Archive Result

;;Soundfile 19950901GRSR2

Speaker Gelek Rimpoche

Location Summer Retreat

Topic White Tara

Transcriber Carol Shuford

Date 1-8-2022

0:00:00.0 [Geshe Ngawang Sherab]0:04:58.5 [talk ends. clapping. private talking.]

0:06:50.2 Everybody so I had a hope you had a nice time last night and yesterday and the day before that and day before that and all this. Ah sitting just right in front of there. Here here you can take his space for a while. Here comes some ah new people. I thought they would probably arrive here. So…

0:07:45.1 [people settling]

0:08:04.0 Once again I would like to remind you for the motivation ah since we have a new ah people newcomers. And ah some people are leaving and some already left. And ah so I still like to remind you the the the yeah probably I like to borrow that khaki short. Ah ah I hope Kathy won’t mind it. So thank you. So when Kelsang uncovered his knees I thought I’ll do too. Ha ha ha. So like to remind you the motivation once again. And those who are familiar with the usual bodhimind influence ah motivation and then they should generate the bodhimind. And ah if not ah just ah not only ah let’s put this way ah in order to serve now we we sort of I don’t want to go backwards so much but we sort of committed to serve all beings. Ah and when you say we are committed to serve all beings ah we can not say you are not all sentient beings so get out of my way. You can’t say. Do you know about this joke do you? Do you know about that Allen? Phillip do you know about that joke? Hmmm that’s funny. Steven Bachelor when these people when they studying with the Geshe Rabten. So Geshe Rabten tells them you have to generate mind saying that for the benefit of all sentient beings I should do this and I should do this and that. I am committed to serve all sentient beings and all this. And when they have difficulties with anybody they say you are not all sentient beings so get out of my way. Ha ah ha ha ha so anybody else is not all sentient beings. So so I don’t so that’s the joke so should not be in that manner. So in order to help other beings ah you need to have best tool. Tool of enlightenment. In order to achieve enlightenment or in order to help all beings you need longevity. You need healthy life.

0:11:16.0 And ah if you’re gone and that’s the end of it at least for the time being. Ah even if you look at the great beings and they passed away and ah we will keep on praying say ritual and this and that like Allen did last night. Return for this and that. Yes they will return no doubt. But it takes at least twenty years to have come up to the way they wanted. The way we wanted to. Ah basically I don’t know why I wanted talk that. Basically reincarnation is something that’s rare. That’s because this is supposed to be Buddhist group so that’s why I’m saying it okay. And ah reincarnation is something rare. It is true. It is real . It is there. Especially I must say it is real otherwise I won’t be be Rimpoche. I’ll lose my title. [laughter] So I must defend my title. So it is real. It is there. However however ah if you look at the continuation of it it is extremely ah extremely subtle consciousness. Some kind of continuation of ah torch. That type of thing you know in the Olympics they carry the torch light. They carry it around. It is a continuation almost in that. The torch is a big example. If you want to go it’s a little butter lamp or something. It’s sort of continuation of that manner. Almost to the point where you can say what is relevant for me then? So up to that much level it is extremely subtle. That’s for everybody reincarnated lama. If it’s great fine great but basically reincarnation everybody is reincarnated. I happen to be lucky one who got a title. But everybody is reincarnated. Everybody is reincarnation of somebody. There is nobody who is not reincarnation of somebody. As a matter of fact Nagarjuna has said

0:14:41.0 [Tibetan]

0:14:46.0 Nagarjuna said I want you to not have reincarnation. And if you get at that you can not achieve anything better than that. And that’s what Nagarjuna says. So what we’re trying to do is to not have reincarnation. Reincarnation you know what i mean? That’s what it is. So

0:15:10.0 [Tibetan]

0:15:15.4 So even the reincarnated okay now since I mentioned all this if I leave it to you in there it’s not fair. So so everybody is reincarnation of somebody. Some people remember their previous life. Some people don’t. Some people will pickup some kind of you know by ah psychic or for that matter by whatever you know all this. People will pick up somewhere and tell you something. Ah which I must tell you the truth here they are not lying however what they pick up is not necessarily right. I mean they’re right but they get them mixed up completely. Ah the half of this half of that and half of this and they’re totally confused. And they are there. Buddha himself made a number of statements one after another. There is no such a life where we can claim I have never been this life. There is no such the Buddha made that sort of a flat statement flat blanket statement for all repeatedly. So we all have reincarnation. Ah most of the reincarnations are sort of ah under the process it came through the process of ah karmic and delusion process. So what happens is by the time when your consciousness becomes a subtle and very subtle and subtle consciousness then ah you know the mind the mind the consciousness during the death itself is very subtle consciousness. So it can not be positive nor can be negative. It is so subtle that it has to be a neutral mind. And that is the situation. Oh oh I think Sandy’s coming so you lose your blanket again. I think so I saw them walking by.

