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Lecture 11

As we always find, we always hear—we see many people and also it is one’s own experience—the times when your mind is so selfish, there is nothing else to think about, except only to concern oneself, when one’s mind is so very selfish like this, it is very hard to get along with others. It is very difficult to become harmonious with others. And when your mind is very good, when your own mind is a little softer, a little less concerned for self and more concerned for others, you’re happier. You get along even with those whom you don’t usually get along with. You can tell this from your own experience. When life becomes more difficult it is when the mind has stronger self-cherishing thought. When the selfish attitude is weaker, however, you are able to dedicate yourself more, share things more with others and have more space to think of others. You are able to give yourself more for others, and that’s why there is more happiness and harmony in life.

You see, when we see other people who are very selfish, and when you stay with a person who is very selfish, who has nothing else to think about except himself or herself, his or her own comfort, even wanting to use one’s own belongings, even though it doesn’t belong to him or her, and trying to take advantage of you. You find it very painful when you ask that person to help and that person doesn’t help. When you ask them to share something or do something—physical or material help or whatever—and the person doesn’t help even though he could. This becomes a big disturbance to you; it becomes painful. So when we stay with that kind of person we find it so difficult, we find that person so difficult. Even just to be near that person, your mind becomes unhappy.

In a similar way, as we recognize other people like that, as we see it is harmful when someone is so selfish like that, when someone can’t accept the loss for oneself, we should also see our own personalities, the nature of own mind. Only knowing others and never checking one’s own mind, never analyzing or being aware of one’s own personality, not having any understanding or recognition on how greatly harmful all this is to others, to the people who live near us, who are around, how it is a big disturbance, how it is harmful for them—not recognizing this, not realizing this shouldn’t happen; it should not happen this way.

One’s own mind, one’s own selfish attitude is as high as Mount Meru, like Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world, thinking, “I am very good, I am pure and I am always right, I’m always right, one hundred percent, all the time,” then always think how others are so selfish. Your own selfishness is perfectly all right, your own selfish attitude is very pure, it’s a very good selfish attitude, thinking, “I am one hundred percent right. What I want is right, but what he wants, what she wants is not right. What I want is one hundred percent worthwhile. I should have it. They shouldn’t have it. The other person, the other sentient beings should not have it, otherwise I lose. He gets happiness, I lose my happiness. So as long as I get it, it’s okay, doesn’t matter whatever happens to others—if they are happy or if they are unhappy, as long as I am happy it’s okay. In this world, among all these human beings, among all these creatures, all these sentient beings, among all these numberless sentient beings, as long as I am happy, then it’s okay, then that is sufficient.”

So that is a very poor attitude, an extremely poor attitude of one who has never tried to change his attitude, or tried to change the source of his own problems. Of course, without having received teachings, there’s no method to transform it; that person doesn’t know, but after having received all these unbelievable teachings one only cheats oneself. Apart from one’s own side, if one does not practice, from the side of the infallible teaching, which is so profound that one can immediately, without doubt, without any danger of misguiding one can accomplish all the wishes, temporal and ultimate—such an unbelievable teaching that one has received, from the side of the teaching there’s no misguiding at all. Only from one’s own side, one does not practice.

If one wishes to practice Dharma, there’s nothing much to talk about, nothing much to say, nothing much to talk about—just follow Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s life story. In the bodhisattva’s time, what great dedication Guru Shakyamuni Buddha did for other sentient beings. Just read those stories, the different bodhisattvas’ life stories—put that into practice.

You see, what I’m saying now is that the main emphasis is this—I don’t remember the particular names, it’s the end of the Chöd practice, but I don’t remember. I find these prayers so effective, the last part of the Chöd, praying to be able to follow Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s biography—all the sacrifices that were done for other sentient beings during the bodhisattvas’ lifetimes. I find that prayer extremely beneficial, even without chanting. I think it is a prayer that you should actually practice; you should recite it and pray every day. Guru Shakyamuni Buddha was a king, had everything, gave it up and made charity for sentient beings, and even the surrounding people, even the family made charity for other sentient beings, completely. Then when he was born as prince, he sacrificed the holy body to the hungry tiger. As soon as he saw the tigers, he completely made the determination to make charity, to put it into practice immediately. Then also the tigers, to whom Guru Shakyamuni Buddha made charity, afterwards became his close disciples.

