Archive Result

20051210GRMLLLR11

Chinese translation (from the last part of 20051210GRMLLLR10) When the boy get out of the palace, when he goes outside in the East, he found suffering illness and South, found aging. I’m just saying south, east. By saying it doesn’t mean that. When we went to the West he found death, when he goes to the North he found the answer to all these problems. So that is really a discovery of the suffering and also if you look at this boy and what he asked the questions that he asked when he first saw the suffering and saying the first question is ‘Am I immune or will I be the subject of this?’ and the second question, he said ‘What about my family, the royal family? I be immune of this suffering because we’re the royals. Or what about the subject of the people that I’m supposed to protect and help? What about them? Are they immune?’.

These are his questions and what did he find is these are the realities of the life and no one is above those karmic laws. So this is discovering of truth of suffering so he calls this truth of suffering. Not only the death and illness and aging but all kinds of mental, physical, emotional, financial, family, all pains that we go through. For that young prince it is discovery and it happens to be the reality of our own situation and it happens to be truth then, 2005-2006 years ago, and it happens to be truth today and that’s why it’s called truth of suffering. 0:04:08.6 Chinese translation

Then raised the second question to the mind of this buddha. The young boy raised second question ‘Where did this come from? No one is immune and we’re all subject to this, we've been tortured and tormented by these pains. Where is this coming from?’ and that is the question raised in the mind of that young prince. So his answer is not that someone is giving you, it’s not that you’re born with it so you got to suffer with it. That’s not his answer. He doesn’t accept that answer. He wanted to know where it is come from, how do I deal with this, is there a way out. These are the questions that have been bothering his mind and these are the questions that really took him to looking deeper in this situation. He did not run away from the problem saying ‘Oh my god, it is the- you are born with it, you’ve got to suffer, blah, blah’ He didn’t give that way. He said ‘Where is it come from? Who made it? What is it all about?’ so then he found it is the second noble truth: the truth of cause.

It is nothing but our own personal pieces that creates this problem. It is not that a god sits up there and decided that you should suffer nor it is anybody else did it except our own deeds, whatever we did and that is whatever it is. In the mind of this young boy, it becomes the responsibility of ourself, to ourselves, the responsibility of our deeds, the responsibility to ourself and that is the cause of suffering although technically, officially I should say the cause is karma and delusion and blah, blah, blah. Karmic cause and delusion, this is official line, language, but the reality really is the responsibility of this and yourself and our own deeds that causing the misery and problem and nothing else did anything except our own deeds. 0:09:18.2 Chinese translation

Then question comes, what deed? What did I do? What was it? What is the one who really creates problem you’re talking about- what is it? And then it comes, all our deeds mostly are influenced our negative emotions such as hatred, such as obsession, such as jealousy, such as craving and all kinds of these emotions, we’re almost controlled- our mind is almost controlled by our emotions rather than mind itself functioning pure way but it’s the emotions. There are positive emotions and there are negative emotions. But however, we found that it’s true, that we are addicted to our negative emotions.

We don’t have to learn how to hate, we don’t have to learn how to get jealousy, we don’t have to learn how to be obsessed but we do have to learn how to put efforts, how to be generous. We do have to learn and put efforts how to develop intelligent faith not blind faith but intelligent faith. So any positive emotions are not automatic, it requires effort. If almost all negative emotions are automatic with us, that’s what we call it addiction or habitual pattern or whatever we may call it, we have that. Because of that, we do something wrong all the time. Instead of helping, we hurt.

