Archive Result

Sound file:19990830GRSROF12

Speaker:Gelek Rimpoche

Location: Camp Copneconic,Fenton,MI

Topic:Odyssey To Freedom

Transcriber:Jayapushpa

Date: 16thNovember 2022

..into habit , so be careful about that. And ..take refuge. Now I like to go…Do I need any more clarification on the refuge? Oh, I did that . I didn’t even ask you if you want to ask questions. Sorry about it, I forgot. I was ready to talk so much, and I just forgot completely. So, can we do it at the end? Or, maybe you can do it now. Maybe people may have questions about refuge. So, go ahead and do it. (Audience:The first question was , ‘if you could explain a little bit about the fire puja this afternoon’) Oh, I don’t know, I got burned quite good. (laughter). What do you need to explain? Just give me some…whose question is it? (Audience: Firstly when the butter was going into the fire symbolise the (?) , what you visulize and what are the monks thinking, and what is the meaning and experience?) (Laughter) Ask the monks (Laughter) Can you skip to the next question please? (laughter) We happened…we did the fire puja and this is Vajrayana activity. So..I don’t want go anything in detail in that. So, number 1. ya, number 2, you know, when you put the butter on the fire, the fire burns and they burn you…(*unclear). (Audience: Can you explain the difference between an arahat and a buddha. They are both liberated beings but how is the liberation different? ) Good. Arahat is what we called ‘ordinary enlightenment’ and buddha is ultimate enlightened level. So arahats… now there are two different points. According to Theravadan tradition…actually in Buddhism, you have to know one thing, whether the ultimate level, ultimate yana, we called it mahayana, hinayana, vajrayana , all these, right. So when you talked about the yana.. So let’s say the mahayana and theravadayana, so the question arises, ‘Is there really two yanas? And any one of them ‘No more learning’ is obtained, did you complete your journey? Did you accomplish completely? (*Interruption) So ultimate yana whether it is three yana or one yana? That’s the difference between the mahayana and theravadan teachings. Theravadan teachings will say the ultimate is three yana, only three. No more learning of any three is ultimate.According to Mahayana, they say, no. Even you receive no more learning in the sravaka buddhayana or pratyeka buddha yana, am I confusing you more? When youtalk about the three yana, in America, there is system they count Hinayana, mahayana, vajrayana. They do, and sort of commonly accepted, I don’t know why. But truly speaking, and that you can count from the practitioner point of view, you can say that.But actual normal buddhist text, normal buddhist philosophical text, will tell you differently. When they tell you three yanas, they will tell you sravakayana, pratyekayana, and mahayana. Sravakayana means those disciples of the buddha who listens from Buddha, and who practised self liberation point, bodhisattva points they will hear it, they will relay the message, but they don’t practise. These are called ‘nyen to’ means one who listens and one hears but one doesn’t practise about mahayana things. They say (Rimpoche quotes in tibetan gon po de ring nyen ta..(?)) Normally they sy, ‘gon po de rign nyen ta(?)..O lord I become Sravakayana today. So I just listen your teaching, I keep in my mind, I don’t forget, I’ll pass it on, but I will not practise myself. So hear it, repeat it. Hear from here, keep it here and repeat it out. So, this is called ‘sravakayana’. Pratyekayana is actually self liberating person. The person …those people who obtained the arahat level, in between the buddhas. Actually by self taught, self liberated ; nothing of traditions carry on .There are some group there. So, that’s called the pratyekayana. And then you have the mahayana. So, each one will say the ultimate ‘No more learning’ out of five paths, ‘No more learning; is the ultimate goal. That’s it. When you are there , that’s it. So these people are called ‘three ultimates’. But Mahayana will say , no. Even you obtain the araht level, in sravaka, or in pratyeka, somehow buddhas and bodhisattvas make you to wake up from that peaceful picnic and get you active working for benefit of others and yourself too. So, therefore the only one Buddha level when you reach there , then you have gone…there is nothing really beyond that. You have reached , you have received ultimate goal , you have achieved ultimate goal. They will say that. So,that is the difference. Or, did I confuse you more or rather than make it clear? Sometimes one try to make clear but..make you more confuse, especially when you don’t have knowledge of it. I have an example came up my head, I am not going to use it. (Laugh) So, every yana has five paths…path of learning, action, seeing, meditating, no more learning. All the no more learnings are arahat level. But the mahayana one is buddha level. They don’t call it ‘arahat’. So, according to mahayana, everybody will become buddha sooner or later. So therefore until you beome a buddha, you are not going to be done yet.So everybody will become a buddha, that’s the mahayana view point. Theravada will say some people will become buddha, some people will get..arahat. In reality you are done. You may not done number 1, you might not have done PhD, but you have graduated. So something like that they will tell you. So you got a degree, you can go , you can work, you are okay. You are educated, you got degree, you can work. You may not be PhD, and that’s enough. They say. The others say ,you got to be PhD, so just like that. Is that clear, little better? Or, did I explain okay or did I confuse you? Anyway, who originated that question from? You? Are you happy with my answer? Okay. Thank you. That is important. 0:10:29.6

