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19970827GRSRLR 7

0:00:06.5 That covers the acknowledgment of the spiritual master, the qualities of the spiritual master, reflect on the qualities of the student and cultivating pure relationship. That is the pure relationship that I mentioned earlier, true respect, from your point of view and vice versa, from the master’s point of view, personally feeling the responsibility of each and every individual who is depending on that person, on you. That is the connection. That is the pure relationship. It is pure because it has no misuse of any power. Nobody is taking any advantage of anybody. If you do so it becomes impure. So I would like to stop here. We have come up to point 17. So we have some hope to go up to 64. There is a meditation on this which I will share this evening.

(Then talks about group meeting schedule)

0:02:15.4 File cut off – new file starts:

Be able to guide others. Sure, by all means, as long as they are sort of enlightened beings or capable of helping others. Sure you can, but if not, if you are put in there, from your point of view as a spiritual teacher, that’s fine, absolutely fine. From the individual point of view the person you are putting in, there is some question, whether that is a service to that spiritual master or disservice. That’s why I say it is difficult. I would like to use the same point here: sometimes we have been using Allen’s photograph. I think many people think it is the same thing. For all the other people who have passed away, they bring their photos and put them on their altar. I have no objection. Anybody can put any photo, doesn’t matter, but normally I don’t want any photo on there at all. So anything you put up I take it down, just simply nothing. But sometimes it can be a disservice for that person.

0:03:47.0 This is with the reincarnation and belief system. If the person is not up the level of that much, if you put their picture on the altar it loses a lot of their value and good karma. It becomes a disservice. So the ancestors, like in the Chinese tradition they do keep the ancestors in a temple, but they don’t keep the ancestor’s things on the altar. They have a separate building somewhere where they keep everything. Even those who worship the ancestors will put that in some kind of lower level place, because it costs too much money for them, too much merit.

0:04:51.4 So it is a very similar question. But from your point of view, if it is your spiritual master, you can certainly put it wherever it fits to be in the supreme field of merit. That is the true statement. I hope I have not been too explicit about it, but hopefully not.

Audience: You had said that in the practice of the Lam Rim, negative behaviors will stop automatically. How can that be? What does that mean?

Rimpoche: The moment you got the dosage of Lam Rim then it goes like this (snips fingers) and it stops! (laughter) – we all want it to be like that but unfortunately it doesn’t work that way. If you keep on thinking – I don’t even want to say meditating – but keep on thinking, reading and talking about it, the information you are getting out of Lam Rim, if you keep applying that in your daily practice, then even if you are walking over an ant or something you will think twice, “If I step on that ant it dies, that poor fellow loses its life.” When you get that idea you think about it.

0:07:26.5 It just happened to me yesterday. I went out in a kayak. and there was an ant in the kayak. It bit me and suddenly I brushed it and the ant fell in the water. Then I thought, the ant is not going to manage very well out in the water. So I turned backwards and I brought that ant back in. Then there was somebody else who said, " Well the ant has to live in your shirt." That's, I think, how Lam Rim stopped me from letting the ant die. Just an example. Virtually what happens is, whenever you think of some negativity there is some kind of warning or understanding. Like thinking, "That ant is really going to lose its life, so let me bring it back to the shore." So it is awareness and correct habit. That way I think it stops negative karma from being created, it stops actions of hurting. You keep on putting discipline on yourself; knowing it is not right, you may still do it once or twice, or three or four times but you have the mind of stopping and finally you will be able to handle it. Just one time doing it is not necessarily going to work. If you keep on thinking all the time along those lines then you will build up a habit that you don't want to hurt anybody, and that includes yourself. I believe that's how it functions.

Audience: Two questions about the big-G word. The first one is about profound respect. At what point in the relationship between a student and a teacher does profound respect develop? Could it be at the beginning of a relationship or does it imply a certain amount of knowledge. I mean, could you have profound respect before the path of seeing or do you need to be very far advanced along the path to enlightenment in order to have profound respect. In other words, could a beginner have profound respect. What does it consist of and when does it happen and do you need to have personal interaction for it to happen? And does it require personal interaction between the student and the teacher in order to have profound respect?

Rinpoche: A very good question. The profound relationship that I was talking about earlier, of course has to be developed way before the path of seeing, way before even getting into the path of accumulation of merit, way before that. Because this is called the root of all development and that is way before any development.

