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189

DAY SIX

STEP 31 TO 49

Do kindly generate pure thoughts, the thoughts which you have already been taught, and which are mentioned in the traditional Lamrim teachings. Generate whatever level of bodhimind you can, at least:

For the benefit of all beings, I would like to obtain the state of buddhahood, for which I would like to learn and practice this.

With that sort of motivation, do kindly listen to this teaching.

Review 3

The teaching you are going to listen to has four and three special qualities. Such a teaching, based on the personal experience of the Buddha, was clarified, shortened, and made easy to practice by Atisha; elaborated by Tsongkhapa, and thereafter [practiced] by many, many hundreds and thousands of great masters who obtained ultimate enlightenment by this particular path. So we are very fortunate to be here and to be able to discuss this.

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You remember the way and how you listen69 . It's being free of the three faults: a hole in the bowl, dirt in the bowl, or the bowl upside down, so nothing can go in. Try to cultivate the six mindfulnesses 70. Think of the manner in which sick people are when they find some cure; how excited they are! Likewise, we have been sick with anger, attachment and hatred for a very long time, and here we have a cure for it, therefore we should be very excited and looking forward. The Buddha, in this case, is particularly the sort of person who tells you what [you need] to do, and so represents the doctor. The Dharma, what you practice, is the actual medicine, and the Sangha is those who will help you. Keep all this in mind.

And as we mentioned, of course we have to create a sacred environment, both inner and outer space, arrange symbolic offerings, position body and mind, and envision supreme field, in this case Buddha Shakyamuni. We offer salutations, present symbolic and boundless imagined offerings, and purify all that is negative by applying the four powers. One power has already been established: that is the power of the base, taking refuge and generating bodhimind. The second power, or antidote action, you are already engaged in; it's your practice. This learning, thinking, analyzing, meditating, gaining experience with effort and experience without effort; all of these are antidote actions. Rejoice in the great work done by Buddha and the disciples of the Buddhas. Just simply sitting there rejoicing brings a tremendous amount of benefit. At the same time, rejoice in the friends who are doing good, rejoice in your partner, your companion, children, parents — whoever they are, they are doing great things. And then seek guidance; that's what you'll always need until you become enlightened. The reason is this; the enlightened level is called 'no more learning' but until you reach that point there is always something more to pick up, so, seek guidance. Request to remain, and dedicate ef-

69 See page 105.

70 2 (l) To think of yourself as a sick person; (2) to think of the dharma as medicine; (3) to think of your spiritual teacher as a skilled physician; (4) to think that practicing the dharma intently will cure your illness; (5) to think of the Tathagata as a holy being; (6) to wish that the dharma might remain for a long time.

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fort. Then ask for inspiration and blessing. so far, from one to twelve, the preliminary level. From here the actual practice starts, beginning with guru-devotional practice, points thirteen to sixteen.

Acknowledge the spiritual master. The spiritual master, you may not really have to think of as an individual, but Buddhas have said repeatedly,

We will never let people down.

If people have willingness, if they open up a little bit, we will be there.

Right this moment, what does that mean for us? In a way, we are very fortunate; in a way, we are extremely great and wonderful. On the other hand, from the Hindu-Buddhist mythological point of view, this period is seen as a degenerated age, called kali yuga. In a way, that is true, too. We will not be able to see Buddha as he appeared, as an official buddha, with this extra lump on the crown and ears that are that long etc. — the thirty-two major and eighty minor signs of a buddha. If the Buddha were to appear today, I am quite sure we would acknowledge some alien guy coming from some alien nation and we would probably run away from him. So we don't have that opportunity. But that doesn't mean the buddhas let us down. There are a number of spiritual masters on different levels, showing different paths, representing different points. They are all there to represent the Buddha to me. I don't think Buddha is going to let me down, so there has to be someone here to help me. All these kinds of thoughts will help.

The bottom line is the question, "Is the spiritual master necessary?" If you think carefully, you will definitely find the answer, " Yes it is necessary." It has to be a human being — in this particular case — because it is the human experience, the human gain, that has been passed on through one person after another. It is a life connection, not a vision connection. Vision only, that cuts the continuation of the lineage, and when you cut the continuation of the lineage, you actually cut the backbone support of spiritual development. Many of the great teaching traditions are not so much helpful to people just because they lost the connection — not so much the information but the continuation.

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The continuation of human being to human being is from the Buddhist point of view the most important; it is the backbone. That's why the lineage is considered important. If you don 't have the support from the back, you don't have the force behind you; and when you don 't have the force behind you, how can you comprehend? So, acknowledge the spiritual master.

