Archive Result

Sound file 20060608GRNYALS

Speaker Gelek Rinpoche

Location New York, USA

Topic Thursday teachings, attaining lasting satisfaction 2006

Transcriber Michiel Kerkkamp

Date 07-11-2021

0:00:00.0 songs and prayers

0:00:37.9 Thank you and welcome here tonight and this is the Wesak Month, although today is not the fifteenth but it is Wesak day, Wesak Month. It is interesting when you looking at the Wesak means: the full moon of the fourth month of the lunar calendar is supposed to be day which Buddha was born and obtained enlightenment and finally passing away. All three of them, supposed to be fall on the same day in different years and we are looking at two thousand six hundred years history so and that also of Asian culture so probably I don’t know there is really something returned down there or not: we don’t know. But also Wesak day, two different days we see, one is all the South-east Asian counties they celebrated Wesak day I think a little bit one month ago. And Tibetan, Mongolians, I don’t know how the Chines does but somehow I think Chines do too and celebrate Wesak this month. Some people told me, the Mahayana people do this month and Theravada people does another month, I don’t know, I have no idea. I heard about it, I read about it but there is no really very specific authentic thing. And sometimes spiritual practice really doesn’t need very black and white scientific proof maybe but whatever it maybe, the Wesak day is supposed to have threefold of benefits, whatever you do, threefold. If you that day, if you’re not having killing, if you don’t kill anything with the mind of not killing; instead of having one good Karma of not killing you supposed to have threefold: sort of three good Karma of not killing.

0:03:45.0 So these are the, what we call spiritual traditional value or information or whatever you may call it. So believe that works in that way and so we will appreciate and rejoice a great achievement that Buddha not only achieved for himself but millions of people thereafter, I think we rejoice that and remembering all what we call it: commemorate or whatever we call that. So not only rejoicing but most important way to remember the Buddha’s deeds is to follow the Buddha’s advices. Buddha’s advices not only based on faith and believe but really a total solid, very solid thing. Very, I don’t know how to say it. You can’t say it very scientific but it is almost like really very scientific thing, the spiritual development according to the Buddha’s way of teaching and based on the Buddha’s experience which is very very, I mean it is really comes together with the science, even today. So best way to commemorate Buddha; remembering the Buddha’s kindness and repaying, following is following the teachings of the Buddha and that is best for everybody whether it is Wesak or no Wesak. Whatever it is, the best way is how Buddha discovers the conditions of people and us.

0:06:59.9 It is interesting to look a little bit into the Buddha’s live story. Buddha’s, I mean, there are a lot of those Jedaka's (?) and principles and all of those but the most important thing is Buddha. Before Buddha was born as prince of Indian principality. That time, if you look at it, at that time there are a lot of little kingdoms around and each and every one of them tried to take over the others. And they are really sort of looking for, everyone is looking for opportunity to become, what they call it, Chakatayradjas (?): those universal king who controls the whole universe through the wheel or whatever that is. Anyway, everybody is looking for that so at that time they sort of believed the universal king can be through the lack of a new king, whoever may be.

So whenever there was a children expected from any king, they are all hoping for that and what they did at that time is getting the soothsayers and asking them and getting the astrology’s and try to get them confirm through astrologically or through the soothsayers and through every means that they know at that time. Their prince will become the universal king, and that’s what they did in India at that time, so they worked for that. So each and every soothsayer that this Kingdom has invited told them: yes you have an extraordinary prince and he will be become the universal king, provided if you can keep him whole.

