tibet (audience laughs). It's true. I've been kicked out of Tibet and they really didn't like me very much in any other country. One thing you have to appreciate no matter where you go, America has an extraordinary quality. I don't know what they do when you become a big guy in Washington or something, I do not know what they do.

But basically as a normal human being matter what face you may have, you may have an Asian face, yellow or white or black or green or red whatever face you have, you feel that you are part of the Americans you can feel part of the human beings. 003026

You belong in that society. The sense of being and belonging is very great in the United States.

This feeling is not anywhere else in the world. In Japan, if you go there, the Japanese though I may look like I’m Japanese, a lot of people think I am of Japanese decent.

Even this morning at breakfast someone said to me, oh I'm very proud to have my granddaughter in Japan and I said I'm not Japanese I'm sorry (audience laughs) but I am glad your granddaughter is in Japan, you know people think that way.

The thing is that no matter whatever I do, it would be very difficult for me to be Japanese. You may get to be a citizen of Japan but you're not going to be Japanese. The society or people will not accept you as Japanese. That is not going to happen.

So it is with the Chinese too. If you are not Han Chinese you not going to be a good Chinese at all. No matter whatever you may be (?) the Han’s have the superior priority in China.

So it is with the Indians. They are never going to accept you as Indian. I'm not talking about Native Americans. I'm talking about Indians in India. I worked for the Indian government for 13 years. I did quite good work I did for them and I made certain proposals I worked for the Indian broadcasting in the Tibetan language as I was the (blank space in the tape)

I had been running that for a long time and made certain proposals. In one big meeting there was some discussion. I did not make a proposal. There were some discussions about a sensitive issue discussing and that they should have certain policy matters. 003310

Somebody made a remark, “can we discuss this problem in the presence of foreigners? I overheard that. I had worked in that office for 13 years right? I overheard that I look up and down and I'm the only face which is not am Indian face.

So I got up and said excuse me I have to leave and I got up and I left. Then they kept on saying no no no not you blah blah blah. So after 13 years of working, it doesn't mean anything and you'll have the same difference.

But in America you don't have that. There is such a great quality such open-minded people and I do not know what they do when you get to the Washington top-level. They may have something there. There may be something there that's different.

But basically as a people, as a society in general, no matter whatever you are, you are an American once you get citizenship. Until you get citizenship you're an artificial American but once you get your citizenship you're an American. It is a great quality here. I really appreciate that. I don't know why I said that but I am grateful. Sir?

Audience: I wanted to thank you for that wonderful gift you just gave us. We hear so many other visions and images of ourselves from our media. It is wonderful to hear (applause).

Rimpoche: it's true... it's true, it is my personal experience. I'm not telling you some story of somebody else. Yes?

Audience: Do you have any other prophecies?

Prophesy

Rimpoche: Prophecies! Oh I'm not a fortune teller. You know one of the great Tibetan teachers said repeatedly and a lot of people will ask you for prophecies or clairvoyant projections and all this and that. They say that Buddha has already given every prophecy some 2500 years ago.

The essence of the prophecy is basically this: if you indulge in the positive karma then your result is bound to be great. If you indulge in the negative karma then your result is bound to be absolutely negative.

That goes for the individual, collective, everything. So that was Buddha’s prophecy which was given 2500 years ago. Then you have to remember karma depends on conditions. That's how prophecy works.

I do know people give a lot of prophecies. They said they're going to be doomed, and down and terrible and wonderful and nice and this and that. True a lot of them do but I don't know, I better keep my mouth shut.

But basically really, if you are going to look to see if the whole world is going to go ZOOM in one day down, this is not going to happen. It will take a long long time. When the part and parcel is getting destroyed by the elements of fire, water, natural disasters which are coming, it is around there.

And this will go on for a while, a long time. Its not going to go everything down, zoom down in one day. That is my belief not prophesy. Anything else? Yes sir.

All beings become Buddhas?

Audience: Does Buddha believe that eventually via reincarnation the world as a whole will become perfect like gods or does he foresee that not everybody is going to be perfect? 003738

He perceives that everybody is going to make it. You know it is very interesting. Buddha was asked by a number of disciples is there an end to misery, the end of samsara? The Buddha did not answer. 003801

So a lot of people will say by not answering the great beings acknowledged Buddha as being a great being or something. Today's Indian scholars make a big deal out of this. When I first came to India and I attended one of those Buddhist seminars with the Indian professors they really made a big deal out it and they will speak in Hindi they speak like I say Bah gah dah….

