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247 DAY SEVEN

STEP 50 TO 64

How to meditate on the points — Guided meditation

For the benefit of all sentient beings, I would like to obtain the stage of the Buddha. For that, I would like to have this short Lamrim practice and practice it everyday, so that I may be able to obtain that stage. For that purpose, I am going to listen, think and meditate with the proper motivation described in the Lamrim. According to my understanding, I generate the bodhimind.

That is okay but not good enough. I have to in put efforts and make this motivation stronger and stronger so that there will be one day when we all become bodhisattvas. If we create the proper cause, we are bound to get proper results. Therefore, I am bound to get to the level of the bodhisattva one day. But in order to become a bodhisattva, I need whatever defines a bod-

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hisattva. I need bodhimind, a mind that not only wants to help, but in which I commit myself to help all beings .

In order to help all beings, I need the best tool available which in this case is the enlightened level. That's why it is necessary for me to become enlightened. If l am enlightened I will have no limitations, I can help and do anything that is needed. It is the method of having unlimited resources available. My commitment and responsibility are so strong that I must have the best tool available. For that reason, I would like to seek buddhahood.

Such a mind will not be able to develop unless I have acquired very strong compassion, unless I really have a compassion that will somehow force me to give the commitment; otherwise, I will be hesitating. Compassion is fine, love is fine, but for a commitment that involves dealing with my life, I have hesitation. Therefore, to be able to commit myself to help all sentient beings, I need extremely strong compassion, a compassion so strong that it is like the feeling a mother has for her only child. If a mother has only one child and the child is young, her number one concern is for her child; that child gets total attention. Such a powerful compassion is necessary.

Such a compassion cannot grow unless I love people. Because the mother loves the child, she is able to develop compassion towards the child.

Though traditional Buddhist teachings will tell us to look at every sentient being as a mother being, I suggest that we look from the mother's window, rather than looking at our mothers from our window. Those who have been a mother will know what I mean. We would be willing to sacrifice or do anything for the sake of our child, for the safety or whatever. If a child gets stuck somewhere a hundred miles away, even if it happens to be three in the morning, when the mother receives the phone call, she will just jump out of bed and go and get her child. A mother may even choose to give her life to safeguard her child. It is very important for us to look from the mothers'

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viewpoint. See how much care and love parents have. We would like to bring up the children the best way we can; however we don't want to say too much because we are afraid of their rejection, or we're afraid that instead of helping, our intervention becomes a disservice. All the people that I have been looking at or focusing on have, at some time or another, in some life or another, treated me and cared for me in that same way a number of times. So I really cannot discriminate among them. I must remember their kindness, and when I remember that they have been good to me, I will develop liking for them. When I develop liking for the beings, then there is the chance to develop love and then compassion.

Bodhimind depends on commitment; commitment depends on compassion; compassion depends on love; love depends on acknowledging kindness and goodness. And that totally depends on equal respect for other beings. If I don't have equal respect for other human beings, there is no way I can develop bodhimind, so the fundamental base of developing this mind totally depends on developing equanimity.

When I have developed such equanimity within me, I begin to look in my life and I see what I want and what I do not want. I see suffering as the nature of things everywhere. Everybody has some suffering or another. Even if there is no [external cause for] suffering, we create suffering for ourselves through the way we perceive and label our experiences. Even when the sufferings are not likely to take place, our perception will make them take place. Even though somebody else is not giving me any message at all, I perceive, " Oh she doesn't like me, he doesn't like me. He didn 't say this, she didn't do that." These are the sufferings we have. It is not the fault of the individual; it is not the fault of myself; it is the fault of the negative karma that came along with me and that other person. It is a samsaric problem. It is the consequence of the negativities. In short, whatever I do, as long as I am born in the manner and

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condition I was born into, there is bound to be this or that suffering. I cannot escape at all.

If that's true, do I have to learn how to live with it? Or is there a way out? Buddha keeps on telling us, ' I've found a way out. If you follow in my footsteps you are bound to find the way out." Not just anybody said this. It was the Buddha who said it on the basis of his personal experience. The way out is dealing with the causal level, not with the result level. When I look at the causal level, although I can say it is karma, I cannot dismiss the cause and just simply say, " It is karma." Karma is definite, no doubt, but karma is 'dependent-arising'. It depends on conditions. Whether the condition is going to be met or not going to be met depends on myself, the individual. So, if l can purify, then the karmic conditions will not be met. I can do and undo tremendous things within my karma.

People may have the idea that we have only one sort of karma running throughout our lives. No. There is one karma to create our life, and then we run our lives with zillions of different karmas, one after another. That's how our lives go. That's why sometimes we are happy, sometimes we are sad, sometimes we are sick, sometimes we feel great, and so forth. There are zillions of karmas running, even within a day, even within one hour. The karma of creating our life is one karma, the rest of them, all different things, are running karmas 93. When we do something good, say look after our body, eat the right thing, we don 't get a stomach-ache — unless there is something deeply wrong — because we have cut the conditions. That is a vivid example.

I can do and undo things even if I have tremendous amount of karma. I have a tremendous amount of karma that will give me stomach-aches as well as a tremendous amount of karma that will cause my stomach to be well and remain without problem. It depends on which condition is going to click. That's why there is room within karma to do or undo; there is

93 Traditionally they are called the throwing karma and completing karmas.

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room for miracles to happen; there is room for me to adjust my life. That is the basic karmic structure. Therefore the actual control of life is not in some third person's hand; it is only me myself that actually has control.

I cannot simply exercise control over my life, because my life is completely deluded or influenced totally by ignorance: ignorance of not knowing the karmic system and ignorance of not knowing the truth. I am caught in the mystery, so the mystery takes over my life and my life is running around. I almost act like a zombie under the control of that ignorance. It is time for me to take charge; it is time for me to make my decisions myself rather than let that stupid ignorance run my life, life after life. This is an opportunity for me to take charge.

When I see this, and when I begin to take the opportunity to conduct my life in the way I want to, I begin to see that my friends and those persons I care for and love, all of them are in the same condition. And when I find that they are in the same condition, I've got to help them.