0:13:36.5 The question, does it require personal relationship, is a very interesting one. If there is a personal relationship it's better, but is it absolutely necessary? No. Many of us, when I was young, attended teachings were there were thousands and thousands of people attending. Therefore, though you'd go to see the teacher personally at least once or twice a year, to be very frank the 'becoming a buddy' business is not there. That has advantage and disadvantage, both. So I should say, No, it's not necessary to have a very personal relationship, but a personal, yes. I'll sort of go in between.

Now the main point is defining this profound relationship. How shall I describe it. When you're working with it, after some time you develop within you some kind of trust, some kind of confidence that you can rely on. It requires a little effort but when you get to that point, it's sort of a personal bond or trust: I don't think it requires you to develop any stage on the spiritual path, but it does require certain efforts that you put in. If you like the person, that liking can be developed into profound respect or it can disappear or maybe be found again. So to define profound respect: it is a sort of trust-bond type of relationship; when you have it, you sort of can rely on that person, you can trust the person, and when you get to that point, such a relationship has developed. You gain respect through the subject39, because you think the subject is good and when you understand it, I think you have the beginning of profound respect. However, you have to base it on your personal mental experience. The people who have that will understand what we are talking about. Those who have not developed it, will come to understand when they get through with it. When you keep on thinking and practicing day after day in your own place with your own busy-ness you may gain, " Well that's what it meant, this is what I feel and that's what it means." It's not feeling alone that works with the individual. This morning I mentioned that by stopping the people from getting up or bowing down or prostrating, the actual sign of profound respect, when they get it, will show much clearer. We can take into consideration American culture. I really see the cutting out of all the cultural baggage. By leaving that out it becomes the real thing.

Audience: If you feel profound respect is it okay to bow?

Rinpoche: Of course it's okay, there's nothing wrong with that. But the less there is in a big group the better. The reason is, it may look like we are forcing that, and then when some new people come in, "Oh that's what were supposed to do." And they do the same thing. Then instead of helping them we're making it something else. So there

39 Through studying and meditating the subject of: 'Guru-devotion is the root of all development', or as is said in The foundation of all perfections: 'Following a kind master, foundation of all perfections, is the very root and basis of the path.

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are two things: there is a purpose, and there is an objection. You have to compare the two, and see whichever weighs more. And then follow that. Like in the story I told you this morning of Drugpa Kunleg. There is another story. You know, dharma books are considered extremely important from the dharma practitioners' point of view. So much so that traditionally people will not jump over them, you will not leave dharma books open without having some cloth on them to protect them, you don't put them on the bare ground or bare carpet, and certainly you don't put your foot or even toes on top of them. "That is respect. In Tibet, when walking they carry the dharma books on their shoulders. One day Drugpa Kunleg was carrying his books and a dog came behind and bit him. And he said, " Well there is an objection but the need is more important." And he swung his books to hit the dog. All of those stories show there is objection and there is need and you need to decide what is more important and appropriate. Use your judgment. In your own home you can do anything you want to, do a prostration or whatever you want to do; that's okay.

Audience: Can there be a sort of instant recognition of profound respect? Even when you are not looking for it when it is not expected but you recognize it when it happens?

Rinpoche: I think it's always like that. I don't think you are expecting it to develop; looking at it that way, it never develops. Suddenly you realize, that is what it is. It sort of comes that way. And then to some it comes and disappears. To some it comes and remains. And even if it disappears it comes back. It goes and comes backs and goes and comes back, and more and more it starts staying. That is how I think it works. This is spiritual development. These things come and go and you get a glimpse of it, yet you don't really have it, but you know what it is, you lose it and then it comes back. That is not only with this but with all spiritual developments that we talk about. They will function in that same way. Then the time they're gone will be less and less and the time of remaining with you will be more and more. Finally it sort of settles down. It settles down in the sense that you don't really see it, but it is there whenever it is needed. That's how the whole spiritual

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path goes.

Audience: I heard you say that before any development there will be some profound respect. But then you just said that something develops inside you.

Rinpoche: Do you think that is contradicting?

Audience: I do, the word “profound” means something more than ordinary respect. Respect is good and means a lot. But to say “profound” means it is extraordinary. To have something developed in your mind that gives you something profound….

Rinpoche: I think that itself is profound. It is more than respect. It is profound – in the sense that it is not simple respect.

Audience: I think respect is not simple. You respect a teacher because you think they are great. But profound goes beyond that.