(Audience: Is it a serious obstacle on the buddhist path if I don’t believe I could be reborn as a bug?)(Laughs) (What animal rebirth … is it an obstacle if I don’t believe that I could be subject to an animal rebirth?) No, I don’t really think kit is an obstacle. But you are not sure you are not going to be reborn either. Are you really sure? Are you really sure? I don’t want to ask you who is the question coming from. But ask yourself , are you sure you are not going to reborn as animal?If you can convince, guarantee to yourself, and I ‘ll let you go but you’ll be responsible for yourself. I don’t think anybody can be sure. I don’t really think it is obstacle or some thing, but it might not be really true. So that’s what it is. 0:11:36.5

(Audience: You talked a bit this afternoon about vegetarian..) Did I? (Audience: You were talking the story about ..or maybe yesterday.. in the taxi..the Indian..) Oh,ya, ka te ka te (Audience: so this question is , how can we justify eating animals that suffer so much for our benefit. Do we receive negative karma by eating the meat of animals who are not able to lead happy healthy lives, and who are very scared at the moment of death) There is no justification of eating meat for whatsoever, no. There is no justification, we cannot justify at all. No. That’s definitely but do you eat meat? I do. But can you justify, no. That’s about it, no big deal. (Laughter) Is it wrong? Sure! It is definitely wrong. Do you contribute to the ..killing business? Sure! Because you add up one more consumer, so the production goes up. I am sure it is not. I am sure it is not justified for that. Is it wrong? Sure, definitely wrong. Should we correct ? Yes, we should correct. Can you correct? I don’t know. You know, you can’t be everything right. Did I do something wrong? Something big came. Where did it come from? (Audience:* voice, unclear) Can be everything right, really. If you drive in the dirt road, how many insects will get killed? Even you walk, how many we’ll step on it. Even you grow vegetables, when you dig the ground, how many worms we cut. Even we use those compost thing, how many worms are in there. So, they are all there. So our life is such we cannot avoid every negativities at all. So we try to do that, we try to do our best, but after a little while we have to be what you are and keep on doing the purifications and that’s what you got to do. Otherwise you will be completely frozen. You can’t do, you can’t move, you can’t eat anything. That happens. That’s why it is called ‘samsara’. That’s why it is the nature of suffering. That’s why we have to free ourselves. That’s the reason why. That’s the reason why. We all know the negativities are wrong, We know negative emotions are wrong. We wanted to get out of it but many times we are caught into it. But only thing we don’t give up. We try our best. That’s what it is. Do I have any justification for eating meat? Certainly I don’t. Do we contribute to the killing? Sure we do, definitely. Even a single consumer added up raise the production 10% more. So, you know, those business analyzing people they’ve been watching, they are calculating all the time (Rimpoche laughs). So we do contribute. There is no thing to be justified. That’s the truth. Is that okay? Many people say okay but if the original question wherever comes from is that okay with that person whoever it maybe. (Audience: Ya, I am satisfied. Thank you) Thank you. So as long as you are happy, I am happy. (Rimpoche laughs) I am just joking okay. Thanks.0:16:06.7