In order to develop this mind or intention to help, first, I need to see for myself, what is my own condition? When I begin to look at my condition, I begin to see the Buddha's perfect way of presenting the four Noble Truths, which is absolutely relevant in my life today.

No matter what our profession may be, whether we are a busy person in the city, or someone without much to do up in the mountains of Wyoming or Idaho, we may be busy or not so busy, when we look at our life, we will see the first Noble Truth, the Truth of suffering everywhere.

Mental, physical, emotional suffering and of course, birth, death, illness, aging; all of them are there.

In the good way, we can say that aging is maturing and gaining experience and wonderful. If one has white hair or gray hair, we sort of respect the person more because they must have more experience. But,

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on the other hand, it is also the sign that says, "Hey, you have had a number of years."

At every birthday, I am counting an additional year. Along with that, its effects come: my looks, my face, my body and everything are subject to the limitations that come in.

Great Tibetan teachers used to say, "It is great that the suffering of aging comes gradually." Suppose it started to hit us at the age of 25 and all of a sudden we got up the next morning, and we looked totally different. Could we bear it? Actually, no. We could not. We would probably commit suicide, or we might not be able to get out of the room, or we would hide behind everything. That's what the samsaric gods do when their flowers die; they sit in a corner somewhere and do not go out.

Aging also has tremendous sufferings and it has benefits. There is dignity too. How much suffering we are going to get actually depends on the individual. If the individual worries so much about the looks, then the individual will have that much suffering. And if the individual can accept the situation, knows its nature, knows that though it goes on, it is perfectly okay, then that individual doesn't have the pain. If a person is willing to go through an operation for looks —we have seen it with Michael Jackson — it means he really has had very strong suffering of not looking right.

Then of course, there is the suffering of death. In one way I say death is wonderful in nature, blah, blah, blah; but when I think about it, what does death mean to me? Separation; separation from things, people, family, comfort. That very separation itself is very painful.

To some people, on top of that separation, there is the uncertainty of where they are going to be — another pain. To some people, on top of that, there is physical pain, torture, all of them, therefore the business of death is a big suffering. Of course, illnesses, physical, mental, emotional pains are real, and they are very painful. Even birth is painful. We all know that. When babies are born, they are not born laughing; they come out crying. There is a message behind that.

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In principle birth, living, illness, aging, dying, all of them are by nature pain, because they are created by neuroses influenced karma, even if it is a good life.

Therefore, my life is contaminated. The way I need to look for is to try to become uncontaminated. I can achieve, we all can achieve such a level. That's what I have to do.

I want to do that. When can I do it? Which is the best time for me? The best time is available right now. Because now I have the opportunity and I have the capability. This life is the life which determines whether I am going to go up or I am going to go down. The junction is over here.

The traditional Tibetan teachers will say, "This is the junction to whether your future is going to be very good or is going to be bad. This is the junction. Whichever direction you are capable of taking, you have every possibility of taking it here and now. So this is the time and opportunity for you."

Opportunities are rare, very rare. So while I have the opportunities, while I have the methods, while I have the conditions, I need to do it right now. Right now I want to act; I want to meditate, think, and function in accordance with my spiritual path."

I must do this right now; otherwise who knows if I'll get the time later. Whether tomorrow or what we call the next life is going to come first, nobody knows. Nobody can give us any guarantee.

Not a doctor, not an astrologer, not a lama who throws dice, no one can really tell us. Even the scientists cannot tell us whether we are going to die today or not. They cannot guarantee anything. They may give us some false hope and say, "Your blood pressure's okay, your sugar level's okay, you have no virus. Everything's fine with you." But who knows? Really we will never know when death is going to come.

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Therefore, before I am taken over completely by death, I must do whatever I can, attempt to understand, attempt to organize my mind. Whatever I can do, I do. If I do that, even though it is a very small attempt, I will connect. I have the connection to the path and that connection itself is of tremendous value for my journey, that long, adventurous journey that we have to go through anyway. Whether it is going to go in the proper way or in the improper way, whether it is going to go in the good way or in the bad way, whether I go with happiness and joy or with misery, sadness and regret, I have to take the journey. I cannot be here forever. Connecting helps.

When I see myself in that condition, I see that my friends are also in that same condition. Therefore I must commit myself to help and therefore I must obtain enlightenment.

The life I have at this moment is great and precious and the value is there. But it is impermanent. So while it is perfectly intact in my hand, I must take the opportunity to follow these sixty-four steps of the Odyssey to Freedom. I want to mix my mind with these points. My mind should be totally influenced by each of the points. In order to do that I need to learn. I must at least know where I am going, what I am doing, what I can expect on the way — the obstacles and the help.

I can only get a proper direction on the basis of a spiritual master. Either a normal sutra master or — in vajrayana — a vajra master. A vajra master is necessary, otherwise I can't even make head or tail of the practice. So I must find my spiritual master. I must recognize that the spiritual master is free of all faults, and reflect on the qualities of the master so that I will get those qualities, too. I don't have to pick up bad habits but good qualities.

In order to do such a practice it is also necessary to have the force behind me. Therefore I pray to Lama Buddha Sakyamuni by way of asking for inspiration and blessing.

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I can make that request with tremendous insistence, but I can't do that right the moment I see him. I can't just shake him, "Hey, you've got to help me." That's not right. I have to offer the Seven Limbs first.

However, without having proper offerings, there is no way I can offer the Seven Limb practice. So it is necessary for me to arrange the symbolic offerings.

Such an offering cannot be done in a filthy place. So the room has to be cleaned and made tidy and neat. Not only does the dust on the ground, on the table and on the altar have to be removed, it is also necessary to have nice fresh air. Creating the sacred environment depends on the mind as well. All of them help create the physical and mental sacred environment. In such a suitable environment, I arrange symbolic offerings, position my body and mind, envision the supreme field, offer salutation, present symbolic and boundless imagined offerings, purify all that is negative, rejoice in all that is positive, seek guidance, request the supreme field to remain, dedicate effort and ask for inspiration and blessing.

Then it is time for me to acknowledge the spiritual master, knowing the qualities.