In order to acknowledge the spiritual master, you have to investigate. This is a very tricky subject. If you have the wrong master, a master who guides you the wrong way, you will get into trouble. We have this traditional old Indian story of Angulimala. Normally we use this example at the purification level but you can use it here as well. This guy, Angulimala, was very interested in developing himself, in becoming a sage or saint. To do so, he was looking for direction, and unfortunately, he met a wrong master who encouraged him, " Kill one thousand human beings within a week, cut off their thumbs, put a string through them and wear it like a rosary. Then come back to me and I will liberate you." The person killed 999 human beings, but could not get the last one because by that time everybody ran away whenever that guy was seen, except his mother. Finally, the week was almost over, and he still hadn't gotten that last person. His mother was the only person who was concerned for him and she knew that if he got her, he was going to kill her too. However, she was also looking for an opportunity, "Can I help, can I talk to him or something?" He had hesitation about killing his mother. He was hoping and looking for somebody else before the deadline was over. Yet he kept one eye on his mother, too. At that time, Buddha appeared. And he said, " Oh great. Now I'll get that guy. So I don't have to get Mum." So he went after Buddha. Though Buddha walked very slowly and Angulimala was running, he could never catch up with him. He kept on running for a while. Finally he was tired and he shouted, "Hey, wait!" Buddha said, "I've been waiting. Why are you not coming?" That was how they opened the conversation, and finally Buddha was able to convince the guy that he was wrong. " Whatever you are doing is terrible,

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so throw those things you are wearing away; give that up." And Buddha said (I don't remember the words exactly, but the gist of it is),

The sky will remain, the clouds will go away; the sun will shine, the dark sky will move away.

By saying that the Buddha meant that the pure nature of the human being remains with the human being; the negativities that we have generated are like a cloud. Like the cloud can be pushed away by air, the negativities can be cleared by purification. That is how it works. Later Angulimala became quite a great being 71

If you look at it from that angle, following a master is dangerous. But what we are doing now is following in the footsteps of all the many great masters who have come and practiced, so hopefully we will reach where they have reached.

To do that, it is necessary to investigate the qualities of the master, particularly of the vajra master. That is very important. All the masters are important, as Sakya Pandita said,

Whomever you listen to, from whomever you hear even a single word of dharma, you should consider that person as your spiritual master.

That is very extreme. Truly speaking, a spiritual master is a person from whom you have taken a lot of teachings. Dharma discussion is another matter. When you have a dharma discussion, you don't consider that as a teaching. The teachers don't think, "I am teaching" , the subject of the discussion is dharma indeed, but it is dharma discussion 1 and people will not think, "I am following that." The same goes for t dharma lectures, dharma talks, the facilitators facilitating the discussion, groups where people are leading discussion, talk or whatever. In such a case, don't consider it as taking teachings. But when you do consider receiving teachings from them, from whomever he or she may be, from that time onwards you should consider that person as a spiritual master.

71 The story is to be found at length in C. Fry, Sutra of the wise and the foolish, ch. 37,

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To investigate qualities of the spiritual master we mentioned the criteria of a spiritual master 72 . That is one point you have to see. The second point you really have to see, particularly nowadays, is: would you like to have the qualities that person possesses, would you like to have all of them or would you like to have some of them? If the answer is some of them, see which side is more: the you-want side, or the you-don't-want side? Judge from that, because it works as a role model. As I said yesterday, you are going to put your foot in that person's shoes, so make sure there is no 'toe cheese'. This is how you reflect on the qualities of the teacher from the point of you, the student. That's how it works.

Then the most important thing: cultivate pure relationship. You probably have heard and you think that you are supposed to do everything that the spiritual master tells you. In a way, yes; if the spiritual master is telling you the correct thing, yes, you follow it. If the spiritual master is telling you something else, which goes against the principle of the good nature of human beings, then you can certainly excuse yourself. If you cannot do it, you explain it and you can definitely say, "I am sorry. I would like to listen to you, but in this particular case it is impossible for me to do that, please excuse me. Anyway, I am not going to do it." That's what you do. That's what I told you, remember, during the picking of the reincarnation, that old manager with the triangular eyes resisted so much, but then finally Pabongka won. As a consequence of that, he followed Pabongka's wish, but he resigned as senior manager. So, when you cannot take it, then you explain. There is a joke too, a people's saying,

If I have to follow exactly what you say, then don 't say funny things to me.