0:09:52.9 So anybody says that, so the whole kingdom goes around in saying: what do you mean, you can’t keep a prince whole, what do you mean? So they said, he will run away. How will he run away? How can we prevent him running away? So if we can keep him happy and there is no, not a slightest seeing of misery or any of that, and then he will be extremely happy, and when he is happy, there is no reason why he run away. So they decided to keep him away from any normal life so they provided very special artificial life. They build a special palace so naturally, when the Indians at that time, build a palace, they know how to build, believe me: look at Taj Mahal. That will tell you, look at the Red Fort in Delhi; I used to live in Delhi and if you looking at the Red Fort, the Red Fort is, you know, it is a ruin now but when you go to second and third floor, you can see the old, even they took a swimming pool in the bathrooms, with fresh water running, you can still see that you know. The ruins are still there. So they decided to have a complete artificial live for this little prince. So for years, for decades really, the have been able to keep there: no one who is old cannot go, no one who is sick cannot go, they have to leave immediately. And all young handsome beautiful everyone was allowed and was put their duty, and 24 hours singing, dancing, whatever. And that way they tried to entertain the little prince so that they may not run away. And also the prince sees that little areas are within the palace that he can’t go and there is suddenly an area where you reach there, it becomes out of bound for him. So he was wondering what is beyond these walls.

0:12:54.9 Just like Alan Ginsberg used to say, and even he had a point ready, that he says: I was wondering, when I was a kid, I was wondering what is beyond that tree in his home in New Jersey or something I believe. And always wondering: when he was ten, he can go other side of the tree and he found a glue factory, and the same thing for a very similar...(?) , now the young prince was wondering what is behind this wall, that he can’t go. So one day he chose to sit on his chariot and he sat there and he decided to have driving. He told his driver; drive! So the driver turns around and says: the god of God and king of king you know, you cannot go beyond that. This is out of my ...(?). Who is the king, am I or you are, so naturally he had no alternative but go, and going beyond that and what he encountered, what he discovered is this sickness, these sick people, people were sick. He's been wondering, what is this? Never seen before, sick people. And he is saying: what is this, so the driver turns back and says: God of God, king of king: this is called illness, this is called sick. And similarly discovered old age and death. So Buddha really, as a little, not a little but as a young price, begin to discover the true life which is a lot of suffering. Every one of us, everybody no matter rich or poor. Or healthy or sick. Strong or weak, man or woman, no matter whoever, whatever may be in our life, there is a tremendous pain: mental, physical, emotional pain.

0:16:15.8 Tremendous, in addition to our usual sufferings of aging, sickness, dying, separation, death. All of those, on top of that, we have tremendous pains. And that is the reality, the true nature of a life. Some people say, once you are born, you are born to suffer. That may or may not be true. However, and that is almost reality. True, there was suffering, that’s what Buddha found. And they call that First Noble Truth. It is really in one way, it is the discovering of that little, that young prince because he was almost locked in that case, in that artificial palace. Nothing ever known to him and when he really encounters with real live, this is he discovered. Which is unfortunately true 2.600 years ago and it is true today. And unfortunately, it was true forever. And that is reality with our life. Today many of you young beautiful handsome healthy and many of us old, ugly, fat, whatever, sick. The reality is; everybody goes through death. Whatever it may be, the live has that problem. I don’t intend to take too long here to talk so I am going to cut this a little short because you always hear that: suffering, suffering, suffering. And what Buddha discovered is the First Noble Truth; the truth of suffering.

0:19:44.7 To cut that into short: there is really four important points. The point number one is: whatever we accumulate, collect, the end of the accumulating or collection is exhaustion or finished, gone, empty. Not in philosophical terms of empty but literarily. End of accumulating is going to be meet (met) with exhaustion or empty. And of you know, union, company, everything is separation. No matter when, but it ends with the separation. End of the …(?) is that. Life whatever beautiful, however it might be but that ends with the death. And end of success or becoming high, no matter how high you go: the end is falling down. So basically, it is the reality and we don’t see it when we are not there, we don’t see it. We don’t see this so we do all kinds of things in order to, in the name of bringing happiness and joy. What Buddha discovered is: that was the reality and that is the reality and that will be the reality as a long as the living beings exist in non-enlightened form. That is, you know, what Buddha discovered: the first thing that is Buddha’s discovery. That is true reality, absolutely true and that’s why the Buddhist sort of law, or what you call it, Buddhist seal or whatever.