The way and how we acknowledge the spiritual master is knowing the good and bad qualities of that very particularly spiritual master. If there is something that we cannot accept, though the person may even be an actual living buddha, he or she is not suitable for me. Therefore, we reflect on the qualities of the master, and we reflect on qualities of the student him- or herself. Availability is another important point; there you may have to give more discount.

After investigating, accepting and acknowledging the spiritual ,master, I cultivate a pure relationship. Buddha tells us in the Hinayana teachings to look at all spiritual masters as actual living buddhas; in the Mahayana, Buddha will tell us to treat our spiritual master just like a buddha, and in Vajrayana, Bud-

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dha will tell us that the spiritual master is inseparable from the Buddha.

For such a position and condition to develop within me I need a base which is unshakable. Conditions may pop up here and there occasionally, but an unshakable connection and trust from both sides is maintained. I have to have strong trust and connection. No matter whatever happens, they will not let me down. Such an unshakable trust is necessary, not just in the individual with whom I am dealing, but in the whole lineage, from Buddha Sakyamuni onwards to the present spiritual master. It is the lineage behind the master that is the force. It functions. It doesn't have any limitations whatsoever; wherever and whatever the need of the individual is, it will function. That bond and trust is the basis of developing perfect guru yoga in me.

People say, if the time is there, the teacher will appear. Well, the teacher will appear if you give the opportunity. Guru yoga is such a difficult thing to develop within an individual. It takes a tremendous amount of time, so it is strongly recommended at the same time to look into life and embrace our lives. Each and every one of us will think of some faults here and there, maybe physical, maybe mental, or maybe it is nothing, but we see a lot of faults within ourselves. That is because we do not appreciate what we have. Look at your reflection in the minor, and appreciate yourself.

I appreciate my life. I appreciate my body, I appreciate my mind, I appreciate my education, my intelligence, my capability for solving problems. I know that lack of appreciation as well as focusing on myself all the time are the causes of depression. I should embrace my human life and understand its value.

We really should understand our value. Normally, we do not understand it unless and until it is too late. Life is not an article, which, if we lose one we can have another one to replace it with. Once it is lost, it is

257 Day Seven: Step 50 – 64

very hard to replace. This is what we should keep on telling ourselves, keep on thinking in that manner.

Once I understand the value of my life, I must also understand how rare it is. Suppose I were a dog today, what could I do? If I were a cat, what could I do? If I were a cockroach, what could I do? Luckily, I am a human being. I can think, I can understand, I can do and undo. Do I have a guarantee to be a human being again? No. Buddha, Dharma and Sangha refuse to guarantee that. They tell me that it totally depends on me, because I am responsible for myself, nobody else. Buddha is not responsible for me, Dharma is not responsible for me, Sangha is not responsible for me, I am responsible for myself. Buddha helps, Dharma acts, Sangha helps, but I am responsible. Therefore, I must prepare for the day when I have to go, so that I can go with dignity, so that I can go with joy and so that I will be received by the great beings.

When I am going to go is absolutely uncertain. No one can say when. When death comes, my subtle consciousness within me is separated from my body, the part that I identify with. When I separate from that, then that is my death. In order to be able to separate from that, I have to separate myself from the four elements in my body. First and foremost, my consciousness is connected with the air energy within me. That air energy is connected with the fire element; the fire element is connected with the water element; the water element is connected with the earth element. I will be separated from each one of these elements.

When I separate from the earth element, there is a tremendous amount of physical and mental agony. Though I may or may not feel the physical agony now because of scientific treatment, still the mental agony from the internal elements cutting is always experienced. It also has good experience and bad experience both.

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When the water element disconnects, I have to go through a powerful agony. It's almost like I am caught in a cyclone or hurricane or that type of thing. Anywhere I try to go I can't go. I am driven, I am floating, I have no power at all. My life, my body, is almost like a leaf in the autumn storms, carried who knows where. I feel and experience that sort of occurrence.

After I've gone through the disconnection of the water element, suddenly I land in the middle of where hundreds of acres are burning together, in all directions. Somehow I am caught right in the middle of it, I feel hot, I feel burning, I experience agony and pain. Though actually nothing is happening literally, still the person perceives that way. The fire also certainly catches me myself into air.

The air or wind is so strong, just like the water earlier, that I have no idea where I am going. It carries me to countless universes, universe after universe, valley after valley, country after country, city after city. Within the short span of a minute or so I experience a tremendous amount. In our normal life we couldn't even think; we would be in some short of shock or even death. So these sorts of experiences occur.

Finally, also each and every inner element will take time to separate. After what we call death, I'll have a strong whitish feeling and may experience it as some kind of snow mountain falling and being buried under the avalanche. Then I will be caught in the fire, burning. Then I will be caught in a darkness where I cannot see at all, cannot breathe but am just totally looking for ways to get out of it. Finally my consciousness goes out into an open, empty, beautiful space-like feeling.

However I can't stay there very long, I have a bardo, then rebirth.

When I have a rebirth, I don't want to go into the hell realms, I don't want to go into a hungry ghost rebirth; I don't to go into

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limited human conditions; I don't want to be a demi-god or a samsaric god. I don't want to take rebirth in the form realm and I don't want to take rebirth in the formless realm because the conditions still are the same — I will repeat them again and again and again.

Here I have an opportunity to cut once and for all this uncontrolled, undisciplined suffering-and-joy mix, with more suffering than joy. I must seek liberation. In order to seek liberation, it is important for me to recognize what helps and what harms in my life, so that life reflects death, death reflects bardo, and bardo reflects the next life.

In case I am unable to accomplish anything, if I try to do it but can't make it, then I take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. I take refuge because I need help and because I am afraid of falling into the lower realms. I need protection. I also know that Buddha, Dharma and Sangha can help, because Buddha has had the experience and Dharma is the actual medicine that I can get from Buddha, medicine that cures my neurotic illness. With trust in the Buddha, I take refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.