So they really make a huge deal. They said the Buddha was asked this question and he will not answer he gave a big silence. Then the professors go silent for a while in the lecture (Rimpoche laughs) So they make sort of a big deal.

So the real reason why Buddha was keeping silent was because there is a beginning and there is an end and the Buddha always says one will never say that this is the beginning because there is no beginning.

The number of beings is limited

There had been a beginning sometime but it is gone behind our comprehension or actually goes to the extent that there is no beginning. But there is an end of suffering for all beings. The sufferings can go they can be free of suffering they can go. There is an end to every individual’s circle of suffering. But beings are beings we've been there right from the beginning will continuously be as beings whether we are going to be enlightened beings or non-enlightened beings we don't know. But we are going to be beings. It's funny that you asked that question. In the Buddhist view the beings are limited. Whatever number there are, that's it! There are no new beings we are the beings. We are the beings and we are on the journey, the journey of making ourselves from not having freedom to the free level. We are in that journey. Even if we become free we will remain as beings but we will remain in a different category of beings called enlightened beings or something.

We begin as non enlightened. The transition is from here as non-enlightened being to there as enlightened being but never from enlightened beings to non-enlightened beings because this is a secured place. 004106

Until you get to the enlightened level, you go up, you go down, you go up, you move forward, you may go backwards, all of those are there but there's no new beings. That is the Buddha’s view and it is interesting. I mean I don't know the reason behind it but that's what Buddhist teachings will tell you but I never made Buddha myself.

Yes lady over there.

Audience: Do you feel in the world like there are more people trying to have consciousness for peace and more energy building up for harmony even though there are a lot of bad events in the world?

We are in a fortunate period

Rimpoche: I'm sure we do. People may look at this period as some kind of miserable and terrible period. But I don't think this is the bad period at all. This is the period where you have a tremendous amount of people with the intelligence who are fortunate, fortunate enough to be aware of the situation, who are open-minded.

Of course there's a lot of extremists there but there's a lot of open-minded people. There's a lot of great beings from the recent past who are sort of nearby than a long time ago. Like within this what we call it the fortunate eons. 1000 years being called as one fortunate eon. So within that eon, a tremendous amount of great beings have appeared and great beings are functioning and a lot of people are very open minded and looking forward to the betterment of themselves as well as other beings.

It's not necessarily a bad era at all. So as a matter of fact it is one of the most fortunate periods for ourselves. So whatever the general condition might be but for ourselves it's a very fortunate period.

It's a period where you have a tremendous amount of selection for the spiritual path. If you look at how the Tibetans got their Buddhist teachings, they made a tremendous amount of sacrifices. It was very difficult to get Buddhist teachers from India.

This is the period where every religious tradition whether it is a living tradition or whatever tradition it may be, it is available. 004425

It is like if you wanted to do spiritual shopping this is a great market here you know (audience laughs)

It is a great bazaar of spiritual traditions available, it's almost every spiritual tradition almost all are now in the Yellow Pages (audience laughs). 004451

So in a way, it is really one of the most fortunate periods for ourselves. It is a great period. I don't look at this as doom and terrible things, there are a lot of terrible things happening no doubt. Even during the earlier period, the period when the Buddha came in India or even when Jesus appeared in the West, all during that period, there were also terrible things happening too.

It was not a pure society and spotless and clean, no. There were a lot of terrible things happening too, right? So the history tells us that we are not bad at all we should not think that we are in a miserable period or terrible period. We're in a great period.

And we ourselves are being great beings in a great period. And we are open minded we do have a great opportunity to make it this time, really we do. And it is important not to waste the opportunity because not permanent, it goes, it goes. Yes?

Jesus in Lahakh

Audience: What do the religious Tibetan people feel about Jesus Christ? According to Cayce, Jesus Christ spent seven years in India and Tibet and there is even some records of Christ being at a monastery in Himalayas. I have forgotten what book it was, I think it was either a German or an English or a Scandinavian man who was traveling. This was before World War I and he came the monastery actually in Himalayas and there was some kind of record that the monks even produced. It said that Jesus Christ under another name, whatever they called him, had actually been there. Do you know anything about that?

Rimpoche: I do know about that. I do know about it, I've seen the places too. It is not really in Tibet it's in Ladackh. I was traveling through with this head Lama who I told you about, he is the Indian ambassador.

