Archive Result

20000830GRSROTF06

Soundfile 20000830GRSROTF01

Speaker Gelek Rimpoche

Location SR

Topic Odyssey to Freedom

Transcriber Helen Breault

Date January 12, 2020

Welcome to this morning’s session. And we talked about number seventeen, “Embrace human life.” “Embrace human life. Understand its value. And appreciate the rarity.” So it looks like we have gone over the number seventeen, eighteen and nineteen. Is it? Understanding its value.

And now, “Embracing human life” we have talked. “Understanding its value” we have talked. “Appreciate the rarity” we also talked. If you want to make me a little summary of it, particularly appreciate the rarity, we talked about the opportunity, particularly the opportunity to talk about enlightenment. We sort of get the real essence of that level. So, even though, I sort of have to remember this is more or less reviewing, rather than talking detail in here, because that’s why. Number one here what you really are emphasizing is embrace the human life that we have, rather than rejecting it, seeing faults in there. Yes, there are faults. There cannot be human life without faults. Even Buddha— supposed to free of every fault, and free of every suffering—even had toe crushed, back aches and all of them… I don’t even know if there are books that said Buddha had spinal problems and food poisoning and Buddha died of that—I don’t know about it. But I’ve never seen it any Tibetan or Sanskrit or even Pali. I don’t know where the story comes from. But there are books about it. I have no idea. But the toe crush, back aches and all of them are there so even Buddha who’s free of all suffering has little problems here and there. But basically how important, how wonderful this life really is. And you only know it if it’s been threatened. If life’s not been threatened we don’t know. We do know, but we take it for granted. It’s not a concern for us.

[3:45]

When it’s been threatened by illnesses and by, you know, when suddenly it’s right in front of you, then you begin to worry about it. One of the Karmapas, I think one of the first Karmapas [4:13 Tibetan], one of them said, “When we are not thinking we’re very happy and wonderful. The moment we begin to think, the moment we begin to face the inevitability of it, and then we begin to scratch our cheeks.” So that’s the reality we see. When the life is threatened we know how good it was. And when it’s not threatened, we never appreciate. Too much taking for granted—that’s our problem.

Okay, what else? It is nice to know sometimes you have nice things. It really does. Otherwise everybody has a wonderful life and I’m the only one who’s not right. It’s not fun to see other’s have a problem. It’s okay. We all do, everybody. This is not a problem-free society. Human society is full of problems. And full of wonderful things. But it’s also to remember that you have a wonderful life and it’s really important.

[5:55]

Otherwise, everybody else has a wonderful life and I’m the miserable and terrible. But I’m not going to emphasize everybody has a problem but I’m going to emphasize each and every one of us has so many wonderful qualities in our life. And sometimes to think about it, to acknowledge and appreciate. A lot of people tell us there’s no inspiration in life. The life itself is inspiration. Inspiration to live. Inspiration to do something good. And it inspires to not to waste the valued life. We do waste tremendous, tremendously. The story of gold, the traditional story—did you find one? I got from Jamyang the huge volume saying that if you find a wonderful story pick me up. [laughter] But it’s going to going to be a hard job for him. [7:18 Tibetan—talking to audience] Anyway, the story goes: a beggar found a bag full of gold dust and he was very happy. And carrying the gold dust back and back saying, “Now I am!” But what he did not know there was a hole in the bag. Just like there’s a hole in the bucket. He couldn’t fix the hole in the bucket. What happened is that the hole started losing all the gold dust. By the time when he reached home all of his gold dust is gone because there was a hole in the bag and he started losing it. So the same thing. We have a hole in our life. There’s a hole. There’s a big hole there. [laughter]

[8:28]

I’m not thinking what you think I’m thinking about. (I think there’s one—talks to audience. Okay, I didn’t remember. ) There’s a sunflower here. There’s a Sunflower Sutra, remember? Oh, thank you.

I’m not thinking the whole what you think I’m thinking about it but I’m thinking in the life it goes, the hole is inevitability. It’s the hole. How do we get to that hole, is the Seventh Dalai Lama says, [9:58 Tibetan]. The metaphor the Seventh Dalai Lama uses is “The moment we’re born we don’t have a right to live even a minute. We’ll be running like galloping horses towards the death, towards the city of yamas.” Those are the words the Seventh Dalai Lama uses. We may call it living beings but we’re on the death row. We’re not in Texas, we have better chance. [laughter] Texas will let you go fast. But other states…I think there must be a lot of other states too that go equally fast.