If I have to see whatever you do as a profound way, then don 't do funny things.

So there is room there. You can always talk and apologize. Actually, you can say no. It is not forbidden at all. And yet, you don't lose the

72 See point 14 on page 101.

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bond that you have established. That bond that you have, you shouldn't lose. Sometimes the spiritual master gets mad at you for a while and sometimes you may be mad at him or her for a while. But one should never lose the bond. That's how you can function. That way the guru yoga remains. When you get mad at him or her, sometimes it is a good idea to purify, because it does create some negativities. But then you can't help it. It comes up sometimes, and after all, human beings must behave like human beings, otherwise you are inhuman.

Every negativity that we create, we also can purify. We create negativities all the time. Don't think we are not creating them. We are sitting here, listening to such a great teaching as the Lamrim, and I — maybe nobody, that's true — have received these teachings, and I am carrying the message, talking to you; all that is a great opportunity. In this atmosphere, with this opportunity we are here, but still we may be creating negativities, knowingly or unknowingly. Such as: you may be thinking of business somewhere else, you may be thinking of making a phone call to somebody to take advantage of the person; all these funny little thoughts. Mind is so tricky! Even though you are physically sitting here, looking very much like a holy person, your mind might be extremely busy doing something, so we may be creating negativities in here, too. You cannot avoid creating negativities, so you cannot be too righteous about it. If you try to be too righteous, what you aim at will never materialize, it will never work and then you get disheartened and things like that.

Take life as normal, like everybody does. That way you function like everybody does, yet you have superior qualities; your edge over others is your practice. You have incidentally or accidentally indulged in negativities, yet you know how to purify. That is how it works and it is great. So one should purify all negativities as much as one can. Applying the four powers once doesn't necessarily purify your negativities completely, but if you do that day after day, maybe both morning and evening or at least once a day, it gets you very far. This is the way and how we should function.

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Basically the pure relationship with the spiritual master is the bond. Within that bond, the first teaching that you get from the spiritual master, the first thing he or she will tell you is: embrace your life and don't reject it, do not look down on yourself, don't generate self-pity. We all are great. It is absolutely true, believe it or not. You have a good human quality — it is in all of us. We all do have buddha nature within us. If that's not great, what else is? So don't reject it.

Don't let your mind follow some kind of accidental circumstances which make you think, "Oh I am the most horrible. Nobody likes me. I am an unwanted person." All of those are the most stupid thoughts. If one person doesn't want you, there may be a hundred others who would want you. How do you know they don't want you? You never tried (laughter)! True. There is no person who is not wanted by any person at all. Period. That's the human quality. Such a stupid idea will then occupy your ego seat and dictate to you, tell you, " You are hopeless, you are useless, get out of here." And then you go and commit suicide, jump from the multi-story building or lie on the train track or stan the car with the garage shut. In all these types of things, it is that stupid boss who is dictating to you, it is the ego influenced by a stupid idea, that was dictating.

So, you must learn to maintain the seriousness of the personality. At the same time you should be very adaptable, accepting of anything, whatever; sunshine, fine; raining, fine; sleeting, fine; walk at your own speed. It is okay, it is wonderful, nice; enjoy. If it is not okay, well, there are zillions of other people there, too So take it easy; take life seriously, yet easy. Sometimes what we do is we 'intense' ourselves, [or get ourselves all worked up] by saying, " People don't want me, they don't like my job, they don't like me." How do you know they don't like you? That's just you thinking about it. If one doesn't like you, that doesn't mean they don't like you. Maybe ten people like you, who knows? So don't take it so seriously. What you have is the human quality, the buddha nature, capability, understanding, education. Think about what you have. The information, the opportunity, the capability, you have all of them. That you can be completely overpowered by such a stupid thought inside dictating you, is really amazing! It is ter-

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rible to do that. Yet, it is true because we have been doing that for generation after generation, life after life. Habitually you are following it, habitually you helped to build up that condition. So remember, when any one of those stupid ideas tries to occupy the ego seat or influence ego in that way, then realize, "Hey I got the wrong boss up there. How did you get over here? Get out! I know who I am, I know what quality I have."

That is how you embrace human life and understand its value and appreciate the rarity too. Because this is an opportunity, there is no guarantee this opportunity will repeat again. There is no guarantee. We all know that. So when there is no guarantee to repeat this, while you have it in your own hand, make the best use of it. When you think of the importance of life, you should feel it's wasted if you are doing useless things. That does not mean doing your job. Lots of people think about their job, " Well, I am doing useless things." No you are doing useful things; you are working, you are taking your responsibility, you are functioning. Unless you are a slaughterer; then better quit, because you keep on killing animals.

