Archive Result

20030808GRALSR10

Part three (disk 19)

(Rimpoche speaks in Tibetan) Thank you. Before I take questions, I would like

to once again take the opportunity to thank you. Thank you, everybody,

really. It is so wonderful. Thank you so much for everything. Everybody’s been

really wonderful. Thank you, every body who is here, to benefit ourselves and

others, to do whatever we can do. Talking is one thing. Hearing is another thing.

Then, again, talking, hearing, both, don’t serve any purpose if you don’t

think about it. Even if you think about it, but don’t act, it doesn’t serve any

purpose. Listening, thinking and making it part of your life, combined

together, help everybody. If you look back at this retreat, so many wonderful things

happened. The place is very nice, the facilities are really wonderful,

everything. Food. How quickly it goes; this is fantastic. Really. Normally, everytime

we argue, there are two hundred people, they need two hours; they will argue

like hell, remember? So we have to go two hours gab(***?) and all those. It

was [took] ten minutes here. That’s very efficient.

We have a doctor here; thank you for coming. It’s great, and it helps people.

Then also we have these relics here. When you really see it, it’s something

different, right? Normally, when you think about relics, you see something come

out of a commission thing*** or leftover here, or bones, or something, but

when you look at it, it’s totally different. I did share my story about seeing

the relics; how it

comes in; it’s something completely unexpected. A friend of mine, I think I did share with you people, a little wild Rimpoche, a little bit

crazy, not crazy in that sense, but really very wild, even when we were in Tibet.

This Rimpoche who I’m talking about, his name is Lamda. Lamda Rimpoche. He is

young -- well now of course he’s not young, he’s older than me. He is from a

very wealthy labram, so he is very wealthy. When we were young, he didn’t

study, he wore a wonderful dress, and had beautiful horses, a lot of attendants,

and all that. And he was a little wild, a really wild guy. You know, when he

walks, he will not walk like a normal person, he is completely shaking his

(????) even though he wears a monk’s robe, he’s shaking all his (????) As a

kid, I used to think he was so wild, the way he was walking. Then, when I

learned, when I really learned, he actually was riding a horse and was running, and

he was thrown off the horse and he broke his leg. He refused to walk with a

stick, so instead of that, he was limping, but he made the limp into some kind of

style of walking, so you’d never know he was limping. He was like that.

After we became exiled, he moved to Switzerland. He worked in some kind of

factory in Switzerland. I went and visited him in –- wow-- ’65 or ’66 or

something like that. He had one Yamantaka statue on his altar. Just an ordinary

Yamantaka statue, bought out of the Indian market. He painted and he kept that.

He kept a little cup in this hand implement of Yamantaka, which didn’t quite

fit. One of those tiny Chinese porcelain cups. I said, “That’s not part of the

Yamantaka implement. What are you doing? Are you trying to feed the Yamantaka

with something [it was near the mouth].” He said, “Hey, didn’t you notice

anything?” I said, “No.” He said, “Look carefully at the nose of the

Yamantaka.” When you looked carefully, on the tip of the nose, there’s some funny little

white stuff. When you were looking very carefully, it was one of those

relics. He said, a lot of relics are coming to this one.” So he put the cup there to

collect them. He said, “For a while, there’s nothing, then certain little

lumps come up, and then it becomes bigger. Then it drips.” That’s why he put

this cup there. And there were drips in the cup. He kept this. There were three

or four already in the cup.

I stayed for about a week. At the beginning, there was a little thing, and by

the time I was leaving, it was a big round one, almost ready to drop off.

This is completely against the law of physics. So these things happen. And we’re

very fortunate to have those great relics. Somehow it’s coming by, and it’s

really happened almost* and even then we will still say, well, Cleveland

invited them. Great. And on the way, should we come to the summer retreat? Oh fine,

sort of thing. But it’s really very great. It’s very good and we are very

happy for everyone here.

We also discussed whatever we could. And the beautiful skit. They do

beautiful skits every year. So much so. And all my birthdays, they really do

fantastic [things]. And so much so that I said, this year, no celebration at all.

There’s no reason, because people put so much effort into it, and I feel really,

what should I say? I’m grateful, but I thought, it’s too much for me. They go

really out of their way, and work so much, so I said, “No celebration this

year at all for [my] birthday. And last year there was a book release party, and

then there’s, you know, paperback, [there have been] some excuses, but not

this year. But they do so well, thank you. Really.

Then, there’s Jim* who has given you the idea of what is happening in Jewel

Heart. One thing I’d like to say clearly. People who are working in the Jewel

Heart offices, both the store and the offices; even including myself, I should

say that, are not well paid. At all. You have to know that. They all work very

hard. Not only that, but the friends, and the members of the board, and

every Sangha member, everybody [supports Jewel Heart] extremely well. Thank you so

much to everybody. Some people directly support, some people indirectly

support [Jewel Heart]. Thank you to everybody.