Audience: No, not like Texas.

Rimpoche: Maybe the Texans are more been raised cowboys. Anyway, [11:26 Tibetan] we may call ourselves living beings but we’re on death row. That’s what the Seventh Dalai Lama says. We run towards that like a galloping horse every minute, every second of our life. It’s absolutely true. Think about our life. We go to sleep. We get up. Go to sleep. Get up. Go to sleep. And eat, if not in between. And also we make use of the holes too. That’s the real hole, think about it. [laughter] But otherwise that’s our routine. Go to sleep. Get up. Go to sleep. Get up. And that’s how we’re changing. And that’s when you begin to look in the mirror and you begin to see, wow, what’s happening. You begin to see there’s a little more mustaches and a little more wrinkles and even the [?inaudible 12:48] gets ?? So it goes. And that’s the hole in life. And we lose every minute, minute by minute. We begin to realize when you become old or sick or there’s a threat in your life. When there’s a threat. Otherwise you don’t. What you really have to do, is when there’s no threat, when everything’s fine, when it’s wonderful, you should really realize, recognize and appreciate. If you don’t you’re sort of really wasting our opportunity.

[13:54]

That’s how you meditate. That’s what you really have to meditate. Even though you may not be able to swallow exactly the life is important, it’s precious, recognize. They’re all necessary but I don’t have time to go in here. But very briefly you can do that much.

Then comes: is it impermanent? Unavoidable things in human life, no matter whoever, whatever, however you might be— rich, poor, old, young, man, woman, including doctors—die. Doctors don’t live forever either. That’s reality. The great doctors die. That means they cannot fix everything. If they can, they’re going to fix for themselves for sure. But they cannot. we know that very well. So we all go through that.

[15:28]

It’s no big deal. Is it true? We will go through that, right? But then I have to take a step farther saying, do you know when that’s going happen? We don’t unless you’re on a certain different planet. There are certain different planets, sort of fixed time for human life tradition. Otherwise there’s no certainty. Normally people who are old, who have a chronic disease are sort of earmarked to go first. But there’s a lot of surprises. We all know it very well. This is the problem, we’re not thinking. If we really pay our attention in the life very carefully this is the point where we really have to be worried, afraid, concerned. This is a big issue. Very definitely a very big issue. We may not dismiss it, saying, “Oh it will come when it comes. I’ll deal with it then.” And then it’s too late. If you think that way then what the karma says it’s a value or something. You have to scratch your chest at that time.

[18:02]

I’ve been asked to give an oral transmission on this particular meditation by Pabongkha called Heartspoon. So I think I brought the book. (But that’s English I don’t know how to read it, but I’d like to borrow it. Rimpoche talks to the audience members. It was James Jorrer asked. He’s not here, right? Okay, then I’ll do that oral transmission later. But I thought it would be convenient to do together here. What happened to the cave of…?)

[20:49]

Unavoidable. We’ll definitely [20:55 inaudible]. No matter whatever, whoever, whatever it might be. It is interesting. I thought I brought the Tibetan version of it and I got the wrong book. So it’s all a big rush at the last minute because of everything in my eye. But it happened. When the last minute comes [21:40] sometimes then you can’t do anything, you can’t even turn around. But still you push your hands and try to pull your friends and try to hang on to the friends and hang on the cloth and all this. When we do this oral transmission and then at that time we can get over with this slightly. I did receive a number of teachings and oral transmissions on this. I can do at time because James is also not here and it was he who requested.

[22:34]

The death is very definite. And particularly there’s like, you know, important thing death is definite and there’s no certainty when it’s coming, though, we have plans to live for a hundred years. However it is all-of-a-sudden, when it comes it comes. You see it comes all-of-a-sudden. And you look all the people that we know in the past, and each and every one of them are more or less gone suddenly. Many of them they don’t know they’re going, many of them know they’re going. However, they have this idea sort of hope of remaining, which is very good in one way. However, on the other hand the person is completely almost like a denial. It’s not denial however it’s sort of denial comes very subtle way, a very strong but subtle way. We have seen it. So it’s things like that. More or less it comes very sudden. I can’t help it, thinking of John Denver and JFK, Jr. These are the vivid examples.

