Archive Result

Soundfile 20000113GRSIGLG03

Speaker Gelek Rimpoche

Location Singapore

Topic Ganden Lha Gyema

Transcriber Jill Neuwirth

Date 12/02/2021

… Second is prostration. So after you have the subject, or rather, object where you can do all these businesses. The first we say is, hey, be here, okay. Don’t run away. And then the second the first what you do is, it’s not necessarily prostration as a physical prostration but it is sort of more or less praising it. Praising it. Praising it. You praise. It teach you how to be good Sam ja (?) [0:00:41.9] That is Indian language. What you call that? (Speaks to audience) Sam ja is from India, you know this Indian politicians have a number of people go on with them, you know, and buttering them. So they get benefit. So even the Indian newspapers will draw cartoons, they write VIP and there this longki (?) and a long longki or dhoti goes and under that number of people goes around. (Laughs) So these are called Cham chas (?) in technical in India. (Audio pauses) [0:01:39.0] I’m quite sure there’s equivalent of Malay in that. (Asks audience) [0:02:08.7] Anyway, their teaching that. So to please the person you have invited, so you can’t abuse the person when you walked in there not going to (Inaudible) [0:02:35.0]

So what you do is you praise him. We do it today, right? We say, Oh, very nice to see you. You look wonderful. You sound great. You lost weight. (Laughs) We say all that. And your mind is fantastic. So likewise here he says, your body is beautiful. And your mind is fantastic. Your sound’s great. Your mind have the intellect that comprehends the full extent of what can be known. So in other words, they’re telling, hey, your mind’s great, you know everything. There’s nothing that you don’t know. You are fully enlightened mind. That’s what they’re telling. Right? Anything to be known, is known. Means fully enlightened. If you’re known half, you don’t know half, you’re not fully enlightened, you’re half enlightened. And you’re quarterly enlightened. So, everything to be known, you’re known, meaning you’re fully enlightened. Your speech with it’s excellent explanations becomes the ear ornnament for those of good fortune. Those of good fortune is referred to the fortunate person. Fortunate person meaning a technical name for bodhisattvas.

[0:05:08.7] Bodhisattvas are always called fortunate person. They’re fortunate enough to be a bodhisattva, number one. Number two, bodhisattva means they’re earmarked to become a buddha. So that’s why they’re fortunate ones. They’re confirmed to become a buddha. So earmarked to become a buddha, to be buddha. So they’re fortunate, fortunate one. A bodhisattva. So the ear ornament means to make y our ear good, right? You wear the earrings to look good. It’s not to pull your ear down. But it is look good, right? So that’s why ear ornament here again, does not mean it’s not to give you lot of chak chak chak chak near your ear, but it become ornament, means something to be decorated, something to make it wonderful. So means to satisfy y our ear. The ear wants hear the meanings that understanding. So therefore, it’s give the best understanding, therefore it becomes golden ear ornament. Like gold. Golden earring.

[0:07:00.4] Your mind, your body are radiantly handsome with glory renowned. So that means they’re telling you the body has tremendous qualities. So the buddhas have a special marks on the body. For thirty-two major marks and eighty minor marks. That makes the buddha beautiful, right? So thirty-two major and eighty minor signs of enlightened beings on their body. Don’t let me count the thirty two or eighty, I will number one I will not remember. Number two I’m not even sure whether you’re going to like it or not. So let that be there, thirty-two and eighty major and minor signs. Okay? So indirectly, what you are giving a message, and message what you’re giving is whatever the way you look, through the way of body, way of mind, way of speech, whatever the way we look, you can see yourself as fully enlightened one. I see your quality. Your quality of the fully enlightened quality of body, mind, and speech. And then I prostrate to you whom to behold hear or recall is worthwhile.

[0:09:30.6] Buddha is always worthwhile to recall or remember or think or seeing. It is the quality of the Buddha. Just by seeing, just by thinking, or heard about. It’s becomes tremendous value within the individual. That’s why seeing valuable, hearing valuable, remember is valuable. I don’t remember the sutra exactly I try to remember. De za (Quotes in Tibetan) [0:10:16.4] Now I have completely forgot. Anyway, the qualities of the Buddha there’s a sutra on that- (Repeats quote in Tibetan) Anyway, so the quality of the Buddha is, Buddha’s body if you remember it purify a lot of non-virtuous build tremendous merit and there’s nothing which you don’t like it or dislike it and always you like it, it builds up your faith and all this has a lot of quality. That’s what it mean it. It means it’s worthwhile seeing, worthwhile to hear worthwhile to remember, that’s what it is. I prostrated to you. The word prostration in English, I do not know what does that word really give you meaning behind, but original Tibetan word here is chak tsel. It is like the Chinese bowing down. Chak tsel. Tibetan have two words, chak and tsel. The chak means I bow down, I prostrate down, that is chak. The physical sign or sound information that is singing or giving message, or respect through mind. So whether through body or through mind or whatever it is, paying respect is the chak. The second word, tsel, is seek. So I admire your quality and I seek your quality.