Anyway, my main emphasis is this—there’s nothing much to say, nothing much to talk about, not so much to talk about it. Simply put, if one wishes to practice Buddhadharma, wants to have less problems in life, if one doesn’t want interference, if one wants to practice Dharma, if one wants to have successful a Dharma practice, then put those Guru Shakyamuni Buddha life-stories into practice—that’s my conclusion. The main emphasis is this those tigers ate Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s holy body; they chewed the bones, ate the flesh, drank the blood, all those things, but Guru Shakyamuni Buddha prayed that those tigers who ate his body be able to, in the future, become his disciples, to turn the Dharma wheel, to lead them to enlightenment.

The spirits, the yakshas, rakshas, five brothers or sisters, five brothers, I don’t know—anyway, the relatives, the five relatives, the spirits, the yakshas, during the bodhisattva’s time sucked the fresh, warm blood. They did this, but Guru Shakyamuni Buddha made prayers to benefit them in return—the benefit is not giving materials but making prayers to be able, in the next life, to be born as a human being and reveal the teachings to them. Those five yakshas became the first disciples for whom Guru Shakyamuni Buddha turned the first wheel of Dharma at Sarnath.

When Guru Shakyamuni Buddha was the business trader Kyiwu Chubeb, the lake dried and so many fish died. By reciting mantra to them, all those fish were liberated from samsara. The mantra was DE.ZHIN SHEG.PA RIN.CHEN TSUG.TOR.CHAN LA CHAG.TSEL LO. By reciting Buddha’s name—I think Khunu Lama Rinpoche often used to teach this to other people, because by hearing this name at the time of death you don’t get born in the lower realms. I think this is a particular function of this Buddha, Rinchen Tsugtorchen—so by reciting that Buddha’s name he liberated many, and saved them from the lower realms and liberated them from samsara, making Dharma charity to those who are devoid of Dharma, those who have poverty in Dharma.

I see the English of this dedication prayer. “When he was Prince Great Meaning of Virtue, he was able to bear betrayal with compassion. In the same way may I cherish with great compassion those around me who disturb with bad manners and perverse behavior.” Perverse? Perverse behavior? Yeah, this is what we need to practice (laughs, general laughter.) I wasn’t one hundred percent sure of the English. These are the points that I want to emphasize. If you want to practice Dharma without interference, this is it—if you don’t want interference, if you want success in Dharma practice. There’s nothing much to say, nothing much to talk about.

Then the next one: “When he was the bodhisattva monkey, he rescued the evil man from the well. In the same way, may I be able to benefit evil beings without discouragement, and compassionately guide them without expecting favors in return.”

Especially this verse, verse 67: “When he was Prince Great Meaning of Virtue, he was able to bear betrayal with compassion. In the same way may I cherish with great compassion those around me who disturb with bad manners and perverse behavior.”

That’s what we need, what we need to practice—then there’s no interference to practice Dharma. Especially for those who give harm, who disturb, for those who you help and then in return they harm you; especially to those who hurt you most, you generate greater compassion. The compassion to that person is not made up—there’s a reason. I don’t have compassion but I think the reason is enough to generate compassion. Just seeing that person with a bad personality is a reason to cause great compassion to arise. But it is difficult for us to generate strong compassion.

You see, the arya bodhisattvas do not have the suffering of rebirth, old age and sickness. They do not have the strong selfish attitude or a vicious personality, so therefore it is very hard for us to have great compassion, unbearable great compassion does not rise for them.

Just seeing that person who bothers you, who criticizes you, who’s angry at you, who you helped and he in return only harmed you, he got angry. In return that person badly treated and criticized you, or even kills you in return to giving him help. He is under the control of karma; the evil, vicious actions that he does are the result, the ripening result that is similar to the cause. This is the result of his past life, his past life action, his evil actions that harmed others. And that is because of disturbing thoughts. He’s overwhelmed; he’s completely overwhelmed, without freedom at all. The person himself has no freedom at all, he is completely overwhelmed by karma and the disturbing thoughts such as anger, dissatisfactory mind. He is completely overwhelmed, so he himself has no freedom at all. He is completely used, he is a servant, a slave, used by the disturbing thoughts—he has no freedom at all.