Science people may say now, "Then what about my experimentation on frogs? Or rabbits or guinea pigs?" Two things. In one way, yeah, it is killing, no doubt. But we cannot survive without killing so we can always purify. Another thing: if you have a good motivation, a motivation that by these experiments a better understanding may be able to develop a medicine to save millions of lives in the future, then the situation is different. Even Buddha demonstrated that by being a captain of a ship where there were five hundred people going somewhere to collect jewels. Somebody tried to kill them, so Buddha as captain of the ship had to kill the person to save five hundred lives.

I am not saying it is right, I am saying it is wrong to kill animals. However the purpose is more than one life of a being so therefore there is a question. It's about balancing. You have to give a good thought to this. It is absolutely important to do that. If you keep on objecting to experimenting on rats or mice, then the next thing is going to be to experiment on human beings. Without knowing, they'll have

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to give a couple of doses when somebody gets a cold, or they’ll have to prescribe some experimental drugs. I don’t think we would want that. So it is all right to protest, it is all right to fight, but whether you totally want to abandon that, is another question.

I am more concerned about the people who are working there. You who are working there, what can you do? One: you generate bodhimind; the work that you are doing is literally, directly going to help millions of people, who have such and such an illness; they will have the opportunity to be cured. With that mind, with really great enthusiastic work, consider, “ On the other hand yes, I am killing a being, but it is to benefit all these millions in the future. I dedicate all my positive virtues for the benefit of this very particular being whose skin, whose body has been used, I dedicate to that particular being. And then, make the best use of it, and don't waste the body.” Is important. If you kill one, and waste another one, then it is bad; it is wrong. So with that attitude, with that balancing we may be able to manage. I am not saying it is great, I am saying it is bad. I also say there is great quality in that, great benefit in that. That is how one has to look at it.

Today’s time is not like the Buddha’s time. Buddha can simply say, “This is positive, this is negative. You don’t do this, you don’t do that.” Today it is different. Everything must go according to the time and the conditions of the place where you are. Buddha himself said before he passed away, “I made those rules for you to know. And it is for you to change the rules in accordance to the times and the conditions.” So we have to be able to adjust. Traditionally, the Indian masters wore lungkies and dhoties. When the time changed, they wore yellow robes; then it went to Tibet and they wore red robes be”ause of the cold climate, just adding a little piece of yellow to show the yellowness. So it changes, and if it doesn’t change it is not right. Everything should be adapted and adjusted to the level where the time is.

So, while we are working, while we are doing things, with or without realizing we create a tremendous number of negativities. Keep on purifying them and if you get used to it, it takes less than half a second to do that. Just think of taking refuge and generating bod-

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himind, regret, the intention not to repeat and antidote action. In the beginning it takes time, but once you get it, it only takes that much.

You should purify so that you do not end your life with heavy negativities. What happens is, at the time of death is the big grand During that period whatever you can subtract, you should subtract and whatever you can add, you add. That way you make sure the total comes out in your favor.

Face the inevitability of death. Face the certainty of death. Truly, you must die. We all must die. We are not going to be here for the next hundred years. You know that, I know that, we all know that. Some of us may not be here next year; some of us will be here. Some us will not be here the year after that. That is the wonderfulness of human life process. Human life really depends on the base on which we are living: the physical body. As long as this physical body is serviceable to us, we can remain here. In case of certain limitations a lot of difficulties, it is better not to, because we have the chance to be quite a cute little boy or girl again and maybe come with our parents in Jewel Heart again.

Death is definite No one can avoid it. No power —- military, monetary, magical or spiritual can help you avoid death. The commander-in-chief dies; that shows the military cannot protect against death. The wealthiest person in the world also dies. Political power not be able to prevent death. Even Buddha is gone, so no one can avoid death.

Some people may raise the question, then what do we mean by deathlessness that we talk about here? We say, "By practicing may I achieve the realization of deathlessness." That is a totally different question. Deathlessness is one of the major practices in the lower tantras because, because unlike the higher tantras, the lower tantras are incapable of delivering total enlightenment within one life. Therefore, if you are a yogi at that level, you do need an extended life. Those extended lives are slightly different from ours. Actually, when you reach a higher level, you don't die. Somehow you

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cheat death, and transfer, you do this phowa, you know, as we talked last night.'3 That's what it is, the realization of deathlessness.