He showed me those places and he told me Jesus had been in here. He did not say Jesus he called him Meshica or Yeshica (Yeshua?) or something. 004743

So I don't know what the name is but it referred to the Jesus and that cave it is in the Ladakh. It is between Kashmir and Ladakh. There's a mountain pass that goes over 18,000 feet motor road and when we were going on that he showed me a number of caves around there and monasteries. He said that Jesus had been there like 20 years 10 or 20 years what is 18 years? Somewhere around there. The period that Jesus was there was sort of 18 years or something. 004824

(Hartmut, Swami Bua mentioned also that Jesus had been to India. Here is an interesting link http://www.oshonews.com/2016/09/24/jesus-in-kashmir/)

Audience: When this man was there he wrote about this, it was before WWI

Rimpoche: of course the older people talk to the younger people. They way they record in the West and they record in the Tibetan history are two different things. In the West you have to have it written in black-and-white. We Tibetans don't need this, we trust our elders. When they tell you something they don't tell you lies. So that comes through. It may be exaggerated a little bit here and there or missing a few stories here. But Westerner also do in writing too.

Audience: When you were there, at the turn of the century or when it was about that time...

Rimpoche: The one thing, I don't know about that but I don't think there's anything really published in those areas in those days. In the Tibetan world and particularly in the Ladakh area they don't print that much I don't think Ladakh has any printing system even in the 1940s. I don't think so in Ladakh.

Audience: this European or German man when he got back he wrote the story.

Rimpoche: That I don't know but I've seen the place where the Jesus had supposedly been in the caves and mountains and monasteries.

Audience: There was a records of it?

Rimpoche: What you mean by record? The record in the West means you have to write it down. Record to Tibetans means that people will tell you. They said he had been there and that’s it. He had been there and he's saying this.

They way he spoke about it was if some saint or pope had been there or something. Or a big great Christian Lama had been here or some thing like that. In that manner they will tell you. That's exactly how he told me. But exactly what he did was he sat down and he meditated and made some big footprint or something in the rock I forgot even.

Audience: My original question was what do the religious Tibetans think about Jesus Christ. It he an ordinary man and did not mean much, is that what you think?

Rimpoche: I didn’t say that (Rimpoche laughs) They did not really look and I don't think that they know this is Jesus. I don’t thing that they knew this was some kind of great founder one of the greatest religions in the world. 005136

I don’t think they knew the importance of Jesus. They knew that he was a great being, not Indian not Tibetan, and not Chinese. They knew he was a great being, a great Lama, you know something in that manner I think that is exactly how they looked at him.

They did not view him as an ordinary anybody but as special being yes. But they did not know really something beyond that. I'm giving you the clear projection of the people who had been there at that time. I think that's the message I get. Yes please?

Audience: I have two questions. One is what is the difference between enlightenment and illumination is it the amount of degree?

Rimpoche: It depends where you refer to enlightenment and where you refer to illumination. Enlightenment for the Tibetan Buddhist practitioner is referring to the Buddhahood. When you become fully illuminated, in a fully awakened state then it is a fully enlightened being.

When you get the half level then you get 1/2 level enlightened being. Even the enlightenment level is divided into two categories ordinary enlightenment and extraordinary enlightenment. So the ordinary enlightenment is when you are you free from the suffering you have ordinary enlightenment. When you attain a state where you are full of knowledge and fully awakened then you attain extraordinary enlightenment level. Transformation of what?.

Audience: Transformation of your inner self?

Rimpoche: Yes that's what enlightened means! You can have total transformation, 1/2 transformation and 3/4 transformation (audience laughs).

Buddhism and materialism

Audience: In Buddhism you gaze upon a deity to become like that deity that you select.

Rimpoche: you can

Audience: Why can’t you gaze upon a deity of prosperity and overcome poverty in India?

Rimpoche: the Buddhist goal is never to develop something within this material benefit. The material benefit was never the aim of Buddhism at all.

Audience: It isn't?

Rimpoche: No, it can be balanced but it is never a goal of a Buddhism at all. The Buddhist really are totally concentrated more on the spiritual liberation than that of finance liberation, economic liberation.

Audience: But then that is not balanced in your life. Unless you have a balance of material things and a balance of spiritual on this plane.