Simply taking refuge alone is not enough. I have to follow the advice. By taking refuge in Buddha, I make a commitment, almost like a vow, to be nice, to be kind, to bring goodness within myself, to avoid unkind actions, avoid being mean and avoid taking refuge in those who are not fit to take refuge in. I'll avoid violent acts against other beings by taking refuge in Dharma. By taking refuge in Sangha, I try to maintain good company, company that helps me to strengthen my work, to strengthen my practice and not destroy it. By taking refuge in Sangha, I'll avoid friends that separate me from the total path of liberating myself.

I consider: positive karma gives positive results, negative karma gives negative results.

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I acknowledge, understand, confirm and recognize the sufferings, which is the purpose of the first Noble Truth. Once I see the purpose of Buddha talking about sufferings, sharing with us the way and how he himself had the problem of recognizing suffering, and once I recognize and acknowledge the suffering, I know I don’t want that. I want to be out of it.

Is there a way out? How? Since I am in that loop of reincarnation after reincarnation, the chain that doesn’t cut in between, the only way out is through cutting the root, ignorance.

Because of ignorance, I give my negative neuroses the opportunity to function in my life. So I must eradicate the negative neuroses at their root, and so, get them completely out of my system. If I do that, I have obtained liberation.

It is not enough that I liberate myself, that I manage it; what about the persons I love, my companion, my caring parents, and so forth? I can see they have the same problems as I have. When I know how I can handle it, if I share the way with them, how wonderful it will be. I would like to have that done and I will do it.

Before I am able to do it with any other person, I must have respect for those persons equal to what I have for myself. I must honor their point, respect it as much as I do my own. I have to recognize them with equality, equanimity.

After that, I appreciate their work, I like them, I love them, I

care for them and I feel bad when they have sufferings. I must do something to help them. I commit myself to relieve them of all their pains; I want to do it right now, I want to do it right this minute.

However, I don ‘t have the capacity right this minute, so I must obtain the stage of buddhahood. I would like to generate the bodhimind.

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This is one way backward and one way forward. That's how you meditate. In order to get the sort of a conclusion, "I'll do this, I'll do that", you need analytical meditation. Convince yourself that "I have to do this."

50

Practice patience

"There is no difficulty like patience." 94 It is really difficult. If you have to wait, the hours don't go at all. It's almost as though the clock were going backwards. We can perceive that way. We perceive that way because of a lack of patience. When your life is so hectic and rushed, you really don't have much time to do anything. Whether that helps you to develop patience, or contributes to being impatient, these are things to be observed. Chances are not likely for us to develop patience. However, there may be a few people who say, " Well, we are going to be busy anyway, let me take my own time, let me go at my own speed." Maybe, who knows?

Patience is the antidote to anger. If you are patient, you can't get angry, you won't get angry. But, if while you are angry, at that time somebody tries to remind you to have patience, it will be a little difficult. The bridge between anger and patience is recognition, acknowledgement. Acknowledge, "Boy, I was angry." That recognition is extremely important to build the bridge. It doesn't matter when you recognize; maybe a week later, maybe a month later, even a year later will do. That recognition will open the way for you to work in between anger and patience.

94 Shantideva, The Bodhisattva's Way OfLife (Bodhisattvacharyavatara), Ch. VI, vs. 2: 'There is no evil like hatred / and no fortitude like patience. / Thus I should strive in various ways / to meditate on patience. '

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When you recognize you have been bad, that you have been angry or that you have hurt somebody, then you look at yourself and you feel a little embarrassed and you say, " Oh, can I have done that? Did I do that? How could I do that?" That is one good mental faculty Buddha recommended us to use. Another one is, " Did the others know about this? Did they see my face was red, and my ears were red and I almost looked like the backside of a monkey? Did anybody see it? Oh how shameful it is. How embarrassing it is." These two little mental faculties will give us some kind of embarrassment and some shrinking ourselves a little smaller. The powerful burning of anger and the willingness to destroy the whole existence and that sort of big things, will be reduced slightly by these two little embarrassments. That is how you cut your power of anger, attachment, hatred, jealousy, almost all of them; except ignorance. You can't cut ignorance by that power; maybe a little bit, but not too much. Being free of anger, the total freedom from anger, is the 'gone beyond anger', which is call the paramita or perfection of patience.

51

Sustain Enthusiasm

Likewise, laziness. Laziness is very much within each and everyone of us. We have different lazinesses. The laziness that I used to know is the laziness of not wanting to do anything. If I get a nice pot of tea and a nice little warm comfortable seat, maybe a good view, a sunny corner and a chit chat, then I don't want to get up and move; I stay there, read an interesting book, or whatever. In the West, the laziness is different. Nobody really sits in that manner at all; everybody has something or another to do: scheduling, deadlines, rushing here, rushing there, showing your face everywhere. That is laziness. It is a laziness though you are busy. It is laziness because you are not doing what really needs to be done. So, a) you are not achieving your spiritual development and b) you are not really hundred percent focusing on your responsibilities. You try to do every single thing everywhere and you are neither here nor there; that is laziness. Neither this nor that is

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completed. That is laziness. So, have enthusiasm for what really matters.

Those six paramitas are applicable to your spiritual path. They are applicable to your job. They are applicable to your everyday life. They show the way in which we can function. Really, whatever you do, you must have an interest in what you are doing. Otherwise, it looks like you've been forced, like a donkey. We do that in Tibet. We put the entire load on the donkey and chase it as much as we can and the donkey gets completely exhausted. We chase the donkey up to the top of the hill, pull on its ear and push from its back, and still the donkey's going to go unwillingly, at the same slow speed. That's because the donkey has no interest in crossing the mountains. Donkeys have no interest in carrying your load at all. So you must have interest in your practice, your job, and your life.

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This completes the Path of Accumulation

Now we are beginning to get at the first path of this level95. Up to here, whatever we have been doing, whether we actually got into the first path or not, we have been really working around the path of accumulation, which is the first out of five paths.

We just injected the five paths. It is both a part of Lamrim and not a part of Lamrim. It is a part of Lamrim, because when you develop, you will see where you are; it is not part of Lamrim, because the Lamrim tradition will not count [spiritual progress] in that way.