But to remain in one body just like today, having your friends the same as today and having your things the same as today, is very difficult. It doesn't happen. There are people who try to live in that manner, people who live in a house which is completely covered with [things from the past]. I knew such a person, in Kalimpong. She was the mother of the queen mother of the king of Bhutan, and she actually completely lived in the past. In her living room were huge photos of all her parents and sisters and brothers and husbands. She used to get a cup of tea and sit there talking to them! She was 93 when I got to know her. And she was so alertl! She watched her petty household accounts everyday, what they buy, and all this. She also poked her nose into the Bhutan king's accounts, "I see something here, what did you do this for?" The king who died, not the present king, was a very naughty person; he gave lots of money here and there, and when he saw the mother wouldn't like it, he used to say, "Mum, this is government money." I believe she died about two or three years ago. She might have been 98 or 99, and healthy; mind you, extremely healthy. She climbed that little mountain, up and down, like a goat. She also knew who is who, very strongly. When some lamas came, she would be hiding a scarf behind her. She would be watching a while how that lama behaved, and if she liked, she might give you a scarf; if she didn't, she would just keep it there. She would not let the person see it, but it was behind there. She was some unique person. So, you may live in the old things but you are living in memory, that's fine. But they are now in the picture form, rather than in the actual living form.

Thus all created phenomena are impermanent. Anything which is created is impermanent. Even the permanent fixtures that we call monuments; all of them are impermanent, they go away. It is only a matter of time. That is why one of the Buddha's banners or seals is:

73 See page 174.

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All that is created is impermanent. The temples, the images, everything is impermanent. Look at the history of the great Indian tradition, the great Chinese tradition, or the Roman Empire, look at them, they are almost like a fairy tale. We may call it history, but it is almost like fairy tales.

When I came to India for the first time, I went to Vikramashila where Atisha was from, and I went to Nalanda, near Bodhgaya — such a famous learning center, monastery, university and ashram, all combined together; huge, known to have had thousands and thousands of people in it, and hundreds of thousands of followers. When I saw it, it was sort of a little ground where there were a few stones left. The image that I had at that time was, "Wow, the great Indian tradition, Vikramashila and Nalanda, now looks like this. The next thing we will see is, that the three great monasteries in Tibet74 will be in the same condition." That thought came up in my mind around the end of '59, early '60. And sure enough, in a couple of years the great cultural revolution came in and reduced everything in the same manner. This is the sign of: all created phenomena are impermanent.

Buddha is right. Not only are we impermanent, but things we think that we leave behind are also impermanent. Every one of us tries to leave behind something; a legacy with a beautiful title or something. There is a Tibetan poem on that, of someone who wrote a dictionary.

It says,

Nobody wants to go. Even when you die you hope to look back.

So you try to create a legacy, leave that behind to look back on.

Some people will leave their disciples and followers behind, Some will build temples and images and monuments to leave behind, Some try to leave a lot of wealth and work and things like that behind,

Some people would like to build a house and estate and all this to leave behind.

74 The three main Gelugpa monastic universities: Ganden, Drepung, Sera.

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I have neither dharma, nor wealth.

I am the beggar who doesn't have anything, so I don't have anything to look back on. However, for the payment of the food that I ate,

I am going to leave this dictionary to the human beings.

We always like to have something to look back on. I am not saying it is bad, nor am I willing to say it is good. In my case personally, when I die I would rather die than live on. I think you should let the person go rather than to keep on hanging over him or her. To keep a memory, yes, it definitely is a good thing. Some great beings coming in and praying will be very helpful. Some people having good thoughts, good ideas and appreciation, that is good. Otherwise, why linger around all the time? When you die, you die. Let go. Why are you holding back? That is my simple personal thought.

Realize death's time is uncertain. Not only do we die, but we don't know when we will die. That is definitely true. If there would be an announcement saying, "Hey you are going to die three years from now on such and such a day," then you'd double your efforts for three years, and until then you could relax. We don't have that.

Wonder what happens after death. Of course bardo. Contemplate bardo. And what you don't want is the hell realm rebirth. Avoid hell realm rebirth. Avoid hungry ghost rebirth, avoid animal rebirth, remember the limitations of human rebirth, avoid demigod rebirth, avoid samsaric god rebirth.