So his giving harm, when you think in this way, arises from the fact that he has no freedom at all, that he himself is completely trapped, in the control of others and disturbing thoughts, karma and disturbing thoughts. So even though he harms you, while he is criticizing, harming you, if you remember this, that he has no choice, compassion has to rise, there is no choice. When you think this way, just simply like that, he’s not doing this, he’s not harming you because he has freedom from karma and disturbing thoughts, you see? He’s doing this out of control, like the person who is completely possessed by a spirit who does harmful actions. You don’t get angry at the mother who is possessed by a spirit, completely occupied by spirit, and then does harmful actions. You don’t get angry at that mother; the thing that you feel is pity, compassion. There is no way for anger to arise, so it is similar to that. It is similar to that, and even worse. The spirit harm is just for a certain time, for some years, maybe one year, or just this life. It’s a limited time. That person has not been possessed by spirits from beginningless lifetime, but the sentient being who harms you, who badly treats you has not had freedom at all from beginningless lifetimes. From beginningless lifetimes he has suffered under the control of karma and disturbing thoughts. It is difficult to see the end—that sentient being’s suffering has no beginning, it is a continuation, and it is difficult to see that it has an end—so you can generate stronger compassion for that person than for one who is possessed by spirits. It is difficult to see when that person will be liberated from this suffering, it is very difficult to see this, difficult to say, you know? It may have an end, but it is such an incredible length of time that the sentient being has to suffer.

So when one thinks in this way, the more the other person is vicious, harmful and evil, more harmful to oneself, more vicious, it becomes a reason, or an object toward which to generate greater compassion, without choice. When you see how that other sentient being is under the control and there is no choice, compassion has got to arise.

It is similar when you look at dogs, chickens, buffaloes, those animals who live nearby, who live around human beings. The monkeys, you look at snakes, scorpions—just seeing their body becomes an object of compassion, just seeing their body itself is enough reason, a sufficient reason for compassion to arise. Without choice compassion will arise. You have a human body like this which is an incredible opportunity. Without talking about Dharma practice, there is so much temporal happiness and comfort. Poisonous snakes, scorpions and spiders, sheep and goats didn’t take this body having planned in the past, “I’m going to take a scorpion body; how to take a scorpion body, how to take spider body, I want to get a spider body, how to get it?” Making many lifetimes’ projects, making plans. Any human beings who see their body get frightened, just by seeing their body others get frightened and want to kill them immediately. Everybody tries to kill that poisonous snake immediately—very harmful, very dangerous. Without delay, they kill them immediately, everyone thinks they are dangerous. If you had such a body, how would it be? Meditating, visualizing, putting oneself in their place, you can get compassion, you can feel compassion from that. All the animals didn’t take that body with a wish, with a desire, they didn’t take it purposely. They got caught, out of ignorance they created karma in the past so that consciousness migrated into that body; they got caught in samsara. Without choice, they got caught in this body.

There is a Chenrezig prayer that we do in the nyung-nä practice that says, “The narak beings, the preta beings, the sura and asura beings, those who are caught in the lower, evil-gone realms, the nyen song…”—nyen is bad, song is gone. These Tibetan words have a big meaning. Nyen is the cause, song is gone, the result. So nyen is bad karma, having created bad karma, gone to the lower realm. So nyen song, being caught in the evil-gone realms, which are very difficult to be liberated from—and then, “You, the great compassionate one, please look at me with your compassionate eye.”

So, as it is said in the Chenrezig prayer, how ugly it is, how terrifying it is, the bodies they have. How much suffering there is. Think of crocodiles, those unbelievable bodies. Anyway, it is unbelievable, amazing, those creatures that live in the oceans, in the forest, on the land, in the desert.

Just look at those horses in India, those cows or buffaloes, those horses, on that very solid road, very hard road, their legs are nailed with iron and they have an incredibly heavy load. Every day they have to run for so many hours, and even if they have wounds on the body, even if they have pain, there is no way to express anything that they wish. “I want this, I don’t want this. I am sick,” this and that, hunger and thirst. There is no way to express the wish, no freedom to express the wish at all. If there is only something physically outside, some injury or something that can be seen by the eye—even if the person sees that, still there is no compassion. They use them as much as possible until they stop, until their body collapses, until the breath stops. And being completely under the control of that person, being beaten and all that, until the body collapses, the breath stops. No matter how painful it is, no matter how hard it is, there is no choice, they completely get caught in that samsara, in that body, in the evil-gone realm body, and they have to suffer.

However many years he lives, he has to suffer, there is no choice—it is so difficult to liberate from the lower realms. Even just from the lower realms, it is extremely difficult. Without choice they have taken this body, without freedom. If they had the freedom immediately to leave that body to go to another body—but they don’t have this freedom, so until death, they have to suffer.