(Audience: Could you clarify the nearby hell realm?Is that in the human realm?) According to the buddhist texts it is some where …they have encountered somewhere in the human real, according to traditional texts. But we suffered enough. Many people will tell you , “I just come out of hell” So, it ti really true, we go through with hell. So, nearby hell is that too. But some people may think, “how can you make so easy? The hell has to be such miserable. This is human level” But if you gone through, you know it. Particularly those who gone through, they will you. Those who have not experienced it , they can open big mouth and say, “Hey, how can that be. It is terrible . That’s a big difference!”. Maybe, but if you experienced personally, then you know what it is.0:17:07.5

(Audience: What happens to highly realized beings in the bardo, for example an arahat?) Oh, well, according to the Theravadan level, the arahat doesn’t go to bardo. According to Theravada level, arahat doesn’t go to view…oh, sorry, Theravadan view arahat doesn’t go to bardo. You know why? When arahat dies, (Rimpoche quotes in tibetan kan de lu chen dak(?)…nam par ke wa gyur(?) ) The body is the only leftover of First Noble Truth, and you are free of that and then you sort of evaporated , disappeared.And they give you the candle light when the wax is over, the candle disappears. That is the example. (Rimpoche quotes…ma mi lu chen…nam par ge wa …) So it says, this is the body holding you, when that body becomes dismantled, (*interruption) ..The moment you dismantled this body, that is the end of the first Noble Truth, Truth of Suffeing, so the consciousness will die, disappear . So that’s why even arahat level , they divide into two categories: arahats with leftover and without leftover. The leftover means you obtained arahat but you still have the body. That’s with leftover. In tibetan if you want to know it is called ‘lhak je nyen de’(?) and ‘la me nyen de(?). so that’s what it is. Is that clear to you, or, did I make you more confuse? So, they don’t go through that bardo level. But does those high level ..highly developed individuals, do they go through bardo? They do. What kind of bardo they have? Actually we are talking three different things here. We talked to you the other day, is it yesterday..we even read averse out of Heruka practise. ‘Chi sang pa wo..me tog..” (?) The protectors all they come with the banners and flowers and receive you. And that is one level, we are not talking about bardo. We are talking about immediately sort of instead of bardo, we are going through that. That is one level we are talking about it. And then, there is another thing called ‘phowa’, the transferring consciousness. That is almost like cheating death. So, instead of death, you are using that. So, when you are talking about the bardo, you are talking about the person who gone through a normal process of death and entering into the bardo, state in between. And then there is another one, the person who sits in the meditation and is doing meditation for a long time and this and that. And that’s not bardo level. That is death itself in that level or maybe you are waking up from the death and bardo as something else. All these there are a lot of categories, not only one, two, three but many categories. But let’s say, on highly realized individual process through bardo, yes, they do, many times. When they process through bardo, then what is the question? (Audience: That was it. What happens, what is it like, how do they experience the bardo?) They experience bardo like any other person experienced but without much suffering. It is sort of controlled bardo. They know exactly where they are going, why they are going, what they are doing. Many time ..(bardo gyu me…ko(?) ) The bardo they will arise as illusion body and all that. So, that is a totally again different story. But, then bardo as sambhogakaya, that is another totally different story. So, thst’s you know…I don’t know how to answer it now. It’s almost ..they may experience bardo as sambhogakaya, they may experience bardo as illusion body, they may experience bardo as an normal ordinary bardo with lots of joy. And one of the accounts I read on the return from death, you know the other day we talked about..I say the tibetans seem to talk about light too, but they are talking lines, people are waiting through line. So almost look like waiting for judgement or something, you know. And then those overriding priority people will come. So, one of the accounts it says ‘I pass through and every is waiting in some door they are going through and suddenly big thundering sound of Om mani padme hung came, and then we were wondering what’s going on. Some big lama who died just passed through …zoom..and over then..sort of everybody is just waiting, he just passed through, and went away while everybody has to wait. Sort of overriding priority…zoom, went through. That’s what account said.So, one thing. Another thing is also, heavy negativity person, they also don’t wait for their ..another zoom goes through, you know. Another zoom, not over, but under zoom goes through without much to think or wait or something…zoom goes through. So, that’s what bardo is all about. Actually,if you really want to talk about the bardo, ‘ngun du..