31

Know what can help and harm in life and death

What can help you in life and death? Traditional teachings will emphasize that dharma helps at the time of the death. That is absolutely true. But what we have been ignoring in the traditional teaching, be-

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cause they didn't consider it important at that time: dharma helps not at the time of death, dharma helps when you are in life. So dharma helps in life and it helps in death. Even more so in life, because what happens after death is shaped by what we do now. So dharma helps tremendously now!

Dharma helps to reduce our neuroses, dharma helps us to cope with our negative emotions, dharma helps me to be what I am.

Dharma makes you grounded, dharma makes you behave and act and function like whoever you are, rather than trying to pretend be somebody else. There are countless ways dharma helps in life.

Dharma is the source through which you really gain compassion. Dharma is the source through which you really gain pure love. Dharma helps you with how to get along better with your companion, dharma helps you with how to live your life properly so that you don't hurt other people. Dharma helps you to take it so that if you have been you don't hurt back, you don't retaliate. Dharma knows how to this without harming yourself. These are all ways in which dharma helps.

The dharma is a tremendous help in such a period of time when everything is so competitive. You look in any industry, anywhere; everybody is competing with each other. The industries compete among themselves, compete with the government, compete with the public, and the public competes with the industries, and with the government. Each and every one of us, if we look carefully, we are competing with someone or another all the time. Sometimes you lose, sometimes you gain. So much competition — you really need dharma. You can participate, you can accept, you can have joy, you can enjoy, can get hate, you can hate, whatever you want. Whatever you to do, fine; but what you should not do is lose your own freedom and be subject to that, torture yourself. Don't do it. It is not worth it at all.

So dharma tells you, give room for everything but maintain your own dignity, your own freedom and your own mind. That goes not only in politics, it also goes in spiritual practice, everywhere. You must maintain your human dignity. Don't go and drink somebody's dirty laundry water. That's beyond human dignity.

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What can harm you in life and death. We all know our ego harms. But we always like to perceive the ego as the most important [part of] me, so it has become my queen bee. It is your queen bee, and you try to utilize every cent and every power that you have to serve the queen bee; and when you can, you utilize other people too. That's why people get into trouble. Families get into trouble; the family and the children get into trouble, everybody is getting into trouble because somebody's queen bee is too strong. You are trying to make the other person work for you without realizing it, pretending it is for his or her own good. So dharma tells you — and this is so important! — you give suggestions, and if they don't follow, it's not your job to enforce it. You may give suggestions, you tell them, you inform them, and if they like to do it, wonderful, help them, do more. If they don't want to go that way, it is their choice; leave them alone. That's how you maintain everything. Because one will try to push that way, the other will reject that way, and then you will have an unnecessary quarrel, for nothing.

Actually it is ego quarrelling with ego. Ego in this sense is considered me, but actually it is not me, it is my ego. It is the wrong, deluded, misunderstood, misinformed, calculating, mean person, who in a mean way, tries to occupy, overpower me — the wonderful nature of me — and sits on top of me. And the wonderful nature of me has been reduced to something like a tortilla. This ego sits on it like a moon disc; it has started shining and dictating and functioning. So actually me, the wonderful one, is crushed under the big fat ego butt who sits on me! Remember that; the real wonderful me has been used by my ego as a doormat.

Who can help you in life? You have a lot of friends; friends will help you, the sangha will help you, the masters will help you, the teachers will help you, your education will help you, everything will help you. However, the true help is you, you who have to do it. No matter how much they want to help you, they can't do it. They cannot get themselves inside you and function like you. That will not be helping, it will be harming. So you can help yourself in your life. The tool that

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you use is your knowledge. Your knowledge of the material world, c your education — people in the West, particularly in the United States, have a tremendous amount of education — you have on the one hand. Talent and capability you have on the other hand. And you have spiritual information side by side. So you have all the tools you need. If you still want to continue as a lazy bug, go ahead; it's your life, nobody else's. That's how you can help or harm, both.

Then at the time of death, your friends cannot help, your wealth cannot helps your estate cannot help. Everybody, a hundred different friends, may be standing around, looking at you, and they can do nothing. They can do nothing. Nobody would like to go on your behalf and even if they would want to, they cannot. (So you may have a lot of volunteers when they know they are not going to get to go.) Your wealth cannot help. You can't take your American Express card when you die. Can you? Try to give Yama your American Express card and tell him, "I have unlimited credit"! It doesn't work. Life insurance will not help you. We are insured, right? We say 'I need it for a rainy day'; when the actual rainy day comes, life insurance will let you down. These sorts of things are not going to work. And your parents, your children, your friends, your companions, they all will stand there with tearful eyes and look at you, feeling sorry, feeling lost, feeling sad, feeling relief; all sorts of mixed feelings. They will look at you, but they can do nothing. We can't even take just a simple shirt. You probably go with "Not a shirt on my back, not a penny to my name 75... Nor can I go away, because I get stuck here; my attachment will bring me back and back. That song even works here, right? So it will take time for you to hear the whistle blow and go away for five hundred miles.