[24:49]

Even the John F. Kennedy. All of those. One after another. Martin Luther King. Robert Kennedy. Nobody knows—I mean somebody knows they were going to shoot them—but nobody around them, nobody knew. And suddenly it happens. So uncertainty, the time’s not fixed. This is uncertainty. Anywhere, anything can happen. And it’s such a wonderful body, wonderful life, strong on one hand. On the other hand such a fragile. Human body is very funny. Very strong. Very fragile.

Anything can go wrong, any time. That includes all of us. The young, old, man, woman, spiritual, non-spiritual, rich, poor. All. It’s right in front of our face. What shall we do? Can we avoid? We always try to avoid it. That’s why people have to be very careful with your life. Anything can happen.

[26:57]

It is comes uncertainty. When I hit my eyes the other day. I was not planning to hit. By the time when I fell, I realized I was falling and I tried to twist my body and I did not have enough time to twist. I’m not planning to do that. It suddenly happened. And, yeah, you too. (Talks to audience member). She tried the hand and I got [27:44 inaudible]. But that’s exactly what happens. The death to us will be like an accident. It will be like that. Sort of…It’s interesting. We can tell you this when we’re here in a group together and nobody is on the deathbed. We can say all this and we can make the maximum usage out of it. But when somebody sits and somebody is in bed and then it’s very difficult to say, “Hey, you’re going to die. Poor man!” [laughs] It’s extremely difficult. You have to say, “Okay, you’ll get better.” And you know. It’s sort of usual society’s white lie. We do that all the time. Everybody. You know it, they know it. But you say it, they say it. I know it. I do it. I know it. I say it. We all do it. But we have to remember that. That is society’s

normal white lie. They will do that all the time when you’re there. But when you’re not there this is an opportunity for us to understand, to realize, to make use of our time better. That’s why it’s in this stage, in this meditative stage. In this stage death becomes a very important role because that is the threat or whatever. I mean it’s inevitability. Unavoidable. Inevitability. Inevitable. I just wanted to learn that word that I didn’t know. [laughs] It’s always a challenge so that’s why I’d like to. When it’s not a challenge I don’t find it that much interesting.

[30:20]

When it’s a challenge I don’t mind making myself full of myself. So that’s what it is.

If it’s there, it was emphasized in this line, at this level because we appreciate the life, we know how important it is, we know how valuable it is. We know how much opportunity we have. Now we also know. It is the uncertainty. It has a hole. The hole is big. And it also has some kind of vacuum power which will suck you to.

Then, not only that, if you look in our life there’s so many things which is supposed to be make us better, stronger and to live. And many of them were wrong and those become cause of life getting short. Many. Medicine is one example. Food is another example. House is another example. Everything we use, it is potential capability of causing a death for ourselves. The medicine, the food, cloth. Everything we use to make it living it has so much point to dying.

[32:51]

So Nagarjuna says [32:52 Tibetan] that is one reason. Another reason, whatever the life strength we have we have. We don’t add up on that, though we try to do White Tara every morning. Try to add up. But virtually you really don’t add up. Whatever’s the limit you had is going to go. It is like the water dam which has no additional water coming in. And whatever’s in there will keep on going. One day the dam is going to be empty. It’s like that in our life. Nothing adds up. Whatever’s there, the time goes. Our clock says tick tick tick, tick tick tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. People use this for best way to spend our time better. We sort of label them “noon, morning afternoon.” It’s true. But also we have the, you know, like the seven days and Sunday comes. And there’s

a holiday and this festival, that festival. It’s Labor Day. It’s President’s Day. Father’s Day. Mother’s Day. Secretary’s Day. And blah blah blah. And what else you have. All these holidays are, somehow, people put in to make your life a little interesting and a little more easy way of passing. But actually what’s really happening, it’s taking.

[35:20]

So that’s what it is. Every year we count a year. What’s your animal? What’s your horoscope? This and that. But somewhere at the end of that that means you are now this much older this year. Especially those Chinese zodiacs are into that. “What animal are you?” “Oh, I’m a rabbit.” “Oh, you’re a rabbit. You must be sixty-two.” Whatever, you know. [laughs] So it sort of goes up that way. It’s supposed to make you easy but it also makes it easy to realize what your age is, how old are you.