Sentient beings like the spider or the poisonous snakes don’t mean to harm others like this, but without choice they receive a body that frightens anybody who sees it, and immediately they will kill it. Those animals, those spiders, those creatures that have thousands of legs, just look at them, how pitiful they are. They are so deeply ignorant, unbelievably deeply ignorant, and they have such an incredibly pitiful body, a suffering body; they are deeply ignorant and whatever action they do is non-virtue. So just this is enough reason—without choice, compassion has got to arise. Without thinking about the other details of suffering, the other problems, what they experience, just seeing them with that body without choice, that itself is an unbelievable reason for unbearable compassion to arise.

So towards the sentient beings who harm us we should practice in this way, as Guru Shakyamuni Buddha practiced. And then, especially in the case of the one who harms oneself we should generate greater compassion. And in return for the harm from those who are badly treating you, you should benefit. You should benefit them, you should practice patience. The more vicious the person is, the more uncontrolled the person is, it is that much harmful for himself, but for you the person is extremely kind, unbelievably kind. Having found such an evil, vicious personality, as it is mentioned in the Eight Verses of Thought Transformation, I think in the fourth verse, when you see others overwhelmed by negative karma, suffering, great heavy negative karma, problems, a person whose mind is full of heresy, full of anger, an unbelievably strong selfish attitude, when the mind is like this, the action is only heavy negative karmas, body full of leprosy disease, so vicious, great harm, giving great disturbance to you, to oneself , “Like having found a precious treasure, may I be able to cherish that sentient being, who is extremely difficult to find.”

It is only harming him, great harm for himself, the more vicious he is and more under the control of karma and delusion—it is greater harm for himself, no good at all for himself. But for you, by thinking in this way about how he is suffering, great unbelievable compassion arises, and in this way one is able to generate bodhicitta quickly, and in this way one is able to achieve enlightenment rapidly. One is able to do extensive works for all sentient beings, quickly. So therefore, for you, that suffering sentient being is unbelievably kind, unbelievably kind. He is much more precious than diamonds piled up, this sentient being who is so vicious, who is so cruel to you, that one suffering being. There is no comparison between him and diamonds the number of the atoms of this earth—there is no comparison.

Without depending on suffering sentient beings there is no compassion, no great compassion, no bodhicitta, no way to become enlightened, no way to receive the infinite qualities that the Buddha has. No way. You cannot offer extensive benefits to all sentient beings. Even if you own that many diamonds equaling the number of atoms of the earth, that alone, without depending on the kindness of such suffering sentient beings, you cannot achieve the great purpose, enlightenment. There is no way. Without depending on the kindness of sentient beings you can’t even achieve liberation. Even if you have that many diamonds, that many dollars, you cannot achieve liberation; they cannot help. Even rebirth—without depending on the kindness of sentient beings, even if you have that many possessions, it cannot help you find a perfect human rebirth, a body of a happy transmigratory being in the next life. It cannot save you from the lower realms.

For example: a person who has degenerated moral conduct but has practiced charity. By having degenerated moral conduct, even if the person has accumulated much charity, that person gets born as a naga, having much wealth because of having made charity in a past life. Because of having degenerated moral conduct he doesn’t find the body of the happy transmigratory being; only of the animal realm, of a naga. Moral conduct is the cause of the body of the happy transmigratory being, and that is practiced on the object of sentient beings, depending on the kindness of the sentient beings. Because sentient beings exist, suffering sentient beings exist, you have the opportunity to practice moral conduct—to not kill others, to not take others’ lives, to not steal others’ possessions. One has the opportunity to practice on the object of sentient beings, so that is why sentient beings are extremely, unbelievably kind. That is how the happiness comes from the sentient beings.

When we find a treasure, the treasure we cherish so much, we take the best care of it, seeing the value of it and the advantages we can get from it. So you see, you are taking the best care. And also this is rare, so you are taking the best care. It is rare to get, rare to find, and you see that much value, the enjoyment you can get from that, by using that. This is how to apply the example of “difficult to find,” to the meaning, putting it this way.

Buddha doesn’t get angry, Buddha doesn’t have anger, Buddha doesn’t have obscurations or suffering, so there is no opportunity, no way to generate compassion for Buddha. There is no way to practice patience on Buddha. With Buddha there is no opportunity to practice patience, because Buddha doesn’t have anger towards oneself and doesn’t have suffering. With arya beings, arhats and higher bodhisattvas, there is no opportunity to practice. They don’t have anger towards oneself, dislike towards oneself. There is no opportunity to practice patience at all with them. They don’t have suffering, they don’t have anger; they don’t have the true cause of suffering, true suffering; so there is no opportunity to practice, no opportunity to generate compassion. There is no way to generate compassion for them. We cannot generate this unbelievable, unbearable, great compassion. It is difficult to generate this for them, we cannot generate it. There is no opportunity.