(?)..bardowa are so powerful, they really have lot of magical power. That is from their karma. Every bardowa, very magical. Nothing blocks them The walls don’t block them anything. Because basically their body is such ;it is actually mental body, though they have some kind of appearance, some kind of recognition but it is mental body. So, doesn’t block by any walls or anything, just goes through. As since it is mental body, let’s say you are in the middle of Fenton, Michigan. And suddenly you think of Tokyo or London, or New York and you are right there at that moment. The moment you think, you arrived there. So because it is mental body, doesn’t need the time to travel or time of movement, so its mental, just appears there, here, there, just the moment you think you are there.So, you are not very stable, you are here, you are there, you are here, you are there, you are everywhere, sort of thing; move so fast. That’s what they called it ‘le ge tu te(?)’It has sort of karmic power, that’s what happens. ‘Shu tan te..(?)’ it has all five senses and it goes through everything. They get stuck when they get through womb. Through womb they get stuck because you have to take rebirth. So you get stuck there. One or two other places they supposed to get stuck. Oh..doesn’t matter. So,..it’s not that important. And that also when you supposed to take rebirth at that time you get stuck, until then. That moment bardowa dies and somewhere your consciousness stuck and all your magical power of travelling everywhere is suddenly gone . So that’s how you stuck there.That’s how it happens. ‘le gyu..to…om bu..(?)’ it looks like middle age your future life, not future age past life. Nothing resembling to the past person.Nothing. It is middle age future life look like. So, but then you know, you may be thinking those psychics “Well, I saw it , he is so and so” and they are not lying because these I asked Song Rimpoche specifically, I say”In the West there are so many these psychics that trying to tell there is this person, that person, bringing message this and that”. He said, “ There are 365 simultaneous born ghosts along with that. They all identify , they all show the body that look like yours, they know everything else. They all identify with your name, with all these. Those psychics will see them and they think that’s the real person” In reality those simultaneous born ghosts been pretending….not only pretending, but they are using your identity, even you are in life. So, remember you have a clone walking out there somewhere else beside you. (Laughs). They have that, it’s already going on. Three hundred sixty of them running around. So,it is not only one Shaun, there are 365 of them, with the same name, same identity.( Audience:*voices..pay a dollar..*unclear) Oh, good. So, anyway, each ..ask them to pay. (Rimpoche laughs) So, pay a dollar. That makes $365. Anyway, those are the people, those are the beings. They live, they stay much longer than you although they carrying your identity, but their life span is longer than human life. Some of them remains two to three hundred years. And they have total knowledge of what you do , what you did, everything, except during the initiations. If a proper person taking a proper initiation, during that period, they’ve been kicked out. If you ask them what happened then, “No, yes, we went there ; I’ve been kicked out”They will tell you that. So I don’t know what happened in there” So, really that’s a true fact. So, happened very often in Tibet, a lot of stories. Don’t let me tell you those stories. Doesn’t make sense. (Laughs) (Audience: These 365 persons, …born you die? *Unclear) They are born with you,same time. And then they will last longer than you. So, there are zillions of spirits, running round try to take rebirth. They are lots. When the Catholics tell you produce lots of children they do have reasons to tell you. But that doesn’t mean you have to, you know(Rimpoche laughs). But there are zillions of them waiting there to take... I mean really true, you know.What’s wrong, Peter?(Audience: *unclear) Good or bad, doesn’t matter; that’s a different issue totally. It is a different issue. They are there, they born , and they take your identity, your name, your look and all same thing. The chances of connecting the dead is 99.9%, they are connecting those simultaneous born ghosts. That’s what Song Rimpoche told me.That’s what it is. 0:32:18.6