[0:12:16.8] That’s what it is. When you’re doing the prostrations it’s not only for purification. A lot of people think it’s for purification, not only for purification at all. The word chak tsel is you’re seeking the quality, you’re seeking the quality. Quality of body, quality of mind, quality of speech. The speech is dharma. Body is sangha. The mind is Buddha. So when you seek the quality of the body, mind, speech, you’re seeking the quality of Buddha, dharma, and sangha. Dharma, dha me (Quotes in Tibetan) [0:13:13.9] The dharma is virtuous at the beginning. Dharma is virtuous in between. Dharma is virtuous at the end. It has good, it has good words. It is clear. It is complete. It is pure. Like that, that’s the qulaities of dharma it goes on. So if you can think those and prostrated and seek the quality it is the greatest prostration you can ever do it. Even you don’t get up. Even you don’t bend down. Or even you just salute, that is fine. So with this I salute here tonight. And good night. (Audio cuts)

[0:14:33.6] …And you have to beg and you have to do thing, sort of keep on begging, praying, doing until you get it. Sort of thing you know it is very depressing work, so try to do something else. Anyway they say what we experience here and we’re not only invite, but also request them to remain with us. It is a request but anyway so (Inaudible) [0:15:21.1] and that much we covered yesterday as well as we covered the second portion. And whether is a prostrations. And we also explained the word prostration has two meanings, admiring quality of the body mind and speech of the object to whom you prostrate, and also seeking the quality, you know the words chak tsel. The chak is the prostrating and you respect somebody if you see a value in that somebody, right? Normally. People don’t respect for somebody- you respect somebody when you see the value about somebody, right? (Speaks to audience) [0:16:23.1]

[0:17:00.5] What I’m talking is people do gain respect by knowing quality and that is proper respect. Very strange, I mean it would be sounding strange to you, what I do mostly in the west all these Jewel Heart areas. I do not encourage people to do a prostration when used to me or bowing down, I almost discount totally and system normally I’m following are going or shake hands or give hug, whatever it is that’s what I do. And the reason why I did this, there is a reason behind. Number of different centers they encourage people to get up, bow down, or prostration because you know, somebody else will tell you you have to do that. (Inaudible) [0:18:26.6] or take your scarf out and all this. And that is totally a Tibetan culture. This is not necessary you have to carry the culture baggage. What is necessary is you carry t he value and meaning rather than cultural baggage. So I do not encourage that. And then one very senior lama came and when he came and visit me, and there are a number of other people who follow his group in the United States but quite a number of them follow him around. But they all of them came to, I mean two or three of them (Audio breaks up) [0:19:24.5]

…So that really they told me how great these western people sound. And I said, what’s so great about it? He told me, they’re so devoted, and we don’t even see them, we don’t know them, but they sort of- I said do you really think so? He said look at them, how sort of down, how much their hands been folding, and all this. They’re very, very devoted. And we’re talking about the Tibetan, the young Tibetan, they said young Tibetans don’t pay any attention to Buddhism at all, as matter of fact they more or less blame Buddhism why Tibet is last because of Buddhism. I mean many radical young half educated western educated Tibetans today say that. He said if there’s no Buddhism we would have fought, and we kill a number of people, so what? He say, you know. He say we didn’t fight because of this Buddhism. (Laughs) That’s why they blame. So, we’re talking about that, and he says look at these western people, they’re so devoted and look at our young people they’re so bad now. And that’s what we’re talking. I said are you really sure that they’re devoted or (?) Now I have no quarrel with the young Tibetans, but western people are so devoted. Yeah, he said, look at them. Whenever I see people come around with me and they all (Inaudible) [0:21:02.3] I said okay. And so we walk together and there’s two old ladies, elderly, they’re standing there, going like this. And I asked one of them, I said what are you doing? She said, did I do something wrong? I said no, but what are you doing? And she said, did I do something wrong? Isn’t this a Tibetan custom? And I asked another lady, I asked what are you doing? She said, I’m trying to be nice to that nice guy. She said better than nice, she said nice guy, that’s what she replied. SO the mind of the people how they’re working is they thought this is the system that we have to do part of it or it is some kind of way that needs to be done and I try to be nice and adjust with this (Inaudible) [0:22:04.9] As simple as that.

