May 2, 2003

Q&A: Does the Mind Exist?

[Rinpoche leads La ma ton pa…. and Guru Shakyamuni Buddha mantras; then Refuge and Bodhicitta three times; then prayer preliminary to teaching.]

Maybe before the talk, if there’s one question maybe? [Pause] All the questions are in silence. [Rinpoche laughs] Yeah.

Student: Is the mind labeled?

Rinpoche: What do you think? What does your holy mind think?

Student: I think it’s labeled.

Rinpoche: Yeah? You think so? Why? Why?

Student: Everything is labeled, no? All of existence, so then the mind is also labeled.

Rinpoche: I think the mind is labeled but also it exists from its own side. It also exists from its own side, don’t you think?

Student: No.

Rinpoche: No? I think it exists from its own side. You don’t see a real mind? You don’t see there’s a real mind? You don’t feel that it’s a real mind? Huh? You don’t think that there’s a real mind? Do you believe that there’s a real mind?

Student: I don’t believe that there’s a real mind.

Rinpoche: You don’t believe that there’s a real mind, uh huh. OK. So that means the mind that you have is a false mind? That means the mind that you have is a false mind because you don’t have a real mind. Anyway, do you have mind or not? In the first place, do you have mind or not? [Laughter]

Student: There’s no body that has a mind.

Rinpoche: Oh? There’s no body, do you mean body like this, no body has mind? Or you mean nobody, a person? Do you mean the person, no person has mind? Or no body has mind? What do you mean?

Student: There is no I that possesses a mind.

Rinpoche: Ah lay. So, you don’t have mind?

Student: No.

Rinpoche: You don’t have mind? That’s good, then no problem! What’s the problem?

Student: That’s the point—there’s no problem. There’s no problem.

Rinpoche: So why you are here? [Group laughs]

Student: To realize that I don’t have any problems.

Rinpoche: What? You have realized that you don’t have problems?

Student: No, I still have problems but in reality, I don’t have any problems.

Rinpoche: You have realized you have no problem? Huh?

Student: Not yet. [Laughter]

Rinpoche: So in reality you don’t have problems? So in reality if somebody tells you, “You are bad monk,” if somebody tells you, if somebody shouts at you, “You are a bad monk,” do you get angry or not? Will you get angry or not?

Student: It depends on who it is.

Rinpoche: No, no, no. Somebody shouts on you. Somebody makes a big noise on you that you are a bad monk, something like this. Will you get angry? Or will you be so patient and so respectful? Saying “Thank you very much, thank you very much.” What? Which one?

Student: Usually I get angry.

Rinpoche: I see, usually, but not this minute, right? I’m joking. So usually you get angry, right? So usually you have a problem. You’re not angry now, but in reality you do have anger.

Student: Yes.

Rinpoche: You do have anger but in reality you don’t have a problem. In reality you have anger, but in reality you don’t have problem? So in reality you have anger, right? So, is that a problem or not? Is that bliss or a problem? When you have anger, is that bliss or a problem?

Student: Both. It depends on your label.

Rinpoche: So while you have anger, do you label it bliss or do you label problem?

Student: Problem probably.

Rinpoche: Problem of problem? You label it problem of problem. So in reality you have a problem?

Student: [Inaudible]

Rinpoche: Your anger is a problem, but you don’t have a problem, right? That’s the difference. Which one is no? The first one or the second one? OK.

So going back, you said you don’t have a real mind. You don’t have a real mind, you have only a false mind?

Student: We all have illusory mind. [Remainder inaudible]

Rinpoche: So you only have a false mind, right? So you have neither real mind nor false mind? No mind?

Student: There’s an illusory mind. There’s no real, nothing, just nothing false. Body and illusory mind….

Rinpoche: What is illusory mind? If you don’t have a false mind, then what is illusory mind? Do you have the object of refuge, Buddha, Dharma, Sangha? Or not? What?

Student: Only conventionally I have.

Rinpoche: So conventionally you have, right? Buddha, Dharma, Sangha? But isn’t that sufficient? Isn’t that enough? You need more than that? You need Buddha, Dharma, Sangha more than that? More than conventional truth? Huh? That’s sufficient? Huh?

Student: At the moment, yes. [Laughter]

Rinpoche: Otherwise, it will be too much for you, right? If it exists more than that it would be too much for you? Too much?

Student: That’s my problem.

Rinpoche: What? Less problem if the Buddha, Dharma, Sangha exist conventionally, right? So conventionally you have Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, right? So that means you have Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, or you don’t? Do you have an object of refuge or not?

Student: I cannot answer that.

Rinpoche: But how’s it possible your mind is…. You said, I forgot, you have mind or you don’t have mind?

Student: I said at the beginning that the I doesn’t have any mind.

Rinpoche: Oh, I see! Now it’s very clear, extremely clear. If the I doesn’t have mind, then why is there a need for refuge in Buddha, Dharma, Sangha? What for? Because if you don’t have mind, you have no suffering, right? You have no suffering. So why do you need to take the refuge object, Buddha, Dharma, Sangha? For what?

Student: Because I have a strong belief that I’m suffering, but it’s not true. I came here to realize that.

Rinpoche: Then do you meditate?

Student: I try.

Rinpoche: But you don’t need to meditate because you don’t have suffering. You don’t have samsara. You have no mind. There’s nothing which experiences suffering, so why do you need to meditate? You don’t need to meditate, you don’t have to practice Dharma because you don’t have suffering, you don’t have mind. You don’t have mind, so that means you don’t have suffering, so you don’t need to practice. Also, you don’t have mind so it means you don’t have mind to benefit others as well. So why do you need to practice? Because you don’t have mind you don’t have suffering, so you don’t need to practice because you don’t have suffering. Also, you don’t have mind so it means you don’t have mind to benefit other sentient beings.

It’s like the table here; it doesn’t have mind. Or like the plants, no mind. Like this, no mind. They don’t need to practice Dharma. They don’t need to practice Dharma. [Laughter] Does your nose need to practice Dharma or not?

Student: No.

Rinpoche: Why? Why this doesn’t need to practice Dharma, tell me? [Rinpoche points to the flowers.]

Student: They don’t need to practice Dharma because they don’t _____.

Rinpoche: They don’t sleep. They don’t eat.

Student: They cannot sit in the bushes. [Laughter]

Rinpoche: No, they have a very nice jar, they’re sitting in a very nice jar on the brocade. No, I’m joking.

So, you don’t have mind but you experience happiness and suffering, right? You don’t have mind but you experience…. Oh, I understand. You don’t have mind but you get angry. Oh, I understand. You don’t have mind but you get angry. Right?

Student: I didn’t say that ___ [Inaudible]

Rinpoche: You didn’t say you have no mind?

Student: Yeah, I didn’t say that.

Rinpoche: Oh. I think it came from your nose. It didn’t come from the mouth, it came from the nose. I understood, yes, it came from the right nostril. Maybe this one says different one! [Pointing to other nostril.] I’m joking, anyway. So, do you have mind?

Student: I don’t have mind but there’s a mind. Illusory mind. There’s no real one and there’s no I that possesses a real mind also. There’s a mind that is illusory.

Rinpoche: So you don’t have mind, you don’t have a body, you have nothing? Yeah? You don’t have mind and you don’t have a body, but you are wearing robes? Why did you have lunch today? Why do you need food?

Student: That’s a problem. I think I need it but in reality I don’t need it. That’s why I eat all the time, well, not after 12. Does suffering exist?

Rinpoche: So in your view, do you have a body or not?

Student: No.

Rinpoche: You don’t have a body? Ah lay, you don’t have body, you’re not a monk? Anyway, I’m joking. So then it becomes that you’re not a monk because you don’t have a body. You see, that which takes vows then has a shaved head, then renounces the lay dress, the lay sign costumes, and then wears renounced sign and costumes, the robes, so that is part of the precepts. So if you don’t have a body, then no need to take these precepts, no need to take these vows, then this means you’re not a monk. Then from now on you don’t need to eat food, you don’t need dress, you don’t need anything, you don’t need money, you don’t need anything, no drink, no food, nothing, no shelter. There’s no body, so why do you need anything? You don’t need.