[36:13]

That’s how we go. Yes, it’s absolutely true there’s a wonderful medical support. And people live much more than they used to live. There is a great deal of health care. Brown rice. Wheat grass juice. What else? Tofu. So all of them are true. They also help. But if you don’t know how to eat brown rice you get a stomach ache. It becomes heavy and then pain here continuously remains for days. It’s true. So this is our life.

Now, uncertainty is the most important. It’s there. That’s why every time it is always good to be prepared. To be prepared. Okay? That is very important. Can we avoid? We always try but no one succeeded. Even Buddha died 2500 years ago. All these great Chinese dynasties are gone. The kings, the queens, the Napolean, Julius Caesar. All gone, even within our life. The President Kennedy. Everybody is gone. In my own personal experience like Kyabje Trijang Rimpoche, Ling Rimpoche is unshakable, solid, is always there. But then the day when they passed away that unshakable, solid, which you can always think, ask question, and get answer is not there. It doesn’t talk. The same body but doesn’t talk. Doesn’t reply any more.

[39:31]

Even such a solid unshakable thing, sort of personal, solid, is gone. They go too. Even the spiritual path. Not only gone, the time never it doesn’t come back. It’s going, it’s gone that way— it doesn’t go this way at all. So that’s what it is.

And we’re here right now. A wonderful time. A perfect opportunity. Tremendous capability. Tremendous value and unique situation. Really very unique situation. If you waste this it is far worse than wasting by beggar with the gold dust bag with a hole. Far worse than that. And such an opportunity, unique conditions, I don’t think it comes back. So you know what you’re wasting. The whole idea of impermanent and death is not threatening, not creating a fear. But preventing ourself not to waste the opportunity. We cannot avoid. We tried. But then what best we can? Prepare. When we say “prepare” in the normal American understanding, “Oh yes, I would like to be prepared. I’d like to write my will and I’d like to settle my things.” You know, you do that. Yes, it is important. You have to write your will and do all this and taking care of your things. But that is a preparation for living not a preparation for dying.

[42:45]

Making less headache for people who will sort of remain after you. It’s a good thing to do, one has to do. Then there’s something called “legacy.” It is funny. I could never understand when Clinton was talking about his legacy. They have to do something to have a legacy. I think the everyday job and responsibility you carry on that, that’s going to be on that. Rather than you’re making something a “Clinton legacy.” I could never understand that. And, as a matter of fact, that’s on the stupidity of me—that that’s rather silly.

[44:15]

When you do something right, when you’re in life, for benefitting self, benefitting others— it is your legacy. And also your legacy’s not something you have to look for, look back. I mean it’s true, it’s normal. Genday Champry says [?44:40 Tibetan]. Genday Champey, a little Tibetan scholar, a crazy guy, a very controversial person, and speaking English in early 19th Sanskrit, Russian, and a great poet. A Mongolian guy who wrote a Tibetan dictionary. First dictionary with alphabetical order. In all this years, it was in 1940’s it came out. Genday Champey wrote the preface and colophon and all of those in poetry form in his name— Genday Champey’s very famous, but wrote in that Mongolian guy’s name. In that he said, “Everybody looks and tries to leave something. Even though you died you want to look back. With the hope of looking back you leave something behind you.” So [45:50 Tibetan]. He said some people would like to leave your children. Some people like to leave your disciples and followers. Some people would like to build monasteries and temples and monuments. [46:18 Tibetan] And some people will have huge money and wealth and all that type of things. And then he goes. This author who neither has money nor has dharma, has nothing to leave behind. But for eating so many years the human food to pay for that, I would like to leave a little book. [laughs] [46:54 Tibetan] That’s exactly the translation that I did earlier. That’s what we do.