[0:22:07.5] So that’s not a prostration at all. That’s no prostration at all. So my choice is we don’t bring the people to do so many of that when they don’t understand what they’re doing it. It’s better they understand, right? So I totally discourage people to, even getting up and I try to be as normal usual as possible. So sometimes you really will see people will not get up, and sometimes they do it. But very few people will do prostrations, that’s what it is. What do you get out of it? What do you get out of this is a thing- and when you begin to establish a relationship with individual and the individual knows that they can benefit and when they see the quality within individual they build up different relations, the different respect. I sort of learn you will establish. Sort of learn to establish and that is something valuable and that individual and that has a very and that is the real respect and that is the real prostration. What happens is the individual appreciated what I did whatever they can gain out of it and they’re seeking the quality. And they really, the real true prostration. So there you get a true faith. We talked faith last night. Three different kinds of faith we talked. we definitely don’t want the blind faith, absolutely bullshit the blind faith. I’m sorry my language but it really is. It has no value for whatsoever. Except for a temporary (?) for people to just (?) And cults do that. If it’s a cult they have to establish and encourage blind faith and then follow it. Otherwise they have no stand ground.

But the true spiritual practice like this experiences the Buddha and this and you hear it, you don’t need. It goes beyond cult belief, you don’t need blind faith. But you do need some kind of good understanding appreciation and these you only gain if it’s affect individual. As I told you yesterday, even after explaining taking refuge in Buddha dharma and sangha what’s the Buddha, what’s the dharma, what’s the sangha? What are his values and how to take refuge. And even you say the word I take refuge to Buddha dharma and thereafter if you think about it, there’s something to think. If you say there’s a meaning for the word, if you chew that there’s a case for that. There’s a case. So when you gain thah benefit, then you begin to really get appreciation of the individual, or appreciation of teaching. Apprecaition of the practice what you’re doing. When you get that, and that is benefit bound. And that is the value, And that is the faith what we’re talking about it. And so at the time of the prostration we talked, (Inaudible) [0:26:19.6] It is at the request to remain, so request to remain, for that time we talked about that. So that is very important. Rather than cultural baggage, (?), or he’s doing it I should do it, they’re all doing it, I should do it, and all this, it may have it’s temporary value but it’s not very valuable for either the individual nor it is in practice nothing. So that is important.

Besides that, we’re all living in 1990’s. And in the 1990’s the human mind is such, that if you have to- if you’re supposed to do something that you’re not interested, it is definitely bound to bring a rebel. You’re bound to rebel. Why should I do this? Right? Give a good reason why I should do that, right? So if you have a good reason why you should do that, then your mind may accept. Otherwise there’s no reason. And then (?) people should never be sort of pushed by culture or even made atmosphere such a thing that they have to do it. It’s not right. And when you do it you do it with your willing and understanding. It has value, it has benefit, it benefits yourself, it benefits others, it’s good. So even when you talk about prostrations here the prostration is such a thing actually the one’s highest point of the body which is the crown or the forehead touching the lowest level of the ground, has to have good reason otherwise what the damn thing we have to do for it? Right? Nothing, so it has to have good reason. The good reason is if you appreciate why you are doing it or you’re interested, or you know something, if you admire the quality, alright, you can do it. You can’t force to do it. The cultural makes you do it and that is cultural cause. The military may cause you to do something under the gunpoint, and the culture does the same thing almost. Actually there’s no gun but still they do the same thing. There’s not really value in it. But if you do it with the proper understanding, proper appreciation, then it’s (Inaudible) [0:29:33.2]

So when we’re talking about these prostrations, you seek the quality of the individual. You appreciate their quality. And you like it. And you love it. And you want to have it. There you give expression. At least the body(?) or found (?) or mental a sort of good feelings. Not good feelings, sort of mental attraction. Okay is that the right? (Inaudible) [0:30:22.5] (Speaks with audience) Seek quality? Alright. But why should we seek quality unless you don’t have attraction for it? Right? Same as the devotion. The devotion also the same thing. You devote to something, or somebody if you realize that person has a value for you. Otherwise why should you do the devotion? Right? The person has value and that value benefits me. And I admire the value, I like to have it. And then it is really devotion. Love, devotion, care, they have very close. I think they are very, very close. And you have to really sort of sort it out within your mind your devotion, your love, your faith, sort of you know they have to very carefully. Attachment, too. Also another very close to that too. Very close. Anyway, that’s not my subject today.

[0:32:29.9] So that’s what we did yesterday. And I hope you people have meditated something. But before I forget today, does anybody have any questions? Yes? Audience: (Inaudible) [0:32:59.9] Rimpoche: You don’t have to conclude. Let it hang in the air. That’s a good question. Because if you did not pinch you don’t get that idea at all, right? It is clear indication you’ve been thinking about it. That’s a good question. So let it hang in the air, I don’t think it’s a problem. Normally the system what you do, is in teachings like this you keep on meditating till the point of explanation, keep on meditating below the next phrase read it. That’s how it is. So that is (?) I forgot to mention that. That’s good idea. Don’t let it hang in the air. Any other questions? Did you meditate it last night? This morning? You didn’t? You did. How? (Laughs) That’s okay. I’m just kidding you, that’s alright.