Rinpoche: That is also true. I am thinking that way too. I said that you like the person, then you develop furthermore some reliability and trust. Combined together that makes more than respect. Maybe we use the word “profound” differently. But on the other hand it is going beyond trust and it is profound. Profound does not really have to be the experience of emptiness or bodhimind. If you are thinking on those lines I don’t think it has to be, although emptiness is called a profound experience. The terminology of “profound” to me can be used for any extraordinary experience at any level. So when you describe emptiness you also use the word “profound”. That does not mean that all profound has to be emptiness – maybe it is – all profound is emptiness, for sure. But not necessary talking about emptiness. That’s my thinking. Now I begin to see why the question of path of seeing comes in, because you have to have seen the reality and then you have to be master of emptiness. I get it. A lot of good thinking. I think that’s how it works.

It is also true, the guru devotional practice is very hard to develop. It is always recommended not to wait to develop it, but side by side follow the next points. However, I don’t think it has to wait until you get to the path of seeing or developing the understanding of emptiness.

Audience: So, if not at the level of path of seeing, where on the five paths do you know: when I get here I have the profound faith?

Rinpoche: I don’t think so, it depends on the individual. It can develop at any level. I don’t think you have to wait even to get on the first path. When you get on the first path and second path you are getting very high up. If you have to struggle with that on that level it doesn’t sound right. It develops before you enter the path, for sure. I don’t at what level. It itself is a level. It can be at the beginning, can be at one, two or even steps further; it can be developed at the refuge level or anywhere. I don’t think it’s a little box saying that you fit in here and that’s it.

0:31:44.0 Audience: Along those lines – you said this morning that guru devotion is the key to overcoming all difficulties. In a practical way, how can that be possible, what does that mean and how does that work?

Rinpoche: What difficulties are we looking at? When you journey on the path your difficulties are physical, mental and emotional. Physical and emotional difficulties are a little easier to handle. When you have mental difficulties, I think I mentioned to you, quoting Tsongkhapa out of Lam Rim Chenmo this morning: when you try to listen, you don’t understand. When you try to memorize you can’t memorize a single line. When you try to think no thoughts come up in your head. When you meditate no development comes. What should I do at that moment? At that moment rebuild the connection, revisit guru devotional practice. By doing so, because the guru is representing enlightened society, there are certain points where you need external help. The way to call for that is by revisiting guru devotional practice. After a while you begin to think and you get more ideas. You read the same old thing and understand better. That’s how it works. I thought that’s quite clear. I gave you the example of the previous Tokden Rinpoche. If you only look from the materialist point of view then you probably you may see it in a very scientific way. If you look from the scientific way you have to have another thing happening in order to move. But if you give room for something else other than science, even in the modern western traditions, there are what you call miracles.

0:36:58.0 It is not necessarily a very scientific point. But something is happening in there and it changes. Whatever happens may be beyond the scope of our ordinary eyes or even machines; something beyond seeing.

Audience: the idea of seeing, when you take refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, in the very act of the hands of the descending, in relationship to the teacher, it is something that you catch like a cold, but on the opposite end of things, where something just catches your mindfulness and it has a sense of rooting. You call it the root guru, something holds still, stops you and there is wisdom that comes in that. It is like coming down to your senses about something. And then there is something magical happening in the space between. It is beyond seeing – it is the heart mind.

Rinpoche: That’s good. Like catching cold – that’s nice. Do you sneeze too? Okay, that’s the end the questions, right? So now we should continue.

0:40:52.4 The root guru, that’s another question. I don’t expect the people here to learn everything, however, you get an idea what this guru thing is all about it, and think: how does that concerns me, do I have to be concerned? What really is guru devotion? If you read the books they tell you that you get up and you bow and walk behind the guru or to his left side and it is almost like the Queen of England style. They have that, really, especially if you read the 50 Verses of Guru Yoga. Gelong-la, who died here a few years ago, I did not know he was reading the 50 verses of guru devotion. One day we were walking in the middle of Singapore and suddenly he said, “Excuse me, I am walking on the wrong side of you.” He turned and got the other side. I was thinking, “What’s going on?” After a little while he said, “The 50 verses of guru devotion say you should walk on the left side.” That’s why he suddenly turned. These sorts of things are mentioned there. It may be elaborated, slightly exaggerated, traditionally coming from India, which has a lot of principalities and there is this princely style combined together – that might have come. If you really look within your mind stream what is possible, taking into consideration of the American culture, bring them together and you have to find a place where you call that is the point. I really see that cutting out all the cultural baggage, it becomes that.