[47:19]

However, it is me, the person who’s going is very concerned. The problem here is more or less people buy or not buy it, consciously or subconsciously, you don’t look thereafter. You just simply see that as a huge threat and then end it there. Gone. It’s like something like gone with the wind or disappear in darkness. We all know very well we are not living in the graves under the ground. We all know that. Whether you accept or not. But at the same time we don’t see it thereafter. We will certainly like to sort to our subconscious level tells us you just disappeared. E-N-D, like a movie ended. And that is our problem. We don’t know it ends there. We don’t. Do you? I don’t. The question comes, “Then what happens?” God knows. But it doesn’t end there. What happens thereafter is a different issue. We do know very well it’s not the end. We’re not going to sort of become evaporating, disappeared, steam in the air. No. Even you’re evaporated and steaming in the air you’ll come back in the form of rain. We don’t. This is very difficult to convince— I don’t mean I’m trying to convince you. I mean it’s very difficult to convince myself by me. I mean, each and every one of us, absolutely difficult to convince ourselves.

[50:7]

Who are the subjects here? Who are the judges here? Who are we trying to convince? Ourself. Not you. It’s me—meaning each and every one of us. It is me that I have to convince, it’s not you. It’s me. So it’s very hard to convince there. But if you are unbiased and intelligent and you’re well-educated and you know how to think about it, you know how it goes in life. I don’t think you can say it’s going to end. No way. Look in our simple life, very simple way. We’re up yesterday. We had teachings, dinner, lunch, meetings, discussions, swimming, mosquitoes, yogas, wasps stinging. All of them there. And then we go to sleep at night. And in that period there we don’t know what happened. We had nice dreams. You don’t want to know.

(Audience: He said, “Did you want to know about his dreams?”)

Rimpoche: No, no. I’m not interested. You can sell it. I’m not in the mood of buying it.

So anyway, all this happens and suddenly our awareness is not there, truly. The awakened awareness is not there. We go through that period of how many hours? Six, nine, or three, whatever. Five, six, nine, three, whatever it is. That period there’s no awareness at all. And then suddenly comes the morning. Hey! It’s time to get up. Push, push, push. And having to wake up. And that’s continued. It’s continued the yesterday’s awareness aware activities and continued last unawareness. Lack of awareness is good choice, yet the period goes through and this morning you pick up the awareness and we’re here. And that’s a continuation of our whatever— forty-eight hours or twenty-four hours—whatever it is.

[54:30]

And the life is just like this. Just exactly, whether you call it this life? It’s morning ’til evening. And the bardo period is just like sleeping period—maybe short sleep, three or four hours. Maybe long one, eight or nine hours. Then we wake up again. And you know how we wake up? Wah… [laughter] So you don’t know. It ended there. You don’t know it ended there. Perhaps you know it did not end there. Truly speaking the life is a continuation. Impermanent, no doubt. Yet it is continuing. It continues from this into future. Is there something called a new life? I don’t think so. According to the Buddha, no. That’s the reasons why it is continuing. Non-conscious does not become consciousness. Conscious always remains consciousness. Maybe you’re enlightened. Maybe you’re not enlightened. But once you’re enlightened, you’re enlightened. You don’t switch around.

[57:00]

You don’t rotate. If you do rotate, you have a fallback; so you don’t rotate. Enlightened are the consciousness. Non-enlightened beings are also the nature of consciousness, they are continuing. You continue even after you’re enlightened. You don’t end the consciousness at all. It’s only matters what level you are. See, I told you yesterday too, the consciousness remains continue to be consciousness. Non-consciousness will never become consciousness. However, it is possible for the computer to pick up life. I’m not sure whether the computer intelligence will exceed, go beyond the consciousness. Probably not. More capable than human beings, sure we already know now. But even then, when they have a life, and that life is continuation of another life. That’s what I told you yesterday. The good old guy is coming back in the form of computer. It’s all possible. Can human beings ever remain lasting? Not interrupting their life by death? Chances are not likely. They may be able to prolong long both spiritually or materially—meaning scientifically for a couple of hundred years, a couple of hundred years. Even then I don’t think it can be everlasting.

[59:42]

Basically, body itself— yeah, why not? I keep on thinking: how are they going to prolong the human life? Now with the genome it is possible. Why not? The manufacturer’s defects can be removed and make a better automobile. I only hope they will not class, you know, like classes, like you have in the automobiles like General Motors, they have this economy class, Chevy and all that type. Chevy under one category. Then you have Lincoln and Cadillac and all that type in another category. So we only hope when they produce human beings they don’t have those classes, you know. [laughs] That is unethical I’m was talking about yesterday. It’s going to be unethical thing. That’s what I’m talking about. Because now I can see it clearly. Why not? It is the defect of the manufacturer’s defect of the body capacity to sustain the human consciousness. Remember I used to call this a rented apartment. So it is manufactural defect that will reduce capability by 60, 80, 100, whatever it is, years. And now when you correct that it will be definitely extended to a couple of hundred years without much difficulty.