Where are you now? Are you in France? Are you in Toulouse?

Student: I’m at Vajra Yogini Institute. I’m in the gompa of ….

Rinpoche: No, no, you are in Toulouse. You are not here; you are in Toulouse. Don’t you think you’re in Toulouse? Huh?

Student: Yeah, I can be.

Rinpoche: So then you are everywhere, like God? [Laughter]

Student: Yeah, I’m everywhere, yes.

Rinpoche: Why do you say you are at Vajra Yogini? What is the reason that you believe you are at Vajra Yogini?

Student: Because this is the way that people can understand where I am.

Rinpoche: That’s your address. You are everywhere, but your address is Vajra Yogini? You’re all over the world, right? You are in everyone’s house, right? In the toilet, everywhere? [Laughter] But your address is Vajra Yogini, for people to communicate, to send email. I’m joking, anyway.

You said you don’t have body and mind, so what is the reason that you believe that you are at Vajra Yogini? That’s a very important question. Because you don’t have body, neither body nor mind, so why do you believe you are at Vajra Yogini?

OK. Think about it, OK. Think about it. Yeah, yeah.

Preparing for Death

So maybe it’s a good idea that tomorrow, either after lunch, during the discussion time or, I guess, in the afternoon times, to have a discussion, to talk and maybe have some discussion, maybe some introduction and talk on how to help a dying person or a dead person. I think maybe particularly to help the dying person. Maybe some introduction by different people who had experiences in their life that helped or that made the person’s death easier, I mean, less suffering, less fear, a happier mind, so things like that which caused a more peaceful death, passing away. So you can give your ideas from the experiences that you had, like that.

I thought that is a very, very important education, very, very important education. Maybe in different religions there are some prayers to do, for the priest—what to say, what to pray, or something. I mean, some people wrote books—I haven’t read them but there are very good books—with a lot of experiences about helping the dying person, but Western society and culture, I don’t think it has anything to offer. Individually I think people have developed insight through their experiences of helping [the dying] and maybe they wrote books, things like that. But Western society, the official society itself, that education, I don’t think there’s anything to offer to help. Anyway, that’s my view.

I think it’s very important education because one day, suddenly, a family member at our home suddenly passes away, then we don’t know what to do. We’re in big confusion, puzzled and lost, if our friend died suddenly; anyway, they died, so then [we don’t know] how to help them or something. This is something that is definitely going to happen. As we live longer we will see somebody dying, a friend or family member or somebody. So we need to be prepared, to know how to help. It’s good, not only for the people who are working for a hospice, not only them, I think generally everybody should learn how to help when somebody dies, especially when the family member or the friend or the enemy who dies. I include the enemy as well.

So anyway, I think it’s very good to have the education on what to do so, especially by meeting Dharma, by meeting the Buddha’s teachings, and especially Tibetan Mahayana Buddhism which has not only sutra but tantra. There are so many methods to help, so many various methods to help, powerful means to help the person who is dying or is dead, even after death. So I think it’s a very important service in regards to benefiting others.

As I talked last night, our life is to benefit others, so it becomes very important education to benefit others. Why? Because it’s the most crucial time of life. Of course mainly it depends on the karma of that person, but at the time of death if there’s good support, the right environment, a useful environment when the person’s dying, a useful environment to help the mind of the person, a useful environment that doesn’t donate or give extra, that doesn’t cause extra fear and worry, or give a donation of extra suffering to the person who’s dying. So not being like that.

So anyway, here mainly to help the mind, so depending on that, if there’s good support, conditions, then that helps the mind of the person and then that person can die with a virtuous thought and that person can have a good rebirth, a better life. They can leave this unhealthy, old body and have a young body, a better next life, by dying with virtuous thought, with the positive thought. The body is unhealthy but they are dying with a healthy mind, like that.

Practicing Powa at the Time of Death

Also it very much depends on, even for a very evil person, it is said in the powa teachings, the transferring of the consciousness to the pure land, that special practice, it says even a very evil person, even a person who’s very evil, who lived a very evil life, if they can be careful at the time of death, they can be born in pure land. That person can be born in the pure land of the Buddha. The definition of pure land—it’s pure because there’s no suffering, old age, sicknesses and death, these things. It doesn’t have these things, the problems that we have in the human realm, so in that sense it’s called pure.

And in some of the pure lands we can definitely become enlightened, like Heruka deity’s pure land, Vajrayogini pure land, once we are born there, we definitely become enlightened in that life. It is very much emphasized by the great enlightened being, Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo. Whereas Amitabha pure land, for general sentient beings it is very easy to be born there because of the power of bodhicitta before.

I think the pure realms [are actualized due to] the support of the bodhisattva. I’m not one hundred percent sure, but I think it might be that. And with bodhicitta, loving kindness, compassionate thought, bodhicitta generated toward sentient beings, we visualize this pure land, with all the incredible qualities, all these pure enjoyments. It has incredible beauty, purest enjoyment, incredible beauty, all these qualities. Every tree is a wish-granting tree, so visualize every tree there is wish-granting, so whatever we think in front of that tree, whatever wishes we generate, everything happens, everything gets actualized, materializes, so it’s like a wish-granting jewel, the same.

In the pure land the tree is a wish-granting jewel so whatever wish we generate, by the power of that, of course it’s based on our having collected good karma, so much merit in the past, of course there’s no question. Because of our good karma then we have this wish-granting jewel, or we have found this wish-granting jewel or this wish-granting tree, so whatever thought we generate, our wish gets materialized. I mean it is similar, because so much merit is collected, it becomes powerful, so then whatever wish we generate, that person or the people around us do everything without us even needing to ask. They just do it naturally, to fulfill our wishes, so it’s like that. Of course it’s based on good karma.

So anyway, even the trees in the pure land are wish-granting, wish-fulfilling. So this bodhisattva visualized all these qualities, beauties, the blissful lapis lazuli ground, having very blissful nature when we touch it or when we step over it, so things like that, with all the beauties. The birds make the sound of Dharma, like that. Even the wind blowing in the trees is a teaching, gives teaching. All the time it’s filled with a scented smell, the whole atmosphere, very blissful, a very scented smell, things like that. So if we visualize all these incredible, unbelievable qualities, beauty and enjoyments, and make so much prayer for sentient beings, it’s very easy to be born there.

So the Amitabha pure land happened and for those who get reborn there, due to their good karma, of course, then also it depends on the bodhicitta of this bodhisattva, it came from that. How this materialized, how it is actualized, is because that bodhisattva dedicated to actualize like this for the sentient beings, a place where ordinary sentient beings who are deluded can easily be born there. They visualized all these beauties, this unbelievable, unimaginable beauty, all these incredible enjoyments, with their bodhicitta, the thought of benefiting other sentient beings. All this came from this bodhisattva’s power of the good heart, bodhicitta. So the whole pure land is actually the benefit of bodhicitta. And other sentient beings can so easily be born there by generating a wish, by praying, by reciting Amitabha’s name, or Chenrezig’s name, those buddhas’ names, then it’s very easy to be born there at the time of death. So because this bodhisattva made special prayers, even ordinary beings without realization, deluded beings, can easily be born there.

Once we are born in this Amitabha pure land, then it’s impossible to be reborn in the hell, hungry ghost or animal realms, impossible. Even if we come back from the pure land, back to the world where there is suffering, where we see there’s great benefit if we are there—where we see great benefit in the human world, where we see a country where there’s great benefit if we’re there—so we come back and benefit the sentient beings; we bring great benefit to the sentient beings, like that.

It seems many of the great lamas who did incredible benefit, extensive work for sentient beings, bringing extensive benefit, spreading Buddhadharma in this world, came from the pure land, like Tushita pure land or Maitreya Buddha or Lama Tsongkhapa’s pure land, anyway, to help liberate others from the suffering.

According to my root guru His Holiness Trijang Rinpoche, because I sent a question through a letter, whether we can become enlightened there and whether we can practice tantra in Amitabha pure land. Rinpoche answered, “Yes, definitely. Definitely you can become enlightened in Amitabha pure land.” Rinpoche answered that. But Denma Lochö Rinpoche and I think Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche and some other lamas don’t accept that we can become enlightened there. So those bodhisattvas in Amitabha’s pure land, there are no tantra teachings, therefore they have to pray to be reborn here in the human world, like in this particular human world, the southern continent.