0:18:01.9 Ha ha ha so ah [private talking]

0:18:52.2 So it is so subtle so that ah there is no control at all. There’s no control. So who takes the control by that time? The karma and the delusion. The karma and delusion so that makes the process of your life totally. So that is the ah that’s what it is. Karma and delusion makes the ah control. So that is normally in our case. So the reincarnated lamas are when you call it reincarnated the difference at that moment the control over here rather the process I shouldn’t use the word control but rather the process is not delusion and ah and ah not so much delusion oriented karmic ah but it is more a compassion and ah commitment and even the pray commitment prayer. So the process taking over by the by the compassion and ah commitment and pray and that is the that is referred to what we call it reincarnated this and that supposed to be. And if you ask me are you? I know nothing about it. So but ah that is basically ah the difference between. Ah so process taking by ah commitment compassion and pray we call them is the you have control. You have control. So that is the basically the basically difference is. And that also has different levels. Levels ah some levels you cam definitely ah come with consciousness which is very rare case.

0:21:46.7 And then somewhere you know the different varieties are but let’s not talk about it. So basically that is the difference of the ah what we refer as a reincarnated and ah general reincarnation. Those of ah ah person who have come as a reincarnated even though they may be ah either fully enlightened being or half enlightened being or ah quarter enlightened being or three- quarters of enlightened being or whatever it might be ah even then it come as an ordinary human being. So therefore to serve the purpose of taking rebirth as a ordinary human beings they have to have the ordinary human behavior. So therefore the process of the learning thinking practicing meditating all has to be there. So when it comes to that point and it takes quite a lot of ah time even though just just by teaching or just by showing they may pick up. However even then it takes easily another twenty years to be able to be useful. So therefore why I’m talking that? Therefore longevity even for those people are important. For us it is more important we have a great opportunity here. Believe it or not it is a great opportunity for us.

0:24:00.8 [pause]

0:24:12.6 If you look basically if you look people in the spiritual path and people who are not in the spiritual path you can see the number. So therefore people who are in the spiritual path are much more luckier and more I don’t know. I hate to say superior. I don’t want to become Hitler type of person. Say you are superior this and that ah but but the reality is much more fortunate. And therefore the number is less because the people lack of fortune might not be able to catch up that much. And if you look whoa. I’m leading to a very funny propaganda anyway. So even on the spiritual path if you look at it and I don’t really have to tell you many of you know very well how much depth that spiritual path can really take you. Many of the spiritual path is I’m not criticizing don’t misunderstand the result what they introduce you is very limited.

0:25:50.5 [pause]

0:26:00.4 Very limited. Some people will teach you how to walk on the fire. You can do that for one week. And while you cross the fire that’s your spiritual path and that’s the end of it. I’m not criticizing do not misunderstand but that thats happens. And many other spiritual path if you look at they do have some kind of meditation. They do have something but then it is limited. How much limitations and look each one you people know more spiritual path than I do. You know that. So everywhere you see the limitations limitations. Some are just made up even many of them. Uh oh I have to lose my show ha ha ha

0:27:08.2 [private talk]

0:27:43.1 So you see the limitations. And some of them

0:27:46.3 [private talk]

0:28:09.4 There is some of those spiritual paths if you look at it people just think oh thank you.

0:28:16.2 [private talk]

0:28:40.3 Many of them is just ah sort of you know people have to make up on the spot or something and ah but still with great enthusiasm and ah and ah love of better life and ah they try to put efforts so it is great. Ah from that angle but what does that individual can lead to to to free yourself. I mean no matter whatever spiritual path may be the aim is try to make a free individual. Try to make individual life better less painful less difficulty. That’s that’s that’s the total goal. So but the question rises is the method is capable of delivering the the aim delivering the goal? That’s what it is. And if your goal is just relief of a little pain here or something even aspirin does that too. So I mean ahhhh I’m not going to say aspirin is spiritual path but ah but it does that too a little bit. So anyway so that is the goal and see how much path is able to deliver that thing. So that’s where you begin to see the value in the path. Ah it’s not necessarily only Buddhism is a capable of delivering. I’m sure there’s a lot of things. And here what we have is that’s what I know of it. My background is only the Buddhism that I know. So that’s why I talk on that from that angle. And when you’re talking form that angle there is a certain this path can eliminate the total suffering from the individual. It is capable. Buddha himself goes on and says there is no beginning of where we begin. We can not pinpoint we’re here. We can not pinpoint and say here we begined. However the individual has his own ending of samsaric life. Why he made that statement? Because he himself experienced that. He himself went through that way. He himself went through that way. He found a way out and that’s what he shared. And that’s why it is capable because somebody went from there.