(Audience: You spoke about two kinds of impermanence, gross impermanence and subtle impermanence. Could you explain subtle impermanence?) Changing not only every minute, not only every second, 365 times in this time period.(Rimpoche clicks his fingers) That’s the subtle impermanence. So, when people change heir mind, 365 times even you can do in that period. So, that’s what it is. That is subtle impermanence. It is always changing, everything!Our look, our body, our physical appearance, our mind, everything, every single thing. Even those permanent fixtures are changing. Every second, every second, changing. Every collective phenomena are changing 365 times even in this period alone. So that is a little bit of subtle impermanence. Okay.

(Audience: Could you explain the concept of luck, is it outside of karma or is it depends on something else?) it goes along with positive karma . I don’t know exactly how to explain this concept of luck. Persons who seems to have a lot of good fortune, normally we called them, “How lucky you are” So the good fortune is the consequences of good karma. So, it is the result of positive karma. So, therefore, positive karma itself maybe is luck. I don’t know; I really don’t know. There is..according to Vasubhandhu’s theory then the luck, and the vow and all of them , which are actual physical thing which comes out with you and give you example of ball and all that. So, I am not going to go in that. So, it is almost same as , might not be exactly the same as, but almost the same as positive karma.I think we are better off to leave it there, rather than try to go whether it is form or formless and what kind of shape or shapeless, color. All these Vasubhandhu goes in very detail in that. But lket’s not even touch it.

(Audience: Does the subtle mind that reincarnate from life to life have inherent exstence? And if not..) Looks like it is having inherent existence. But I don’t think it is inherent existence, Trungpa Rimpoche calls this ‘continuation of discontinuity’ Probably..(Audience: ..if not, how your does your personal connect adhere to the subtle mind and not get locked) so, it is the continuation of discontinuity carries on. So it is discontinued but continuation. The continuation of discontinuity. This Trungpa Rimpoche’s words I am borrowing. 0:35:59.1

(Audience: Does the student’s motivation and presence help the guru teach or have an effect on the teaching?) I am sorry, I am not thinking.. (Audience: Does the student’s motivation and presence, another words ‘being here’, help the guru teach or have effect on the teaching. If so, how?) You people gives me very good inspiration. (Laughs). I did not find my jet lag , it should be some where here. But if I get away from here , I go..tek tek…go to sleep. So, I think that’s answers. (Audience: Could you clarify the point ‘if you receive one sentence of Dharma from your teacher, that is your guru’ …you were talking..) Well, I just quote Sakya Pandita, remember, or is it somebody, who says, ‘ te che nyi ma la(?)” Maybe not Sakya Pandita, is maybe Sakya Kunga Nyingpo , one of the Sakya lamas for sure, Kunga Nyingpo or somebody, who said if you don’t …there are lot of …if you read the Jataka stories, Buddha’s life stories and they tell you lot of those, lot of them there. Actually what is it? What really makes it? It is the desire of learning from that person and knowing that communicating with that person, and that person try to share with the sincere desire of helping that person/ And sharing any spiritual things with you, spiritual stuff (Rimpoche laughs) . sounds terrible but spiritual path , sharing with you,somehow established this bond of guru discipleship . That is just the sharing of the information. That also with the sincere desire from both sides. And also the guiding person is actually guiding the one on personal knowledge level rather than on informational level, established that bond between. I think that’s really what it is. That’s sort of bond in between. (Audience: You talked about the fact that we have an inner buddha , our future buddha and there is an outer Buddha Sakyamuni, same thing for Dharma . The outer Dharma being teachings and inner, our development. Is there an inner and outer Sangha as well?) Inner…I don’t know; I talked to you about the absolute sangha and the relative sangha .I don’t know whether you can call ‘inner sangha’ or not.It is not people may think ‘you have to become Sangha first , in order to become Buddha, maybe maybe not. I don’t remember anything or I don’t even think about it. I am sorry, really. If you...you know we put ourselves to the level since we passed through the Path of Seeing, and before we get to the Path of No More Learning. We are in the category of absolute sangha. Or, we have a vow and we become a member of sangha community, as full fledged buddhist monk or nun. In a way it is true, you are not going to be instant enlighten. So, you are going through that too…you are going through the third Path in order to get through to fifth Path. So perhaps you do. So the seed of buddha nature will probably become absolute sangha sometime. It may still be seed of absolute sangha, I think you can say that. Because you are not going to be instant buddha, right. So you sort of gradually develop. You develop to the level of third Path and fourth Path and then fifth path. So, I am sure you can say that. It sort of becomes more stronger, sort of logically thinking. Otherwise you have to accept instant enlightenment, without passing through the third Path and fourth Path. Somehow suddenly boom, doesn’t work. So, the very seed of buddha nature within ourselves is also seed of sangha . I am sure you can say that. I don’t remember reading anywhere. I never thought about it, but since you raised the question, I think that’s it. 0:41:42.0