[0:34:35.8] So next is now then I offer the (?) of the seven limbs right? Seven limbs we talked yesterday and I said (?) to you the seven limbs is sort of a very profitable business work that’s in the spiritual field by the buddha’s (Inaudible) [0:35:01.7] Did you hear me? Don’t misunderstand I did not tell you good business (Laughs) Sometimes people do get that misunderstanding. Seven limb is sort of very profitable business way. And the Buddha has recommended that as I quoted yesterday from the bodhicharyavatara. (Quotes in Tibetan) [0:35:29.0] So enlightened beings taught for aeons what is the best way we can help sentient beings, they (Inaudible) So out of seven I think we have covered two. The third is offering. Offering is very again very important. And very, probably the best practice people could easily do is generosity. The generosity is something everybody can do without any difficulty. Chandrakirti, an Indian saint and scholar, Nagarjuna’s foremost disciple had mentioned (Quotes in Tibetan) [0:36:44.1] So the comfort of the human beings of depends on work. Right? We know that. That’s not mystery to us. Everybody has work to pay our bills. (Inaudible) [0:37:17.0] (Laughs) Yeah but that’s mainly what it is, right? So the comfort of the human beings causes money and that’s depend on the way. (Quotes in Tibetan) [0:37:36.6] So the comfort of the human depends on the wealth. Wealth depends on generosity. The cause of the wealth has to be generosity. The stinginess that’s does not bring wealth at all. It goes against. Neither stinginess it definitely going against being wealthy. But that doesn’t mean you have to spend everything whatever you have it either. But cause of being wealth is generosity, Buddha have proved that again and again and again. So the generosity is one of the best practice one can do easily. Does not require much training for it or nor it needs a lot of meditation nor it needs a lot of purification or sacrifices. It is simply you need good and kind mind be able to share. Be able to share. That is the generosity.

[0:39:11.1] Generosity be able to share the wealth, be able to share the comfort, be able to share the development, spiritual development. Be able to share the dharma, be able to share knowledge, be able to share the quality. And the generosity is share it. So among the generosity there’s a lot of important things you can do but one of them one mostly recommended is often making offerings to the supreme field of merit. And that’s why offering was choosed here as, chosen here to be one of the profitable way of doing a spiritual business. So if you look it here it says, what does it say? (Speaks to audience) Pleasing water… Audience: Fragrant flowers, fragrant incense… Rimpoche: I’m not able to see without my glasses. Audience: (Reads prayer) Rimpoche: Now everybody has that text in front of you so pleasing water, what? So the water that pleases you. If you are in heat and somebody has sprinkled you little cold water, it is the pleasing water. But if they throw a bucket of water on your head it might not be pleasing, you know. So there’s a meaning behind. You offer the thing what it pleases other person. A little bit picked it up here so sort of like a flower it represents beauty, right? Whoever gets a flower says wow! Gorgeous! Beautiful. Nobody says it’s horrible, right? So (Inaudible) [0:42:20.4] by nature itself, it’s pleasing, right? Even you see a single little flower in the midst of some kind of middle of automotive factory somewhere, even you see it, you will see it pleasing by itself by nature it’s pleasing. That’s why it is beauty for the ear. (Audio cuts) [0:42:53.4]

…automotive factory somewhere, even you see it, you will see it pleasing by itself, by nature it’s pleasing. That’s why it’s beauty for the ear. Oh, for the eye. That’s right. And then there, actually it is to satisfy the five senses. Five senses of the object to whom you make offerings. In this case, supreme field of merit, whether it is Buddha, or bodhisattva, or deity, or guru or whatever it is, to fulfill, to satisfy the five senses. So what ear wants nice pleasant sound, so you offer music. What eye want is see a beauty, so you offer a flower, whatever. And the nose, you don’t want a horrible smell. You don’t want the rubber making smells but- you know rubber making? (Laughs) So bless it. So pleasing water and pleasing scent, pleasing flower. You can put it down if you want to. Anyway (Quotes in Tibetan) [0:44:34.7] Light, all of them are mentioned in the word here. Anyway. Actually arranged and mentally fabricated. And that is important. Is that say here? Actually arranged and mentally propagated. So our purpose is to gain merit. So we cannot make a huge offerings. No one has a flower that can fill the whole universe. No one has. No one has pleasing water that fills whole ocean. They’ll be drowned. It no longer pleasing. Yet you would like to have the benefit of making a huge offerings. So what you do, whatever is possible to be able to offer and you will lay that out and whatever is not possible you mentally fabricate it. And which was Buddha shared the story of bodhisattva Samantrabhadra. Samantrabhadra who was able to manifested from the one body to hundreds and thousands, each body produces more than hundreds and thousands of head, each head produces hundred thousand of mouth, each mouth produces hundred thousand song praising and all this, that is the Samantrabhadra story. I’m sure number of you know.