For those who have less problems, those who are not that vicious, so cruel, those who have less problems—for example, normally, it is very easy to generate compassion for a beggar, who doesn’t have food, who doesn’t have a house, who doesn’t have anything, who is sick—it is easy to generate compassion. When you see wealthy people who have everything, compassion does not arise. Just generally speaking, this is a common experience. When you see a very wealthy person, generally speaking, it is difficult to bring up compassion for general people. For the beggar, somebody who is very poor, somebody who has leprosy disease, or is very sick, or poor, it is very easy for compassion to arise. For somebody who is wealthy, somebody who is healthy, it is difficult to generate compassion. Therefore, for you, it is easy to bring up compassion for the sentient being who has the poverty of not only Dharma but of means of living, one who has more problems.

Similarly you can see that it is easy for compassion to arise if that sentient being is extremely kind. It is easy for you, depending on the kindness, depending on that object, the root of bodhicitta, compassion is easy to generate, for one who is so extremely kind. Just his existence is extremely kind for oneself.

If you think in this way, for most people you don’t feel compassion. You feel compassion for only certain persons, for somebody who is very badly injured or somebody who is sick or poor—but for most people that you see you don’t feel compassion. In the office, for the employers, one doesn’t feel compassion; for those objects compassion does not arise easily. Every sentient being is not like this example that I mentioned—the mind so vicious, incredibly heavy negative karma, much suffering, with much sickness, unbelievable, so that for you it is very easy to have compassion for that. Since every sentient being, every human being is not like this, it is so difficult; therefore the person who has disliking thoughts to you, anger towards you, is like a precious treasure that is very difficult to find.

There is no opportunity to practice patience toward the friend who gives help, who doesn’t have thoughts of dislike toward oneself. Strangers do not dislike or have anger toward you, so there is no opportunity to practice patience with them. All sentient beings fall within these three divisions, so we have friends and strangers, and what is left is the enemy, one who has anger toward oneself, the one about whom one finds, “This is my enemy, because he doesn’t like me,” who harms one or whatever. If we do not have patience for that, then there is no object for us to practice patience at all. There is no possibility at all to practice patience if you don’t practice on that person who has dislike for you; forever the practice of patience doesn’t get done, so then there is no bodhicitta, no enlightenment. No end of one’s own samsara.

This enemy, this person won’t be angry until you die, he won’t be angry until you become enlightened. He won’t be angry and he won’t have dislikable thoughts toward you until you become enlightened or die, he won’t have dislikable thoughts all the time toward you. You see, if his anger toward you, his dislikable thoughts toward you last for many years, he is extremely kind! Then you have many years, in which there is the opportunity to practice patience. This gives a great, very long opportunity—for many years you can practice patience, you can develop patience toward him. As many years as he has dislikable thoughts towards you, it won’t last. The shorter his dislikable, harming thoughts toward you, the less opportunity there is to practice patience. The fewer sentient beings there are who have dislikable thoughts toward you, the fewer sentient beings who have anger toward you, who dislike you, and the shorter the duration of anger—the opportunity to practice patience becomes correspondingly rarer and rarer.

His anger may not last until tomorrow, so there is only today. Tomorrow when he does not have anger, he is not your enemy. Tomorrow, when his mind likes you, he is not your enemy, so tomorrow your opportunity to practice patience is stopped. What is left is only today, only today. Even today there is only this present hour. If you wait, “After some hours I am going to practice patience. After some hours I’ll read some Dharma books on my bed.” But by that time he may have become a friend to you. So your reading a book is not so effective because you don’t have an enemy.

Therefore, this minute, while you have found the precious treasure, the extremely precious, extremely kind sentient being, who has dislikable thoughts towards you, you have the opportunity to practice patience. Right this minute, while he is the enemy, it is extremely important to practice patience without delay. The opportunity is so unbelievably precious. It is such a loss, it is a great, unbelievable loss if you don’t get to practice patience while you have somebody who dislikes you. If you don’t get the practice done it is an unbelievable loss.

For example, if you have a job that brings a thousand dollars—I don’t know whether that is small or big—anyway, something that you like, as much money as makes you happy. Some job you have found. If you miss it, if you come late to the job, you won’t get that much, you won’t get your salary, you’ll miss your thousand dollar salary. We are so very aware of that, generally speaking, so very aware; the whole thought is there. The whole thought, the whole action is there. You are doing some meditation in the morning but the whole attention, the whole awareness is there to not miss the job, to not lose the money, what you can get. It is unbelievably important to not miss the job.