Profound respect is borrowed language, and people have difficulty with that. What we really wanted to define is the feeling that can stand against the test. That sort of feeling is what we really are talking about, so we labeled that feeling as profound respect. It's as simple as that.

Audience: You just said it stands up against the test. What's the test?

Rinpoche: Well if you function like a flag then you are failing the test. And if you function like a pillar you are standing the test. If you are like a flag you go with the wind and there is no principle in that. It is lucky that the flag is held by a rope, otherwise it would fly away and won’t even stay there.

0:46:34.4 These are nice, important questions and people are seriously thinking and I am very happy with that.

(recording cuts out and next recording starts)

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Audience: About what you said about guru yoga; we hit a point where we are stuck and then we get unstuck. Could you conclude that the guru yoga is really the source of our spiritual development? Isn't our development like a series of sticking points where you hit a spot where we can't progress and then we have to regroup, relying on what we know of the guru and the connection?

Rinpoche: Well, relying on the guru is a different matter. I call it guru yoga rather than relying on the guru him- or herself. Instead of relying on the person, it is that mind that you've developed, the experience that you've developed, revisit that, regenerate that, rethink that, and that will remove the obstacles.

Audience: That has expression in a lot of different ways though. Doing the Ganden Lha Gyema, could that be our connection in a particular point in our development, to use that route to get to that point to get unstuck?

Rinpoche: Yes! Any guru yoga practice is okay; it is the route. Whether it is Ganden Lha Gyema or Six session guru yoga or anything. Actually in this tradition you are recommended to work along with guru yoga practice. That's why at each one of those steps that we talk about, when you meditate on them, you have Lama Shakyamuni — in Tibetan Lama Shakya Tupwang — Muni in Sanskrit - in front of you and you seek blessings to be able to do that [step], and you get a duplicate Lama dissolving to yourself making it happen. That is guru yoga, building up that mind. You use that for each and every point. Why you are doing it that way? Because the Lamrim or Odyssey to Freedom is based on guru yoga. It makes you strong and stable. That's why you do that. Guru yoga is an important point, an extremely important point; it is the 'foundation of all perfections

It is also true that if you do not feel personally connected or if you don't develop a liking for the person, then any teachings that follow from that person, though it might be a great scholarly work, might not

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be very useful for me as a personal practice. (audio file cuts out – see below complete section as transcribed from tapes)

This happens. That's why I said this morning it is not the teaching that matters, but the person.42 This goes against the usual way of teaching. The usual way of teaching is, it is the Buddhism that matters, not the Buddha. But how you establish that Buddhism works with the individual is because Buddha works with you. So it goes both ways.

Truly speaking, the bond you develop works, it gives you really the very base of things growing in you. Can anything grow without that bond? It can, but after a little while, guru yoga becomes absolutely necessary. What else can grow, what else can we achieve without developing this guru yoga?

Audience: You talked about the guru; what about the sangha? Rinpoche: The sangha is your companionship, your family members. Sangha members help each other on the path. The sangha is important, but not as important as the guru is. The qualities of the guru and of the sangha differ. The sangha is your companion, not your role model. The sangha can give you information, but that is different from information that you get through teaching. As Allen Ginsberg in his poem Father Death says,

Teacher Death your words are true, Sangha Death, we'll work it through43 .

Is sangha necessary? Absolutely. One: it is part of the refuge. Two: practically, if you don't have anybody to talk to, to discuss with, to help you to do what you need to do, you're not going to make it, you'll drop out.

Audience: My question is about perceiving your spiritual master as an enlightened being. How do I know he is?

Rinpoche: If you are sure, great, but we have no way to confirm. Audience: So it is just blind faith?

42 See page 99.

43 'Father Death blues'. Allen Ginsberg, Collected poems 1947-1980, pg. 654.

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Rinpoche: No. We gave the criteria. It doesn't matter whether the spiritual master is fully enlightened or not. If they have the qualities as mentioned in the criteria, the information, the tradition, the lineage, it is working, fine. You are the investigator for the qualities mentioned. You are not the investigator of the individual person. That is how we look. It is not blind faith, it is intelligent faith, based on your investigation. The bottom line for this is as Kyabje Ling Rinpoche used to say, "What I am seeking is benefit and profit, I am not seeking loss and disadvantage." So if you want benefit and profit as from a Buddha, you might as well see the person as a Buddha.

Nice, nice, very nice beautiful questions, very important questions, people are seriously thinking. I am happy with that.