[0:46:18.5] It is very common in Chinese tradition I was told. So it is Samantrabhadra style, Buddha shared that. And it’s particularly in the vajrayana system is what you do is you sort of actually you sort of- mind is most important. So mentally you can fabricate rather than giving a handful of flour, give the flower that fills- (Audio cuts) [0:46:50.5] give the flower that fills up the whole universe. Doesn’t matter it doesn’t belongs to you. (Quotes in Tibetan) [0:47:06.3] When you mentally fabricate it, whether it is owned by somebody or it does not owned by somebody, but sort of- after all we are born in this universe with a common karmic bond we also have common karmic right. So it is matter of right to pick up certain portion of the universal thang and be able to offer it. It’s a karmically we have the rights to do. So it’s okay. But you can’t get into trouble by taking completely giving it, you can’t take it away, you don’t own totally. But you can mentally fabricate it and offer it. So any offerings you do you can multiply by by number of- what? Ten digit form or something. And make it that way and you can also build merit by doing that. Right? And there are number of earlier great teachers who have done that. (Speaks to audience about church service starting nearby) [0:48:30.9]

[0:49:12.8] So, what we are talking here is yeah many of the great Tibetan teachers what they have done is they made a tremebdous offerings and earlier there was particularly one teacher who had nothing. He has one cup, that’s all. Nothiing else. So been meditating up in the mountains for only one wooden bowl. That’s that, nothing else. So what the person did is in the morning he cleaned the wooden bowl, filled up water and make offering to the altar. By the time when he has to have breakfast he said, May I borrow your cup please? So take it down and use it, and then afterwards they clean and they put up water offerings. And that was done, and that was very well received. So number of offerings you can do it. And you really don’t have to have it, Mentally you can do it. But in the pretext of mentally offering if you have it and if you don’t share it, that’s not right. That’s not right. That’s not good offering. Even mental fabrication is not right. And even you have it and you share it, you offer it. But earlier Tibetan teacher said, saying very interesting. You should not make offerings from the blue part of the butter and yellow part of the vegetable.

Did you get the picture? [0:51:00.7] No you don’t get the picture. If you keep the vegetable for so long what will happens? It’s become yellow. Means it’s getting bad. So you pick up all the yellow parts of the vegatables and blue part of the butter. When the butter’s gone bad it becomes blue. So if you try to make the offerings of the blue part of the butter and yellow part of the vegetable it’s not necessarily good offering either. The same thing for sharing, generosity tpp. Don’t be generosity give something when you don’t want it. When you don’t want it, the others also don’t want it. That’s not necessarily a generous. But if somebody else can use it, that’s fine. Because it’s bad. You know like a lot of vegetables are better be generosity or else it go bad for a few days. Well you can share that but might not necessarily great generosity. Nothing pinching anywhere. So the offering is one of the best form of generosity and that’s why you have this offerings here. You can offer anything you want to. Anything. But that is basically what it is. [0:52:20.8] So you can visualize whatever the you offer, whatever you offer visualize that multiplied in value, in quantity, in quality, all. So in that manner you can offer. (Audio cuts)

[0:52:49.6] …So we did the big things so we got the wrong side and we did the right thing we got the right side. It’s some very strange idea. We all do make mistakes. Normally say, we are human beings so have to make mistake. If you don’t make mistake you’d be God. Probably a god, right? The god- hopefully God makes no mistakes. So human being bound to make mistakes. Beside that we carry a tremendous amount of non-virtuous karma. And neither the non-virtuous karma, nor the creator of the karma, nor the result of karma are not permanent. It is impermanent. It’s changes. You can make it change too. It may be karma, who made the karma? You. Who else? Individual self. Each and every individual, every one of us is responsible for our karma. We created out karma we can clear our karma, nobody else. No matter you may have prostrated to image of the Buddha three million times, and asking Buddha to clear your karma, Buddha cannot clear. (Quotes in Tibetan) [0:54:29.6] Buddha cannot wash our non-virtuous karma, it is sutra, quote unquote, Buddha’s own word. Buddha’s cannot wash our non-virtuous karma, nor Buddha can remove the sufferings of the beings by hand. Neither the Buddha cannot transfer the spiritual development of the Buddha to individual. If they can do, Buddhas would have done long time ago. But cannot. So it is only our self. And me and myself is the only responsible for that. Me and myself is the only person who can do or un-do my virtuous and non-virtuous karma. So the purification is the method to wipe off the non-virtuous karma, or to remove. That is the purification,

[0:55:49.4] Likewise, anger is the method for the dark forces to wipe off your virtues. The purification is the method for the light forces to wipe off the negative karma. So you have to- it’s a dark side or a light side. If you watch television you see that, right? So that’s what it is. So that is the weapon or the method how you use it. So the purification is one of the best way to do as to clear our non-virtuous karma. So now the question comes, how? How do I do purify? It’s very important. A lot of people think purification needs sacrifices. Stupid. A total stupid. You don’t have to sacrifice anything. For purification. Particularly not your life. Sacrificing life for purification is doom business. Once you’re gone, you’re gone. You can’t do anything else. So it is total wrong decision. So that’s out. Sacrificing body, not great. Not great. Sacrificing health is unnecessary suffering. Unless you’re in love with pain, then you can have it. If you’re not in love with pain, you better not have it. We have enough. We don’t need any additional. So the key to the purification, what is it? Is this the hardship that individual has to take? Or is that some sacrifice individual has to make? Or is this another way to do it? So what you need is you need another way. You need wise way to handle this. A wise way.