0:31:53.0 And that person tell shared the people how I do it. Others followed and also went through and repeated. Repeated. And that’s why it is ah sort of solid a little bit because ah not only one person they all the following from Buddha ‘till now in this two-thousand-five hundred years period. And a number of people went through that. Numbers are less for sure those who went and those who left behind there are definitely less. But but they passed through that. They achieved. They achieved their objective. They achieved their objective. So so so that’s why for us it is important to follow something solid. It is you can at least you can show it is lead you. Ah who was it? Somebody says

0:33:02.8 [ Tibetan. Audience. Finding quote. Tibetan]

0:34:53.0 This is not somebody invented in between and had good ideas and combined them together and made into practice. That’s what I mean earlier I said some people will make up something and ah you can go on and do this and it’s fine. But you never know where it is going to lead. So that’s why to be authentic with this practice particularly Tibetan Buddhist practice. What we say what we say we have to say to make sure it is authentic we must trace to the founder the Buddha where he made this statement and all this. We have to trace with unbroken lineage up to the Buddha. We normally say if you wanted pure water the source the source of the water must be traced to the snow mountain. That’s what the Tibetans we do have a great water. We had really great water. Atisha was surprised at the quality of the Tibetan water so he made eight qualities and sort of made a big deal out of it. That’s going out another thing anyway. So if it is authentic pure nice water it must reach the source to the snow mountain. If it is authentic practice it must lead authentic Buddhist practice it must lead to the Buddha and made sure the number of peoples thereafter followed and achieved. And ah it is continuously achieving and that’s why it is living tradition rather than just somebody cooked up some few little things here and there made a little adaptable to ah the need of a couple of handful of people started going round and functioning that way. You never know where you are going. You never know where you are leading to other people. And that’s where the misleads comes in. That’s one of the black lie what we’ve been telling yesterday remember? The white lie and black lie we talked yesterday for the commitments part of it? So the like the used car sellers who tell you this car is perfect and fine. The tires are new. The battery is new. And blah blah blah it will go another hundred miles. So hundred whatever it is ha ha ha.

0:37:32.2 [laughter]

0:37:46.3 Whatever it may be you know what I mean. Ha ha ha. So all of these are could be white lie. I mean it’s a lie. It doesn’t matter. It’s not that big deal. I mean if you don’t have to lie but if you keep on lying nobody will trust you. That is the direct result of lie. If you lie once then nobody will well you lie once maybe they’ll give you excuse. You lie twice and ah you lie three times nobody will buy from you thereafter. So this is the basically how people function actually basically direct consequences of negativity of lying is because you lose respect totally. And people won’t believe you. I mean maybe they don’t lose respect but they don’t believe you anyway. But that ends there and maybe you have a little karmic consequences. That black lie of leading the people in the wrong path is its can some people can waste their total life with that great practice opportunity and all this total life can go on that and ah and it can go somewhere else like Jim Jones.

0:39:04.0 [pause]

0:39:09.8 I better keep my mouth shut about the Waco anyway. So ha ha ha so so that’s what it is. So so so that’s why this one says it is the completely traced up to the great forerunners. Forerunners means the path openers. It is not only the Tibetan scholars and teachers have created it traced to the India. It’s not only traced to the India just somewhere some corner of some Himalayan mountains some great mahasiddhi has taught about it. But it is right in the middle of the greatest the Buddhist ah learning institution such as Vikramshila or the Nalanda where there are commonly accepted by the great learning institute and great the the spiritual community and foremost ultimate like two-thousand -five hundred years ago through one after another. It is so old it is two -thousand-five-hundred years old yet still it is fresh because it is a living tradition. It is continuing. It is functioning. It is alive. It is in you. It is in us. It is with our spiritual masters. It is coming through and that’s why that statement.

0:40:47.7 [Tibetan]

0:40:52.9 Not only that it is the capable

0:40:55.3 [Tibetan]

0:40:58.0 It is totally those great masters one after another they have experienced this. They have gained. They cut their delusions. They overcome their obstacles. They’ve become enlightened. It is not somebody has half drunk half ah hallucinating half ah half mistake ah you know

0:41:26.0 [Tibetan]

0:41:27.0 Half mistake just delusion statement. It’s not that is the second line there mentioned.