18

Understand its value

Human life that we have is the most precious. In traditional Tibetan teachings it is called it is called deljor34. It is rich in quality and having opportunity. Are you with me? When we look in our life and we normally pay no attention people may say, "Yes, I am happy to be alive." Like Allen has a poem there, happy to be alive. So, people may think, I am happy to be alive," but at the same time you do not really consider the value of the life. And we always consider value in terms of external things, when you value something we will value in terms of money, in terms of investment, stock, etc... That's my reading. And more or less when you value people these days you value how much that person is worth to you, so it immediately transfers the value of the

34 Traditionally translated 'leisure and fortune' so del means leisure or opportunity, and jor means good fortune or richness.

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person to the green dollar figure. That is an unfortunate thing. That's not your value. Truly speaking a dollar is a dollar; it's important, no doubt, but it is artificial. Somebody decided to make the value of a dollar, they introduced a little piece of paper supposed to be worth this much and there is supposed to be an equal amount of gold in the treasury. Anyway it is an artificial value. What does such valuation do to human beings? Cut down and reduce the natural human value. If I am wrong I am sorry but that's my opinion. Natural human value has no place. People begin to say, "What is his worth?' or "What is her worth?" always looking for a dollar figure — that is made up and artificial. You may be able to buy little luxury things and that is it. I am not saying it's not true; it is real, and at the same time it is also not real. It is inflated value. If it works, that's fine, no problem. Everything is emptiness, so there is room for everything to play, that's fine. But if it cuts the natural value, then it is a problem.

0:54:03.6 Somehow people don't think in terms of natural value, it always goes [to the artificial value]. And we've been trained as babies, trained to think that way, so naturally your thoughts will go there. Interestingly enough I have been trained the other way around. In 1959 when I was kicked out of Tibet the change that I experienced was like two hundred years difference. I used to live exactly the level of life as in the West in the 16th and 17th centuries and I got picked up from that time period and dropped into the 20th century. Then I began to see people measuring in that way, and I said, "Oh, yeah, you sort of totally ignore the human value and begin to see the dollar amount value".

The totally ignored human value is the real valuable thing we have. And we don't recognize it. We don't even care sometimes, unless you've been threatened you are going to die or something. When a threat comes, then you are scared, because you don't want to die. Otherwise, we don't think, we don't care.

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Tsongkhapa says human life is more precious than a wishfulfilling jewel35, if there is such a thing. I used to tell a sort of very childish tale here. If someone says, "I'm going to give you one billion dollars if you let me kill you", would anybody agree with that? Some of you may say, "Well, if you make sure that my children get the money then even if I have to die, it's okay". But you don't have any guarantee your children are going to get it. The point is, no one will agree with that if you are sensible. So if you compare your life's value to a dollar amount you begin to see it. Though it sounds absolutely childish, silly, it gives you an idea of how important your life is.

Many years ago I got sick in Delhi, I developed high blood pressure and I got very sick and then I got scared. I said, " Oh, am I going to die?" When I got that thought l began to think, " Whoa, that's right, you don't realize the value of life every day, you begin to acknowledge and see it clearly when a threat comes". There's not really a threat but you perceive it as possibly a threat. So then I began to think those crazy ideas. And it works. I call it a childish story, but if you visualize that vividly happening then you begin to see " Whoa! I am not going to let this life go for that money!" So you begin to appreciate and understand the value.

Yet we may not understand life, what it is capable of, what it can do and what it cannot do. We don't probably know yet. The human life that we have is different from the life that ants have. The capability of human life is beyond our imagination. Right? Today we sit here and look at scientific achievements, and they are great, no question; unless we are stupid, we will accept that. However, it is not 'science' that achieved that, it is human beings that achieved it, I believe Einstein was a human being rather than 'science'. Rembrandt was a human being, the great artists were, the great poets, all of those. So it's human beings and it's human achievement. That's from the material point of view.

35 Tsongkhapa says so in his shortest Lamrim. See Gelek Rinpoche, Lam Rim Teachings, Vol. IV, Appendices, Song of the Stages in Spiritual Practice, vs. 13.

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From the spiritual point of view we are talking about the Buddha and all these great spiritual founders and masters. Each and every one of them were human beings. Their achievement is a human achievement. Their level of intelligence may have been bigger or smaller than ours but not much. So, if we have the will we have the way to become like Einstein or like Buddha, whatever you want to. Human life is capable of delivering that. This life is, not another type of life.