53

Remember concentration

Enthusiasm alone is not enough. You must focus, you must concentrate. If we do not focus, if we do not concentrate, we don 't know what we are doing. Focusing, concentrating is extremely important, both in

95 Mahayana level.

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the spiritual path as well as in our usual material activities. You appreciate people who do a job, and when it is done well, you really appreciate it. Look at ourselves at this retreat; when you go into the dining room and people have cleaned up, how nice it is. We appreciate that. And, when it is done with a focused mind it is absolutely clean. When it is not done focused, some coffee spill or something is left here and there. This is an example. When you are giving your total attention, your total focus, to whatever you do, it will work well.

A number of you have done shamata, the concentrated meditation that very strongly comes from the Zen tradition, also a little bit from the Tibetan tradition, and many other places. It doesn't matter whether you learned concentration meditation from Zen or Hinduism or Christianity. What does matter, is, you have the capability of focusing and concentrating; you have trained yourself in that. So apply it to things that you do. Once you can do that, you will be successful. There's no question, because you put all your focus on it. That doesn't mean you have to put all your focus on the spiritual path. No, you have to pay your bills. We've got to pay our bills. You have to be a normal, respectable member of society. Being abnormal, not a respected person in society, doesn't help you. On top of that, you will also do a disservice to society: a) being irresponsible itself is a disservice; b) on top of that if you are a Dharma practitioner, people who are completely new to dharma here will perceive, " Oh Dharma practitioners have to be irresponsible". That way you are not only doing a disservice to society and yourself, but you are also doing a disservice to future generations. So it is very important to combine society's way of living and your focus; combine them together.

The elder Tibetans were very proud of the system in Tibet called the 'combination of the spiritual and the temporal', which was staffed by the Fifth Dalai Lama. For a long time I couldn't figure out what they meant by that. I kept on thinking, the Dalai Lama is the head of the whole country as well as being the spiritual head, so maybe that's what they are talking about. To my surprise, I realized a few years ago, " Boy, they are not talking about that" . What they were talking about is this combination within one individual's life! Each and every one of

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us should be responsible for our material life in society as well as our spiritual life. We have to combine them at the individual level. They are not talking about the country. What they are truly talking about, is combining these two together within our individual lives, combining our own spiritual and temporal activities. That is very important. That is the main reason why Trungpa Rinpoche tried to produce these communities, where people could combine their spiritual and daily work. You should be able to combine them together. If you can do that, it is a great achievement.

Concentrated meditation includes nine stages of development. Concentrated meditation is important. It makes your mind smart. It makes you able to concentrate. It makes you able to act. Most importantly, it focuses you. But even if you know how to concentrate, without knowing what you want to concentrate on, then it is a problem. It's recommended to build the investigation-power as well as the concentration-power on wisdom. Wisdom is like a weapon. Concentration is like the man behind the weapon. When you are shooting your bullet, the man behind knows where you are shooting at. If your focus is right, you can shoot your enemy. If you don't know what you are shooting at, somebody else may come from the back, hit on your head and that is the end of the story, right? So the wisdom is necessary. Wisdom is the bullet. Wisdom is the sword. Wisdom is the real thing to cut the ego. Without wisdom, ego does not go. Even the bodhimind can not cut the ego. Dharmakirti said,

Love, compassion etc are not the direct antidote to ignorance or ego, therefore they will not eliminate that. Wisdom is necessary.

You can study and practice the Tibetan tradition of concentration, sort of basically establishing it. Then you may look into other traditions, such as Zen, the Christian tradition and maybe the Kaballa tradition, see what kind of concentration meditation they do, try to bring them together, and see what the differences are. You can do that, I don't see anything wrong with that. But first you have to establish the Tibetan Buddhist way, because we are following this tradition. I recommend

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that you use the different Lamrim texts. Once you establish that, you can pick up the others and compare. If you are picking up from here and there before you have established that, there is a danger that you will get neither here nor there.

54

This completes the Path of Action

The path of action is the work you do in order to see the nature of reality96

55

Engage wisdom

You have to focus on gaining wisdom. Without wisdom, you can't do right, [you can't fully practice the other paramitas]. Even in generosity, you need wisdom to determine to whom you want to give, why you want to give, and what will happen thereafter Making these considerations is wisdom applied to your practice of generosity.

With wisdom applied to ethics, you practice morality. What is the morality I am talking about? In normal society, the moment you say ethics or morality, you get the understanding that [heterosexual] couples are fine and all others are wrong. I am not talking about that at all; whatever the people's sexual orientation might be, it is what it is. Morality is about: what do I have to do? How do I protect my vows? How do I keep my commitments? Should I be concerned about this or should I be concerned about that? Use your wisdom on that. Let the wisdom be your guide, base your judgment on wisdom. There will be no perfect morality without having wisdom.

There will be no perfect patience without having wisdom. Do I have to be a very patient person, no matter what anyone does? Or should I be patient toward somebody who is doing always bad? Should I take steps to help that person to stop his bad character? Or

96 See step 56.

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should I be patient all the time until he or she changes? In that case, you would be of disservice. So wisdom needs to be applied.

Even on enthusiasm you need to apply wisdom. Without wisdom, what should I be enthusiastic about? So, wisdom discriminates the right and the wrong points.

Even concentration power is supported by wisdom. Without wisdom, on what should I concentrate? Early Tibetan teachers used to say, "You can concentrate on anything from the cow dung to the yak's horn." They tell you, you can learn concentration on anything, but it is the wisdom that makes the decision: on what subject should you put your concentration, on what subject should you spend the time and energy, so that you not only learn concentration but you also gain.

56

This completes the Path of Seeing

When you have really gained wisdom, you are on the path of seeing. The path of seeing means that you saw it directly. What did you see? The nature of reality. In order to see the nature of reality, you have to act, you have to work. That is the path of action. In order to be able to work successfully, you need a lot of merit or luck; that's why you have the path of accumulation.

It is interesting; sometimes you can put out a lot of effort, and yet you might not be able to succeed much. What is the problem when you trace it back? Lack of merit; you were not lucky enough to materialize it. So what do you do? Build your luck. How do you build your luck? Rejoice, keep on rejoicing. Rejoicing is very profitable; it cuts the jealousy out, it builds luck and that makes things happen.