At the same time, I’d also like to say, as you know, for the last two years,

we have been in the red, but this year we’ve been able to come out [of it by

means of] certain generosity of great friends, as ****Jim?** mentioned. What’s

happening is the pledges and our income don’t meet our expenses. No one is

made rich in Jewel Heart, as you know. Right now we are not in the red, but as

Jim reported, in two months we could be in the red again. What happens is, we

like to have pledges, you know, membership support. Of the people who are

interested in Jewel Heart, who are supporting, and friends of Jewel Heart, there

are quite a lot. But people who are really becoming members and giving pledges

and support are very few. Very little. Also, some people would like to give

support, but they are afraid of being [labeled] Buddhist or something. Becoming

a member of Jewel Heart and [giving support] does not make you Buddhist. If

you want to be Buddhist, you can be Buddhist without becoming a member of Jewel

Heart. If you don’t want to be Buddhist, you can become a member of Jewel

Heart, without being Buddhist. Some people think if you donate money or pledge to

Jewel Heart, that you become Buddhist; it is not true. A pledge to Jewel

Heart is not the doorway to Buddhism.

But the spiritual service that is coming to you here needs to be supported.

Whenever I hear the membership is very low, and the number of friends is huge,

not huge in number, but there are a lot, and membership is very, very low,

something’s wrong. So I would like to thank those of you who have been members

of Jewel Heart, and are giving support year after year. Thank you. Those of

you who have not been in Jewel Heart, but you like what we do, you like to

listen, you like to gain benefit from it, but don’t want to be contributing, it’s

not that great. I’d like to request that everyone, if you are already a

member, please do extend [your membership] and if you are not a member, please join.

It doesn’t matter whatever the level, [at which] you join. Talk to your

friends, too. But make sure they know that if you become a member, it does not make

them Buddhist.

I’ve seen in this area a tremendous spiritual hunger. I’m sure it’s

everywhere in the United States, but in the Michigan area, people really want to know

and to participate. I’ve been asked to give the Sunday service in (at?) the

Renaissance Unity. You see two or three thousand people come in. People have an

interest, and they would like to know, get information and benefit. Yet they

are also afraid of being, you know, Buddhist or whatever. But they need some

kind of safe environment where they can get this information and benefit. People

are afraid of it sometimes, so I’d like you people to talk to them really

clearly.

There are certain people, even our senior people, who don’t like to talk

about either being Buddhist, or about Buddhism, or about the teachings, or even

about Jewel Heart. They are a little bit afraid of talking, which is really a

disservice for ourselves. There’s nothing to hide. We are not any one of those

cult organizations. We are not a sect, although the Jackson paper [called us]

a sect today. But it is a very nice article, it’s a beautiful article. We are

not a cult, so we don’t have to be afraid of talking. What we are doing is,

we’re giving twenty-six -hundred-year-old wisdom. It is one of the biggest

religions that ever flourished, even more than Christianity or [Islam] before the

Communist Chinese took over. This is the world’s largest religion. There is

nothing to be afraid or ashamed of. You have to remember that. Some people always

like to be afraid of talking about it or ashamed of it. There’s nothing you

have to worry about.

That’s what I’d like to say before [ending]. Every good thing ends.

Everything is impermanent. I wish we had another week here. It would be really

wonderful. [You] people are great. But it always comes to a conclusion, so we’re

almost [there], except for tomorrow morning. Tomorrow morning, we do have this

White Tara Longevity Ceremony. Those who are looking for Initiation, they will

become initiated, those who are not looking for the initiation [receive the b lessing, become blessed]. That ceremony is going to be tomorrow morning. The

timing will be as usual, right? There’s no morning session tomorrow because I

have to do the preparation. So who is cut off now? Janice Paul and Andrea

Massey. I’m sorry, both of you But both are wonderful, and they’re great in their

practice, they’re great in their helping people, but I’m so sorry, there won’t

be a morning session, because I have to do the preparation in order to start

at ten.

Beside that, you people have been great, not making nests around. Tonight, I

will request you to pick up the cushions, [because] we have to vacuum. So

tomorrow, you can sleep late, a little bit, since there will be the White Tara,

and then after that we always do a smoke puja, and I hope it is possible to do.

Ed has selected his crews, right? So you are ready to do [it]. Don’t forget,

you have to have a couple of buckets of water as well, thank you. That’s how

we are going to conclude.

Now, I understand there are about five or six questions tonight, and Stokes

is doing it.

