Meeting a virtuous teacher
You people are extremely fortunate. Generally speaking, the most important thing needed for happiness (this is without talking about liberation or the highest state of omniscient mind) is to find a person who can teach you the method to achieve happiness. The teacher is extremely important; whether you will succeed in finding what you are seeking depends on the teacher. Your success depends on how perfectly your teachers understand and are qualified to reveal the methods to achieve the different levels of happiness. It is easy to meet teachers who can teach meditation and Dharma from texts, but it is not so easy to meet a virtuous teacher.
When you plant a poisonous seed, a medicinal tree cannot grow from it, only a poisonous tree. If you plant eggs when you wish to grow apples in your garden, no matter how many aeons you work on the eggs, you will never get even one atom of apple from your garden. In the same way, happiness comes only from virtue; it does not come from non-virtue. Actions done out of the poisonous minds of anger, ignorance, and attachment give rise only to suffering.
Now, whether a teacher can lead a disciple to happiness depends on whether the method the teacher reveals is virtuous or non-virtuous. Even the temporal happiness of this life, and of the life after this, depends on whether the teacher reveals virtue or not. A disciple is led on the path to liberation in dependence on how much perfect virtue the teacher is qualified to reveal; and leading the disciple to the highest state of omniscient mind depends on how much perfect virtue of the complete path the teacher is able to reveal.
Using the term "virtuous teacher" for the spiritual master who reveals the Dharma makes sense because it shows the responsibility of the teacher. From the title you can see that he is supposed to teach according to the disciple's needs, and the disciple needs happiness, not suffering. You have met a meaningful teacher. Geshe Lamrimpa is himself living in the practice of the subjects he is teaching, so he is a most reliable teacher, one that you can trust completely. If you want happiness, this is the most important point in life. You should feel extremely fortunate that you have not made a mistake in this very first point.
You use your teacher as an example for your own life. The growth of good qualities within you and making your life highly meaningful - for yourself and for others - are partially dependent upon your teacher, partially upon you. Whether you can become perfect, like your virtuous teacher, who has all the understanding, compassion and ability necessary to guide and benefit others, is partially dependent upon the teacher, and partially upon your practicing exactly the teachings taught by the virtuous teacher.
Guru Shakyamuni Buddha revealed all the teachings of the whole path, with nothing missing. Whether you can become a perfect guide like Buddha, able to guide sentient beings perfectly, depends on you. If from your own side you do not practise, Guru Shakyamuni Buddha cannot guide you, and you cannot become a perfect guide for other sentient beings.
Geshe Lamrimpa has spent his life meditating - in Tibet, and even more since coming here to Dharamsala. He lived in retreat here for a long time, maybe twenty years, in a house that has now fallen down. He then moved to another place above the Tibetan Children's' Village, where he still lives. Geshe-la has himself meditated on and experienced all the subjects he has taught you. He is teaching from his own experience. Geshe-la is living in the experience of moral conduct, in the purity of body, speech and mind abstaining from non-virtuous actions. And he is living in the experience of concentration and wisdom. He himself is living in these three higher trainings. You can generally meet people who can explain Dharma according to the scriptures, but to meet a person who is himself living in and teaching from the actual experience is very rare. To meet such a teacher with a controlled mind and receive teachings from him are extremely rare. So, you should all feel very fortunate to have met such a reliable and experienced teacher.
Training in compassion
It is extremely important always to train your mind in compassion. The more compassionate you are in your daily life, the more happiness you experience. A person with compassion causes less confusion to others because compassion does not allow thoughts of jealousy and anger, which are harmful to others, to arise. If your mind is in the nature of compassion, you benefit other living beings instead of harming them.
The definition of compassion is "wishing other suffering beings to be free from suffering." If your mind is compassionate in nature, you seek the methods to benefit others, you attempt to free them their sufferings.
When a compassionate person lives with others, he brings them much happiness and harmony. Because of the quality of this person's mind, simply seeing him makes one feel happy. Even though such a person does not seek praise or a good reputation, other people admire and respect him, so he automatically has a good reputation. Other people enjoy seeing, being with and helping him.
It is very important to understand and meditate upon the sufferings of others, to be constantly aware of them. Think of the sufferings of other sentient beings - even of one sentient being who has much greater problems than the problems you believe you have. When you think of even one being with greater problems, your own problem disappears.
Usually we are concerned only about ourself, thinking only of our own problems and not of the problems of others. We repeat over and over, like reciting a mantra or prayer, "I have this problem, I have that problem." We exaggerate our problems in our own mind. In this way, because we are thinking only of our own problems, we feel as if we are the only one on this earth who is suffering. This makes us so depressed that we cannot even do our daily work. Even if we are living in a very beautiful, expensive apartment that has everything, we cannot enjoy it. Even if we are trying to eat food that costs hundreds of dollars, we cannot enjoy it. It makes no difference to us whether we are eating food that costs five dollars or a hundred.