[0:58:38.3] Nagarjuna have mentioned (Quotes in Tibetan) Nagarjuna says the wise persons non-virtuous even it is heavy, it is light. But the fool’s non-virtuous even it is light, it become heavy. The give the example, the example of one ounce iron or metal, the wise person’s use the metal flat sheet throw on the river and it will float. But the fool will make it little roll and dump it in the water it will go boom down. So that is Nagarjuna’s example. So wise way and fools way and if you gkeep on sacrificing it helps, no doubt it does that, but that is the fool’s way of doing it. It’s not a totally wasted but it’s a fool’s way. Not a wise way. So what does the wise person do? So they give answer, they said, four ways. So they call it four powers. Four powers. Through the application of four powers you can purify all your non-virtuous. So power one is known as power of base. Ground, base. You need solid base to purify. Whatever you do you have to have on the ground a solid base, right? You can’t dance in the air. Unless you have some special siddhi or electronic power. Right, otherwise you need solid ground. So the first is power of base.

[1:01:16.8] Now here base what does the base really refers to? It base refers based on what we have created non-virtuous, right? When you do some bad thing, when you created non-virtuous you created on somebody, right? When you hurt somebody you hurt a human being or sentient being. You’re not going to hurt the rocks that much. So non-virtuous mostly hurting other beings. Hurting, when you hurt some beings right? Somebody with feeling you have to hurt. You’re not going to hurt much with the pillar over here. No matter how much you beat, you may get hurt your hand, but pillar’s not going to hurt t hat much. But on the other hand you can hurt somebody else just by look. Or just by the movement of your tongue in different directions. SO that’s how you can hurt. So you hurt somebody means you hurt a being. But the power of base here really is based on which you have created non-vituous. That is bases being. Are you clear with that or youre not really clear? I’m trying to make as simple as possible. So you have to convince at that base. Because I’m sure each one of us have hurt each other millions of times each other helped millions of times in our previous lives. Even this life. We do that every day. Every day when you deal with persons individual person, even you hurt, or you help, that’s what you do. Most of the time anyway. So whenever you hurt somebody, you hurt a being. So the being becomes a base. So the base you have to convince it. What do you convince it? Convince it for that. So only two ways. So what we don’t know if the base what- base to whom we have hurt is either enlightened or non-enlightened. That person could be enlightened being or non-enlightened being, can’t be in between. So has to be either this or that. So even the enlightened being so what shall we do? We take refuge. We can’t generate love compassion, you can’t say poor Buddha. So we take refuge for the enlightened beings. If it’s not an enlightened being we can’t take refuge. SO they can’t help it. Doesn’t mean anything. Doesn’t mean anything. So we generate love compassion. So the combination of the taking refuge to the enlightened beings and combination of generating love compassion to all beings will probably establish good power of base because that way considering (?) to the beings. Get it?

[1:05:16.3] Most of our non-virtuous, whatever way you think throughout our different lives non-virtuous is actually the things we have hurt other that other people. That is non-virtuous. And the virtuous is mostly what we help other people that was the virtuous. Realy, truly. It is sort of almost black and white, there’s no room for grey here. It’s almost tthat fairly balanced. So that’s why even in vajrayana [ractice you always have the mantras you’re saying you generate light and helping all other beings liberating them and then those enlightened beings youre making offerings, collecting that blessings, and most of these mental exercises has been based on this principle. Principle of the virtupus and non-virtuous karma. So here also to convince with the base whether it’s enlightened beings or non-enlightened beings both are combination of taking refuge and generating a bodhimind will convince of that. Right? That’s clear, power of this. You do need that. Now what you need second is power of action, antidote action.

[1:06:54.8] But the power of action here each one pf them goes non-virtuous delusions et cetera have it’s own opponent such as for what? Audience: (Inaudible) [1:07:38.7] Rimpoche: Action. We’re talking about action. Now like miserliness or stinginess if you try to be very stinginess that is non-virtuous, right? And antidote of it is generosity. And if you have a lot of immoralities, immoral, then morality will be antidote. If you are angry person the patience will be the antidote. And if you are lazy, diligence is the antidote. And if you’re so occupied by- Audience: (Inaudible) [1:08:43.9] Rimpoche: She has become too literal now. If you are so occupied by unnecessary busy mind particularly gossiping wasting time and giving the wrong attention all these are concentration. And then wrong wisdom antidote will be perfect wisdom. Like this there’s a lot of those. There’s a lot of antidotes you can apply on it. And particularly if your karma is killing saving a life. If your karma is lying, if you keep on lying then correcting it and try to behave try to say try to tell truth for once. For all. Once in for all I should say.