So just one time, this person who has dislikable thoughts toward oneself, the angry mind, this person gives you the opportunity to practice patience. You have found out that he dislikes you, then you practice patience by remembering, by thinking of the reason that I just explained, how it is sort of rare, “He is the only one who gives me the opportunity to have the realization of patience, the path to enlightenment, particularly patience—he is the only one. And thinking of his particular, special kindness, that which others cannot help, that is patience—this peaceful mind, calm mind, he is the only one.”

As it is said in the teachings, looking at the teaching of the paramita of patience, completing the paramita of patience, the path to enlightenment; by practicing patience, we create enlightenment. With his help in practicing patience, we create enlightenment. One creates one’s own enlightenment with these virtuous thoughts. If he didn’t have anger and dislikable thoughts toward oneself, then there is no patience. There is no realization of patience and the anger never ceases. It never gets stopped. In that way bodhicitta does not come and also compassion doesn’t come. Bodhicitta doesn’t come. One of the main enemies or interferences to bodhicitta is anger. Without bodhicitta, there is no enlightenment.

So now you can see, the one whom you point out as enemy, who has dislikable thoughts, he is the one who gives enlightenment quickly. The more you practice patience on him, the nearer you are to enlightenment. That is how he puts enlightenment in your hand rapidly, the more you practice patience. By thinking of his kindness, practicing patience like this. He gives this mind peace, this calmness, mind peace, by controlling the anger; this patience. I think the value of how precious it is, this peaceful mind, this patience that you receive from him—there is no comparison to as many diamonds as the number of atoms of this earth. There is no comparison at all between the value of that and the value of this person that you point out as the enemy. Compared to this, the material value is completely lost. It is nothing compared to the value and preciousness of a person who has dislikable thoughts, the suffering sentient being. And also the value of the compassion that the suffering being gives you, which leads to enlightenment, and gives you the opportunity to free all sentient beings from suffering and lead them into sublime happiness. This gives the perfect power, omniscient mind.

So the few seconds, one minute that he gives you this peaceful mind, patience, is much greater, more incredible kindness that him giving you that many dollars, that many diamonds the size of this earth. I think you cannot finish repaying the kindness of that person—even if you give him food and clothing filling the earth. Still you are unable to repay his kindness. Even that many dollars, that many precious treasures you give—still it is nothing, not enough to repay his kindness.

It is good to think like that; like this he is extremely unbelievable. The kindness is much greater than that. If you can practice thought transformation with the enemy, then you can practice thought transformation with everyone. It is so easy. The most difficult one is the person who has anger, who dislikes you. So if you can practice and train your mind with that, then it is very easy to transform suffering and problems into happiness.

When there is danger that you will hurt others, at those times you should remember, “As I do, if this person is doing exactly what I am thinking, so selfish and so impatient, insulting like this; as I am doing it, if this person does it back to me, how painful is it? How is it? What would I think? What would I think of him? Heh? Do I like that or not? Am I happy with that or not?” You can put these questions. Do analytical meditation like this, “I don’t like it. I hate it. As I do to him, the way I treat him, if he treats me in the same way me, am I happy? Do I like it? No.” So then, why do you treat him that way? That one verse that I just read, “That is nothing to talk about...”—if you want to practice that one you should put it into practice.

Sorry, I think maybe a little break, no? Break and then have tea, then maybe at six o’clock, six o’clock is not meditation time or not? After that? Okay, five-thirty. Okay, we believe in five-thirty.

[Break in teaching]

Yes, even if one doesn’t have the actual realization of bodhicitta, normally in the life a person who has a very good heart, even if one is living in the family, has much harmony. As I often use this, as I often say, in one couple, if both of them have strong self-cherishing thought, even if they don’t split, when they don’t escape away from the other person, if they live longer at the same house, their life finishes by fighting, day and night, not finishing fighting and quarreling. Then, they end up killing each other, injuring each other. Even if they are able to live together, as soon as they meet each other, either outside or inside the house, at lunch time, or dinner time, as soon as they gather in the evening, coming home from work or in the morning before going for work, they start fighting. Except if they don’t meet. Then maybe, when they don’t meet, they are mentally fighting, but when they meet, they fight with speech and then sometimes with the body. They have to live a life like this, even if they live together; a very sad life. Even in the family, with the whole family like this.