However, if we constantly train our mind to be aware of the suffering and kindness of others - how all our happiness and comfort have been received through the kindness of others - our own problem becomes completely insignificant. Even thinking of just one other being's problem makes a difference; our own problem becomes less important. Whatever trouble you had that day does not seem so important when you think of that other person. Then, when you think of the hundreds or millions or numberless other beings who are suffering, your problem becomes nothing. There is no space in your mind or time to think of yourself. You are just one person. Even if you are suffering, it is just the suffering of one person. The thought of the others who are suffering overwhelms your concern for yourself. There is no time to think of yourself, no time to work for yourself - only time to think of and work for others.
In your mind, others become more important because there are so many of them; they are uncountable in number. Their suffering is unbearable. In your life, day and night, your very first concern should be for others. There is nothing more important than this.
Suffering body
Simply look at a mosquito. It is so fragile, so pitiful. It has no power, no strength. Think of taking such a body that just seeing or hearing makes others angry and want to kill. A mosquito's body is seen as very undesirable. Look at its long, thin legs. Simply look at its body and compare it to your own. There is no choice - compassion has to arise.
Then look at a slug. We don't want to have such a body for even a second - not even to experiment! Merely looking at its body is unbearable. It is so weak and powerless, so pitiful. When the monsoon stops, all the slugs die.
Look at a buffalo, cow, sheep, goat, dog, monkey. Just looking at the body itself, you can see they are so pitiful. You can easily see the pitiful, suffering nature of monkeys. Even when they find food, they are scared of being attacked by other more powerful monkeys. They have to look in the ten directions: "Is anybody going to come to attack me if I eat this food?" Just from the suffering nature of their bodies, you can see why these animals are so pitiful.
Spiders, snakes, scorpions and all the other animals have not taken their bodies purposely, by planning carefully: "Oh, I want to be born as a snake" or "I want to be born as a scorpion." The main thing to understand is that they have not taken such bodies purposely, but without choice, by creating karma out of ignorance. First they create karma out of ignorance; then, without choice, their consciousness migrates to this body.
Even with human beings, when somebody criticizes or badly treats you, simply look at their body. When you think of the suffering nature of their body - this is without talking about how their mind is suffering! - there is no choice: compassion has to arise.
No matter how angry a person is (or how great he may think he is), inside of him is a skeleton. It is covered by skin, so that you cannot see it, but look at his body and remember that skeleton inside. That body is actually a very frightening object: pieces of flesh encircled by veins, and filled with blood, pus, and bad smells. With some hair growing on the top. Just looking at the body, you can see it is suffering and very pitiful. There is no way that you could be encouraged to harm it. When you see such a body, there is no way that the thought to harm that being could even arise.
Suffering mind
It is similar with the mind. When someone is overwhelmed by anger, he is the servant of his own anger: his body, speech and mind become the servants of his anger. The person, whom you label on that association of body and mind, has no freedom at all but is completely under the control of anger. Because of his anger, he himself has no happiness. Instead of thinking of the person and his anger as inseparable, you should see that he is completely controlled by anger. When you see that he has no freedom at all, there is no choice - compassion has to arise.
The teachings say that it is pointless to get angry with the stick that is used by someone to beat you. The stick itself has no freedom; it is simply used by the person to beat and hurt you. In a similar way, the body and mind of the person who beats you have no freedom; they are simply used by anger. Therefore, the teachings say, there is no point at all in becoming angry with the person who is beating you. He should be only an object of your compassion.
In a similar way you can meditate on compassion in relation to attachment, pride, and jealousy. It is very helpful to remember this, especially when you have some problem in your life.
Merely labelled by the mind
In everyday life, when a person's body gets out of bed, he labels on that: "I am getting up." When his aggregates perform the action of eating breakfast, he labels on that: "I am eating breakfast." When his body does the action of washing, he labels on that: "I am washing." When his aggregates perform the action of speaking, he labels on his body doing that action: "I am speaking." As the mind is thinking, the person labels on that: "I am thinking." As the person is meditating - watching the breath or trying to train his mind in the path, in renunciation of samsara, bodhicitta, the wisdom realizing emptiness - the person labels on that: "I am meditating." Like this, from morning until night, constantly, according to what his body, speech and mind are doing, a person labels: "I am doing this, I am doing that."