Traditionally they will tell you, you are not an animal, you are not a hungry ghost and so on — the eight leisures and the ten endowments of our human life. You can read about them in the Lamrim books36. But when you read it, the way you will accept it is by meditation. You get out your own human body and imagine that you have become one of the most lovable intelligent dogs. And then see the limitations that you face; you only know one language, you can't communicate to anyone else. If you want to say you're hungry, you bark, if you want to say you are too cold, you bark, if you want to say you are too hot, you bark. Or if you are angry you may say, " grrrr, grrrr.. ." . So there are limitations. From that perspective then you come back to yourself — this is a meditation I am taking you through — you come back to your own body and say " Wow! What a relief, I can speak, I can tell people things, I can write, I can express" . Then you begin to see how important human life is.

That you may do with all those different points, meditate all six realms. I just gave you the dog as an example. Even as a samsaric god you have this. We may think it is fantastic and wonderful to be a samsaric god: everybody is young and beautiful, everything is wonderful, there's nothing but joy. And you'll have more capability than we do as far as seeing the future, and seeing the past. However, they don't see their future because they just won't look there. They are so happy, they are just stuck there.

Sometimes life is so miserable that you are just stuck there, sometimes it is so happy that you don't want to know anything. I don't have to explain that to you, because many of you know better than I

36 Gelek Rinpoche, Lam Rim Teachings, ch. Vll, Part: Recognition of our precious human life. Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in the palm of your hands, pg. 308-313

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do. So, the experience of the hell realm and the experience of the samsaric god's realm we have; both of them we have.

1:06:30.6 So to understand the value of a human life we look at different lives. We look at the ant's life, the snake, dog or cat's life, we can imagine a hungry ghost's life and a samsaric god's life. The feelings of the different realms are very similar to our usual chemical effects of either the experience of being happy, joy, not knowing anything, or the experience of being miserable, stuck, the nightmare type thing. That will give you a very nice idea of what life really looks like. And that's the reason why Buddha goes on saying that everything is suffering. Everything is suffering.

19

Appreciate the rarity

A human life like we have is a rarity. More rare even is the essence of the Tibetan Buddhist value, vajrayana. Vajrayana is not like a ordinary vehicle, it is like a rocket to enlightenment. True. That is why we are very fortunate to have it. So we have to appreciate it. Okay?

I did not do any Gelugpa propaganda yet, I'd better do that as well. Even more rare are Tsongkhapa's teachings. Why? Tsongkhapa's tradition ignores neither scholarship nor development. Some people will say, "Just sit might and get your development; that's all you need" . You can sit there for twenty years; nothing will happen. It is Tsongkhapa who says:

Pick up information first, and when you find the truth, internalize it. And when you have your spiritual development, you behave like a normal human being.

The more learned you are, the more kind and well behaved you should be. When you are more knowledgeable, you should be much better behaved, If you are learned, you cannot behave in a funny way and if you are very well maintained in the discipline, you should not be stupid, you should be learned. So Tsongkhapa contradicts both extremes; you fry to find the middle path.

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Tsongkhapa also has a special way for us to understand impermanence within our lives, a special way of guiding the disciples though the meditative state of impermanence.37 Tsongkhapa also has a special way of developing love and compassion; he combined both the existing seven stages and the exchange stages and made it into eleven steps. He sort of revolutionized the way of developing bodhimind and made it work better, faster and stronger. It does not end there; there are a tremendous number of ways of using the good, special qualities in vajrayana. That is why meeting with Tsongkhapa's teachings is even more rare. So I hope I have done enough propaganda for it.

The purpose of the whole story is to appreciate what you have in front of you. Appreciate yourself, make yourself valuable and take the opportunity you have, the way in which you are functioning has to be appreciated. That is the rare quality. Information is not rare, it is available everywhere, you can print it, make a hundred copies any minute, so that does not count. What counts is the human capability to investigate that information, that is rare.

Now here is another important point that I would like to raise. A lot of people may think, " Well I may not be able to do much this time, but when I come back I will do it again". That is basically laziness, that pushes you off, "I don't have to do it right now, I can do it tomorrow".