In one entire universe, one mandala or one entire universe, there’s the eastern human world, and the southern, northern and western human world. So we are in the southern continent and only here are there tantric teachings, in the southern continent, not in other human worlds. So the bodhisattvas there have to pray to be born in our world, the southern continent, and to meet and to practice tantra, to become enlightened quickly. As far as becoming enlightened, regarding Amitabha’s pure land and practicing tantra, there are different views.

So, what am I saying? What did I say before I talked about the pure land? What did I say? [Student: Helping people to die.]

Helping people to die? What? [Another student: Having a positive mind when you die.] [Third student: You also talked about the importance of developing a Western way of assisting the dying.]

Rinpoche: What? Whether it will fit in the Western world?

Student: Well, I have no doubt about it. [Remainder inaudible, something about powa not being in our tradition.]

Rinpoche: You can learn powa while you’re sleeping. While you’re sleeping you can do powa. No, I’m joking.

Yeah, I did powa, just not much. I think in some places, I think at Lawudo, I remember one time we were doing that. I remember all the nuns, the Tibetan nuns, we’re doing the hic, making this noise. Sometimes when you become very old do you have the hic? I’m not sure. Do you get hic when you become old or not? When you become old do you get hic? I’m not sure. Well, I think, what I hear among the Tibetans, when you have hic it means you’re growing. Oh, this is Western? Is that Western? When you get hic, it means you’re growing? Hiccup, hiccup! When you have hiccups, you’re growing? I see. Not Tibetan?

Anyway, I remember doing powa. So there are some old monks, and one who did one hundred nyung näs, he become a monk later, not in early times. One couple, they were a married couple and already very old. They escaped from Tibet and then later they became monk and nun. But this monk, he’s one of the people who makes tsa tsas when somebody died in those areas, Namche Bazaar or different villages. There are many villages scattered around, so when someone dies, they ask him to make tsa tsas for the person who died. That’s what he does. He’s the caretaker of the temple of Thamo Monastery, one Gelugpa monastery that happened later. So he does a few hundred water offerings in the morning, then many tsa tsas and he did one hundred nyung näs. He did them in the Lawudo cave, I think. Within one year, he did that.

After he finished fifty then he had a break. I think he went for alms, begging alms. The monks and nuns, they go for alms. I think at the times when the people get potatoes from fields, that’s the time when they go for alms. So after doing fifty then he had a break. So, I think, he did nyung näs for six months, then he had break and went for alms, then he came back and did another six months, so like that, he did them in the Lawudo cave. That time he was the caretaker of Lawudo.

And during that time, it must be due to his good karma, merit, he planted a flower outside the cave in the courtyard; he put stones around to make a wall, then there was this yellow flower, this saffron flower he had planted. That’s the only time that I saw the flower growing that way. So in the center there was the main one here, then around that there were many flower buds, so there were many like this; one in the center, then many. That’s the only time that I saw such a flower like that. I had never seen it before.

I remember he was doing the hic during powa, sending the consciousness, shooting consciousness to the pure land. He was making different noises, I remember from that. Everybody had to make noise, hic, so he was making some different noise, a different style, so I remember that.

And in Hong Kong, I think, maybe a long time ago, I think in one or two places.

Last time Choden Rinpoche, during the lamrim teachings at Land of Medicine Buddha, Rinpoche gave extensive teachings on powa and very clear, very good advice to help the dying.

I think more important than powa—yes, there is like the Drikung,¹ powa is very common in that tradition, that particular function, but every tradition has powa, all the four traditions. But more important than powa, that’s guaranteed to be born in the pure land or a good rebirth in the next life, guaranteed, that is better than powa, more safe, more confident than the powa, more confident or that we can trust more, for sure, definitely that we can achieve, that we’ll have a good result, without obstacles to be born in the pure land or to have a perfect human rebirth.

That is, no obstacles that can achieve these results, as we recite every morning in the Guru Puja, the section of the lamrim, talking about keeping the mind happy by continuously practicing the two bodhicittas and then integrating the whole lifetime practice into the five powers. [See Lama Chöpa, LC 97] Then there is the prayer, if we didn’t get to complete the path. After the lamrim and the six paramitas are finished [LC 101–6] there’s the tantric path, generation stage and completion stage, to actualize that. To actualize illusory body, clear light, and in case that didn’t happen, if we didn’t get to achieve enlightenment in this life, if we didn’t get to actualize those paths, then by the power of the wish, by the power of the intention, to transfer the consciousness to the pure land where we can practice tantra and become enlightened there. There is a prayer there, in Lama Chöpa, “May I be born in the pure land by the practice, the teaching, the five powers, the practice near the death time.”

[LC 112] If my time of death comes before I have completed the points of the path
I seek your blessings that I may be led to a pure land
Through the instructions for correctly applying the five powers
Or the guru’s transference of consciousness, the forceful means to enlightenment.

Even if we know the technique, the tantric method for transferring consciousness to the pure land, even if we know it very well by heart, that doesn’t mean when we die that it will work, that we will definitely be able to transfer the consciousness without any obstacles to the pure land of Buddha where we wish to be. If there’s no foundation of renunciation, the most important basis, renunciation of this life and renunciation of future samsara, that very important foundation, as well as bodhicitta, then just knowing the tantric technique itself—if those foundations are not strong, if they’re not there—then the technique alone doesn’t necessarily mean that it will work at the time of death. It’s still possible we will face hardships, we will face difficulties, we will get stuck and find we are unable to transfer the consciousness. We find we are not free, we are unable to transfer consciousness to the pure land, we are unable to shoot our consciousness to the pure land.

Many of you have already heard the story about one old monk in Tibet who knew the technique very well, extremely well. At the time of death he was trying to shoot his consciousness to the pure land, Tushita pure land. Then, he was unable to do so and he got stuck, he could not shoot his consciousness to the pure land. So his guru, Gungtang Konchog Tenpai Dronme, or I don’t know, I’m not sure of the name, his guru knew about this. Wherever his guru was at that time, he knew that his student, this old monk—the guru saw from the place wherever he was—in that minute he saw that his disciple, this old monk, was having difficulties to shoot his consciousness to the pure land. So then he immediately sent his disciple, one young monk living in thirty-six vows, to pass on the message, to give the message to this old monk that there’s better Tibetan tea in the pure land, there’s better Tibetan tea in the Tushita pure land. So it’s called shag; there’s a better shag in Tushita pure land.

So the young monk went to see the old monk, and as soon as he passed this message, “There’s better shag in the Tushita pure land,” to this old monk, immediately [Rinpoche snaps fingers and laughs] the monk was able to transfer the consciousness to the pure land. So the reason was because the monks, I mean especially in Tibet, for the monks there’s no other enjoyment, just the Tibetan tea. That’s their enjoyment, there’s nothing else for the general monks. So shag means the butter over the tea, shag is the butter [that coagulates] on top of the tea, because Tibetan tea is made of butter and salt. So the butter that stays over the tea, that’s shag. That’s regarded as a very important enjoyment, if you have many shag, thick shag. Maybe he drank the tea, but it sounds like the shag is there, the butter is left in the bowl, the shag is there, the butter. So this is regarded as precious or something. So this old monk, his mind was attached to the shag left over in the bowl. I guess maybe Western terms it’s like ice cream or chocolate. Anyway, his mind was attached to this shag, therefore he was unable to go to the pure land. Even though he knew the technique very well, he had a lot of difficulties. So then as soon as he received the message from his guru, “There’s better shag in Tushita pure land,” then the consciousness was transferred immediately. [Rinpoche snaps fingers and laughs.]

So like this example, what I would say, preparation for our own death, the essential thing, of course, the very essential thing is guru devotion practice, correctly devoting to the virtuous friend. Any mistakes, anything, any problem, broken samaya, anything that happened, to fix it up or to purify it, that is most essential, that’s the first thing to do, that’s the first thing in the life, to do that as quickly as possible.