To give an example of labelling: Before someone is told that a person who dresses in a certain way and performs certain functions is called a "policeman", he has no perception of policeman. After he is told what a policeman is, and believes what he is told, he then labels "policeman" on a person dressed in this way. Only after this does he have the perception of policeman.
The appearance of policeman comes from the person's labelling. If it is actually analyzed (perhaps not in the very first second, but immediately after that), the appearance of policeman comes as unlabeled. This unlabeled appearance is completely opposite to reality. This appearance of an independent, unlabeled policeman existing from his own side is completely false.
The actual evolution is that you label "policeman" on the aggregates that do the particular work of asking questions, checking papers and so forth. Unless your mind labels "policeman", even though the body and uniform of the policeman may be there in front of you, policeman does not exist. If there is no thought that labels "policeman", the policeman does not exist at that time. And even if there is the thought to label "policeman", if there is no base - no aggregates dressed in that particular uniform - the policeman does not exist. If the base (a body dressed in a particular way, performing police activities) exists, your mind labels "policeman" on that base.
You can see that the policeman exists on those aggregates in mere name, being merely labelled by thought. The policeman exists under the control of the mind of the person who does the labelling. The policeman does not exist in the slightest from his own side; he exists only as merely labelled on those aggregates by thought. This merely labelled policeman is the one who exists and performs all the police activities. This is the reality.
However, the policeman appears to you as unlabeled. He never appears as merely labelled by your own thought, but as existing completely from his own side. This appearance is opposite to the reality. In reality the policeman is merely labelled; he exists in mere name. This other appearance is completely false, a hallucination. This appearance of a policeman existing from his own side is the same as a policeman you see in a dream - completely non-existent.
Think in the same way about the I. Without the labelling of I on the aggregates, there is no appearance of I. It is very clear that all the appearances arising from the six consciousnesses come from labelling, from your own mind.
Even though the I is merely labelled on our aggregates by our own thought, it always appears as independent and existing from its own side, and we completely trust this as true. In reality it is the merely labelled I that is getting up, eating, drinking, talking, meditating, traveling, doing business, experiencing happiness and suffering. This merely labelled I is the one achieving enlightenment by practicing the path or experiencing samsaric suffering by creating its cause, disturbing thoughts and karma.
However, what constantly appears to us is this independent, truly-existent I, existing from its own side without depending on anything. This is what is eating, working, meditating, experiencing happiness and suffering. This truly-existent I in which we believe does not actually exist. It is completely empty. There is no such truly-existent I doing all these activities. This appearance is completely opposite to reality; it is completely false. If we can recognize this appearance as false, it takes just a minute for us to realize the emptiness of the I; and we then have the opportunity to cut the root of samsara, the true cause of suffering. By cutting this, we are liberated from true suffering as well, and have the opportunity to achieve liberation.
Because we are under the control of ignorance - not having realized emptiness and completely hallucinated as to reality - nothing appears to us as merely labelled. We completely trust in the appearance of this unlabeled I existing from its own side and we are hallucinated about sense objects in the same way. The sense objects, which are merely labelled, do not appear to us as merely labelled, so when we meet undesirable objects, anger arises; when we meet desirable objects, attachment arises. And it is the same with jealousy and all the other disturbing thoughts. We then accumulate karma, the cause of samsara. Because of this karma we have to wander and take rebirth again and again in the six realms. Relating this to ourself, to how we are suffering, becomes the cause of renunciation.
Like this, numberless other sentient beings also circle in samsara and experience sufferings in each realm. Meditate on how others are hallucinated, ignorant of the reality of self and phenomena. They do not believe in what exists, but believe in what does not exist. If we think in this way, again there is no choice - compassion has to arise.
Taking responsibility for others
Lama Tsongkapa, like a second Shakyamuni Buddha, did great works benefiting many sentient beings and the Buddhadharma, and achieved the whole path to enlightenment. He explained the suffering of sentient beings in this way:
The mother sentient beings are constantly swept along by the four strong rivers of ignorance, craving, grasping, and wrong views. Their limbs fastened by the chain of karma, which is very difficult to break, they are trapped in the iron cage of I-grasping ignorance. Their minds completely gloomed with the darkness of ignorance, they take birth again and again in samsara, continuously experiencing the three types of suffering.
All the mothers, who have been very kind to you, are fastened with chains and being swept away by the water. Not only that, they are in an iron cage in complete darkness; they cannot see any light. If your mother, who has been extremely kind to you, were suffering like this, you would find it unbearable. It is even more unbearable that sentient beings are completely trapped by I-grasping ignorance, taking birth and suffering in the six realms due to the four delusions of ignorance, craving, grasping, and wrong views.