(Audience: Could you clarify ‘causal ‘ and ‘result’ refuge?) Ha, that’s what it is. Causal refuge is when you are not…that’s important and very relevant at today’s level. So the causal refuge is since the inner refuge is not it matured, so you cannot absolutely rely on the inner refuge, so you bring the Buddha Sakyamuni as representative of the enlightened beings and you take refuge to that. So, you bring the connection between the inner buddha nature connecting to the outer fully enlightened mature Buddha, and connecting them, bringing them. And then, actually result refuge, two things. 0ne that, and another is result level of functioning, result level look like functioning. Like vajrayana connected, like beginning of Lama Chopa they say ,you yourself become Buddha and suddenly you radiate light and generate and everything becomes pure and all of those, are the result refuge and result level of functioning. That’s what it is , so..Did I made it clear or still lost there? Who is the question coming from? Okay. Did I answer you or not, David? (Audience: I am still…) Okay. So, Vajrayana refuge is result refuge. You take refuge and you started to… pretending to be functioning as though you are fully enlightened. Your body has become Buddha body. The body radiates light and everything becomes pure like ‘dechen ngang lay rang nyi lama lha/ Gang der sal way ku lay o zer tsoh/ Choh chur …they are beginning of Lama Chopa, that verse. So that’s sort of level result functioning.’ Result oriented refuge,’ I should say. The real result refuge is try to bring Buddha within you, making it work, making it mature, making it function, making it function like a perfect Buddha. Causal, when you don’t have that. This is one. Audience: You talked about the process of taking refuge, folding hands and saying the formula. But the question is,’ if you could clarify some more about the commitments and responsibilities involved in taking refuge’) There are a lot of them but three major things , by taking refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, you do not take refuge to any other spirit and ghost who are not fit to be object of refuge. If the person is fully enlightened, beings are fully enlightened, sure it is a Buddha. So, you can take refuge. So, you should not take refuge other than that.By taking refuge to Dharma, you should not harm anybody, should avoid harming completely. And by taking refuge to the Sangha, then what is it? (Audience: Avoid non virtuous) Ya, there are quite a lot of them, you can say that too. (Audience: have respect for monks and nuns; view monks and nuns as sangha..) That’s one of them.t only monks and nuns, even a red color piece of cloth, or yellow color piece of cloth; yes. (Audience: You had said that Buddhism was atheist and this person asked ‘Is Buddhism agnostic rather than atheistic/) Okay, I have no quarrel with you. I say it is atheist because Buddhism does not accept mono..(Audience: mono theist) mono theistic type of God; that’s why I say ‘atheist’. That’s my reason. So whatever you have other labels is fine. (Audience: That’s all) What does that mean, anyway? (Audience: ‘agnostic’?) Ya. (Audience: Generally it means you are not sure whether there is a God or not.) Oh, well, as a buddhist, there is no mono..(Audience: or that you can’t know..) Well, I don’t…monotheistic God, I don’t think buddhist can accept that. If they do, they go against karma, principle of karma. It goes against ‘you are responsible to yourself’. That goes against that. So, I don’t think it is not sure. I think it is certain.(Rimpoche laughs) I am sorry, but…ya. Okay.0:47:55.1