One who has very strong self-cherishing thought—everybody, all the surrounding people, even the family, do not like that person. In a couple, if the other person has very strong self-cherishing thought, but at least one person has weaker, there is some more space to think of the other person. There is some space to be concerned about the other person. If there is less self-cherishing thought, then there is that much loss taken on himself and that much victory is given to the other person, that much help and service to the other person. If it is the wife who has a less selfish attitude, then there is that much peace in her mind, and also there is peace for the other person, because of not retaliating to the other person, not being angry back, not hurting back.

Even if the other person hurts you, if you have some space in the mind to think of the other person, you can give your profit or happiness to the other person, renounce, give it up to the other person; experience trouble and difficulty for the sake of the other person. This makes less problems for the other person, even though he doesn’t change his mind. Even though he has strong self-cherishing thought, what he thinks of is only himself, you, the other person has less self-cherishing thought. What he thinks of is only himself, but the other person has less self-cherishing thought, so there is much more happiness in the mind, and comfort. There is that much more of a happy environment in that house, and similar in that family.

So like this, the other one has an incredibly sad life, an unbelievably sad life. Of course, if both the persons have less selfish attitude, there is no question how much harmony there is.

The person who has a very strong impatient mind, the self-cherishing thought, wherever he goes, whichever country, wherever he travels, east, west, in the countryside or in the city, wherever he goes, to whichever place he goes, there is no happiness. With whomever he accompanies, with whomever he lives, always there are people criticizing. When the person comes to a new place he may have some friends. He may find some friends and be able to make some connection, but then, soon, after several hours, by seeing the personality of that person, the way he speaks, after one or two days, or even after a few hours, even those who are friends turn out to be the enemy, criticizing the person. Then even if he goes to a new place, where there are new people who didn’t know him or her before, even if he goes back to old places where the person lived before, then people there talk about, “Oh, this person, that bad person came, he came back.” Then everybody is upset about him coming to that place. That person is going to see other people, and when he comes to see other people in the house, even though he is brought there by somebody else, brought by their friends, the other people in that family criticize their friend who brought this bad person. They think, they criticize, “Why did you bring this person to our house?” Even if they don’t criticize in front of him, they criticize behind. People hate to see such impatience, so much self-cherishing thought, people hate it. The known people hate to see him, and even in the road they try to escape away. If the person is coming along, they turn back to somewhere else, they go somewhere else, they go in another direction. Just merely seeing that person makes everybody unhappy.

All this is the mistake of not having changed his attitude from self-cherishing thought. Even if the person has much problems, sick, so many problems, less people helping, finding it very difficult to receive help from other people, nobody comes to help. They are happy that he is sick, “Oh, that is what is needed,” they will say, “Oh, that is exactly what he needed. It is great!” Maybe they thank god. Anyway, they pray for him to die soon, in order to have a shorter life. Everybody wishes him to have a short life. They are so happy when they hear that that person is dead. When they see it in the newspaper, or when they hear it from the telephone, when that person is dead, they clap their hands and they are so happy. This is a very sad life.

The conclusion is: he is born as human being but has a very sad life. No benefit to oneself, no benefit for other sentient beings—a completely empty life. He goes to the lower realms, leaves the human body, and the human life becomes completely empty, completely wasted. He used the human body to accumulate only negative karma, heavy negative karma, then goes to the lower realms, with the heavy burden of the negative karmas. Also, he has much fear at the time of death. Everywhere that person goes, he has so many enemies, even if he stays alone with no other people around, because of that personality of only cherishing oneself, just having the self-cherishing thought is painful. If you look at the characteristics of that mind it’s not comfortable, not a happy mind, and because of that it finds so many problems, so easily, even alone. And those which are not problems become problems for that person.

However a person who has a good heart, even if he doesn’t have the bodhicitta realization, doesn’t find an enemy. For that person with an incredible good heart and much thought of loving kindness, wherever he goes he doesn’t find an enemy. For him there is no enemy. There is no enemy, only friends. There are only helping friends wherever he goes. The person who has a very good heart makes others be a good person. By staying with other people, the person who has a very good heart, with much strong thought of loving kindness, much concern for others, living among people, he changes other people’s bad personalities into good personalities. He changes bad thoughts into good thoughts, into thoughts of loving kindness and compassion, because of his example, his influence. Like this.