All idea of preemptive business introduced by Mr President is the hatred idea, ‘I must catch you before you got me’, very cowboy idea. You know that. All of those are, these are the automatic habitual patterns that we all have. Bush demonstrated in larger scale but we all have it in smaller scale within our own life, within our own dealings, within our own everywhere, that’s what we do and that’s called negative emotions and that’s called addiction to the negative emotions and that cause the act of hurting people and that cause the suffering and that is the second truth. 0:14:24.0 Chinese translation

Then comes the third and fourth truths, the question really rises ‘Is there a way out?’ Alright, I may be caught in the bottomless pit somewhere but is there a way out? That is the question. Is there a way out? If you really look, this is something fantastic. What Buddha really found is, yes there is a way out. Why- this is really important- why there is a way out? Because it is all dependent arise, not an independent, permanent, solid setup. It is impermanent, dependent arise. Did you get me? I’m using some kind of funny technical words such as impermanent or independent and dependent arise. During the next couple of days we’ll be talking that more detailed but whatever is happening in our life, it is dependent, depend on the terms and conditions. When the terms and conditions are right, things are happening. When the terms and conditions are wrong, things doesn’t happen. So it is dependent arise, not an independent, solid something.

We talked last night about the wisdom, remember? There was some gentleman who raised the question talking about wisdom. So the wisdom is all about this. How do we exist? How do we function? What is the mechanism of functioning in life? What is it all about? And there comes the answer what Buddha found. A dependent rise, not independent. Dependent arise. When the dependent arise, it depends on terms and conditions, when it depends on terms and conditions, you have right and opportunity to change and to correct and to make a difference for ourself and to the others and that’s why there is a way out. This is really something very important and really something very profound. 0:20:13.1 Chinese translation

And this is one of the most important points. Not only important point in the spiritual path, it is also becoming extremely important in the material world. Totally our life is all about it and that’s what I’ve been telling you last night. How the physicists and physics people and biochemist people, the scientists are so interested and intrigued by this idea of Buddha, it’s based on this and because it is dependent arise so there is no independent. When there’s no independent, there is room for everything, 0:23:45.3 [inaudible], for everything. And that’s why there is a way out of whatever the suffering or pains or whatever, bottomless pit, whatever you call it. There’s a way out because it is dependent arise. Honestly. And that is sort of really the fourth path. The path lead to cessation is really that’s what it is.

And third truth is truth of cessation which means completely opposite overcoming suffering, end about that. Sort of really end of all that is the light what you shine, end of the darkness, that is the 0:24:38.5 [inaudible] cessation. So I don’t have to talk much about cessation, you know it. 0:24:44.6 Chinese translation And this is the fundamental basis of Buddhism, whether you look into the Theravadan Tibetan whatever Mahayana whatever you look, that is the basic principle for Buddhism. Chinese translation So because of that, very important question such as who are we, what is our mind, what is our emotions and what is ego, what is the relationship between the ego and compassion, what do we mean by training of mind? And all of those questions are actually based on the question of dependent arise. 0:27:48.4 Chinese translation

And that is the chapters of ‘Good Life and Good Death’. That is how- I said it is linked and the ideas coming from Buddhism, whether it really introduces Buddhism or not but that’s how it is. So we have a whole time to talk about that but before that I’d like to sort of say a few words about the introduction of the Buddhism. So the Buddhism is really the essence of the Buddha’s teaching. Buddha himself has concluded. What is Buddhism? He had replied 0:29:15.4 ‘Tib wa je… So avoid all negative actions and build as much as possible the positive actions and most important, train and watch your mind. And this is Buddhism. That is Buddha’s own statement which I like to call it a bus stop Buddhism. 0:29:56.2 Chinese translation

So what does that tell us? That tells us Buddhism is nothing just a holy, unreachable or untouchable something. Something that’s holy, you have to pack up up there and put incense around and become untouchable and I’m using purposely untouchables. It’s not and a lot of people think that way and that is number one misunderstanding. 0:31:45.4 Chinese translation Holy? Maybe. Definitely not unreachable or untouchable. Chinese translation Buddhism is as such that it’s the way of life. Chinese translation It is also thought process, Chinese translation it is a philosophy, Chinese translation it is a religion, Chinese translation it is something that we can do, Chinese translation it is change.