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20051210GRMLLLR03

Audience: Good evening, my name is Jing. I did a research over the internet not too long ago understanding a bit more about Buddhism and I read about this story of Prince Siddartha. He actually left the wife and the son and I was wondering, if compassion brings happiness, why would he have done that?

Rimpoche: Very good question. Thank you. Prince Gautama, when he left the family- actually you should know the history because it’s the ancient Indian royal family. The purpose of not only the royal family, the whole country, would like to have power, power over other little kingdoms so they put tremendous efforts and tremendous investment to the Prince Gautama. Prince Gautama, they put tremendous investment to have power over little kingdoms but what they call Chakraborty Raja. The kingdom would like to be the universe of king, the king would like to be the universe of the king and the kingdom would like to be the universe ruler. So they are really counting on him, on that.

On the other hand, what did he see? He saw- you should really know this. When he was born, they built a brand new palace for him. The brand new palace which has almost every beautiful thing and they always have only young and beautiful, such as yourself, in there and not others like me. [Laughter] When it’s old, ugly, out of the palace and everything. Why? Because soothsayers told the kingdom he will be the Chakraborty Raja if he remains in home. ​​0:03:07.0 So they’re always afraid of his leaving home so they always looking to make him happy. And I don’t know whether the ancient story is true or not, if it’s true there are 500 queens or something, whatever it is. Anyway, they tried to make him happy. On the other hand, he’s always curious- what’s happening outside these walls?

You know I have an old American poet friend called Allen Ginsberg, many of you know. Allen made a poetry. He said ‘When I was a kid, I always wondering what is beyond the tree in my house. When I was 10, I had the opportunity to explore and I found a glue factory’. That’s his poetry. Just like that, the Gautama is always interested what is beyond this wall. So once, he took the opportunity of looking beyond the wall. What did he see? He sees the suffering, he sees the pain, he sees death he sees the dying, he sees the old age. So he also saw a meditator, peaceful. So he was looking for how can I help myself, my parents, my family and the subjects that I’m supposed to be helping and serving. So he’s looking for how do I solve the problem of suffering, the illnesses, the death, the aging, the separations, the loneliness, not fulfilling what I wanted yet getting everything what I don’t want.

So when he’s looking for that, he had no alternative except leave the palace and thinking the answer is in the forest. That’s why he left. He did not leave the wife and kids, he leave the whole kingdom to serve them, to help them. So what did he do? He went into the forest, found meditators. He meditated with tremendous sacrifices. Extreme sacrifices. Traditional books and teachings tell you even just simply eating a grain a day, just a little grain a day. How true it is, you never know. You know 2000 years information and as you know, our Asian culture exaggerates tremendously. If it’s a good one they make it huge, unbelievable. If it’s bad one they make it humongous and horrible. So exaggerates a lot. 0:07:30.8 But however, that’s what he supposed to have done. And then he began to realise extreme sacrificing is also not an answer. Not an answer. So he has to eat food. And what he developed what we call enlightenment means answer to his questions. A method and way how to overcome the pains of not only himself and his family, but whole mankind, whole living beings, that’s what the Buddhist tradition say. All living beings. Truly speaking, what Buddha himself have found at that time is something profound, fantastic. Even after all that commitment when he found it, he said 0:08:42.0 Sap she chu… meaning ‘I found profound nectar-like but if I try to explain, no one will be able to understand so therefore, I must maintain silence’.

He was persuaded by the great Hindu-Buddhist mythological gods such as Brahmins and Indras and all of them and told them ‘Your purpose is to help people so why don’t you share your experience’ and that’s what Buddhism’s all about. It is based on his personal experience of overcoming difficulties, difficulties of himself, his family, his countrymen and all mankind. And that answer that he got that time which he shared with us, was true 2600 years ago and it is more true today, even the scientists beginning to conform. Remember, the science went away from the religion because they don’t want to follow faith. They completely go away, following the text. And now, they’re making a sort of really complete U-turn and looking in these and finding really true answer is with this and that’s what Buddha did and this is great compassion. Thank you. 0:11:06.5 Yes sir?

Audience: Good evening Your Holiness. My name is Adrian I have got three questions. My first question is how important is motive in a person doing a good deed? Because there could be two reasons why a person does something good. One, out of genuine compassion and secondly, it could be out of a desire of wanting something good for himself. So the motive is quite different so I want to know how important- although the result is the same, right? When somebody does good, we get good. My second question is that, when you mentioned that love you get love and compassion you also get good, now, are you referring to the happiness that one derives from the karmic perspective that you may not get it now, that happiness, but you may get it later. My third question, final question, is while compassion and love are great guiding principles in making a choice, but I think that wisdom and clarity is also very desirable to make the best choice so how does one gain wisdom and clarity, what are the ways? Thank you.

Rimpoche: Thank you. Before you go away, I even forgot your first question. [Laughter]

Audience: My first question is motives.

Rimpoche: Motivation and second is compassion business and third is the wisdom business right?

Audience: Correct.