Rimpoche: Well if you look at and read the biographies of the early great Masters like if you read about Milarepa. 005541

Are you familiar with Milarepa as a number people are. So the Milarepa is a good example of that, an example of overcoming poverty. Before I answer, I forgot to answer one of your questions before I answered the next question, because you already asked a second question.

So what was the Tibetan Buddhist view of Jesus? Tibetans will look at him as a totally enlightened being rather than just anybody else. He's a totally enlightened being.

The look beyond the Bodhisattva level, they look at Jesus as being at totally enlightened being. I forgot that part of your question. 005639

Audience: That is certainly different than looking at the pope.

Rimpoche: But I use that as an example.

Audience: I think Jesus Christ is a little different than looking at any of the popes.

Rimpoche: The problem is that I used that as an example (Rimpoche laughs) I'm sorry if I offended you. I used that as an example and try to project some kind of what the people in the Ladakh at that time what they had perceived. They perceived him as a great teacher, a great being, a great Lama.

So Jesus is not a Tibetan Lama. So I looked in the Christian Lamas so I found in the Christian Lamas so I found the Pope. That came up in my head and I used it I'm sorry. But you have one more question right over there? You?

Audience: When you talk about the right concentration I thought maybe you will have some method of developing right concentration like concentrating on your breathing or I don't know I ask the question.

Rimpoche: Yes, you can develop your concentration on any level, on any subject, on any point whether it is an image whether it is light whether it is mind or whether it is part of the body. I keep on telling you the sensation of breathing when you breathe you feel the sensation here concentrating on that. So concentrated meditation can be done on anything. But it depends on what is your purpose.

Concentration as a tool

If your purpose is to accumulate merit and purification then it is recommended that you concentrate on enlightened beings. If your purpose is more to develop the wisdom then it is recommended to concentrate on your consciousness or mind. Overall wherever you concentrate it doesn't matter. You can concentrate on anything. It is like a tool. The concentration is a tool to achieve your purpose. 005919

It is really like a tool. It's like another gadget. Again I'm making things cheaper I'm sorry. Concentration is like another gadget, it is gadget to achieve whatever you want to achieve. So if you want to overcome the delusions it is the matter of the tool and how you develop the tool. Once you have the tool, it can be used for different purposes.

So the power of concentration is only the training of the mind. The mind should be trained to think one thing and don’t go around. In other words this example of monkey that we have in the morning session, you make the monkey sit tight wherever it was sitting. 010014

That's what the power concentration is. Once you can do that then you can make better use of it. That is the right concentration. Yes it's true I promise to do some meditation and somebody also asked me to do for mantra. But yes you go ahead

Audience: How did the Buddha experience death when he died?

Rimpoche: Death, huh…. how how did the Buddha experience death?

Audience: Did he die under the bodhi tree, no that is where he received enlightenment.

How the Buddha experienced death

Rimpoche: That is right. No he died in Kushnaga which is a place in Nepal now. But it used to be in India. As the Buddha was dying he said if you have any question this is the time for you to ask. And then they asked a number of questions and at the end of that he said basically Kahn shee…

He said well finally you have to make up your mind now. When it is coming closer to this of the positive and we say it's the right thing to do and getting close to that and going against what we have said is the wrong thing to do. Then consider that as a right and vice versa so that then finally he said this the end of the time of the Tathagata.

So now the death and dying question is another extremely important question. The Tibetan Buddhism really offers tremendous insight into that. It really does, it offers tremendous insight into that, the death and dying stage. There are different levels stages. There are basically eight different stages of the dying stage and the level of the consciousness mind clarity up to what level what perceptions do you get and then what are the really true death stages.

Thereafter how do you reverse back the whole thing and then we have the thing called the Bardo which is the intermediate stage between the death and rebirth. And we are in the intermediate stage between rebirth and death. This is where we are right now in the intermediate stage between birth and death.

Then there is the intermediate state between death and rebirth and how rebirth takes place. All of those - there are tremendous insights offered by the Tibetan Buddhism.

But what do enlightened beings do really perceive the death as? 010408

Perception of death by enlightened beings

It is sort of going back I don't know whether I'm saying the right thing or the wrong thing but sort of going back to the original source, the original source of your consciousness this big pool of part of a huge enlightened consciousness. You are returning back to that level of the consciousness and that is I think a good part of it. And returning to the wonderful consciousness which is actually tremendously open and joyful and that's where the word of bliss void combination. That's what it refers to the bliss void (Hartmut the tape abruptly ended here)

Spell checked through...