0:23:48.9 And that is also said: anything accumulated, created: it is impermanent. And that is coming from here. Anything, whatever created, it is impermanent. Anything contaminated, it is suffering. Every phenomena(on) is natural of emptiness. Nirvana is peace. This are what we normally call Four Buddha’s Nobles or Buddhist signs or Buddhist seals. Different people call different but Buddha’s emblem or whatever. So that is coming from, because of that Buddha’s discovery. Any phenomena that is (are) created, it is impermanent. Since it is impermanent, no matter whatever it is: it ends in that way. That is truth of suffering that Buddha discovered. So during that young prince while he was driving out on his chariot and he immediately, what he asked the driver is: am I immune for this or do I go true with this or am I immune, I don’t have to, because I'm prince. The driver replied: you will go through (this), you are not immune. What about my parents, the royal family? They will also go through. What about the subjects that I am supposed to protect? These are your subjects. So that made him think: how can I help myself? And how can I help my family and how can I help the people that I am supposed to be protecting? And that make(s) that young prince to think and to choose his priority and found his mission of life to find a solution how we can prevent this. Is there an end for it or do we have to suffer because we are born?

0:27:08.4 Fortunately what then Buddha discovered: no matter how deep, how terrible this sufferings, pain: particularly mental, physical , emotional pains, sometime that we go through so deep. Drag the individual so much down. I say as Buddhist terminology I like to use this: seven layers below the earth we drag ourself with that much down. And sort really .. (?) down under the ground: seven layers we are down, we suffer there. All of us, some have more, some have less. We all do. We go down there and find no way out, no matter whatever is happening there not right: it is painful, it is miserable. The way I want it, it doesn’t work; it happens the other way around. It is always and anyone’s experience; you have to remember; that’s not you alone. That’s not your personal problem. It is everybody go through. Some are worse, some are less, that is true. It is almost like there is no end, you dug down there, really. But what Buddha discovered is: yes, there is an end. No matter how much you come down there; always there is a way out. I have a couple of friends, when I call friends, the Dharma people, I never call them students, no-one, I don’t like to. I call them friends. Certainly, I don’t like to call disciples. A number of friends had funny dreams trough their lives that you really fall down in the seven or thirteen layers. One of them called me: way down below, some you know, like where you dig the water, you know: well or something. Way down to the well and he was stuck there but then there is some kind of air comes and fly a little piece of paper out of that.

0:30:23.6 And that paper flying out happens to be you. So that is a dream, somebody described it, but however true reality is: even you don’t do anything because its impermanent. At the end of the lower, down, miserable years, going to be up high and happy. And up high and happy also doesn’t stay there: at the end of that go down deep suffering. That is true reality. That’s what Buddha discovered. But way out of that is not treating the symptoms of suffering but treating the cause of suffering. Cause of suffering so the second Noble Truth: through the cause of suffering. What really causes suffering or is suffering something that you have to have it because you are born. One thing Buddha really discovered is: no, you don’t have to. You don’t have to suffer. We do suffer but there is always a way end, there is a way out. We don’t have to suffer if we knew how to handle and what causes pains. And if we know how to avoid that. That is, you know, the truth of suffering is that. Suffering has not come on us for no reason. It came on us with the conditions and we created that conditions. Nothing comes out of nothing, nothing. For Buddha this is (rumor in the crowd). I'm lost, what are we talking about?