0:41:37.6 [Tibetan]

0:41:39.7 Mostly important

0:41:41.7 [Tibetan]

0:41:44.2 So this part if you follow it straight without taking any exact exit exit exit exit without taking any exit if you follow it it’s going to lead you directly going to deliver you directly to the door of the enlightenment. It’s not going to lead you to a cliff where you can fall down. So that is the ah the quality of spiritual path. Ah in the United States very fortunate you do have a tremendous amount of every spiritual path that available is available. Ah it is like an open air market place. So everybody has put a little table and then have everything laid out there. So it’s very fortunate. If you look at how Tibetans have found this path from India it is not easy way. It is not. I shared the other day a little bit. Even lost the life of a King ah just for the sake of bringing the right teacher to Tibet. Ah lost life just to get the gold. The the the the Vikramshila the elder abbott does not want the person Atisha who the Tibetans for like two generations of Tibetans who been there thought useful the person. The they that is he’s the future hope so they doesn’t want let him go. So he thought Tibet the word Tibet is sort of a preta. It is connected with the Tibetan. Teta and preta ah I’m sure Geshe-la may object or may not but I believe it is the reality. So they look at as a very poor country a land of hungry ghosts preta teta Tibet. Ah so anyway so these are these are poor people they don’t have gold. So we will demand gold from them. And if they bring gold we let him go. If they don’t bring gold we can’t let him go. So they said bring gold. So the Tibetans don’t get gold so they think they can not get gold. So everybody including king went out to collect the gold without indulging in negativities okay. Without any that’s what it’s called right livelihood. Anyway without indulging negativities they went out and tried to find the gold. And the King lost his life though he was arrested by another king. So they they demanded the the body size of the gold.

0:44:57.0 What weight collect the soldiers around and fight with them. I can’t tell if they winned the war most probably ninety percent I can win the war war. However war involves killing losing of human life. So I thought for good work what we trying to do if you indulge this that’s not the right thing. So I’d rather pay and try to find the gold and pay. So I did found gold equal to your body weight. However he want you know are now demanding equal to your head weight or something. So I find that very soon and come back and get you. So he told tells that says well I thought you were a spoiled rotten guy however way and how you thought thought and functioning made me fully satisfied I’m very happy. Way you do is perfect. Don’t waste a single gold for my sake. If I do so even the buddhas won’t like it. But take the gold to India give it to this that monastery and tell this great master even I wasted my life and I’m gladly sacrifice my life for you to be able to come to Tibet and share the true practice of the Buddha with the no sort of any mixture. Pure Buddha’s practice for the benefit of the future generations. And that is my message now go home. I will even I get out of it I have a few more years to live. Why waste money. Let me die here. You go and carry it out. So without any reply he can’t even say yes he just sort of went away quietly went away and followed the Buddha’s step and sent the gold to India. And even the message. Even Atisha said oh your ruler might have been bodhisattva and it makes me embarrassed even to that. So then the Tara of course had been the the the female part of the Avalokiteshvara which committed to protect down to the weaker people. Commitment of helping others like Avalokiteshvra goes out of the way to help wherever the weak and weaker people weakness one that can not help that stood by that. That is Avalokiteshvara’s way. So at that moment Tibet happens to be the weakest place and weakest people. And so so and Tara is there to try to tell Atisha go go go go don’t don’t hesitate and you probably lose ten years of your life. Your life will be shortened by ten years. However it’s very useful. You are bodhisattva make your own choice. And these are the Tara’s words.

0:48:09.8 And that’s why Atisha came to Tibet. And today we been benefitted out of this. It is just that time Atisha did not make it to Tibet the Kadam tradition will not be there. Will not establish in Tibet will not be preserved for a thousand years. When it’s not been preserved thousand years it’s not going to come out in the United States or Europe or or anywhere. So so that’s little shift and that’s little important sacrifices, by that king made at that level made a hell of a difference today to those number of people. So anyway this went out of the spiritual shopping. So so when you when it’s all available on the tables like an art fair in Ann Arbor where you all have all this all this non-profits put all their tents round and one after another. It’s very similar it’s a sort of a miniature presentation of ah spiritual shopping available in the United States. So when you have all of those so what you would like to do what would like to do is ah make a good selection. Because it is your fortune able to pick up. It’s almost like you can open the yellow page and call and pick up. Or maybe New York Times open it up and maybe there’s an advertisement who knows. And so all these sort of things are available in front of you so you have to make pick and choose. So on the on the basis of what you want to choose is what’s your goal. And is this path capable of delivering a what you needed. And that is the ground. I mean that is the basis on which you choose. So here I’m the the sales person. Ha ha ha not the used car sales dealer but here the sales person here try to sell you this path is ah that’s a joke. Don’t take it seriously. Some people may think it’s really true you know? You never know. I used to make jokes and I didn’t say it’s a joke and then some people took literally so. So that’s why now I learned I have to say I’m joking. But I’m telling you the quality of this quality of this. If you look at it first in or first goal what what you find it? It’s here it’s freedom. Which is of course an American goal anyway. So but you you look in the freedom as American as American you look at freedom. Freedom what you can see. Political freedom economic freedom whatever it might be. That’s because our focus is that way. The here what we’re doing is spiritual freedom.