1.09

But to tell the truth tomorrow never comes. It's always today, tomorrow never comes. So you have to do it today. If you postpone it, it is not going to materialize. You may think, "Well, I am too old I can't do it, I'm too sick I can't do it, I'm too busy I can't do it, I'm too poor I can't do it, I am too rich I can't do it". All of these are very good excuses, but in fact it is your laziness telling you not to indulge in this. A life with such conditions as we have today might not be easily picked up in the future. This is a very important point. A lot of people misconceive this, have misunderstanding, think, "We are a human being, we are going to go better and better and better.. People think that, and Buddha says, "No, no, no! You go up and down

37 The nine-round meditation on death. Gelek Rinpoche, Lam Rim Teachings, Ch. IX, Paragraph: Actual thoughts on death.

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like your emotions". Just like our emotions go up and down, our type of future lives go up and down. You are a human being this time, but you could be a pig in the slums of Calcutta next time, or a yak high in Tibet. So the life we have, we cannot take for granted. It's not automatically there, it's difficult to find. It is very rare that we have such a life. Particularly a life with this opportunity: once and for all to take care of our neurosis. This is really rare!

One time one of the Panchen Lamas gave a teaching on the rarity of human life and he had an important benefactor from China, who was attending that teaching. The benefactor went to the lama, excused himself and told him, " You have said that human life is very rare, but the problem is that you have not seen China. We have so many people! You do not have so many people in Tibet". 1.13 And the lama said, "You didn't get it, that's not the point." The point is human life, human capability, with the interest to solve our problems once and for all, that is rare. And that is true for all of us. Even the person you love the most and you care about the most, if you want that person to take the opportunity, they won't come, they think you're crazy. Or they may accept what you are doing, but in their heart of hearts they may think, " Well, whatever he or she is doing, fine, but I don't know what to make of it. I am not going to go there." It is very rare that you have a couple with interest, coming together, it is even much more rare than a single person having an interest. Really true. And it is important. If one is yes and one is no, then there is always a fifty-fifty chance of either going this way or that way.

When they say rarity, it is in the sense one would like to take the opportunity, one would like to do something that makes a difference to one's life. That is rare. We here have that, otherwise why would you be here in the middle of nowhere in a camp38 where you probably went when you were in eighth grade or ninth grade, or something — under rustic difficult conditions and yet maintaining joy and happiness and enthusiasm. It shows you have interest and you see some value in it,

38 The retreat was held in Camp Copneconic, Flint, Michigan.

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you want to have it and you don't want to deprive yourself of the opportunity. You see, that's what is rare. And one needs to appreciate that.

If you think you are going to get it tomorrow, you may never know. Tomorrow you may change your mind or your partner may change his or her mind. Who knows? So as the opportunity is really rare, take it, take it now. It is important.

How to meditate on these points

You meditate on each point that I covered today. At the point of acknowledge the spiritual master, you raise the question whether the spiritual master is necessary or not necessary. If so, why? If not necessary, why not? And find out. Then you draw a conclusion that it is necessary. There is no way you can come to the conclusion that it is not necessary, because this is a living tradition and you would like to have development, you would like to be part of that, you would like to have living development within yourself. So therefore, you need a guide or role model or mentor, somebody you can ask questions, somebody you hope to get an answer from, somebody that will be able to help you move on the path, somebody, a living being, whom you can talk to rather than reading a book or watching a video or listening to a tape. Therefore, you will probably draw the conclusion that it is necessary. If it's necessary, is everybody who claims to be a guru, a guru? If a person is advertising himself or herself as a guru, particularly if they tell you "I am your guru" , the suggestion is you run away 500 hundred miles without looking back, because you are buying trouble. You have to remember that "I am the one who chooses my guru, it is not the guru who selects me." I'll choose my guru, a guru may accept me or reject me, that is up to the guru. The guru doesn't

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choose me to be his or her disciple. 1.20 If that is happening then there is something wrong.

Investigate qualities of the spiritual master, you find in the Lamrim books. And one of the most important points is to find out if that person is a good person. It is very hard to find a good person, really kind, compassionate, caring, not so much self interested and with a self agenda, not a selfish person.

At the same time, one of the most important investigations is: reflect on qualities of the student: would I like to be like that person, the way he or she deals with life? That is the most important question because your guru is going to be your role model So, do you want to be like that person, the way he or she to handles things. And when you see the faults and you see the qualities, then when you see both you have to think a minute. Which is more heavy, what do I do? How much can I tolerate and how much can I take? These are the ways of investigating the qualities of the spiritual master. Then cultivate pure relationship.

Thinking and analyzing like that is your meditation. That you do with the visualization of Lama Buddha Shakyamuni or Lama Arya Tara or whoever you want to; in their presence. This mental presence is a very important point. In that presence you are analyzing, thinking about it. That is your way of meditating. And then you get to the conclusion, " Yes! It is necessary. Yes, I can't get anything better than that. The conclusion will come out.