Preparing for Death

In essence, practicing the five powers, integrating the lifetime practice into the five powers, that’s our training in everyday life and we are making preparation for our death in the best way. The main thing, the heart thing, is bodhicitta practice, living the life with bodhicitta and then to separate, to split from the self-cherishing thought, so we split from the self-cherishing thought. These five powers are in the heart. If we are able to do this, then no question, at the time of death we are able to practice, naturally we are able to practice the five powers near the death time.

Then there’s no obstacle at the time of death, no obstacle to our going to the pure land, whatever, to receive the perfect human body, whatever, all that we wish for. So that is the short answer for us, to help us. There can be many things explained but in a condensed way this is what it is, so we need to practice that in our daily life. Then, how it will turn out at the end of our life is very good—at the time of death it’s very good, very successful, the happiest one, very fruitful.

Or we could have a very difficult death—we can’t do any practice, we only have fear, worry. We can’t remember the practice and we are totally terrified, totally overwhelmed by karmic appearances. We’re not born yet in the lower realms, but already we have all the signs, all the terrifying karmic appearances, it’s happening to us. Already the sign preparation, it’s already happening, we are experiencing that at the time of death, all kinds of things, we are seeing many terrifying things happening to us. Nobody, not even the whole family, not even all the people in the house can see anything, but if the karma has already ripened there are all these terrifying appearances, signs we will be born in the lower realms.

Whether it’s going to be an extremely difficult deathtime, a most terrifying time, or for somebody who has met Dharma then it depends so much on correctly devoting to the virtuous friend, how much that is well done. Of course, the result affects us normally in our day-to-day life, it affects us. Somebody who is having very successful realizations, with the mind not going down, only going up—month by month, year by year, only going up, not going down, the experiences getting better and better—that shows correctly devoting to the virtuous friend is very well done, the result expresses that. So including how our life is difficult or not, so much depends on that.

Of course, the person who has never met Dharma, who didn’t make a connection, who hasn’t met Dharma or hasn’t met the teachings of Buddha, hasn’t met the guru, even a non-believer, yes, even a non-believer, who doesn’t have any particular religion, no faith in particular, here there’s no guru, nothing. Here what makes a good death for that person, a happy death, a free death, a happy death, without worry or fear, is having lived with compassion. They lived a very sincere life, very ethical. Sincere means ethical, so when a person is sincere, ethics also comes there, an ethical life also comes by the way. Of course, on top of that, of course, there’s the good heart toward others. Then of course, that is even better.

So a person who has lived a very sincere life, an ethical life, not cheating others, not harming others, a sincere ethical life and especially good-hearted [will have a good death.] Normally there’s no particular faith in religion, this or that religion, but they are very generous, kind. So for that person who lived life like that, there’s always a good result. There’s always a good ending in life. It is scientific because they live a sincere life and then on top of that they have a good heart, they are generous and kind, always helping others. Whatever they think to help others, they do, and not giving much harm to others.

Normally in our daily life there’s more peace and happiness, more satisfaction, more fulfillment in our heart, even in normal life, then also at the very end of life there’s no worry, no fear of death. There’s no worry, no fear of death. Death doesn’t frighten us. Even if we know we are dying, death doesn’t frighten us. Death doesn’t become a frightening subject for us. And there’s no guilt, because we have lived a sincere life, and on top of that, we are good-hearted so there’s no guilt, pain, upsetness. At the time of death, we are very happy, very satisfied, like that, very happy. So for our mind, death didn’t become, that experience of life did not become frightening. It’s just another change, just a change of life.

Also that means, even if we don’t particular think about reincarnation or future lives, nothing, because of the effect of the sincere life and the good heart, being kind and generous, the effect is that even though we don’t particularly believe in reincarnation and this and that, somehow there’s no fear or worry that something [terrible] is going to happen after the death, after this. We don’t think that after this life something [terrible] is going to happen, that we’re going into something black, something very dark.

Sometimes there’s a premonition before our death and we fear that something’s going to happen, even for non-believers who don’t believe in reincarnation, karma, who don’t understand. But here there’s no such thing, there’s full confidence, there’s no fear or worry of what’s going to happen after this. The mind is so relaxed. So naturally like that, even if we don’t know exactly that “I’m going to the deva realm or the human realm,” even if we don’t see the future, we are totally relaxed, the mind is totally relaxed, peaceful. There’s no worry, fear, thinking, “Something terrible is going to happen after this.”

In Australia, when I was in Adelaide quite a number of years ago, I did a retreat there at one student, one member of the center’s house. So I was listening in the afternoon to the radio, because one student, Carol, was doing work, radio work, and maybe 6,000 or 60,000, I’m not sure, people were listening to her. So I was curious about how she talked.

So it was very interesting. From time to time when she interviewed people, when she talked to people, from time to time she brought up meditation, here and there. Other people don’t do that, they hardly think of that, those kinds of subjects, but she brought it up from time to time as a solution, like that. But she didn’t go further, she just brought it up.

The point I was going to talk about is that her friend, the one who did radio, I don’t know his name, anyway, he was also doing an interview. So there was one lady, I don’t know what the interview was about, but this lady said she was not afraid of death. She said, “I’m not afraid of death.” She said, “I’m not afraid of death, I have no fear of death, I know where I’m going.” But this friend, this person, I think for him, probably this was unexpected or abnormal, not a normal subject, maybe unexpected, so he didn’t discuss with her further to find out, which I was hoping. I really hoped that he would interview the person more, but he didn’t do that, he just left it, he just dropped it there.

Anyway, my feeling was, I don’t think she was Buddhist or anything particular. I think in the West there are people like that. So how we lived our life, positively like this, normally that is reflected at the time of death, it shows. So at death time, it’s kind of the examination of how we lived our life. It’s an examination, a test, an examination of how we lived our life, it shows that. So in the case of even a non-believer with no particular religion it’s like that.

So here people who didn’t live a sincere life, who did a lot of cheating, harming others, creating many problems, giving so much harm, causing problems, giving so much trouble to sentient beings, so much immoral life, unethical, and then of course very selfish, very self-centered, things like that, then, I’m talking here even as a non-believer, then, of course there’s a lot of suffering in their life, a lot of misery, and then at the time of death, it appears to them as a very frightening subject, very frightening phenomena, very terrifying phenomena. Then there’s incredible fear, worry and fear. There’s some feeling that something most terrible, some heavy thing is going to happen after this life, there’s some feeling there. Or, I think I heard some people express the feeling that after this they are going into some very big darkness, something frightening, there’s some feeling like that.

So here we can see, actually, death is not the problem. One way we can say it is that death is not what causes fear. Death is not the cause of our fear, all the worry and fear. It’s our selfish mind, anger, especially those. These delusions—ignorance, anger, attachment—and the negative karmas, along with these negative thoughts, engaged in negative karmas, so this makes death difficult, this makes death frightening to us.

Actually all this fear, worry, at the time of experiencing death and after death, all this fear came from or is caused by the self-cherishing thought, the selfish mind and then anger and desire—ignorance, anger, attachment—these delusions. So actually, all this fear and worry came from this, then death becomes frightening to our mind, but it all came from these negative thoughts, the wrong concepts.

So that’s why if we have lived a good, sincere life, if we are good-hearted, generous, even if we’re a non-believer, if we have lived a compassionate life, then we have a very good ending in life. We are very peaceful, very happy, very happy passing away. We made everyone kind of happy, giving so much encouragement, kind of special, encouraging, being something for others to admire, an inspiration, an example. The other person dies with so much screaming and so much fear and worry and all that. They have so much suffering at the time of death. Others can’t do much, the family can’t do much, and that makes the dying person suffer even more. They are more upset and unhappy.

Just to finish the last part, which I started a few times then it never happened. So, to understand more about karma, to be more mindful of karma, the subject of karma. Not only understanding karma, having mindfulness of karma. This not only becomes the basic preparation in everyday life for our own death, and not just death but happiness of all the coming future lives, preparation for total liberation from the whole entire suffering and its causes and preparation for enlightenment—to achieve the state of omniscient mind for the benefit of the sentient beings who are numberless, who want happiness, who do not want suffering, and who are dependent on our help for them to be free from the oceans of samsaric suffering and its cause, delusion and karma, and for them to achieve enlightenment.