0:51:25.2 I mean I may use this language actually to free your soul ha ha ha. If that sounds funny? So that’s what it is. So freedom is the first goal. Second goal is not only you get free you free others too. And that’s your second goal. So what’s wrong with that. So all the methods whatever you going to get it. Now the question rises all the methods what you going to get it is it able to deliver? And that’s why I’m saying the Buddhism and particularly the Tibetan Buddhism particularly the Vajrayana Buddhism is of course capable. And it did deliver number of people continuously from Buddha until now. It’s it’s a living tradition and that’s one of the qualities. And this particular quality of this particular thing rely on the solid on the ground work rather than grounded work rather then then there are tremendous amount of mystical part in the Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism. But we do not emphasize the mystical point. The mystical point is it will pick up by itself. You won’t even know. The Robert was telling the story the other day and I had forgotten many of them. And when I talked to Aura and when I thought for a couple of days. Like for a couple of days I keep on thinking and almost everything what he said I recollected back. It had happened. It’s not that I’m great but somehow within this tradition within this path there is a capability of things that happen. What will I do? I simply pray. I simply pray and somehow it works out by itself. It’s not that I have magical power to cut the cloud into two pieces raining here and raining there and sunshine in between. I don’t have magical power. I simply pray well we don’t want rain but the but the but the area here is quite dry they also need rain. But at least give us some umbrella. So that’s what happens you know? That I remember when he said it. That happened and the rest of them you know each one of them probably I recollect all of them. But it happens to be idea of no consciously made it. I did not claim to do it or anything. It happened. So there are mystical point of it. I don’t talk to you how how mystical you should be. We don’t.

0:54:32.5 This tradition itself will not do it. The mystical things happens it happens. It is simple. It is side effect. The real thing is grounded built up solidly on top of brick after brick make a solid mandala for yourself. That’s what it is. So it is grounded solid so you will never fall back. We’re not interested to building an ice castle. You can’t build now days anyway. When the temperature’s in nineties. Is it nineties? It’s cooler today. What is it?

0:55:25.1 [temperature talk]

0:55:43.6 Anyway so that that’s the path. So now since I talk about the quality of the path I also must tell you essence of the path. The essence of the path is as simple as step one two three four five okay? That’s what it is. Step one commit yourself to free. How? Knowing your difficulties limitations acknowledge. You may be happy today. You may have ah you may or may not have a few buck in your few bucks in your pocket.

0:56:35.6 [audience]

0:56:55.7 But you may you have to be happy.

0:57:00.2 [audience]

0:57:29.0 This is for the benefit of the sort of basically those who are ah our new friends or whatever. Ah the friends we don’t here usually the usual balah balah so for them so the step number one is determination to be free or seeking freedom. Commit yourself to free yourself. Now the second question within the step number one rises. Free from what? Free from delusion. Free from anger. Free from attachment. Free from ignorance. Make it simple. So commit yourself to be free from delusion. Now the next question comes how? I don’t know. Ha ha. The whole thing the whole path whole teaching is geared towards that. Basically don’t deny. Acknowledge bottom line acknowledge whenever you have the delusions. Find remember the cause of the delusion. The direct consequences the monkey backside. The indirect consequences of consumption of your own virtues. And finally taking you down the cliff. These are the consequences. Remember acknowledge the negativity. Remember the result. Correct your thoughts. Correct your mind. Switch off the wrong mental faculty. Put the right bulb in it. Even you have to use sometimes attachment to balance anger. It is temporarily okay to balance the sort of very heavy burning anger. But that’s what you do because those negativities grow with us habitually.