Rimpoche: Where I come from, I was told motivation is the key. And I’ll tell you why. When we talk about compassion, what are we talking about? When we talk about love, what are we talking about? When we talk about wisdom, what are we talking about? We are talking about compassion is actually wishing to remove suffering. Love is bringing joy. Wisdom is discriminating. So wishing to separate from pain, wishing to bring joy, it all becomes motivation. When we talk about motivation, why am I doing this? I would like to remove suffering, in general. I know your question went in detail whether it’s self interest or interest of the others, whatever it is, you went in detail but I would like to say this. Wishing to separate, remove suffering without mentioning self or other and I think it’s important. It is also important to emphasise removing the suffering of the others is usually known for compassion means focusing on the others.

However, if you don’t care for yourself, who else is going to care for you? Maybe your wife. That’s about it. So you have to care for yourself- that was joke ok, don’t take it literally. People won’t laugh unless I say it’s joke. [Laughter] Anyway, so removing suffering from yourself may not be the major focus of the motivation. 0:16:28.6 However, if you do not know how to help yourself, how are you going to help others? It is interesting to mention here. My good friend Professor Richard Alfred lately known as Baba Ram Dass, very good, wonderful person, kind, compassionate, thoroughly dedicated, very wonderful, New Age teacher, wrote a book called ‘How can I help?’. I made a joke saying ‘Since you did not study Tibetan Buddhism so you don’t know how to help yourself, how to help others so you have to write a book how can I help you?’

But if you have the background of the Tibetan Buddhism, that’s where I come from, that’s where I know about it, I don’t pretend to know anything else. So here they tell you, first thing is if you don’t know how to help yourself how can you help others? Way to help others is exactly way how to help yourself. Then it becomes genuine, then it becomes authentic, then it becomes real, then it becomes reality. Otherwise, it becomes academic subject. So to answer your first question, motivation in general, love-compassion is absolutely important and absolutely necessary but that should not exclude yourself at all. I had opportunity to learn little bit about the Buddhism, the Tibetan background. Every phrase that I read, every book that I read, everywhere it says 0:19:09.1

Pa ton wan… ‘I and all mother sentient beings’, it’s always ‘I and all mother sentient beings take refuge, I and all mother sentient beings generate compassion’. It doesn’t say ‘All sentient beings except me will generate refuge, all sentient beings except me’. It does not say that. So one should not exclude oneself. Although it has a little selfish interest, no doubt about it but there are times in your path. Particularly beginning level like ourself. Here, the personal interest, self interest, is very much encouraged by Buddha himself and great many masters. Later you become bodhisattva level then self-interest is discouraged. It’s time to time different treatments comes in. So that is important to recognise.

Traditional old example by the traditional old Tibetan masters. When you’re sick there are periods that doctors will tell you ‘Don’t you ever eat any meat’ and there is period when same doctor, same patient, same illness, there will be period when doctor tell you ‘Now you must have meat here’. So it is one illness, one patient, one doctor, one meat. However, there are times when you have to eat and you cannot eat. 0:21:21.0 Just like that. So must include self-interest at the beginning, at our level. No one says ‘all sentient beings except myself, do this, do that’. No one ever said that. So always say ‘I and all beings do this, do that’. So that is the motivation part of it.

Your second question was what now? This is my mind. Third is wisdom but second is what? Compassion. Well I think I sort of gone together. First and second is almost together in that case. Second is compassion. Sir?

Audience: 0:22:24.8 [inaudible]

Rimpoche: Oh yeah. Perhaps you don’t know where I come from. I come from Vajrayana background so we don’t wait for next life. [Laughter] We want to be reality, real. If it’s real we must get now. If we don’t get now, this life, long story. So I’m not really looking next life. I’m looking at what’s happening now. You know, compassion bringing happiness is now. It’s real, true. Even you meditate few minutes on compassion and feel, look in yourself, how you feel, you’ll see the difference. You see very different. Also if you spend, say, like 20 minutes in a day meditating on compassion and when you look in yourself and you’re feeling big difference and if you don’t do it like a week later or ten days later, you will see what is missing in your life. I’m really looking now. Of course future and all of those, future life and all of those, if karma is true, they should be there. If karma is a lie, we’re all cheated. So I don’t worry about it. I really want it now. It makes a difference now in our life.

Our feelings, our attitude, our relationships, everything. Even in our home, with your family, with your spouse, with your children, the compassion mind makes difference. Even your mother-in-law will love you. [Laughter] That’s what I’m looking now. 0:25:38.1 And wisdom, the third aspect of your question. Yes, without wisdom, nothing can be done. Information is wisdom, education is wisdom, understanding is wisdom and what we want is discriminating wisdom. Where we want what, knowing what to do. Give you an example. Generosity is great. You know, I know, we all know. Everybody accepts. Generosity, generosity. Great. But generosity needs discriminating wisdom. You can’t be very generous to drug addicted people. If you give a hundred ringgit to a drug addicted person, he’s probably going to spend that next five minutes, whatever he has, to do, you know. So that’s not wise. So you need discriminating wisdom.

However, if that person has tremendous withdrawal symptoms and if you cut out completely, he will lose his life and therefore, you should provide. And that is discriminating wisdom. Just giving you example, on generosity. Where should be, where should not be. Likewise, if you need compassion in everything, wisdom is eye. You see it, you can read it. All others, compassion and all others- faith, worship, prayer, mantras- all of them are blind. Wisdom is the eye. A great Indian master called Chandrakirti has said 0:28:20.5 Me lu mi… They’re all like blind, hundreds of blind. If they can’t see the road, how can they get into city? They need a guide, they need an eye, that is wisdom. Without wisdom, everything is blind.