[1:10:11.6] Once for all. If you’ve been cheating all the time, don’t cheat. Sort of give a commitment of not killing. Give commitment of not lying. Give a commitment of not cheating. Take a vow. Say mantras. Do meditation. Do circumambulation. Do a prostration, et cetera, et cetera, anything whatever is possible in according to the time and conditions. SO that will be antidote action. Generate bodhimind that I mentioned yesterday what a bodhimind is. (Quotes in Tibetan) [1:11:11.9] Bodhisattvacharyavatara Shantideva had said such a powerful non-virtuous action cannot be corrected by any other virtues except bodhimind. For the bodhimind have tremendous benefit. So generate, meditate nodhimind, meditate on love compassion to all. Once for all. There it comes now. So these are the antidote actions for whatever power you can apply that will called power of the antidote.

[1:12:05.8] The third power is the power of regret. Okay power of regret is important. If we did something wrong we should recognize and we should regret. You know our problem, we have two extreme problems. One problem is refuse to accept, refuse to acknowledge the denial. We did something wrong, you deny. Our denial is our biggest problem, one. The other extreme is guilty feeling. Guilt trip. You feel guilty about it. And you feel guilty and you start burying yourself under the guilt. You sunk. This is the two extreme problem we carry. So both of them you don’t need it. You don’t have to feel very guilty like particularly the western mind have a tremendous guilt. Am I right? You agree or you deny? Guilty! Alright. Even the court will say guilty. Give a guilty verdict right? Audience: (Inaudible) [1:13:45.3] Rimpoche: I don’t think the eastern people carry that much guilt as the western people will carry. Because of the traditional influence as well as the Catholic background and so and forth we probably really think I’m doomed, I’m finished which is almost with everybody in the west we’ll see it. And eastern people don’t have that that much as the western people. It’s not really the Catholic religion which creates this but the monasteries thereafter as well as the churches sort of overplay that. And sort of play a lot of games with people in the centuries. So throughout the medieval and European people until the Renaissance period. Even during the Renaissance period yeah tremendous guilt trip.

[1:14:48.4] Look at those important paintings done by Van Hoek? Or Rembrandt. All these people you look at them and a lot of them will see the projection, I mean the art will tell you how much guilt to give and take. The art is a message. So that much I don’t think in the east we carry that much, really. Whether it’s Chinese, Japanese, the Tibetans, or the Indians. Even Indians don’t- (Laughs) I don’t mean that but they really they don’t. The western carry tremendous guilt. Even the system what they rebel, the revolution, democracy and all these are even I think born out of guilt. Anyway let’s not go in that (?) because people can no longer tolerate so they started rebelling and that’s how it is settled. They have good things come out of it and bad things came out of it, too. In the eastern people are I don’t think carry that much guilt at all. But still they do carry quite a lot of guilt. Quite a lot of guilt. They really think I did something wrong I did something wrong, I did something wrong. It’s I think eastern people have much more superstitious than that of guilt. Western equivalent is that east is more superstitious. The more superstitious you are and the more room you provide for black magic’s to play. And if you are sort of open clear mind and if you clearly cut it out black magic’s very hard to play. There is true. There is black magic definitely. But that’s very hard to function. Like Milarepa said nam da (Quotes in Tibetan) [1:17:07.5] If you keep on creating superstitious then even the empty house will have a lot of thieves will come. There’s nothing to take but lot of thieves will come because you keep worrying the thieves will come in here so you can’t sleep throughout the night in the empty house. So that is the eastern problem. The counterpart of that is the guilt field in the west.

[1:17:41.0] But then it’s also if you go through the South America there’s a tremendous superstitious even far more than what you get here. You go down to Mexico, Brazil, and the Mexicans and Brazilians, and Argentinas, oh my god they are terrible. More superstitious than anywhere I’ve ever seen it. More than Thai people. So anyway, so the guilt is the- you don’t have to go to that extreme but you do need a regret if you do not regret then you have not understood you have done wrong. If you have done wrong, if you understand you put regret. And the need is strong regret and just an I’m sorry will not do. We have saying in Tibetan if you just say word I’m sorry, even the queen of England will forgive you. I mean that is for only lip service. So that won’t do. You really do need a strong regret. You don’t need guilt but you do need strong regret. Very strong. So strong so that the example given by the traditional teachers they say, let’s say t here are three people went together to a restaurant to eat some nice food. So one got sick and died, the others about to die and you got nothing happen to you. So you feel terrible. You feel terrible one is already dead, the other is about to die, nothing had happened to you but still you’ll be worried you will not in peace. You’ll be worried and running everywhere you probably will leave no stone unturned. If you could wash you body inside you would probably do that.