I try to share with you how my mind works. The information you got, you will see in this song here. That is Lamrim's doing. It's one of the extra qualities, remember? Any useful thing, whatever it is, any enter-

75 Referring to a folk song "Not a shirt on my back, not a penny to my name, Lord I'm five hundred miles from my home.... . .

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tainment, in any language, anywhere, you can take and apply to the subject on which you are focused.76

Actually, at the time of the death, we said no shirt or anything, but what about the body which we care so much about? Everybody will tell each other, look after yourself, take care. It's the body we are talking about. We came together when we came here. When a mother gives birth, she doesn't give birth to a consciousness. The mother gives birth to a body with consciousness. So we came together. But that body we came together with will also become helpless; it can't go, you have to leave it. In one way you can say: even that will let me down, so there is no reliability in any samsaric thing. On the other hand, you say, "The body cannot go with me, so I have to go alone." It is said,

A living being is born alone

And quite alone indeed he also dies.

When no one else will share his misery,

What use are loved ones who do but hinder? 77

When you were born, you were born alone, when you die, you are going to die alone. Nobody is going to take your share of suffering. Nobody is going to take it, so better look after yourself.

As we said, at the time of death, all of that which we consider life insurance or savings, none of them help. So what will help? The positive karma that you carry. What's going to harm? The negative karma that you carry. It is your responsibility, it is your audit time, the certified accountants are here to audit your account. So you have to produce your account; how much positive is there, how much negative is there. According to that your future life is guided, shaped and you live with that in another life. So it is important.

Knowing that, right now is the time for us to do or undo. So generate as much as positiveness as you can and avoid as many negativi-

76 See page 23.

17 Shantideva, Bodhisattvacharyavatara, ch. 8, vs 33.

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ties as you can. But negativities will come, so purify; positive karma can be lost, so dedicate. This is the way you live, this is the guidance for your daily life. Your job is not the problem, your friends are not the problem, your companion is not the problem, your company is not the problem, your union is not the problem, the problem is within you, the help is within you. It is you who need to know and you who can take it.

At this level, we are generating the importance of the individual. We are not neglecting love and compassion, but we are building the ground to be stable, to be able to have love and compassion. Because, if you don't have good ground and you try to have love and compassion, you begin to ignore yourself and go to extremes. That is not helpful for you or for others at all. That's why, in this case, to become yourself is important. Your well being, your development, your own thing is more important, because what you can do for yourself, you can show others. The intention here is to help each and every one of us to become solid.

32

Take refuge

Well if we have all that time with us, it is fine. But in case I die tonight, what should I do? Take the emergency measure: take refuge. Take refuge, that is the 911 situation. Take refuge in the appropriate object who gained experience, who overcame the difficulties, who knows the method, who has compassion, who cares, who has kindness, and who is connected with me. That is Buddha, Dharma and Sangha — both the historical representation as well as the buddha within me. My immature baby buddha needs to mature for when I have to go, because that's my emergency helper.

My dharma within me, which is very weak right now, has to become strong, because that's my actual weapon when I fight with death. The true dharma is the true positivity within you. Not the information, not the investigation, but the understanding and internalized points that

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came to you following information and investigation; that is the true refuge. That directly cuts negativity, and that is why it is true dharma.

Then sangha, relative and absolute. Traditionally, it is more than four monks, and later they added nuns. But the true reality is that whether you are man or woman, monk or lay, child or old, when you truly see the true reality, then you become a true sangha. By that time, you can function by yourself, being capable of many things. Looking after yourself and helping others are the true qualities of the sangha.

So you take refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. You take refuge until you become enlightened, until you don't need any more help; until then. Not only until you die, but until you become in the position that you do not need any more help; whether it is one year from now or two years from now, ten lifetimes from now, five million lifetimes from now or whatever it might be.