Once you get the conclusion, you look, does it tally with the experiences of the other teachers, the lineage teachers and other books where people express that? Those and my experience, are they tallying together or is there something different? If there is something different, you read and you ask questions. And when you realize it has become one, then that is the clear sign that you have drawn the right conclusion. That's how we know it. Otherwise you may draw the wrong conclusion and you won't even know. That's why you always check and balance. One check and balance is the authentic books

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written by people with a name and a face and experience, You check with those references and once you realize you've been satisfied with that, then you draw your conclusion.

Then you sit on the conclusion. You sit on the conclusion and keep on meditating. It is almost like you are suggesting to your mind, accept this, accept this, accept this. The mind will still reject points and give you reasons, but then you will have counter arguments, you have counter presentations. And finally the mind will accept it and then it will become stable.

When it has become stable, the understanding was brought by analyzing, and concentration was put on it and that way it develops. That's the way you take each step, in front of Lama Buddha Shakyamuni". In front of the Lama you have all this analyzing and concentrating going on and finally you pray to the Lama Buddha Shakyamuni that this development may develop with me, and that the obstacles may be cleared for me. Then the light and liquid comes and purifies and finally a duplicate Buddha comes and dissolves into you. For good luck you think for a minute it has become that way. By constantly putting efforts toward it, it will build.

Likewise you meditate on the recognition of life — embrace human life, understand its value and appreciate the rarity.

1:27:51.2 I pray to the Lama Buddha that I may be able to develop the point of embracing life; may that be developed with me. May all the obstacles of hating myself, disliking myself, not caring for my body and mind, all of them be purified. May the recognizing and embracing stage be developed with me. Light

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and liquid come and purify. A duplicate lama dissolves. And I think: this point has been materialized.

I might not be understanding the value of my life. I take everything for granted or I underestimate my life. So may I have all these obstacles cleared. May I develop an appreciation for the value of what I have.

I may not be able to understand how rare this opportunity is, but when I am thinking and when I am analyzing may I begin to realize how rare it is, even within my family, even within me and my boyfriend or girlfriend. I have those problems and I am lucky to have this interest here. This is a rare opportunity that I have and I realize and appreciate the rarity; may that appreciation remain with me all the time. Light and liquid comes and clears the obstacles, a duplicate Buddha dissolves to me and makes it stable.

That's how you meditate Lamrim. It's not necessary to have detail. Even a very very short one will do. But you should have enough analyzing. If you cannot analyze, you cannot convince yourself. I may tell you your life is rare, and you keep on saying, "Yes, yes, my life is rare" but you won't really know anything. When somebody says, "Your life is not rare, it is all hallucinations. What are you talking about rare it's totally hopeless, useless and helpless", you may go along with that, "Oh that sounds really true, it's hopeless, it's helpless." That's what happens. When that happens it's because you have not established a foundation, you're not grounded, you're not like a pillar but like a flag — flap, flap, flap, following the wind's direction.

To be able to be grounded in that and stabilized, analytical meditation is absolutely necessary. You give all your counter arguments, you give everything and at the end you'll find it. That is going take time. However, some people will be able to develop understanding this step during this teaching, even before we stop for evening activities. And to some people it may take three or four or five years. But even if it takes that much time it is worth it, it is an important value.

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1:31:33.6 Embracing human life is the beginning of your spiritual path. Otherwise you have no reason as to why you need a spiritual path.

Normally the traditional teachings will tell you to meditate once tonight, once tomorrow, and then we repeat the points again during the teaching. That might not work here. I'm really glad we have the discussion groups. In the group you can openly discuss things; that will help to clarify the details that you wanted to know, it can give more understanding, clear the misunderstandings, you can gain more understanding. In the teachings we emphasize more on the learning; meditation and practice will be the rest of your life, till you have developed. Here we are giving you the material to analyze and we tell you how to analyze and draw your conclusion. When you think with the reasons we gave you and you are reasonable open-minded, not stubborn, the conditions will force you exactly to come to the right conclusion point. Once you have landed, you stabilize, once you are stabilized, you remind yourself, focus and concentrate, 'This is the truth'. Then it will become your habit of thinking that way. When you built that habit it becomes habitual within you. That is why it is said, things function effortlessly when you are developed.

Thank you very much (Dedication)