0:34:43.5 Nothing comes out of nothing. Everything comes out of something and where does that something come from? A number of people will say, ohh God has given you, bla bla bla, all kind of things: we say all that. Unfortunately, now here comes one point, one reason why in Buddhism, we don’t accept or not accept, believe or not believe is not the right language, or whatever it is. And one reason why Buddhism does not, Buddha doesn’t say or Buddhism does not follow a monotheistic god is simply on that reason because nothing comes out of nothing, everything comes out of something. And that something also so no other person’s deed, whatever it may be, will never affect me. Everything is my own deeds and I am responsible for my deeds. Whatever I do good, and that is my doing it and whenever I get good things: it is my deeds and I deserve it. Whatever suffer is also my deed and I created that cause and so I am paying for it. So that is becoming extremely important. It is the, officially we don’t say that, but the true reality of the cause of suffering is that. Whatever we experience today, good or bad, it is our deeds. Our own deeds, whatever I experience good, it is my deeds, I deserve it. Whatever I experience pain, misery, problem, it is my deed, I am paying for it. And that is the principle of self-responsibility. Because of that, and no one else can make or do or allowed or confirmed or anything in that way. So that is the reason why in Buddhism there is no, what you call it, monotheistic god. Because whatever we do it is our self: I am responsible for me. You are responsible to yourself.

0:38:34.3 So when Buddha was looking in this and finding that way, discovering that way, that’s fine, then what causes suffering for me? Because when I hurt anyone including myself hurting, including hurting our self, is the cause of suffering for our self. For me, my cause of suffering when I hurt people including myself that causes me suffering. That becomes my negative Karma. That brings suffering as a consequence. So key for the Buddha to completely stop this suffering once (and) for all is: if we can stop that negative Karma which is hurting our self and other people. If we can stop that forever: we can stop our suffering forever. So that is the way out that Buddha found. How we can stop hurting other people or stop lot of people hurt our self you know. We know that right? We have seen it. People try to punish self or all kind of things by cutting, by doing all kind of things, we know, you know more than I do. Sometimes even in the pretext of joy, actually we hurt our self so badly. How we can stop hurting? If you really look carefully within our, Buddha discovered this and heard with us (?) but we need to know so if you really look at our mind very carefully, what makes us hurt? Me or other people?

0:41:45.9 What kind of mind that comes up? You know, we don’t function without mental direction. We don’t function physically, we don’t find it is a dead body, the body what I have is a dead body without mind. Since there is a mind, that mind makes us move and do this and do that all of them are a mind that moved first and that makes us function. Even Wong (?) said, whatever going to the toilet or whatever, every single time, thing we do has a mind before that. So, what is our job here? Is to observe that mind: what kind of mental emotions make us do what? When you are looking at; everything that we do can hurt us or other people are followed by some kind of mental emotion that is either angry or hatred or obsession or most importantly: fear. The fear makes us to do all kinds of things. It is the fear. Fear, hatred, obsession; those faculties and sometimes we think we have no control for whatsoever. For over anger, hatred or all this, it looks like we have no control. That’s because we are addicted to that. You know, when people are addicted to the substance, looks like you can do anything: you have to have it. The alcoholic people do the same thing and drug addicted people do the same thing. So negative emotion addicted people and us; we all do the same thing. It is an addiction. Nothing but addiction.

0:44:51.3 When the addiction is strong, it looks like we can do nothing. It is completely huge emotion that’s rolling over us completely, control completely. Whether it is anger or hatred or whatever you know. All different, they have a different face they show, just completely roll over. But that’s not permanent, it is impermanent. Not only impermanent, you don’t have to. It is preventable, it is avoidable. It is not only treatable, you say when some illness you don’t have to die but some people will lose people, this is exactly what it is. We don’t have to but we suffer. We lose control. We go under that. Some people suffer tremendously, some people suffer a little less. But we all suffer anyway. So it is preventable, it is correctable, just like alcohol addictions whatever. Substance addictions are preventable at least by going under AA program, it can prevent. And that is Buddha’s discovery, that doesn’t mean Buddha made AA programs but really true, it is preventable. We don’t have to suffer. And these emotions are reversible. You don’t even have to submit to it. You don’t even have to entertain it. But we do all the time. Problem is because we don’t recognize. We don’t know until it completely rolled over, soaked in everything you know. We have a saying in Tibetan: some who are really clever people have already, you know, they are so witty (?) all, not only they sold you, taking the money and recycled already even there we don’t know we have been sold. You know what I mean? Didn’t make sense at all right? Didn’t make sense (conversation with audience).