[1:01:02]

But we happen to be in that category. Category with the manufacturer’s defect. (I hope that will not happen—Rimpoche talks to an audience member). But you know, the problem is many of those science fictions becomes truth after a few years. And in the science fiction movie we already begin to see that two classes of human beings, right? One with a uniform out there going around, checking everybody. And another bunch of categories was put under some sort of ditch and under mountain or something. Anyway, that’s what it is.

But we’re not in that problem yet. We can prevent that problem in the future. However, we must take our opportunity. Maybe we are in the defective manufacturer’s category here. So we don’t last a hundred years. Even though you keep on substituting your organs. Even then we won’t last. That’s what we are in.

Now the question is what to do? If we cannot avoid that, we said be prepared. When I came here American preparedness meant making wills and things like that. And I don’t think that takes care of the departing person. It takes care of the leaving person, leaving behind to a certain extent. Even though you are a good writer, but other lawyers are better translators. So they will argue and fight all the time any way. But what it really is: what can you do for yourself? What can I do for me? How do I go? Do I have opportunity to pack? What should I select?

[1:04:40]

You know, when I was a kid in Tibet, there was no so much facilities. When you were going somewhere you find a mule after mule, mule after mule, loaded we pack up and go. Then came to India and here, and you can’t carry heavy luggage. Number one, the airlines will not allow you. Number two, you cannot lift it yourself. So you have to pack easier and easier and smaller and smaller. And just like that. It’s even a more sensitive vehicle that we have to travel through. You can’t even carry the suitcase. Not even have the rolling bag. It’s more sensitive and more subtle vehicle than that of you going to the moon. So what do you pack with you? What can you carry? Virtually nothing. Virtually nothing. The earlier Tibetan teachers used to say if there is a hair in the lump of butter you catch the hair and pull out of the butter, the hair alone goes. And we’re in that condition. Our consciousness has tiny, subtle pin as hair out.

[1:06:40]

So only what you carry is the consciousness.

Whether the consciousness is mind or not mind is a different issue. I have been sort of using it as mind so far because I thought it’s so complicated. Actually, it’s not mind. There’s something called consciousness separate from the body and from the mind both. But let’s not go in that detail because if we do you’ll get more confused. But so-called “me.” That’s where the Hindu-Buddhist difference comes in. The Hindus will say, “That ‘me’ is atman, a permanent soul.” The Buddhists say, “No. Let the scholars worry about that. Let the philosophers worry about it.” But we have to know that there’s something besides mind. Perhaps it’s a form of a mind called consciousness. You know why? Soul or no soul. You know what why we’re talking about? The bottom line reason is emptiness or not emptiness. That’s the reason why soul or no soul argument comes in. If the soul is something, not dependent on any condition. It functions. It’s independent on its own. If it’s not soul then it’s dependent rise. That gives room even for computers to pick up consciousness because it’s not independent, solid entity by itself.

[1:08:57]

It is entity that becomes able to function because the condition’s right. So it is very important. And even almost scientifically it’s going to be right now. I don’t mean right now “right this time” but I mean scientifically it’s going to show it’s right by now, you know. This is the reason why. It’s the base of emptiness. That’s why we use that “soul” or “consciousness” makes a difference here. But it’s funny. It’s funny. It is continuation but not solid. So it’s funny. And sometimes, you know, you see those equipments, those welders—people who join—the welders. People who have that little equipment and it goes khee khee khee brrrr. Join all these matters together, right? And probably there’s a time when they go phee phee phee when it’s weak. And that is the period where the human consciousness goes through the death and bardo period. When you’re alive it goes churrrrr. Funny. [laughter] I don’t know if this is the advantage or problem. Anything I see anywhere I can relate something of that story.