1:00:21.4 It is our addiction our addiction to anger is very strong. You may deny. All junkies will deny I am junky right? They will say I took a little bit oh just for medicine just for kill my pain just to sleep over night. That is total excuse. Similarly these delusions do the same thing same thing same thing. I was a little bit upset I didn’t really do I didn’t really lost it but he made a big deal out of it. Sure they made a big deal because you made a big deal. You created a scene right? So do not deny. Deny is the shelter for the delusions. Do not deny acknowledge. And changing a habitual pattern is actually treating your it’s detox for yourself. Buddhist AAA step number one is acknowledgement. Step number two is find the anti-dote and apply on that. Step number three have a little bit of patience and put up diligent. Six paramitas I talked to you remember? We talked to you as bodhisattva activity. But that is the way and how you function your life daily. That’s the Buddhist way of functioning your life daily. Everyday whatever you do even your own business. Total take out of the the meditation cushion even your own business apply six paramitas. If you’re teacher apply it your teaching. If you’re carpenter it apply to your carpentry work. If you’re cook it apply in your kitchen. Ah if you’re musician apply on that your on your musical work. That’s if you are nurse apply that on your nursing service. Is that right? Huh? Okay. So whatever you are whatever you do whatever you do apply that. If you’re a housewife apply that in your house. And ah that that is the that is the something that you can apply everywhere. You can apply everywhere it is not restricted for Buddhism or buddhist practice. Or it is not restricted to your cushion only.

1:03:31.7 It is everywhere. If you are running a store apply that to your store. If you’re running a whatever you are doing it is applicable to that. So that’s what you do. You should have your your open-mindedness of the generosity. You should have committed moral. You should have patience. You should have diligence. Think use wisdom. What is wrong with this. Every single damn moment we do we have to apply that. That is the why Buddha tells everything and everything is part of life. So do not separate your Buddhist practice and your daily life. Don’t. If you do so you are a fool. That’s what it is. Really. That’s that’s what you have to apply. It’s everyday thing. Every moment thing. Every chore you do. Even if you want to grow your nice beard you have to apply six para six paramita beard. Ha ha ha ha. He has a longer and bigger beard than you do Allen. Ha ha ha he may have longer six paramitas. Ha ha ha. So so that’s like a the that’s that’s what it is. Basically whether you tell you through lam rim or tell you sit down and meditate whatever you do is the be kind compassionate. And work from that motivation apply six paramitas must commit to free yourself. Even if you don’t follow Buddhism doesn’t matter. Commit to become free whatever you follow. Follow a path which is capable of delivering that goods. It’s available it’s not only the Buddhism. There are a lot of them available. But if you have a simple little cook up stories probably that will not deliver. So that’s your choice where you have to make. And then free yourself alone is not enough. What about the person you cared most? What about your companion? What about your girlfriend? What about your boyfriend? What about your husband? What about your children?

1:06:00.8 Are you going to walk away as though you don’t know anything about it? Close your eyes and go away? I don’t believe we do that. So therefore there’s no way you can skip. So you have to help. A way and how you help is the way and how you help yourself. See if you cannot help yourself you can not help others. Forget it

1:06:32.3 [Tibetan]

1:06:36.1 Atisha. It’s one of the first gifts to the Tibetans.

1:06:39.6 [Tibetan]

1:06:49.7 I forgot the rest of the words anyway. So

1:06:50.1 [Tibetan]

1:06:54.5 If you want to help your mind if you want to help other’s mind until you help yourself no way you can help the others. So therefore first help yourself. So help yourself. Ha ha ha ha help yourself go ahead. That’s what it is okay? And if you can help yourself how you help yourself exactly same thing repeat to the others. It works with you it will work with others. It didn’t work with you it will not work with others. As simple as that. Very simple. These are the Buddhist steps and after that you generate bodhimind and bodhisattvas and all these are there and I’m quite sure number of you will be able to achieve that within your lifetime. And then there is a thing called Vajrayana. Right? Vajrayana. And Vajrayana is very popular in the west particularly. Ah I don’t know it stands .. to the earlier ah Buddhist ah masters. In general and particularly Trungpa Rinpoche made the Vajrayana extremely popular in the for the United States. And ah people have great interest. And then also people have a lot of ah ah ah tantra they have a lot of ah understanding and misunderstanding and all sorts of things. However ah the Vajrayana the power of the Vajrayana is the speed. The speed the speed how fast you drive ninety-seven miles an hour or it is like a hundred miles an hour or something. Ah the speed. Non-Vajrayana Mahayana practice now I’m sorry I’m really speaking a lot of Greek here now. Mahayana Vajrayana all of them are becoming Greek. So anyway non-Vajrayana Mahayana things are capable of delivering enlightenment but after a number of eons.