That, and then also this gives awareness of how to help others. Helping the mind of other sentient beings, as we can see, it’s the best help. Benefiting their mind, helping the mind of other sentient beings is the best help. It’s the only way to save them from the sufferings and to bring them, to cause them happiness, not only happiness in day-to-day life and not only happiness at the time of death, but especially happiness of all the coming future lives, then liberation from samsara, ultimate happiness, causing them ultimate happiness, then full enlightenment. So the foundation, understanding karma, opens the mind, wisdom, Dharma wisdom, knowing how to benefit other sentient beings, what’s the important benefit for other sentient beings.

Four Aspects of the Karma of Killing

An example, so this is a basic example of negative karma, or the opposite of good karma. The complete negative karma of killing has the motivation and action, the base and then the goal, so four things. That the other being dies before oneself, so that’s the goal. Then this killing is done with the self-cherishing thought and then with either anger or with attachment, with ignorance, so the action becomes negative karma. This way the action became negative karma due to this non-virtuous thought, the motivation and the self-cherishing thought. So that has four suffering results.

The ripened aspect result is rebirth in the lower realms as a hell being, a hungry ghost or animal, as one of those. Then after some time, due to another good karma we are born a human being. Then we experience three types of problems, sufferings, from that negative karma of killing in that life. These three are creating the result similar to the cause, experiencing the result similar to the cause and the possessed result.

The possessed result is that the things outside in the world, food and drinks, medicines, the crops or the fruit, things like that, are very small or have very little protein. Those outside enjoyments, even medicine, have a very small effect. It’s correct medicine but it has a very small effect on healing the sicknesses. So food, those things, have very small protein, a very small capacity, and then they are very difficult to digest. As I often say, digestion problems are the result of the negative karma of killing. So food and drinks cause sicknesses instead of health, they cause sicknesses for that person. Even the correct medicine has side effects for that person. In the same way, their food causes sicknesses for that person. It’s not saying for everybody, but for that person. And then, even medicine, it’s the correct medicine but there are side effects for that person, whereas some other people don’t have side effects and it really helps them.

Then even though someone has life to live according to past karma, they have life to live longer, but untimely death happens. So like this. That’s the result of the negative karma of killing, that we experience later when we are born as a human being; we experience these problems.

Experiencing the result similar to the cause is a shortage of life and there are many sicknesses, one after another, so many sicknesses in the life, like this. There is the clinical explanation of where the sickness comes from. Sometimes maybe there’s a wrong explanation but the more and more it is checked, examined, sometimes there’s a change in the explanation, what was explained in the past a long time ago. Now there are different discoveries or things like that, so sometimes what is said to be, anyway, evolution or causing harm, but now it’s not, anyway, there’s more development of education.

Anyway, here I’m talking about the main cause of sicknesses, the deeper way of explaining the cause of sicknesses, which doesn’t come out of this education in the common world. For the common people in the world, in their education it doesn’t come out; in the explanation it doesn’t come out. So I think these deeper explanations of where the life problems come from, the deep explanation, the deeper cause, the actual cause, then, from the Omniscient One’s teachings, the fully enlightened one, the Omniscient One’s teachings, as they see every single karma, the cause of every single happiness and every single problem, the sufferings of sentient beings, they can see without the slightest mistake, or ignorance. They can see directly, so like that. So these subjects which are discovered by someone with an advanced mind, who has an advanced mind, whose power of understanding is more developed, who has a clearer mind—having the ability to see beyond this life, to see the future beyond this life, and to see the past before this life; who has a more clear mind, less defiled, a more clear mind; who has more developed potential, the power to see things deeper—they are able to see the karma, by having the foreknowledge, the clairvoyance.

We Need Shamatha and Clairvoyance to really Benefit Others

As Lama Atisha says in the Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment, by achieving shamatha, to be able to benefit for others, to really be able to benefit other sentient beings we need clairvoyance, so then it says we need to achieve shamatha. To really be able to help others, to benefit others, we need to have clairvoyance to see the past, the future, all the things, even the present.

As I mentioned somewhere in recent times, we also need clairvoyance in business. If we don’t have clairvoyance, then in business life after some time our business will completely collapse. We think because we have been successful for a long time, with more and more profit, we’ve been so successful, so then we think, we also desire, we also want more and more, so then we continue, but then one day it completely collapses. When it was small we only collapse in a small way, a few thousand dollars, a few hundred dollars, but here there are billions of dollars, billions and billions of dollars. When we go up like that, then we collapse, collapse. There are many people like this in the world, so, yeah, so much suffering.

Anyway, we need clairvoyance, we need it also as a doctor, to treat patients. We also need clairvoyance for that, because what is explained in the books is not enough, what we are taught, what we learned at the university or in college, what others explained, what is explained in the books, is not enough. There are many other things which are not explained there, many details, so then we get confused. There are many cases that doctors cannot explain, sicknesses that are happening, there are many things the doctor can’t explain. The doctor can’t find any mistakes in the body by checking with the x-ray and so forth, but the person is very, very sick, with so much pain, but the doctor can’t find the cause. So there are many things. Again here we need clairvoyance to really help us to understand inside, what’s the cause, conditions, everything. We don’t really know what the cause and conditions are exactly. Maybe we know some part but we don’t know it all, we can’t see it all completely; maybe we know half.

Also, even in politics we need clairvoyance, because otherwise we plan something that doesn’t work out, then it collapses, we get into a mess and trouble and end up with a disaster. So even in politics we need to see the future, what’s going to happen, the clairvoyance to be able to guide the people, to be able to guide the country.

Of course, no question to bring sentient beings to enlightenment. Of course that, to reveal the means to sentient beings to fit exactly according to the mind of the sentient beings, then we need to know their level of mind, their karma. So here, how do we know what kind of karma they have? Here again, to really help others, to fit exactly according to their karma then we need to learn the karma, what kind of karma they have, what kind of imprints they have. So we need all this advanced understanding, we need a clearer mind, or in other words, the power of mind, developed understanding.

Even in the world it’s like this, not only bringing the sentient beings to enlightenment, not only that, but even in the worldly matters we need clairvoyance, otherwise we make many mistakes. Even in the relationships, if we don’t have clairvoyance, there are all the future problems. So that we can see everything, all the future, clear, then we’re safe, we know what to do. Also in the case of war we don’t need to kill so many people and it saves money, it saves many billions and billions and billions of dollars. It saves so many billions, zillions of dollars, it saves money, it saves lives, it saves so many lives of the armies, our own and others, other people. It becomes very simple if we have clairvoyance. It becomes very simple; we don’t need to kill so many people. It becomes very simple. So we can do things that are unknown, without making a big noise, without making a big noise in the world.

Besides understanding reincarnation, understanding karma, our karma, our future and past karma, other people’s karma, reincarnation, besides that, what I’m saying is not only this, what I’m saying is that even if we don’t have omniscient mind, the ultimate, omniscience, if we have clairvoyance to be able to see beyond, to be able to discover that, in this way we have so much [success]. Whether it’s in worldly matters, worldly activity, we have great success. We make very little or no mistakes, we don’t make mistakes or we make very little mistakes even in worldly activities, in all those examples that I mentioned. And no question for the spiritual [activities], liberating sentient beings, then no question, by revealing path. So we need to see karma. If we see the karma of other sentient beings then we know what to do, exactly, without mistakes, like that.

And then, creating the result similar to the cause, involving the next lives when we are born as a human being again, we do the same thing, killing, engaging in the negative karma of killing, same thing. So if we don’t purify the negative karma, if we did not purify that one negative karma of killing, then there are four suffering results we have to experience. One of the [four aspects of karma] is creating the result similar to the cause, and then that again produces four suffering results. One of them is engaging again in the same negative karma later, then again that produces four suffering results. It goes on and on, so it makes endless suffering, it causes endless suffering, so in the future lives it goes on and on.

Therefore, it becomes so essential, now the solution is to purify that negative karma which was already done, and then the other thing is to not commit again. Therefore, this is what we are doing here now, during this retreat, taking eight Mahayana precepts. We can see now that’s the key, now we can see here that taking eight Mahayana precepts becomes incredibly urgent. This is the method to stop our suffering by purifying the negative karma and living in the vow of abstaining from killing. So, these two Dharma practices. So taking the eight Mahayana precepts, including abstaining from killing, plays a very important role.