0:48:35.6 So that is our problem, so always recognize, acknowledge and nothing shamed of it: everybody has the same problem. Some people don’t want to say it, they cover it with make ups, try to smile and make ups. But everybody has that problem, remember; you are not the only one. No, everybody has it. The recognizing, knowing it: denial is a problem, tremendous problem, we keep on denying. Denial will never give us room to help our self at all. So do not deny: recognize, acknowledge, remember. Once you recognize, even though it is late, it doesn’t matter. Better late than never. Even as past tense, ohh that’s what has happened, that’s fine: acknowledge. When you acknowledge as past tense, that helps us to knowledge at the present what is happening. And that helps us to acknowledge even before it comes up. And there you prevent. That’s how we prevent. So, knowing sufferings cost by hurting action of hurting is caused by negative emotions such as hatred. Truly hatred brings hatred, that brings violence. Violence brings violence. Violence hurts people physically, mentally, emotionally, everything. We don’t have to go anywhere else; we can see it every day, these days, every day.

0:51:47.3 There is no mystery about it: violence brings violence, hatred brings hatred and violence and that’s how hatred causes suffering. So does the obsession, so does the jealousy and the fear and all of them are caused by what we call ego. Traditionally we call that ignorance. Ego, ego that grasping called something me within the me, completely superior sort of you know, something like supernatural superior whatever within the me, we are grasping that. And everything is we are doing it for protecting that, prospering (?) that, developing that. So that is the real cause of suffering so the ego entertaining. Ego entertaining is the cause of suffering. So which I will be doing next week or the week thereafter I don’t know. These three Tuesday’s I have dealing with this. Any way which will be that ago but only we should not be entertain that ego, we should wipe that ego out of ourself completely.

0:54:47.6 If we can do that we will be free of suffering and that is Buddhas discovery and that is what we try to follow. That’s what becomes our goal of spiritual practice. Just opposite of those negative emotions are love and compassion and that’s why love compassion becomes so important. That’s what Buddha discovered: when you wipe (?) your ego off, you’re left with nothing but love and compassion. Anyway, (about) that I will be talking to you next week. I think I discovered my job description today, anyway. So what I want you to take home is: what we talk on the basic (?) weeks is the discovery of the Buddha and the Buddha discovered the suffering in our sort of really natural, however it’s not true natural, it is false natural but we perceive this as the truth and that is our problem. And because of that we create a lot of negativities. Negativities is nothing more than hurting: it is very hard to make a division and distinction between positive and negative. However when you hurt, and that is including ourself. Hurting ourself is one of the most important negativities, bad karma. If you want to be happy, don’t do it. Don’t hurt yourself, don’t hurt anybody else. Love compassion brings happiness. Hatred, obsession, jealousy brings suffering.

0:57:56.8 That is what we call that Buddha discovered so my subject of tonight is; what did Buddha discover so that’s what it is. And that also as spiritual practioners we are not watching a historical movie, so it has to live it there (?). That’s what Buddha discovered. What does that mean to me, the Joe Blow in Downtown Manhattan? That means: whatever Buddha discovered there is absolutely relevant to me today and it was relevant 2.500 years ago and is relevant today. So not living there as a movie or excavation/exhibition (?) or presentation but becoming as a part of me and that becomes reality with me. Looking into that, working with that is what I call spiritual practice. I guess that’s it. I am not going to give you the opportunity to ask questions today. You can do next week hopefully and I don’t know about you, I’m going home. Ohh no I am not going home, I am going somewhere else. Anyway.

Thank you.

1:00:17.3 end, prayers.

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