Now, you need to make a decision about how to live your life. No matter how much you are suffering, you are just one person. Even if you achieve liberation, this is nothing to be excited about - it's just one person. No matter how great a problem you have, there is nothing to be very depressed about - it's just one person. When you think of two other sentient beings who, under the control of disturbing thoughts and karma, are suffering in a similar way, because there are two of them, their suffering is more unbearable. It is more important that you sacrifice yourself and dedicate your life to working for these two other beings, in order to free them from the suffering of samsara and lead them to ultimate happiness. Even in terms of temporal happiness, these two are greater in number than you, so they are more important.
You are just one person but you think: "I am very important. Obtaining my happiness by solving my problems and eliminating my suffering is very important." These other two people are greater in number, so it is more important to obtain their happiness and to eliminate their suffering.
Now, it is not just two others, it is not just a hundred billion others - it is numberless others who, like you, want happiness and do not want suffering. An uncountable number of beings are suffering, devoid of temporal and ultimate happiness. When you think of this uncountable number, you yourself become completely insignificant. If you forget all these uncountable other beings even for one minute, even for one second, and are concerned only about working for yourself, you are completely crazy, you have lost your mind.
Every hour of your life, there is nothing more important than sacrificing yourself in the attempt to free all the numberless other suffering sentient beings from the true cause of suffering and true suffering and lead them to temporal and ultimate happiness, especially the peerless happiness of enlightenment. In your life there is nothing more important to do than this.
When your mind understands the sufferings of others, there is no way you can relax. Compassion has got to arise. You have got to do something. If, like a rock or a tree, you had no mind, it would be different. But since you have a mind, which is clear and knowing, which understands that others are suffering, there is no way for you to relax, even if you are not capable of helping them. If your mother were drowning in a river, even if you were armless and unable to help her, there would be no way you could relax and ignore what was happening. You would still be concerned about saving her.
In the same way, in your daily life, you should use whatever capabilities you have to pacify the mental and physical suffering of others. There is no question that you should benefit others by preventing their problems and obtaining their happiness, even the temporary happiness they need, especially since you have the opportunity to do this. At this time you have received a perfect human rebirth with eighteen very rare qualities and met the Dharma, the teaching of Buddha. You have met a perfect virtuous teacher who can reveal the complete path to enlightenment. By practicing the complete path to enlightenment, you can become a perfect guide, with perfect understanding, power, and infinite compassion, and work extensively for all sentient beings.
By generating and training your mind in this complete Mahayana path, you have the opportunity, if you want, not only to give temporary happiness to others by freeing them from day-to-day problems, but to free them completely from even the cause, karma and disturbing thoughts, and lead them to the highest happiness, the state of omniscient mind.
If you, who have all the opportunities to help others find temporal and ultimate happiness, do not help, who will? If you, who have all the possibilities to develop your mind and perfectly guide others, do not do this, who will do it? For example, there is someone who has broken his leg and needs to go to the hospital. If you do not help carry him, who will? Since you have the capability, you have the responsibility to help.
Practicing moral conduct
There is no way to offer ultimate benefit to sentient beings, perfectly guiding them to liberation and enlightenment, other than by your achieving Buddhahood, the state of omniscient mind. There is no other way. Achieving the state of omniscient mind depends on generating the path within your mind and the foundation of the path is moral conduct. Since there is nothing more important or meaningful in life than benefiting other sentient beings, practically speaking, what can you do to benefit others?
The first thing is to stop harming others with your body, speech, and mind. The basic foundation of the path, the whole essence of what is called Dharma, is not to harm other sentient beings, and to benefit them. Moral conduct, which involves protecting karma, is such an important practice because it means not harming others. For example, you can take a vow not to kill. You are just one person but you have the potential to harm numberless people and animals. Even if you do not benefit others temporarily by giving them food, clothing or houses, simply by living in the vow not to kill, you prevent that potential harm of killing numberless sentient beings. Because you take the vow on the basis of every sentient being, you stop harming numberless sentient beings.
When one person takes a vow not to kill others, numberless sentient beings benefit by receiving less harm. If two people take a vow not to kill, others receive that much less harm. When more and more people live in the vow of not killing, the rest of the numberless sentient beings, who want happiness and do not want suffering, receive less and less harm. Not being in danger of being killed is itself a benefit. Even if you don't give mountains of food and clothing for disaster relief, simply living in the vow not to kill brings unbelievable benefit. Right from the second the vow is taken, numberless other suffering beings receive benefit from you.