[1:10:56]

That’s what I do. In normal American language that’s what I do for a living. [laughs] But that’s what I’m seeing everywhere. You know what, when you see people playing music what I see is impermanence, all the time. All the time. It’s not the music stops. You know the things that you use— the drum, the guitar— now of course they use scientific material. But before they used leather. And leather strings. And where does that come from? A dead being, it’s an animal or wherever. Then it goes “ding ding ding.” So many dead animal’s skin. Drum drum drum. That drum too, boom boom boom. The dead beat. [laughter] Really. That’s what we see. But, on the other hand, this is a wonderful thing too. So even those welders when they have some kind of tiny little sensitive thing they go “pick pick pick pick.” The forest shows me all the time, that’s why I don’t like to go in the forest. And waterfalls. Anywhere. So that’s about it. Impermanent.

Where are we? What happened to consciousness? You only carry your...only your consciousness go. You don’t carry consciousness. There sort of consciousness is you, you go. You’re probably accompanied by the imprint. That’s what the Buddha says. I don’t know that yet, truly speaking. The Buddha says, teaching says that. I’m presuming it does. I don’t know that yet because I haven’t seen it. [laughs] You know, honestly speaking. But logically it tells you that’s what it is.

[1:14:06]

That is the karma that goes with you in the imprint, in the form of seed. (Rimpoche talks to audience about sitting or moving during talk). That imprint, whether you’re virtually carrying or it’s accompanying you, or whatever way how it is, it is always linked up with you because it’s your responsibility. The responsibilities are you cannot sort of shake away or throw it away because of the death. The responsibility. It doesn’t have any physical thing. But somehow it finds you. The responsibilities I have are more powerful than Uncle Sam or I.R.S. or F.B.I. They find you wherever you go, whatever you do. But the responsibility finds you even than, they’re more capable than F.B.I. or I.R.S. They find you. I don’t know what, what transmissions they have, what signals they have in terms of… But Buddha gives the example of body and body odor or body and shadow. Actually, true we don’t carry our shadow but it’s there. We may carry our odor, our body odor. But we don’t carry our shadow. It’s there.

[1:16:55]

So it’s there when the conditions are right, it creates the situation. I believe we’re touching a little too subtle subject. But on the other hand all of you are very intelligent people so you have to know. We have to know why it’s happening, how. The traditional thing is funny thing. You know, traditionally if Buddha said so, it’s fine. You buy it. But Buddha said, “Don’t buy because I said so.” He gave the example of gold. You know, if you’re buying gold you cut the gold, rub the gold. When you’re convinced you buy. Otherwise don’t buy because I said so. But we all buy because Buddha said so. But however, in this century— I mean twenty-first, even in the late twentieth century and in this educated group—you know we have a very special thing. You know really. More than our previous generation. Not because Buddhism’s here but our level of thinking, our intellectual is much higher than the previous ones. They’re have been great previous ones, one or two. You find them there, you know. Tremendous amount of great beings. But the majority point of view, today’s level is much more sophisticated, educated, better thinker than earlier ones. I mean during our parents’ period. And that human development has come up from the usual education point. You know, the development is such a thing that you can bring it like a material level or spiritual level or both.

[1:19:22]

Equally they can have effect. And that’s what we have been witnessing. So we have really come up a much higher greater level to be able to think, to be able to understand, to be able to digest. That’s because of our education. I wish the scientists had spent a little time to do more research in this internal development. I wish the foundations had given more money for the scientists to do a scientific research before, on the one hand. On the other hand, if they did I wouldn’t have a job. That’s a joke. [laughs]

So we really have that capacity. You have to know. We don’t want to just want to buy—forget because some Tibetan lama said so. But it is definitely because even you don’t buy because Buddha said so. We have that mind. We have that capacity. And that’s why we need to know.

I don’t know whatever happens at that time but somehow they find us. Whether you carry it over. Maybe it’s like a body and body shadow. May be a very example that Buddha had given. We don’t carry our shadow but it’s there when there’s a life comes from a different durations. It’s probably… [Rimpoche laughs at something]. So the responsibility remains with us. Yeah, including responsibility of paying your debts. That’s amazing. That’s different. The law of the land somehow, does it? Don’t they alert you? Your estate pays your debts. The law of the land doesn’t allow you to skip your debt. And spiritual rules here also say that includes paying your debts. Maybe these four seeds (?) that Pat told me is really very valid even in the spiritual field.