1:09:56.1 Like if you look at the traditional teachings whether it is Tibetan or or or the Japanese or the Korean or the Chinese or anywhere you say the Buddha first generated mind bodhimind. And then accumulated and purified ah three countless eons and finally obtained enlightenment. That you hear that all the time. So three countless eons. So the Vajrayana Buddha introduced Vajrayana to speed up speed up you said right? To speed up the process. Instead of taking three eons making sure one gets the result within the life. So speed what you cover is like the eons to ah like ah a solid ten years or something ten fifteen years or something. I used the word solid because if you say sixty years and you count the number really what you put hours wise you put in is like five years or something you put really truly. One of the Kadampa teachers said well I did a lot of work nothing had happened. And he said oh don’t lie when did you do it? You sleep half the day half the time of your life. And the other half you’re awake. But then you have gossip time eating time walking time chore time take them out and actual hours that you really put in is five years in sixty years of one’s life. If you really think. That’s what you put in. So normally we say oh I was there in ah fifteen years or twenty years or thirty years. So I have to say don’t lie. Did you really put twenty years in it? No definitely not.

1:12:11.1 Maybe two years. So the Vajrayana speeds up that. It is the power really of Vajrayana is the speed power. So is Vajrayana available to everybody? Technically yes. But can you be a Vajrayanaing ? No. Vajrayanaing are you laughing at that? Or Vajrayana-ist? That’s even wrong alright. They’re laughing on my language Allen what can I do?

1:12:59.7 [audience] Ha ha ha help. [audience]

1:13:20.9 So anyway so so what you need is the basic requirement of that perfect foundation of seeking freedom and generating bodhimind some idea of wisdom. And if you have that you fit to be in Vajrayana. So these are the tree steps plus in Vajrayana there’s development stage and completion stage. So it is five step five step path. And if you take that without taking any exit you will be delivered at the door of the enlightenment. You’re not going to fall in any cliff. So by saying that I’m looking at the time I have to go back here. Because tonight we’re planning to do the fire puja. And we hope to do early evening around about eight we begin. But Doug tells me you don’t want do that. So I don’t know exactly yet. And he said there’s a lot of bugs there.

1:14:42.0 [audience joking and question]

1:15:30.3 No I think all four. This is very interesting. All four sects in the Tibetan claims to be Vajrayana Vajrayana -ist. Vajrayana-list ist.

1:15:48.6 [audience question]

1:16:03.6 And also they all claim the emptiness is the presentation of Nagarjuna’s emptiness. And ah I really personally think it is only the lineage ah that also come from Buddha down to to quite a number of years. Like in the case of Marpa Milerepa and ah all this are there. Guru Padmasambhava and all this are everybody accepts that. There’s nobody had a quarrel with that. And after a little while somewhere around about eleven-hundred ah twelve-hundred maybe somewhere around there then they started the one teacher the teachers following. And then there’s different things have come up. So if you really boil down started looking the text books are different because they wrote by the different scholars. And ah where they rang the bells was slightly different and how they rang be slightly different. And ah and if you look very detailed how they dressed is also be slightly different and that sort of thing. And ah otherwise I don’t really see that much difference at all. But some of them will make very much emphasized to be very conservative. And some don’t and that’s also available with each one of those traditions. Some are very conservative some are not. And that’s what it is basically. Yes.

1:17:52.9 [audience question]

1:18:30.1 Well I said I only prayed to the god I didn’t say I prayed to the creator.

1:18:40.3 [audience]

1:18:40.7 Buddha. What’s wrong with that? [audience] Thank you. [laughter] That’s not a stupid question at all. Ah Buddhism yeah well ah I normally don’t touch that subject. It is a controversial subject. Buddhists can be atheist. If that’s the correct word I think it is. Buddhists can be atheist yeah. So Buddhist Buddhism what what Buddhist really believe is believe yourself. Buddhists believe in responsibility your self-responsibility. Buddhists never believe Buddha is creator. If Buddha’s creator he should have created only pure land. He should not have created impure nuclear activities and ah he not have created yeah. And ah so so yeah it is. And self responsibility in my own capacity by my own work by my own achievement I have came here as ah great human being American citizens. Ha ha it’s my own capacity. And it’s not ah creator created me to be American. Or creator chose me to be in North America. Ah it’s not. Obviously you did. And it’s also whether you going to be whatever you going to be in the future is also in your own hand not by somebody else. Then that doesn’t mean you don’t have a miracle. That doesn’t mean you don’t have enlightened beings’ help. That doesn’t mean you don’t have a divine intervention in normal American language. That doesn’t mean that. Is that is that makes you more confused? Okay good. Yes Theresa.