If you then take the vow not to steal, others receive more benefit and their lives become less dangerous. As you take more and more vows - five precepts, eight precepts - other sentient beings receive more and more happiness through receiving less harm from you. You can see that living in moral conduct, protecting karma, is very practical. When you give food or money to others, you cannot give enough to cover all sentient beings. And, from their side, as long as they do not meet Dharma and do not understand karma, even though this time they receive food or medicine and are relieved from starvation or physically cured, they will again create the cause for these problems. Unless they abandon the cause of suffering and practise the cause of happiness, they will experience the problems again. As long as their Dharma wisdom eyes are blind, they will create the cause again and again. In this way their suffering has no end.
Therefore, on the basis of moral conduct, you listen, reflect and meditate. You listen to the extensive teachings of the whole path to enlightenment, reflect on their meaning, and meditate on the path. In this way you can reveal Dharma to others, enabling them to open their Dharma wisdom eye and stop creating the cause of suffering. This is how their suffering can be ended. This is the real moral conduct.
There is a difference between taking a vow and not taking a vow. If you do not take a vow, there is no benefit to others and you do not gain the merit from living constantly in the vow. You do not create negative karma, but there is no benefit from the merit of living in the vow. If you take the vow not to kill, you constantly create merit, good karma. So there is a difference. According to your capability, you should take one, two, three, four, five vows.
Taking refuge in Dharma means not harming others. This is the essential thing, and the main cause of developing your mind and benefiting yourself in this life. Even in daily life you will have less confusion. Harming others creates confusion, bringing problems in your life and in the lives of others. Taking refuge in Dharma results in peace in your life and in the lives of others.
Living in whatever number of vows you take, avoiding that many harms to others, is the basic cause to develop your own mind, your own happiness, in this life and in the future, from here up to enlightenment. This is the most practical thing you can do right now to benefit everyone. If you are concerned about bringing peace to the world, living in moral conduct is the real method to do this. Not harming others and, if possible, benefiting them are the essence of Dharma. This is the way to practise Dharma.
Success in your Dharma practice and in your ability to live in moral conduct depends on having the good heart, which means less self-cherishing thought. The less self-cherishing you have, the quicker you have attainments in meditation and the more successful you are in the basic cause of this, moral conduct. The more selfish your mind, the more obstacles you experience. There are generally more obstacles to success, but especially to success in Dharma practice, which is the most important. In everyday life, not having obstacles depends on not letting yourself under the control of self-cherishing thought but, instead, cherishing others. All happiness comes from cherishing others, from loving kindness and compassion; all suffering comes from cherishing the self.
Basically, all problems and failures come from the self; all happiness and enjoyments come from others. Therefore, the heart practice of Dharma is cherishing others; and this applies even to those who do not practise Dharma, who do not seek liberation or enlightenment, or even the happiness of future lives, but just day-to-day happiness in this life. Since you want happiness, the essential method you need to practise is cherishing others, not allowing yourself under the control of self-cherishing thought. This is the essential method to be practiced. All of the 84,000 teachings of Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, all of the teachings of sutra and tantra, no matter how extensive or secret, come to this basic point: You need to renounce self-cherishing.
How to make life meaningful
The answer to the question, "Since I have to go back to the West, how should I live my life?" is very simple. Practicing the good heart is the most practical thing to do. This brings temporal and ultimate happiness, now and in the future, to you and every other being. Practicing the good heart, as much as possible not following self-cherishing, is the essential method to cut off the obstacles to success.
On top of that, if you can find the time, do lamrim meditation. Meditation helps the practice of the good heart and the practice of the good heart helps meditation. Then your life becomes very practical and meaningful. You will be very happy because you are doing something correct and reliable. By doing this practice, you know that you can definitely achieve the result of happiness for yourself and for others. In this way your life has purpose. Because you are benefiting yourself and others, you will be very happy, rather than living your life in depression.
You should feel very happy. One year ago, a few months ago, there was no meaning in your life. You did not even know that you could have happiness after this life - that you could be reborn and have happiness in your next life, that you could have continuation of happiness in future lives. And also that you could develop your mind and help others in future lifetimes. Before, you did not know that with this precious human body you could achieve, even in each hour, the three great purposes: happiness after this life, liberation from samsara, and the peerless happiness of enlightenment. With this body you can achieve any of these three. Even in one hour you can create the cause for any of these. You now know that you have this opportunity to achieve any happiness you wish in the next life; and higher than that, the opportunity to achieve liberation from samsara; and even higher than that, the state of omniscient mind, with the ability to guide perfectly all sentient beings.
By having met the Dharma, you now understand that you can achieve these by practicing the ten virtuous actions, the three higher trainings, bodhicitta, the six perfections and, especially, tantra. Knowing that you have these opportunities, you should feel extremely fortunate.