The cause for taking refuge is knowing I have that big gambling stake coming up and during that gambling period I could win or I could lose. I must make sure that I don't lose, so I need help. I seek help from someone who can help. It is almost like the O.J. Simpson situation. When he finally realized he was in trouble, he went and took refuge in Robert Shapiro, Johnny Cochrane — the 'Dream Team'. And he actually followed what they advised. If he hadn't [followed the advice], he would have gotten into [more] trouble. Very similar to that, you go to somebody who can really help you, whether it is Robert Shapiro or Johnny Cochrane or whoever it may be. From time to time it may even change, for example, if you need a DNA specialist, you have to call one in. So, likewise, you take refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, you go through and over time, [if you need specialized help] you have Tara here, you have this or that yidam, each one has a specialized job with a specialized relationship. The analogy works perfectly.

But the point is, we always have the bloody glove [of our negative karma]; we do. The thing is simply, it doesn't make a difference, and that is the trick. As long as it doesn't make a difference, [even if] you have it, that's okay. So the job of the Dream Team, in this case the

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objects of refuge combined with yourself, is to make sure the bloody glove doesn't appear. If it appears, it doesn't work.

We all have such heavy negativity, we do; each and every one of us. If we wouldn't have that we wouldn't have those emotional pains we talked about. When you have those emotional pains, you have those negativities there. It is a clear sign. Put in the positive way: if you have a good mind, you will know that by the signs. Here also a sign proves you have it, like smoke proves that there is fire, and as the seagull proves there is water. If you are a bodhisattva, you will know it because there are signs. If you have negativities, you will know it; there are signs. That way we know we do have plenty of negativities. The purpose of taking refuge is to make sure that we don't get punished, that we be properly protected.

33

Consider: Positive actions bring positive results

34

Consider: Negative actions bring negative consequences

Now we are talking about karma. Karma is very interesting. It is so powerful. If you look, if you begin to doubt, or see or perceive or accept it, karma is almost as though you are accepting God. I am talking about monotheism; one God creates everything. Karma is almost like that for me, almost. I am not saying karma is God. Don't misunderstand. Nor am I saying God is karma. But the way karma functions within the individual is almost like the way in which, in the traditional Judeo-Christian tradition, we perceive God's way of functioning. Creation, functioning, decisiveness and judgement; all of them. Karma is almost functioning in that manner. You can't say hundred percent, but almost.

On the other hand when you look back at karma; what is it? It is not a being, it is some kind of a prearranged schedule, agenda or program — some people will even say Akhashic record — prearranged; and you

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will be simply going through whatever arrangement has been made. In sort of that manner karma functions. Yet, you can also do and undo in that. It is not really fixed rules where you have no choice except to take it. Karma is not like that. Still you can do and undo. But if you don't do anything, you will be driven through whatever it is. That is basically how karma functions.

The question really arises, who made that? God? Or my parents? Or somebody else? Who made it for me? Actually, we ourselves made it. Our lives are running on the karma which we created. It is very similar to the science fiction stories where great scientists try to make some machine that can do lots of things, and then, after a little, while they lose control, so that whatever they built in the machine will squeeze them and cut them to pieces and so forth. It is very much like that. We create our own karma and then that karma will take over our lives. So my karma is my creation. It is whatever is going on in my life, good experience, bad experience; wonderful, miserable, sick, healthy, wealthy, poor, handsome, ugly, everything; like, dislike, all of them, I directed the program when I was creating my karma. Now I am going through what I created. So you may say, you deserve it because you made it.

Yet you can do and undo it if it has still not materialized. If it has begun to materialize, then you can't help it until the time is gone. You can help the time to go a little faster, but otherwise you can do nothing. So basically, a number of us people here, we are experiencing emotional suffering, physical pain, all of them, because of our own deeds. Yet we can push it differently by providing different conditions. Karma functions perfectly, but karma depends on conditions. To give you an example, I may have a lot of karma which will cause me to have diarrhea; but if I keep on eating the right food, don't go and eat a hamburger outside or whatever it might be, then I won't have a stomach problem. Though I have the karma to have a stomach problem, because I did not provide the conditions, it doesn't take place. Sometimes, if I don't have the karma, I provide all the conditions, and it

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doesn't grow. Like my beard; there is no karma in there: even if I build all the conditions, it doesn't grow. That’s basically how karma functions. Karma depends on conditions.

Karma has four characteristics:

1. Karma is definite, yet it depends on conditions.

2. Karma is fast growing yet it can be stopped by purification.

3. You are bound to meet the result, good or bad, if you created it.

4. You will not meet the result if you have not created it, no matter whatever you do. For example, we know somebody who was planning to become a millionaire, for the last ten years. He's doing all sorts of things and never became a millionaire. Perhaps he doesn't have the luck to become one.