So in this way this complete good karma, living in the vow of abstaining from killing, has four results of happiness. The ripened aspect result is rebirth in the body of a happy migratory being, as a deva or having a human rebirth or in the pure land, like that. So it’s totally opposite to the previous [result of killing], the possessed result. All these things, the enjoyments, food and drink and medicines, all the crops, whatever, all these don’t cause danger, sickness for our life. [Abstaining from killing] only causes a healthy and long life; a very long life and a very healthy life.

Then again future lives, again due to this imprint of taking precepts in this life, living in the morality abstaining from killing, then in future lives this gives us the opportunity again to practice morality, to create the cause of happiness, the cause of good rebirth. So like that, then also like that, from life to life to have the resultant happiness.

The complete negative karma of stealing has the same four things: motivation, base, action, goal. Then the material thing which costs money—it has to be something which costs money, has an owner and is ungiven—it does not belong to us, it belongs to others, it’s ungiven. Then the goal, whenever we think, “I’ve got it,” at that time then it’s the completed negative karma of stealing. If we don’t have that thought “I’ve got it,” possessing that object, our mind possesses it, thinking “I got it,”—if that didn’t happen then stealing is not completed.

The completed negative karma of stealing has four suffering results: the ripened aspect result, rebirth in the lower realms, is one of those. Then there are three suffering results we have to experience later. Due to another good karma, when we are born as a human being, then we experience the results in that life.

The possessed result, the place where we live, where we are born or where we live, the crops, fruit, those things, are very little, and then worms eat them. We grow crops, vegetables, all this, but the worms eat the crops.

The Karma of Stealing

So those other different insects, the very small ones, eat your food, the crops. And then, rabbits and other animals also eat the crops, so there’s no protection.

In New Zealand, when I was there some time ago, some years ago, there was a problem with rabbits. I think the whole forest was covered by rabbits or something, there were so many rabbits, they had increased. So the government, from the airplane they put medicine, a poison, what? [Ecie: Poisoned carrots.] Carrots. So the airplane came when I was at Mahamudra Centre. On the mountain the plane came quite close, like the one that is used for extinguishing fire, when something white spreads out in the forest. The plane went by like that, to kill all the rabbits.

But killing them doesn’t solve the problem. By killing them, even though they all die there, we are creating another problem, it’s the cause of another problem happening. It’s the cause of another problem being received by the people. What I mentioned before, there is shortage of life, many sicknesses, experiencing the result similar to the cause, and the possessed result, which I mentioned before. All these problems. By killing the animals we create the cause for receiving all those problems.

And because of the karma, because we have the karma of stealing, there’s no protection for our food, for our crops. There are so many different types of insects, worms, that eat the crops and also rabbits that eat the crops, so there’s no protection for the food. This is the result of the past negative karma of stealing. That’s why this is happening. Therefore, it means that as long as we don’t purify the negative karma of stealing, this problem is always there. No matter how many times we kill them, even if they are killed, others will come. Even if those who are eating [the crops] are killed, others will come again and again. So this is what was happening. The more rabbits were killed, the more rabbits were coming, so like that.

One family had a problem with mice; there were so many mice. So they asked one lama; this lama’s name was ?Ludru Rinpoche I think, something like that. This one incarnate lama, we were friends at Buxa, he was one of the young lamas, I think it might be him. So he advised the family to make a party for the mouse, to give it lots of food; to put a lot of food on the floor. Then what happened was, the mice all left after that. It’s like that when we actually want to give. Anyway, it seems they left after he made a party for them, so that is interesting karma. Probably before, the family were not giving to them. Now they were practicing giving so somehow the mice left.

Paying Our Karmic Debts

Here now, either we don’t have merit, I don’t know, either we don’t have the merit for them to receive, or our karma means that we owe them, we have karmic debts to them. The reason why they’re in the house, eating things, is because we have karmic debts, we owe them. So maybe that’s finished by giving food to them; that karmic debt is finished and that’s why they’re not in the house.

In Singapore there were many ants at the house and I was trying to give sugar to the ants on the ledge. At the house there was some edge, also I was thinking to do that so that they may not come into the house. I gave them piles of sugar, but somehow, it was very interesting, very interesting, what happens when we actually give. Normally they would come and get inside that container and get stuck on the honey or sugar. They’d go inside the sugar jar and then sometimes we’d put the sugar in the sweet tea and we would see ants there. But when I actually gave them the sugar, they came here, they ran like this, so I piled the food here, so they saw the food, they knocked [against] the food, but they came around it and they just went straight. They didn’t bother with the food. I tried, but they didn’t bother with the food. So that’s very interesting, when you give ….

Anyway, basically these things mean we owe them, we have karmic debts to them, that’s why they’re eating our food or getting in the house, things like that. So for that to not happen, we have to pay our karmic debts, we have to finish that. Then that doesn’t happen.

That’s why in south India, when His Holiness Zong Rinpoche was alive, living in south India, at the monasteries they have fields, and they have to live on the [food from] the fields. Actually [in south India] they were digging land, making fields, planting the crops. In Tibet, at Sera, Ganden, Drepung monasteries, you can’t even plant flowers; you are not allowed even to plant flowers. That’s regarded as a worldly activity and so the monks were not allowed even to plant flowers in the past in Tibet, it was very strict, besides having vegetable gardens or things like that. So also, even if somebody is learning letters, I’m not sure, but even if somebody is writing, learning letters, grammar, poetry, those are also regarded as kind of worldly. So in these monasteries, the main focus is understanding philosophy, debate, memorizing all the scriptures and all those texts that are needed, the root texts and commentaries, then the debate, the extensive understanding and debate, that is the main focus. That’s the only focus in the monasteries.

Then taking initiations, lamrim teachings, initiations, those tantric practices, generally individuals do that [later], but generally it’s forbidden. Generally they do it later, they aim to do it later. So no way, as a monk, they cannot [work in the fields]. It’s opposite to the monks’ vows, to work in the fields, same for the monks and nuns, but in India the situation has totally changed, completely changed, because otherwise the monks have no food if they don’t work in the field. There’s no way to survive. The government gave them land, then they have to work in the fields.

And so the many monks, there’s one monk who took care of Geshe Rabten in Tibet in the monastery; one monk who took care of Geshe Rabten when Geshe Rabten Rinpoche came the first time. Geshe Rabten Rinpoche is my first teacher, who began teaching me philosophy, who introduced dura [Collected Topics]. So the monk who took care—when you go to monastery to study, somebody has to look after your food, somebody has to give you the shelter, room and food, these things, so I think, it seems you regard that person as a guru, very important and then that one guides you for learning Dharma, debate, and that teacher then finds a teacher for you. So that person guides everything in the monastery, so they are regarded as very important. 

So anyway, his name is Geshe ?Gachen. So this very kind-hearted monk was at Buxa, where Geshe Rabten treated him like a teacher; even though I don’t think he taught Dharma, he was regarded as a teacher. So in Buxa we didn’t have to work in the fields because we got the food from the United Nations, I’m not sure, U.N. Assembly or something, food, rice and dal, but I think it was poor quality food. Anyway, the monks didn’t have to work. So later they were transferred to south India, because Buxa was a very unhealthy place. So many monks passed away, there was tuberculosis and so many monks passed away or were sick, because they had just come from Tibet. It was a very unhealthy place, and quite a number became crazy.

Anyway, when the monks moved to south India, the government gave them land, so they had to work in the fields, which they never did in their life. Maybe [they did] if they were lay people before they came to monastery, but they never did it in their life [in the monastery]. So they had to work in the fields, they had to burn, they had to put fire, they had to burn the trees, the whole bush, in order to make the fields, they had to burn all this with fire. When they were digging they saw many, many ants and worms, mice and many ants, but if they didn’t do that, there was no other way to get food. So this monk who took care of Geshe Rabten, he and many other monks—when such a time happened and they had to do all this work, and so many ants, so many sentient beings were killed—it seems many of them cried while they were working on the land. There was no choice; there was no other way to get food.

What am I saying? What was I talking before? [Inaudible comments from students.] Stealing. Oh, that’s right!