The five paths. The path of accumulation makes it possible for you to be able to function and work, so you can get to the level of the path of action. Within that, there are four different levels, called heat, peak, patience and best dharma. When you are on the path of action, you work on gaining an understanding of the nature of reality, then you engage wisdom, and develop, so that you will be able to see the true reality [directly]. In this way, you are transferred to the path of seeing.

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Then you are labeled as an extraordinary person or arya. When you become an extraordinary person, you have an extraordinary responsibility, and that is meditation; so you are on the path of meditation. On this path, you meditate on whatever you realized during the path of seeing. This process has ten stages, called bhumis.97 When you meditate, you will develop, and finally you don't have to learn anymore. That level is called 'no more learning.' These are the five paths.

In the mantra from the Heart sutra, Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi Soha, the first gate represents the path of accumulation, the second gate is the path of action, paragate is the path of seeing, paramsamgate is the path of meditation, bodhi represents the path of no more learning, becoming a buddha.

57

Celebrate the quality and rarity of Vajrayana.

Vajrayana is extremely important. Without Vajrayana, it is absolutely true that it is very difficult, or almost impossible, to become an enlightened being. Well, you may be able to do it after some five hundred eons, but Vajrayana gives us the opportunity to be able to achieve it within a short period. That is the Vajrayana special quality. We do have Vajrayana, so celebrate the quality and the rarity of Vajrayana.

58

Rely upon the Vajra master, enter Vajrayana

To enter the Vajrayana, you have to rely on the Vajra master, the qualified Vajra master, who will introduce you, initiate you. The doorway to Vajrayana is initiation, the doorway to Mahayana is developing the bodhimind, the doorway to become a Buddhist is taking refuge and the doorway of taking Buddhist practice to heart is impermanence.

97 The first stage is equivalent to the path of seeing, the other nine take place in the path of meditation.

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59

Uphold vows and commitments

After taking the initiation, what is the most important thing you have to do? Uphold the vows and commitments. Even if you cannot do anything else, if you are able to uphold your vows and commitment, that itself is capable of delivering enlightenment.

60

Practice in Generation Stage

you have entered Vajrayana, the first practice you do is the stage practice. The generation stage is actually the begin the establishment of a pure state, a pure environment, pure death, pure bardo, pure rebirth; using these three of our life every day and trying to make everything pure.

61

This completes the Path of Meditation that one completes the path of meditation.

62

Perfect in Completion stage

you continuously and repeatedly do the same practice, whatever pure visualization is, the same process, you will be able to reach stage that you have imagined at the stage of development [or stage]; it will actualize. By the time it has actually materialized you have become pure, and everything has become pure. Everything you connect with becomes perfect. Everything has become it has materialized. The development stage is the imagination stage, the completion stage is the actual stage; whatever we have has become actual, touchable, tangible, photographically. why it is called completion stage.

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63

This completes the Path of No More Learning

64

Enjoy the Freedom of Ultimate Union

Enjoy the freedom of the ultimate union: oneness of body and mind, oneness of conventional truth and absolute truth, the union of bliss and void, the union of compassion and wisdom. Thus you will be able to fulfil the purpose of your life. That makes a hell of a difference to a lot of other people as well.

We can get there. True! I don't think there is a problem in getting there. Once you begin to get into the proper path, you don't have much of a problem. The biggest problem is the beginning. The hardest part is always at the beginning. Once you make it through the beginning, you will have the way and how to get up there. Once you have become established at the first point, then if you don't drop out, what happens is you're automatically pushed. Let's say you are spending half an hour to an hour every day; when you are really focusing, the system is such that one step pushes the other and you're being pushed by the developments, one after the other. But if you drop it, you drop it. You forget, leave a gap of two or three months, maybe two or three years, and try to pick up again. You can, fine. But it is not perfect, because you lose the momentum. The momentum will push you from one point to another and that is why we can really do it.

Questions from the afternoon discussion groups

Audience: When the Drepung Loseling Lama was here98, he gave us an oral transmission. Could you please explain?

Rinpoche: Oral transmission is only the sound. A practice you do [or a root text], is transmitted orally from one human being's mouth to an-

98 A visit of the young reincarnation of Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche, on of the two main teachers of Gelek Rinpoche, the other one being Kyabje Ling Rinpoche.

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other human being's ear. If you are given an explanation on that, then it becomes a teaching. What you received, was the Ganden Lha Gyema and the Foundation of all Perfections.

one bowl! Well, she might have boiled it for a couple of days, and made it small, but. ..! Mythological elements also come in. But whatever it may be, she did give him that milk soup, and Buddha ate it and enjoyed it and built his strength up. He realized that by making a lot of sacrifices alone you cannot obtain enlightenment, you need to have balance. His disciples were fed up with him. They said, "My god,

Audience: You had said during the Tara practice that one of Tara's characteristics is that she had chosen to be in female form, which implies that she had rebirth. The question is: was Tara ever human? Because you had said that, for Lamrim meditation, Shakyamuni Buddha or Tsongkhapa are better to use for your field of merit because they had been human and had gone through the stages of development. That led to the question about Tara, and that led to questions about other deities: were they ever human? What is the relationship? You had also mentioned dakas and dakinis and dharma protectors; what would you be willing to say about who they are or what they might

Rinpoche: Interesting. Was Tara ever a human being? I don't think I can say no. She might have been a human being before. None of those enlightened beings comes out right from the start as enlightened beings. They all gained great development, and then they became that way. So, I am sure Tara was a human being before. However, the story doesn't tell us in the way Buddha's story does. He was an Indian prince, left home, and for six years he stayed in the forest. There is a human story of how many sacrifices he made, how he tried to survive by eating a grain a day, how he had five disciples with him. Finally this beautiful farmer's daughter came, and when she saw him, she wondered whether he was a human being or ghost or whatever. She felt pity for him and went back and made that milk soup. You know Hindu-Buddhist mythology also is sometimes involved there. It says that that soup was the essence of all the milk of one thousand cows in

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we're following this crazy guy and he doesn't eat anything. Suddenly this beautiful girl shows up, and starts giving him milk, and he takes it! Let's go, let's abandon him." So they abandoned Buddha, and Buddha became a buddha.