Stokes: Rimpoche, you referred to their being ten paramitas. Most of us are

familiar with six. Could you please tell us what the other four are.

Rimpoche: What I’d like to answer is, when the time comes, I’ll share. The

four other paramitas are not really [practiced] when we are learning. That is

the practice when you become masters. [The time will come]. Let’s not count

today, because there’s no time to explain that. Excuse me tonight, I won’t be

able to count those next teachings **** If you read those lam rim books, they

should have the four of them there. It’s not the Chinese way of counting ten

paramitas, OK? Thank you.

Stokes: I understand the Buddhas don’t grieve the same way we do. When

Buddhas grieve, do they suffer?

Rimpoche: Oh, by the way, did you read the article where Mark interviewed me?

It’s in the current issue of Tricycle. Everybody told me it was a great

interview, so thank you, Mark. So if you read that, you do have the answers there.

Do Buddhas have pain? Theoretically, I have to say Buddha doesn’t have pain

because they are pain-free, they are problem-free. Buddhas are free of

suffering. Therefore, there is no pain and no free. **** But, we have a saying in

Tibetan, that says, that might not apply to Buddha, but it says, *******. So human

beings, gods, ghosts behave the same way. When human beings have grief, they

grieve. So do the gods, so do the ghosts. Yes, sadness, feeling of losses,

feeling of not achieving what you want to achieve. All of them should be there at

the Buddha level, too. Do [those things] frustrate the Buddha? They should

not. Do they make Buddha suffer? They should not. They do have all this.

Remember, ******. Human beings, gods and ghosts have the same characteristics of

sadness, joy, all of them.

I hope that’s enough to answer [the question]. Or do you have something

else in mind. Whose question is it? Would anybody own the question? Owning the

questions is very difficult, but group leaders acknowledge [the questioner]

sometimes. (Someone calls out from the audience). It’s your group? Does the

[questioner] have any intention behind this? You think the person just simply

wanted to know whether Buddhas grieve or not? They do. The Mahayana Buddhas –

they’re not Zen Buddhas. I’m just joking.

Stokes: What is it that carries over from one lifetime to the next, that

allows someone to recognize objects from a previous life?

Rimpoche: The mind itself. Particularly, memory is probably ripped off ***

completely. The continuation makes it easier to see…..it is very interesting.

Some of those incarnated lamas don’t have to learn so much. They just need to be

reminded, and then, they pick up [the information]. For some people, even for

memorization, they don’t have to [make] such an effort. As far as myself is

concerned, talking about myself, when I was young, I could memorize a lot, a

lot, a lot. Really. If I read something three times, I could almost memorize

page after page, page after page. It might have something to do with this. As I

mentioned this morning, I said Sakya Pandita said, (recites Tibetan). Something

you’re learning, even if you’re dying tomorrow morning, you should learn it

today. Even though you may not become a learned person in this lifetime, in

the next life, you can simply collect your own goods, as if you have left them

with someone to take care of them. That’s exactly what happens. Then it depends

on the individual. For people who are better developed spiritually, [things]

are easier to pick up. For less developed persons, they are more difficult to

pick up. Persons who are better developed spiritually even have clairvoyance.

Less developed persons have less clairvoyance. We can see that quite clearly.

That is how it works. Did you get me? With clairvoyance we can see it, right?

So, that’s what it is.

Stokes: Rimpoche, that question was in my group, and the discussion was about

whether memory traveled with the subtle mind, or as a karmic imprint, or

something else.

Rimpoche: Memory does not travel with the subtle mind. Because it has

memories, it will not be the subtle mind. So memory does not travel. Memory gets

ripped off ***, that’s what I mean. When you pack, I think memory is one of the

early things to go in the box. So, it doesn’t travel through.

Then that brings another question. The question really is: Since all

consciousnesses are old consciousnesses, so they all have had a countless number

of experiences. So how come some people can pick things up easily, while others

pick things up with difficulty? That would probably be a more difficult

question, anyway. When you are looking at the individual person’s spiritual

development, that answers all. I think that’s it. Do you have any more questions?

Stokes: There are two more questions.

Rimpoche: Oh good – go ahead, OK.

Stokes: You said there were no new souls, or mindstreams. Is there a finite

number of souls, or mindstreams?

Rimpoche: I was going to say zero zero zero something, [but I’m just joking].

No, unfortunately, they are countless, right? Countless beings. When you talk

about beings, it includes not only human beings. There are all [the] other

beings. How many beings are there in the ocean alone? Then think about all other

parts of this samsara. Then think of other galaxies. And think, oh my God.

There’s no end to it. You can never say [there’s a fixed] number. And Buddha

doesn’t say [there is a certain number of beings] either, as far as I know.

There are no newborns, that is what Buddha says. It’s probably got to be true.