I mentioned this geshe who took care of Geshe Rabten in Tibet. He was a very good monk. He didn’t have a particular title or anything, he didn’t show [attainments]; normally he had not studied the texts, but he was a very kind monk. He just did his daily practice, whatever commitments, and he just lived a very kind life. So anyway, when he was passing away, I thought to mention this anyway, since I brought up his name. He had just lived a very quiet life and did his daily commitment practice, he lived a very kind, simple life. So the day when he was passing away, I heard the story that he went for a walk and came back and then he asked this disciple to make good Tibetan tea. [Rinpoche laughs] I’m not talking about the same story [as before]. So when the Tibetan tea had filled the bowl, then he made offering, maybe he drank it, but anyway he sat in meditation and then he passed away. He sat in meditation, then he passed away.

He was not particularly learned, nothing. Normally he didn’t show much education but he was very kind and just had a very simple life. But passing away, he was like somebody who had freedom, he passed away in a great way. Like that, this has happened many times in the monastery.

It’s very interesting in the monastery. There are some learned, very famous, learned monks, but at the time of death it’s very difficult for them. Then there’s some other simple monk who has not had much intellectual [learning], I mean, of course, there are some learned ones also passing away in a very amazing way too. Yes, otherwise, I don’t want you to misunderstand, to discourage learning. It’s not because of learning, well, anyway, it doesn’t matter.

It’s very interesting. So there’s one geshe, Geshe ?Lubu, at Tehor, the same khangtsen as Geshe Rabten and Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey, all those lamas. Geshe Lubu, again this monk was at Buxa and he was very devoted to his gurus, a very devoted person. There was no intellectual [understanding]; when there was a need for some examination he debated, but he was not somebody that everybody knew. [He had] kind of no education, but every day he followed the monastic program, he came for prayers, puja, every day he followed that. He just lived a very simple life, very good-hearted. So anyway, that’s how he was, that’s how I saw him.

So in south India, one day he went to see Geshe Ogyen Tseten, who is Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey’s guru. Many of the geshes that we have in Australia particularly, he’s their guru’s guru, kind of their guru’s guru, like that. So this Geshe Lubu went to see Geshe Ogyen Tseten. “I want to do a three-year retreat of Vajrayogini,” he said. Then Geshe Ogyen Tseten said, “You’re going to do a three-year retreat? Tell me, what are the three principal aspects of the path?” So then he could not say what the three principle aspects of the path were. He could not say that, because he didn’t have intellectual understanding, so he could not say what the three principal aspects of the path were. So Geshe Ogyen Tseten told him, “You cannot tell me even the three principal aspects of the path! How are you going to do a three-year Vajrayogini retreat?”

Anyway, he did the three-year retreat of Vajrayogini. Then, when he passed away, he passed away in meditation state. He didn’t know, he couldn’t count the three principal aspects of the path, but he died in meditation state. For seven days he was in meditation state, for seven days!

So we have to think about what made him do that. Not by intellect. Not only by that. In his daily practice he had so much devotion, indestructible devotion to his gurus, good samaya, and he was very good-hearted. He lived a good life, a very simple, good-hearted life.

So yeah, Zong Rinpoche! Oh, I’ve come back to Zong Rinpoche.

Before I talk about Zong Rinpoche, I’ll maybe mention one story. [Group laughs] At Sera Je there was one monk, somebody who had studied, he was not particular famous or learned but he was someone who had studied. He was not somebody people respected because he had realizations, not like that. On the day he was going to die, he dressed, he completely dressed in new robes then he went around Sera Monastery, and told everybody goodbye. He went around Sera Monastery and told everybody goodbye. Then he went back in his room and died in meditation state. Everybody became shocked, so surprised because he was not a person whom they normally respected as someone having realizations, a great practitioner. He was not somebody whom people regarded like that, and that’s why they got a great shock. I mean somebody who’s highly respected, something, something, when they do that, it’s kind of expected.

That’s right. So here I mentioned karmic debts. The animals, the insects, who come to eat the food, it’s because of the karmic debts. When we have karmic debts, that’s the reason why they come. And it’s possible one field has a lot of insects and the next field doesn’t have, or has much less, very little. So that tells us about karma; that explains karma; that karma exists.

So, anyway, people asked His Holiness Zong Rinpoche what to do about the monastery, where the monks were working in the field. So then Rinpoche advised to do sur practice. We burn tsampa mixed with butter and other substances. If possible, there are crushed jewels and different things, five different grains, five different jewels, then scented substances, there are five, five, five, maybe like that, I think, special substances. However basically it’s butter and flour, so we burn that on the charcoal. Then we make the smell charity to the smell-eaters, the pretas, those who died and maybe are not yet reincarnated or are intermediate state beings. So we make offerings to all sentient beings and to all the Triple Gems. The practice involves that, but particularly we offer to those sentient beings, the smell-eaters.

Anyway, there’s this practice and there’s another practice called offering one hundred tormas, where we use those small cymbals. [Find links to Engaging in the Practice of the Hundred Torma Offerings in the FPMT Catalogue.] It includes lojong, thought transformation practice, and it has many things. The four actions, in Lama Chöpa, Guru Puja, the part about thought transformation, it talks about that. Jor wa zhi dang dän päi thab khä kyi…je par jin gyi lob [LC 98]. “Whatever happens to me, I immediately apply that to my meditation, and by the practice of the thought transformation, samaya, please bless, may my freedoms, richnesses, be meaningful,” so that one.

[LC 98] I seek your blessings that I may relate everything I meet to meditation
Through skillful means possessing the four practices,
And that I may make this life of freedoms and richnesses greatly meaningful
Through practicing the commitments and precepts of thought transformation.

So the practice of offering a hundred tormas, pills, contains the practice of the four actions, so it’s regarded as a very important practice. This is to make charity to the pretas, the nagas, all the sentient beings of the six realms, also to the guru, Buddha, Dharma, Sangha. So this is a very good practice to pay karmic debts to the sentient beings, then sur.

His Holiness Zong Rinpoche advised doing this. Rinpoche didn’t do it but another lama, Rinpoche’s disciple, I think, another incarnate lama, did the sur practice in the fields, and then did this. Then all the insects left the field, they came out. So His Holiness Zong Rinpoche explained this to us.

That means if we pay the karmic debts, then they leave. So this is the method, it’s like this. This may not be the only method, there may be others, maybe also tonglen. However, this is the way to do it, not by killing them.

By killing them we are creating another cause; we are creating to receive another cause of all those problems. So then there’s no protection for our crops, then the crops change, the food and crops change, I don’t know how to say it, they become inedible. Then there’s drought, no rains, drought, then everything gets dried up, all the crops grew but they’re dry, they become non-existent, or the seeds get eaten by worms. So this is the possessed result of stealing. All these problems are the possessed result of stealing.

Here we can see that all these problems came from the mind, as I was saying a few days ago, I was talking before about the result of killing and this, the result of stealing. All these problems of human life came from our own mind and came from our own karma, negative karma, the negative intention. So that, of course, came from ignorance.

Then experiencing the result similar to the cause, even when we are in the human world, later, after some time, even when we are in the human world, then we experience the result similar to the cause—poverty, we experience poverty. So all our poverty is the result of the negative karma of stealing.

Then, even if we have possessions we don’t have total freedom to use them because we have to share with others. And then our things always get stolen. Our things always get stolen by others. We are deprived of the things or they are taken by force or stolen by others, like that.

Then in the next lives, when we’re born as a human being again we engage in the negative karma of stealing, so we are creating the result similar to the cause. So again the same, as I mentioned before, from creating the result similar to the cause then again the four suffering results continue on and on, until we purify this one negative karma of stealing, which results in all that suffering in the future on and on, endlessly. Also, that’s one thing, and then another thing is abstaining from stealing, living in the morality, so this is the basic solution to stop all those sufferings, now and in the future, which comes from this one negative karma of stealing.

And to have happiness, the opposite result, happiness from life to life, then living in the morality, abstaining from stealing, like that.