[1:19:52.9] And that sort of regret is recommended to be. That sort of regret is recommended to be generated particularly if the non-virtuous is a heavy one. Strong regret. Then you have antidote action, you have regret then automatically you will say I will not do it again. I will not do it again, you will say it. From the bottom of the heart. So the repentance will be the last power. The power of base, power of action, power of regret, and power of repentance. So that will be like a four powers. Get it? Something we say four powers. Power of base, power of action, power of regret, power of repentance. Saying I’m not going to do it again. I don’t think you can regret before. If you can regret before, you’re not going to do it. Audience: (Inaudible) [1:21:47.3] Rimpoche: Oh doesn’t matter, whatever the order. You mean the order. Order doesn’t matter. They’re in order you’re right regret comes first. Otherwise why should you do all this. You feel bad about it and then you regret and then you say what can I do? Right? Then we make a fuss. (Laughs) Anyway if there is such an application of four powers applied no matter how heavy the non-virtuous might be, you can be purified. Remember the story out of Jakata Tales there is a story called Angulimala. Angulimala- how many people know the Angulimala story? First who knows, please raise your hand. Oh, a lot of people knows. So then you ask each other, I don’t have to tell you. But the importantness here is Angulimala is somebody who killed a human being, nine hundred ninety-nine human beings, chopped their head by sword, can purified and become arhat in Buddha’s level. So no matter- none of us had killed single human being. Unless you are sitting behind George Bush’s brain or something, otherwise none of us have killed a human, that number of human beings. So there’s nothing which we cannot purify. Even somebody who killed nine hundred ninety-nine human beings could purify. Right? So that’s it.

[1:24:07.9] So every one of us remember I mentioned we have a beauty nature of being. Our nature is beauty and wonderful, no problem. Delusions are temporary. The sky has no problems. The sun cannot shine because a temporary cloud is there. And cloud does not remain there all the time, it moves. The wind blows the cloud out. So like that our non-virtuous is like a cloud, a cloud formed. And you can push that out by application of four powers. SO that’s why enlightened beings have provided these opportunity here. And what is it called? Compassion. Compassion such a terrible word to use. Really. You put it in there, or who put it? Compassion. It is such a terrible Christian word. That is the you know when you have to go and confess to a priest through the window then priest will blackmail you the next time. If you want to get blackmailed better stop here. Thank you. We’ll meet again at eight o’clock.

[1:26:00.2] (Audio cuts and resumes, prayers in Tibetan) [1:27:06.6] Basically this afternoon we talked about the four powers applications of the four powers for purification. Purification is a very important point as we always know. And familiar. And we will say we have to purify our bad karma all the time, we say that. So the purification with application of four power will purify every non-virtuous. Non-virtuous in by nature whatever it is they’re always purified. What is not purify for example is broken vows. Like vows such as self-liberation vow, or vows that you have taken in the presence of the Buddha bodhisattva, Lama Buddha bodhisattva- such as bodhisattva vow, or vows that you have taken in the presence of the lama yidam deity mandala I will not purify by the application of the four powers. So the simple reason because they need to be purified in a specific order which they mentioned. So the bodhisattva vows has to be purified in the presence of Lama Buddha bodhisattva and the vajrayana vows has to be purified in the presence of Lama Yidam mandala. Or self-liberation vows that you have taken with abbot and assembly of monks has also to be purified there. So the broken vow point of it you do not purify, the rest of them no matter how heavy it might be so there’s no such non-virtuous which will not purify by the application of more powers. So that is important. So that’s why earlier we talked about wise way of purifying and what did we use the other word? Fool’s way of, okay? So giving you the example the Nagarjuna used as whether you make all iron, the quantity of the iron, whether you make a flat sheet and throw on the river or make around and throw in the river. That is the example.

[1:31:15.5] And in the sutra itself, Buddha made very clear too, (Quotes in Tibetan) [1:31:27.2] Now I forgot second word. So anyway one who had not been paying attention not been purifying but can purify and can get clear. And given the example of cloud so which I thinkn we used in the afternoon too, if I remember correctly. I have given you the example of cloud movement. So no matter whatever it is, there is no such non-virtuous which cannot be purified and non-virtuous has one- (Speaks to audience) [1:32:32.3] Non-virtuous has it’s own quality. It has it’s own good quality which is when you purify it can purify. That is the quality of non-virtuous. It’s good quality. So when we know the way how to purify and when we know, now quality of non-virtuous, and basically when we know non-virtuous is impermanent. Impermanent is so important. Because if it’s permanent then it is really fixed. You cannot do anything. But fortunately it’s impermanent so you can change it. So taking, knowing that, acknowledging that, taking advantage-