That’s got to be true, because we talked to you this morning, remember? The first

mind, the minute you enter in this life, that mind is the continuation of a

previous mind, because it is mind. Non-mind does not become mind. Similar to

this, the mind of an old man immediately before dying will definitely continue

in future, because it is a mind with desire.

That says a lot to me, honestly. I don’t know how much it says to you.

When you begin to get into it, it will say a lot to you as well. You need to see

it. You’re not convinced now. Non-mind does not become mind, and

consciousness does not become non-consciousness. You’re not convinced yet, you just heard.

But when you begin to be convinced, then this all will make sense. Thank you.

Does that answer the question? Linda,*** you are good critics. OK, Amy, these

are the critics. Critic number one and critic number two. I didn’t say

editors, I said critics.

Stokes: This question has two parts.

Rimpoche: But I’m not sure who is number one. (From audience: But she was

here first.) No, at the critical level, I don’t know who is number one. I’m

sorry.

Stokes: Two parts. How is it possible for me, as an ego, to practice Dharma,

since my ego is destroyed at death. Does this mean that a part of my mind

other than ego, practices Dharma?

Rimpoche: Wow. What makes you think your mind is ego? [You did say] that,

right? So what makes you think you are ego? I’d like to ask that question. But I

don’t see any hands here. If you think you are ego, you are in big trouble. I

think our ego and we are two separate ones. Ego is functioning, no doubt. You

know, I’m not talking about the ego the psychologists are talking about. So

don’t get confused. Psychologists created that name and labeled that for the

purpose of building self-esteem, I believe, and there are a lot of psychologists

here, you know? So you people know better than I do. But when we are talking

about this ego here, as a general society, everybody [says] “Oh that’s just

your ego talking.” So it seems to be looking down.

I’m using that as a combination of confusion, fear and ignorance together.

To identify that combination, [the word] ego is used. That ego is definitely

separate from our self. That ego is the dominating ego force within our self.

But I will be the last person to [define] myself as the dominating ego force

within myself. Therefore, I like to separate my ego and me. I am not my ego, my

ego is not me, I am separate from my ego, and my ego is separate from me.

However, my ego had the upper hand over me. My ego had abused me so much, that I

can’t even raise my head up. So I only get into the picture when I get into

trouble. Only at that moment, my ego escapes, so “I” pops up. Like when I’ve been

accused of being a thief, in public, or when I am about to fall from a cliff,

and I’m really scared. Like that, when I’m bound to get in some big trouble,

then I suddenly realize. Until then, my ego controls me completely. So I like

to fight against that ego. That is my ego, my enemy within me. That’s not me.

So, the question is, when my ego…what did they say?

Stokes: The first part was, how is it possible for me, as an ego, to practice

Dharma?

Rimpoche: So the question does not arise, because you are not your ego.

Actually we always have a struggle within ourself to do something good, and we

[cannot] do it. Who is struggling? [The struggle is] between the ego and me. I’ve

always been the loser. Always abused. So after a while, you don’t even want to

argue, you go about it. So when you practice in the Dharma, somewhere it’s a

challenge to the ego. Ego won’t like it. For sure. Because ego is a threat. It

is a challenge. And then the second part is?

Stokes: Does this mean that a part of my mind other than ego practices Dharma?

Rimpoche: Well, obviously. I’m sorry (everyone laughing). And then?

Stokes: That’s all the questions, Rimpoche.

Rimpoche: That’s all the questions. I’m glad the last question [was about]

ego, so that is our target. Target of refutation*** I probably would like to

bring it up tomorrow. I have presented this morning [at a summed-up, simple]

level] the four noble truths. So, the mind I have to sum up, before the

initiation. Can we say we’ll probably meet tomorrow at about 9:30? Rather than 10:00,

is that OK? Breakfast is 8 - 9:00, right? So can we say ‘round about 9:30, so

that I will have a few minutes to sum up the mind aspects of it?

With that, I’d like to thank you, everybody. Some people may have to

leave tomorrow before we finish up, so some may not even be coming, so I’d like to

thank you for being here. Those of you who have to leave tomorrow during the

session, please don’t hesitate. You should go, but the initiation is not going

to be finished, so, whatever you have is half, or whatever. It’s not going to

be complete. As usual, we do a smoke puja in the summer, so there’s a place,

because when we did a fire puja, I saw that place, so we can have a smoke puja

tomorrow. Then normally we conclude there, with throwing flowers in the air,

so we will do that, and would you make sure that the potted flowers are

available tomorrow at that time. Not only one, but several pots, so people can

easily cover that. Thank you, and good night. Can we have some nice dedication

tonight? OK, your usual dedication and migtzema, the long migtzema. OK, thank you.