So the conclusion is Dharma. If we want to stop experiencing problems, we need to practice Dharma, purification, that which is Dharma practice. And if we want to achieve happiness, if we want to achieve the opposite, happiness, then we need to practice Dharma, we need to practice morality, Dharma. So the whole answer for our happiness is Dharma practice. There’s no other [answer], nothing other than Dharma, nothing except Dharma practice. We can see the cause [of happiness] is only Dharma practice.

What makes our life most meaningful is living in the good heart, loving kindness, compassion, bodhicitta. So that’s what makes life most meaningful. If this is there, then purification also comes and we collect extensive merit, by abstaining from those, not engaging in those negative karmas. This also happens when we practice the good heart, so like that.

Dedications

Dag gi ji nye ….

[Students chant the prayer Dedicating the Merits of Listening and the short mandala offering]

“Due to all the past, present, future merits collected ....”

Doing the prayer of dedication is my hobby. [Laughter] Hobby, hobby. Some people have a hobby; what’s this? Golf. Some people's hobby is making tsa tsas, anyway, people have different hobbies. When I’m not lazy, then my hobby is dedication. Some people’s hobby is coffee, drinking coffee.

“Due to all the past, present, future merits collected me and the three time merits collected by others, may bodhicitta, the source of all the happiness and success for ourselves and for all sentient beings, be actualized within our own heart, in the heart of all the family members, in all of our hearts, in the hearts of all the students and the benefactors in this organization, and especially those who give up their life to the organization doing service to sentient beings, the teachings of Buddha, and all the rest of the sentient beings, in all their hearts, without delay of even a second.

“And especially the leaders of this world, may bodhicitta be generated in all their hearts, especially in the countries where there’s a lot of torture, violence, like Colombia, where there’s a lot of violence, torture, a lot of gangsters or terrorists. Where there’s a lot of suffering in those countries, in the hearts of those people, as well as all the political leaders of the mainland Chinese government, in their hearts. May bodhicitta be generated in their hearts, and that which is generated, may it be increased.”

Jang chhub sem chhog rin po chhe ….

“Due to all the past, present, future merits collected by me and the three-time merits collected by others, may all the father, mother sentient beings have happiness, so that includes enlightenment. May the three lower realms be empty forever, may all the bodhisattvas’ prayers succeed immediately, and may I be able to cause all this to happen by myself alone.

“Due to all the past, present, future merits collected by me and the three-time merits collected by others, may the Buddha of Compassion, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, have a stable life, and may all his holy wishes succeed immediately.

“May the mainland Chinese government people realize, recognize that the way they have been, the view that they had toward His Holiness—their concept of His Holiness, looking at him as an ordinary political person who has the thought of discriminating and giving harm to others, to them or to others—may they be able to realize that is totally wrong, totally wrong. And may they realize the qualities of His Holiness—that he is only in the nature of compassion with no thought of harming sentient beings and he is the embodiment of all the buddhas’ compassion. May they realize that and have great devotion and do exactly what His Holiness wishes. Then may they invite him to mainland China and may he spread Dharma, so all the billions of people there can enjoy the happiness of Dharma, like the sun shining.

“May the Chinese government also give the land of Tibet back to the Tibetan people and may His Holiness continue to guide and lead them, and [may everyone] have total religious freedom in mainland China as well as in Tibet. In this way to spread Dharma, to preserve Dharma even more. May people enjoy the happiness of Dharma even more than before and in this way spread Dharma to all the rest of the world and may the entire Tibetan Mahayana Buddhism exist in this world for a long time without interruption.”

Gang ri ra wai ….
Päl dän la mäi ku tshe ….

Dedicate for all the virtuous friends, other virtuous friends, to have a stable life. May all their holy wishes succeed immediately. Then may those other holy beings who are in this world only to benefit others have the same.

“Due to all the past, present, future….” You have done already the fourth one? Universe, world, country, area, place, house, that one? Have you done that already? That was done already or not yet done?

[Marie reads the dedication in English]

“So whichever world, country, area, place, house, wherever I am or wherever I will be, just by that may I cause them to not be reborn in the lower realms, never ever, and may they find faith in refuge, karma, and may they actualize bodhicitta. May everybody live their life only benefiting each other and may nobody experience war, famine, disease, torture, poverty, sickness, dangers of fire, water, air, earthquakes, all the problems. May all their sicknesses immediately be healed—coma, cancer, the curable and incurable sicknesses—may all the sicknesses immediately get healed and may all those having spirit possession, those who become [mentally unwell], immediately be free from spirit harm, possession, and may they have a most meaningful life by actualizing the lamrim path.

“For those who have the suffering of depression, may their hearts be filled with great bliss and may they have a most meaningful life by actualizing the lamrim. And then for those who have so much suffering of relationship problems, may their hearts be filled with loving kindness, compassion, bodhicitta, and may their life be filled with so much peace and happiness.

“Those who have poverty, may they have wealth immediately, and those who want to find a guru, may they be able to find a perfectly qualified Mahayana guru. May those who want to receive teachings, receive unmistaken pure teachings. Those who want to do retreat, may they be able to find time and a conducive place and may they have all the realizations during the retreat.

“By being here in this universe, world, country, area, place, house, may I become wish-fulfilling to all the sentient beings, so they achieve all the happiness, then actualize the whole path to enlightenment. May they achieve enlightenment as quickly as possible.

“Due to all the past, present, future merits collected me and the three-time merits collected by others, may I be able to offer limitless skies of benefit to all sentient beings and the teachings of Buddha, like Lama Tsongkhapa, by having the same qualities within me as Lama Tsongkhapa has, from now on and in all my future lifetimes. In every second, may I be able to do that.”

[Marie chants Rinpoche’s short long-life prayer and then migtsemas]

Hmm. Two more dedications left.

“Due to all the past, present, future merits collected me and the three-time merits collected by others, that which are merely imputed by the mind, may the I, who is also merely imputed by the mind, achieve Tara’s enlightenment, which is merely imputed by the mind, and lead all the sentient beings, who are merely imputed by the mind, to Tara’s enlightenment, which is also merely imputed by the mind, by myself alone, who is also merely imputed by the mind.

“I dedicate all the merits to be able to follow the holy extensive deeds of the bodhisattvas Samantabhadra and Manjugosha, as they realized. I dedicate all the merits in the same way as the three-time buddhas and bodhisattvas dedicate their merits.

“May the general teachings of the Buddha, and particularly the teachings of Lama Tsongkhapa be completely actualized. May the teachings spread in all the directions, and may they flourish forever in this world by completely actualizing within our own heart, in the hearts of our own family members, in the hearts of all of us here, and in the hearts of all the organizers in this organization, at Vajra Yogini and Nalanda and all the rest of the centers. May the teachings be actualized in the hearts of all the organizers and all the students, everyone who comes here to Vajra Yogini center, as well as to Nalanda and all the rest of the centers, all those who come to learn Dharma, to meditate. May the teachings be completely actualized in everyone’s heart, especially those who give up their life to the organization doing service for the sentient beings and also service to the teachings of Buddha. May the whole entire teachings of Lama Tsongkhapa be completely actualized in all their hearts.”

Please dedicate:

“May the 500-feet Maitreya Buddha statue be able to start immediately and continue, be completed and be able to last in this world until Maitreya Buddha comes and then may it liberate tens of thousands of sentient beings every day. May it be able to cause, a special thing, to cause the generation of loving kindness, compassion, bodhicitta in the hearts of all the sentient beings and bring them to enlightenment as quickly as possible.

Anybody who hears of this project, who sees this, who dreams of this project, who hears of this, anyone who sees the statue, circumambulates, makes offerings, who sees the picture, all this, may they never ever get reborn in the lower realms by that. May they find faith in refuge and karma, actualize bodhicitta, be able to study, meet Maitreya Buddha’s teachings, and actualize the path and achieve enlightenment as quickly as possible. And all those people who donate for this statue and all those who are doing work, the companies and the people who do the work of building the statue, may they be able to actualize the whole path in that very lifetime—guru devotion, the three principal aspects of the path, the two stages, in that very lifetime and may they achieve enlightenment.”

Chhö kyi gyäl po ….
Dag dang zhän gyi .…

Good morning.

[End of discourse]

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Notes

¹ The Drikung Kagyu lineage is known for its development of the practice of powa. [Return to text]