Do I have time to talk to you ‘Karma’ tonight? It is upside down. Please read this ‘33’, ‘Consider positive actions bring positive result and negative actions bring negative result’. ‘33’ and ‘34’ .I just begin the ‘karma’ tonight. So it is very important point. Buddha’s experience When Buddha was looking for way out of the sufferings of the people around him, particularly subjects that he was supposed to protect and particularly his own family, this royal family including his own parents and himself was told ‘You are subject of those sufferings such as illnesses, and death and aging ‘. So, he was definitely looking for ‘What can I do?” “What can I do for me?at can I do for my family? And, what can I do for my subjects which I am supposed to be the protector leader. So, he is looking for way out. And while he is searching for way out, he studied and tried to find out where this is coming from. Who created? What made this happen? Or, where is it coming from? 0:50:29.3(*pause in recording) …can I reverse or stop that? So, what he really discovered is, it is nobody else made this, and make you to go through. Another words, it is not prefabricated., certain things which you run through. You know what I mean? It is not only fixed machine that you are putting through.it is everything..manifested by itself within that period and manifested. Manifested out of what? Manifested out of something we did it. Something which we did it rightly or wrongly and it becomes materialized and we go through the experience. So he chose to call that ‘Karma’. Actually something what we did, is whether they are positive action or negative action and somehow it was done then, and we thought it was done. But however Buddha discovered it was done, stays quiet for a little while and it reacts by itself. The moment the conditions right, it started reacting. So, it is not done and gone , no more; it continues functioning. So, that’s called ‘Karma’. Because we done something positive, no matter how long it may take, whatever happens, but somehow we experience something positive . W done something negative, no matter whether it takes time or not, somehow after a little while, we experience that in the form of negative to us. And that basically Buddha discovered, when he was looking for way out. So, he called this ‘karma’. he labeled this as ‘karma’. So, it doesn’t have a form, it doesn’t have a physical shape, but it is very powerful. It is one of the most powerful thing. One of the most powerful thing that subject us to go through all the time, again and again and again and again. And all of us, almost our life has been totally governed by our karma. Life and lives are governed by that. So, every action whatever we do, is becomes karma. Everything whatever, mental ,physical, emotional, act whatever we do, it becomes karma. Basically three different things, positive, negative or neutral. So, that’s what happens.So, that’s karma. 0:55:44.4

So, what happens is, every act that we are acting , we try to accomplish some thing, we try to do something and get done something, yes, we are really getting done something. We are really doing something and so that leaves its impact and it comes back. Normally in English, what do you call? “What goes..comes something” huh? (Audience: What goes round, comes round) ..goes round, comes round, you know. So, that’s something like that. So, if you really think about this, sort of get away from the doctrine..what is this…doctrine..dogma point of ..presentation and get away from that, and if you begin to think, ‘What is this very thing called ‘karma’, what is it?’ It is a tremendous such a pervasive stuff . It is very pervasive. It is everywhere; it is every time, every thing, and it controls everything, it functions everything, sort of… It is some kind of very strange mechanism…some kind of strange mechanism that runs our lives and that makes us happy, sad, miserable. It is almost idea… almost look like idea…the Western Judea Christian idea tradition of Creator ..almost look like, but not Creator. So, yet it is huge, it is monster , it is pervasive, it is huge yet I created, my own creation. But I don’t have control over. Sometimes when you see some science fiction movies, some great crazy scientist will produce some interesting huge..some interesting machine, which will do everything. And then you lose the control and the machine will destroy everything and even killed the scientist and all that. It is almost like that. So whenever I see the science fiction movie like this, something like this, I think of karma all the time. Ya, really, true, I get that sort of picture, all the time. So, that is the thing. It’s karma. We create karma, and we don’t have control. But, it is with us, 24 hours a day, every minute.it is so pervasive, very pervasive.; it is every where. Even in your bed. (Rimpoche laughs)(Audience: specially…)(Laughter) Colorless, formless, smell less, strong…very strong, very straightforward, no cheating, no corruption (Rimpoche laughs) I just came in form Mongolia, so…(Laughs)..China and Mongolia. So, that is my picture of karma. It is our life. It is not me, it is with me. Very stable, very definite, growing…fast growing. If you don’t have it, you don’t get any result. If you have it, no matter how long it may take or whatever, sure to give you the result. That sort of floating stuff… I don’t want to label anything, I don’t want to call it ‘energy’, I don’t want to call ‘mind’, I don’t want anything, the stiff the thing there, that’s ‘karma’. Any problems with that? You have problem? I am afraid you have to wait. Thank you. 1:02:53.6

So, basically when you talked about the karma, that’s what you think about it. We can discuss. I am sure a lot of people have lots of thoughts will come. It also provide us fundamental basis on which we function in our life. It also ensure the continuation. It also gives us the spices in our life. So, you can think more. Basic idea of karma is that. Lunch? (Laughter) Why you laughing so much? (*Announcements on Gaden Tripa’s visit) 1:06:15.5