So, this is a human being's life events that you can trace up to Buddha level. Although, in the Mahayana tradition, you'll find that Buddha was already a buddha long before, still, you can sort of follow biographical information very similar to a diary. That's what I mean, a human being, with human everything, and you can trace the progress.

Was Tara ever human? Sure, Tara was definitely human before, and was definitely everything before, it's also true. When Tara first generated bodhimind, unlike others, she chose to be in a female human body. You know, since Buddhism comes out of traditional Indian culture, male chauvinism is definitely there, no question. So everybody would say. " Well, I will change my female body and become a male and then obtain enlightenment." Many of them prayed in that way. But Tara is the one who very stubbornly said, "No, I would like to be in a woman's body. I'd like to function as a woman." So she went throughout her accumulation of merit and meditative period practice in a woman's body. Finally, when she became a fully enlightened being, she said, "I am not going to change my physical form. I would like to remain as a woman, and function as a woman, yet with the total power of an enlightened being. So I would like to connect with people as a woman, I would like to function as a woman, I would like to help as a woman." That's why I look at Tara as one of the most feminist principles in Buddhism, because she demonstrated that you can remain as a woman, and work, and yet you can obtain enlightenment. That is the very vivid demonstration that Tara has shown. But still, how many lives she went through, and where she went, and what she did, we don't know that clearly yet.

Audience: And what about the other yidams? Was Manjushri a person?

Rinpoche: Oh yes, Manjushri was a bodhisattva coming into discussions during the Buddha's lifetime. But, on the other hand, for Avalo-

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kitesvara you say 'embodiment of the compassion of all the enlightened beings.' and for Manjushri you say 'the embodiment of the wisdom of all the enlightened beings.' 'Ihat makes it a little difficult. If they were human beings, not the embodiment of this and that, would they suddenly become the embodiment of this and that when they became enlightened? I don't think so. So in the case of Manjushri and Avalokitesvara and all this, I think it is most probably a manifestation rather than a human being who attained that state.

On the other hand, when you look at Heruka, or Yamantaka, or other such yidams, where do they come from? From Buddha. When tantra was taught, Buddha suddenly appeared and started teaching, saying "There is a yidam called Yamantaka, who has this many heads and this many horns and this many legs et cetera." Tantra was spoken by Buddha, so it looks beyond our human eye perception. Buddha interpreted it, and spoke the tantra. The whole rituals combined together were basically taught and packaged, and that's called tantra. So, what we know is, there is somebody called Yamantaka, there is somebody called Heruka, Vajrayogini, and so and forth, and Buddha performed the Yamantaka, performed Guhyasamaja, and that's how we know. But, there are a number of people, including themselves, I'm quite sure, that obtained the enlightenment of that state by their own deeds, that is definitely the case.

Now then, did you say dharma protectors? This is a tricky question. Dharma protectors are normally manifestations of enlightened beings. For instance, Mahakala is the manifestation of the wrathful aspect of Avalokitesvara. Manjushri manifests in the form of Dhanna King Chogyel. Pelden Lhamo is Tara's manifestation. And Camundi is in reality the consort of Yamantaka manifested in the forn of Dharma King Chogyel's partner, so, she looks really wrathful. Ultimately, not every protector, but all the good ones, the really respected ones, you can trace to totally enlightened beings.

So we look at dharmapalas as enlightened beings who, for a specific purpose, manifested to do a certain important job, to carry out a cenain important responsibility. When they are manifesting in that way, we also accept them at that level, rather than saying, " Oh this is really Avalokitesvara, so the level of the dharma protector Mahakala

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should not be down here but should be up there." We don't do that. Because, we accept them according to the form they present themselves in, rather than saying "I know who you are! You're not the one who you said you are!" (laughs).

Not all the wrathful beings that come in a trance in Tibet are necessarily great. There are so many of them; each and every village has two or three different ones. We acknowledge those protectors who were working during the Buddha's time, who met Buddha in his lifetime, have received teachings, and have protected the sangha. When you count them this way, fifty percent of the different protectors will get out of that line, because they were not there during the Buddha's lifetime. So, though normally we divide the protectors in samsaric and non-samsaric ones, this is where you are going to draw the line. It is difficult, but maybe, in that way, it works.

Audience: When taking refuge tomorrow, as part of the White Tara, what exactly am I agreeing to and what are the implications?

Rinpoche: I think you have to make up your mind before you take refuge. What you are agreeing to is, you are going to rely totally on Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. You're going to rely on both the historical Buddha and the Buddha within you, Dharma within you, Sangha within you. That is what is called refuge taking: relying on. That is what you are really committing to. Then also, by taking refuge in the Buddha, you do not worship ghosts and spirits and all those who themselves are not free from suffering. By taking refuge in the Dharma, you don't harm or hurt anybody; non-violence should be your principle of functioning. By taking refuge in Sangha, you don't want too much association with non-virtuous friends because they present the danger of losing your objects of refuge. Friends are also very important. To be able to become a bad person is easy, to be able to become good is very hard. For a good practitioner to become bad is very easy. That is the reason why friends are important. It is very simple; if you are keeping company with somebody who is smoking cigarettes, then chances are that much more that you are going to pick it up. And if you are keeping company with people who are not smok-

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ing, you have a lesser possibility of becoming a smoker. By taking refuge in Sangha, you try to maintain the company of good friends. That's what you are committing to.

Audience: Will all human beings ultimately be liberated? Is the consciousness that we have that goes from life to life, a permanent thing, does it go on all the way to liberation?

Rinpoche: All human beings are bound to get enlightened eventually. But there is a technical difficulty. The technical difficulty is if you say human beings are permanent, it doesn't work. If human beings are impermanent, then why don't they disappear? They don't disappear, they change. Trungpa Rinpoche used such an interesting word, he called it 'continuation of discontinuity'. That is how human beings continue: as a continuation of discontinuity. Everybody will become a buddha eventually and it is entirely up to us. The opportunities are there and you can do it. If you don't want to — fine, try again next time.