[1:22:25]

That’s what I mean. That situation we’ll face. The death to me is a change of identity. Not the identity. Oh yeah, I have to change my driver’s license in August. This is end of August, right? Uh-oh. So anyway that’s it. Just like that you change your identity, the physical form. You may be male next time. Or you may be female next time. You may have hair on your body. You may be hairy one. You may be walking straight or maybe you’re walking with two legs and two hands together on the ground. Who knows? That is situation where we are. The question is what’s going to be my next identity? And do have to go there, to some kind of psychic to get protection? Or do we have to do a reading by Robert? What our next identity will be? Or do we have to do more by me. What’s going to be next identity? And none of them can answer. Neither Robert nor I. Because there’s a point of reference change. Robert cannot answer the point of reference change. You are not born, so you don’t have the date of birth and you don’t have the time and nothing signed. That’s the point reference you don’t have. It’s a little better for me because the point of reference is a little subtler so I can cheat easily. Easy identity. The Robert’s chart. Because it’s there. I don’t have to say. I can say, “Well it’s nice.” I have a number in that. If you throw the dice it has to come any number, unless you don’t throw. If you throw it, any number will come.

I believe Buddha gives answer to that. He said the prediction is already given by Buddha 2,500 years ago. That prediction has come out. That’s why Buddhism is based on this. [1:25:35 Tibetan] Buddhism is based on this: Avoid all the negatives; build all the positivities you can; watch your mind. This is Buddhism. It is the bottom-line Buddhism. It is the prediction already given here.

So, our mind, or our history or our melodrama of our life is not a secret for ourself. We know it. You just simply have to look in that and then you give yourself prediction what’s going to happen to you. Based on your life-long events that you did. Make sure you look at both, positive as well as negative. Don’t look only positive side. Don’t only look in the negative side. Look in both sides. Then you predict. The journey thereafter is long.

[1:27:17]

Much harder. Much more boring than what we experience today. It’s much longer, much longer. Nobody knows how many lives will be continuing. Just only ourself we know. But that also we don’t know. It is the matter of our willpower how much we put in, how much we wanted to do. Remember, I shared a couple of times how [Gomo Rimpoche?1:28:12] came here and he had been busy doing teaching and something. And then in the evening he said, “I forgot to pack!” And I said, “Pack for what?” And he said, “Pack for my future journey.” Meaning he hadn’t done his daily practice or whatever. And that’s what he’s saying. So, packing for his future life. Perhaps that’s how we pack. In our daily life how we maintain, how we keep ourself, how we deal with other people, how we deal with ourself. In everyday life. That’s probably how we pack for our future. Because that is the one supersensitive who finds you. It’s yours. It will find you.

[1:29:17]

In our normal thinking, once we get lost ourself in that big galaxy of nowhere, no one’s going to find it. It’s sort of going to be disappeared somewhere. That’s what we think. But now we know. Wherever you are, whatever you know they can find you. It is funny. You know, the technology proved that. It’s very funny. There are cars that have the satellites giving you directions, right? Turn right, turn left, do that, wherever you’re going. So in our normal [day], you drive in the middle of nowhere in Michigan, wooded area or lake area, whatever, and there someone finds you, telling you, “Turn right, turn left.” So our responsibility, karmic power, it has supersensitive than that. That’s why they find us in the midst of a galaxy, wherever we are. Even our antenna is weak. Perhaps even we don’t have any antenna. But still they find us. You can’t shut that off either. And that’s why responsibility becomes important, extremely valid. And that’s why ethical issues become important. They all link up. It’s funny. Once you’re in that spiritual path everywhere, everything falls. It’s just like this knocking. Either you fall the same way they do or you fall just opposite side, you do fall. Somewhere they fall parts together. It’s everywhere it comes all the time, together. Though we separate the subject.

[1:31:50]

Try to put their self as separate. Ethical box. Karma box. Death box. Future life box. This life box. But what they do is become one piece, one little piece. And what yesterday we were saying? Whatever you touch the whole fall comes exactly on that.

[1:30:00]

I guess we have to go and eat. And we still have meeting, right? So just like yesterday, they requested those who are participating in the Board Meeting please pick up your food and bring it over to… I hope they printed it, yesterday’s leftovers?

[1:32:52 Tape ends]