1:20:59.9 [audience offers quote. Rimpoche repeats.]

1:21:14.6 Your helping hand is at the end of your arm. Or your harming hand is at the end of your arm.

1:21:24.2 [laughter]

1:21:30.6 You know why? You know why I said this? You know now Geshe Geshe now is sitting here I can share that joke. A few years ago when I was in India the Congress Party the powerful political party the Congress Party divided. And Indira Gandhi’s party right? I think they choose the hand right? Is that Indira Gandhi’s party right? They choose the hand as a symbol for that Congress Party. So she meant to say hand will help you. So the opposition party later [Jampa] Party ah later on the ah the batch by [Atil Bahari Batchpi] he give speak big political speech in Delhi. And he says you know what this hand is for? To hit you. Ha ha ha hand to slap you ha ha ha [poprimerigol] so the hand is to slap you. So that’s just remembered when you raised the question that came up in my head. And so so I thought that’s why I said oh the other one ha ha and then remembered that. So yes

1:22:53.7 [audience question]

1:23:11.5 If you have to powerful burning anger the attachment can cool it can helot cool it down. Attachment also helps to make to grow anger too. Because these delusions they have ah very much inter-linked some kind of system. Whenever you push one button you gets other buttons too. However however however sometimes the attachment can help. Occasion some occasion can cool down the anger that’s there for sure. I’m quite sure if you look in your personal experience you will also notice that you know? It does. I don’t know whether you really want me to go a little more than that maybe not ha ha ha.

1:24:17.1 [ audience question]

1:24:44.9 Well I don’t know much about Christianity. And if I try to say something which I don’t know I make fool of myself. Ah so I don’t so I don’t really don’t know. But the reincarnation there is not a permanent soul but there is a continuation for which like Trungapa Rinpoche used the terminology like continuation of discontinuity. Am I right? Allen? Continuation of discontinuity. And people gives you an example like mala running through. People gives you like ice cube one top of another ice cube. It will continue. And I just give you like a the the continuation of burning light this morning. So I even used the Olympic [torch] as an example. So all of those sort of things. However it is the continuation of discontinuity. This is a very subtle point. It is difficult to understand. Is it as one consciousness of the individual consciousness is a very strong word. Are you conscious continuously? You are not. But it is some kind of continuation of your continuation. And ah you pick up the conscious in between. You are aware of what’s happening feel experience get out of the conscious. You lose consciousness yet you continue. It also’s impermanent. It changes changes every second every minute every moment yet it is continue. Gross example like yesterday’s me is not today’s me. Today’s me is not going to be tomorrow’s me but it is me. That is a very gross example. However it goes down to very subtle. The subtle so much so the not the subtle you don’t have a body at all form lost totally. So much subtle than that even the consciousness is you’re not conscious. You lose the conscious. You can’t say lose consciousness. If you lose consciousness as a noun and then you don’t lose that. But if you lose conscious as conscious knowing acknowledging knowing conscious you lose that. So I can’t say you lose your consciousness completely.

1:27:24.8 But it is to that level that subtle. So it is not a permanent soul but it is impermanent continuation of discontinuity. I’d rather take refuge under that vocabulary. It is ah it is very useful. People give you like ice cube on top of another melts and that is a continuation of something. Or the mala goes through it is very gross because the thread is not going to change no matter how many mala goes. That may be too strong a an example. So the torchlight things like that. Ah I ah it is a subtle thing I don’t know even how to really go deep. And then experience. And experience I was talking to him ah the night before. We’re up till like two in the morning talking to him and he has his experience of some very interesting where he went ah unconscious high fever or something like ah hundred five six whatever it is you know. And like for like ten fifteen days and then had a lot of interesting personal experience. I’m trying to tell him come back and talk to us more because yesterday he spent all his time on the Institution. I was hoping you know half and half sort of thing. But I have to find sometime and get him back. And so talk little more about consciousness in general and particularly with the person with experience. And ah and also he’s a geshe and anything he can talk. There’s no difficulty. And real geshe not only a titled geshe but real geshe. He does present himself as he has studied ah sort of a person who looks after the dusty books or something. But it’s more than that. Yes Allen.

1:29:21.5 [audience]

1:29:32.1 Well Tibetan words is the GU. I don’t know what Sanskrit word is. This is Sanskrit scholar so here you are. Lucky we have a Sanskrit scholar. Yeah it is sort of GU in Tibetan.

1:29:45.9 [audience]

1:29:46.9 What is the Sanskrit?

1:30:00.6 [end]