Audience: What you would particularly recommend for beginning meditators on the Lamrim. How can they use the Odyssey to Freedom? And do the points correspond to things in the Daily Prayers we have been doing here at the retreat? What do you recommend for people to do after this if they want to meditate on the Lamrim?

Rinpoche: Very good question. Just don't lose the bookmark! Read it through, and use it. People are very fond of reading books, so, if you use it, when you change your reading book, don't forget to change this! You will see it, and suddenly it will remind you, and then you may give five or ten minutes thinking about it, " Oh yeah, he said this and we said that, and this joke was made," whatever you can remember. Just go through with every point, and if you keep on doing this for a while you will have a sort of comprehensive overview. After that, you can make a choice, whether you want to pinpoint on something, whether you want to read about it or think about it. Or you may like to do it for two months or three months and then forget another six months and then pick it up again. That's not great, but okay.

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The whole idea of making that shopping list is that you don't really have to go and get a Lamrim book. And if you are reading a Lamrim book, you can bring any point over here and reinforce the idea. If you are using this, whatever information you find elsewhere you can bring it in and think about it. In this way you are grounding yourself on the spiritual path, the path that leads to the enlightenment level.

It is also easy if you are traveling somewhere and somebody is driving you; while they drive you can look a little bit here and think about it. If you are in a plane, you can look at it and think about it. Somebody asked me for a 'bus stop Buddhism'. I'm not sure whether this will serve the purpose of being 'bus stop Buddhism' or not! But we tried to make it almost in that line. If you are traveling on the trains, the underground, the subway, transit or rapid, you can use that. But don't do it if you yourself are driving! That's how I hope this will serve the purpose for the people.

How to meditate on the points — Meditation by Pabongka Rinpoche

I would like to share few thoughts here. It is a letter that Pabongka Rinpoche wrote to one of his benefactors.

Look at our lives. Due to the karma that we have accumulated for many lives, we have found such a rare, important and beautiful life. How wonderful it is!

Right now, if I were in the hell realm, I would not hear even the name of dharma. If I were born in the gods or demi-gods realm, it would not be possible for me to meet with this great way, the way in which Buddha leads people to total enlightenment.

If I were born in all sorts of different countries, where the people don't know what is positive, what is negative, what i.'7 good and what is bad, I would not have the opportunity I have now. Even though I might be a follower of a spiritual path

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somehow, if I were not following the Buddha, I wouldn't hear of refuge or in whom I should take refuge.

If I were completely handicapped, mentally or physically, I would lose the opportunity. If I were a butcher, what could I do? If I were sick, it would be difficult for me to work. And if I were a slave, I wouldn't even have time to say 0m Mani Padme Hum.

If I were to pretend to be a dharma practitioner — there are a number of them who don't realize or recognize what is Buddha, what is Dharma and what is Sangha. If I were to become a very important person, along with being important, my life might be consumed by attachment and hatred and competition. If I were to have no learning at all, even though I may sit like a mountain all my life, I am going to have very limited achievement. If I were to have wrong understanding, no matter how much effort I put in, I would be leading myself in the wrong direction.

I may think I am an expert on the nadi and channel system, I may fry to meditate, but many of those who do that are not even following the path of the Buddha — how sad that is. I may think I am a person who is spending my life in retreat, but I sit up there and think about the material world in the village. I may be a great, learned person, but all my efforts are spent on how I can best build up gain in my material life. I may be a great debater in the great monastery, but I might have become such a stubborn person that even if Buddha were to appear in front of me, he would not be able to help me.

I may have said zillions of mantras, day after day, night after night, but my mind has become rougher and rougher. If such a thing develops and if I am in that condition at the time when I finally have to go, it is difficult to get help. Neither Buddha nor Dharma nor Sangha can help, because it was the way I spent my life.

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Therefore, I should be happy and joyous that I am not in the condition where I have no opportunity or no time. Such wonderful life I have; I should rejoice. I should rejoice in life itself. I should rejoice in having a great teacher and friend. I should rejoice in the great teaching methods; it is a complete path, yet easy to practice. To understand that, to appreciate that, to be able to follow that, how happy I am!

Because I am remembering death and the uncertainty of death, I have my mind directed towards the karmic principle, the Dharma principle. How wonderful it is. How happy I am!

By recognizing suffering everywhere, I gain interest in other than samsara and gain it from the bottom of my heart. How happy I am!

Not only have I found my own way out, but I also develop an interest, I gain respect for and I honor other people's wishes and I will be able to develop the great bodhimind. How wonderful I have found this!

During meditation, I always have to be careful in case I have a wrong meditation. But, since I am on the path that we are sharing, now I don't even have to worry about it. So how wonderful it is. How wonderful I have found profound taste and experience in this!

How wonderful it is that I understand the true nature, free of nihilism and 'existentialism' [or eternalism]. How wonderful it is to discover that emptiness and existence work together in one point. How wonderful it is to understand that existence reinforces emptiness and emptiness reinforces understanding of existence.

It is wonderful that I am able to combine in practice my basic normal human death, my basic normal human bardo, my basic normal human rebirth and the practice of death as dharmakaya, bardo as sambogakaya and rebirth as nirmanakaya.

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How wonderful it is for me to mix these nine things together: in the base level, ordinary death, bardo and rebirth; in the path level, putting forth the effort to try to utilize the three of them in practice, and at the end, the result level, achieving it. How wonderful it is to be able to combine them together and to do this.

Through the method of vajra recitation or vajra holding, how wonderful it is to encounter the primordial mind of myself directly with me. How happy I am to be able to learn those methods.

How wonderful it becomes, when I become my subtle energy and subtle consciousness, to be able to rise as fully enlightened. How wonderful it is even just to hear what can happen.

How wonderful it is to learn how to mix my dreams, my death, and my clear light together.

How wonderful it is to share my life, my reincarnation, and my nirmanakaya together as illusion body. How wonderful it is to be able to function as an illusion body.