The other one is completely opposite—he only makes others worse, more impatient, creating more negative karma. But this person only benefits others to create more good karma. Even those who were very selfish before become less selfish by staying with this person, and learn from this person. They have got to change their attitude. By staying, by seeing this person’s nature of mind and characteristics, the others have to change. Somehow it makes them think of themselves, how they are bad. How their minds are so cruel, so selfish. So automatically, just being with that person, their minds become better.

For example, just one example, most of us here have met Lama, Lama Yeshe. Because of Lama’s great thought of loving kindness and bodhicitta, and good personality, even though other people whom Lama meets, normally they do not have a good heart, are very strong selfish and very impatient, with uncontrolled minds, vicious people, those same people, when Lama meets them, those people become good people toward Lama. But those people could be bad toward other people. This is one reason you can understand. So Lama does not find a bad person, doesn’t find an enemy—we are not talking about the level of buddha, we are just talking about having bodhicitta or the good heart. He doesn’t find enemy; wherever Lama goes he doesn’t find this. Any people that Lama meets, everyone, Lama finds good people, kind people—why? Because Lama himself is in that personality, kind to everyone, only concerned for others, with many thoughts of loving kindness—because of that others become like that toward Lama. They become kind. Others become kind, good people toward Lama. Not only that, but by just seeing Lama, hearing Lama’s words, just by seeing Lama’s holy body, just by that, especially by hearing his holy speech, their bad thoughts get subdued.

But when these same people meet some other people who have very strong selfish thoughts, very impatient, completely contradictory personality to Lama, those people react differently to that person, because of his personality. That person, that she or he, that personality, those other people who are good to the people who have good hearts act in a different way, towards the other type of person they are harmful, enemies. So it is completely dependent. In this way you can understand enemy and friend—all these things that we believe in come from one’s own mind, the different characteristics of mind.

Like this, the person who has a very strong, very impatient selfish thought, and even the other person who had a good personality before, even that will ruin, degenerate the other’s person mind. But for one like Lama, one who has the great thought of loving kindness, if even the other person, the surrounding people have bad thoughts, if their earlier life has been very bad, an ungenerous person, with bad thoughts, that person benefits their mind to become better.

So you see now, the whole thing, as I mentioned, as I talked this afternoon about enemy, kindness and all that, the conclusion, now you can see, you can make right now, right now, by one way of thinking you can make yourself to not have friend, to not have friend! [Rinpoche laughs] to not have enemy, right now you can make, right within this hour, this minute you can make for you to not have enemy, by one way, by changing your mind. By transforming your mind you have no enemy. By following the self-cherishing thought you have full of enemies. So it shows how extremely important it is the change of the attitude, changing from selfish attitude to the attitude of cherishing others.

It is so important—whether one accepts reincarnation or not, whether one accepts Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha or not, whether one has a guru or not—as long as you want happiness, you don’t want to have enemies, only friends. Everybody wishes that person who has a very good heart to have a long life. One who is very kind to others, who has a good heart, even though he doesn’t have material wealth, even though he is a very poor person, everybody likes him. Even if there is nothing to expect from him, such as material help, even though he is a beggar, he is a very poor person, since he has a good heart, everybody likes him and they wish him to have a long life. They even feel sad if he is dying, to hear of his death.

However, we should know that we have the freedom, the complete freedom, especially after having met the Buddhadharma, the complete freedom to stop having undesirable things and to have only desirable things—there is complete freedom to do this. If the person doesn’t practice, that is another thing. That is another thing. There is freedom but as long as the person doesn’t practice, then it does not happen. Not having undesirable things, only having desirable things, happiness—that doesn’t happen.

Guru Shakyamuni Buddha generated bodhicitta, and then accumulated extensive merit for three countless great eons for sentient beings. You see, even in front of one tree, uncountable times, so many times, his holy body made charity to other sentient beings.

One lama of the lam-rim lineage Je Drubkang Gelek Gyatso said in his teachings—he had one guru called Azara. Azara, I think, is a kind of sadhu, outward looking. Maybe he is Indian, I don’t know, but anyway, I think it was in Tibet. So Je Drubkang Gelek Gyatso received teachings on bodhicitta from this lama, from this guru. Then he saw his guru, living in the bush, nearby the hermitage, living in the bush and reading Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s life story. His guru cried very much, so much, and he did this with his thumbs, himself alone. Je Drubkang Gelek Gyatso saw this from a distance. He didn’t bother to ask at that time what his guru was doing. Later, when they met each other, at a suitable time, he asked, “What were you doing at that time? I saw you crying very much and doing like this, alone?” His guru Azara told him, “I was reading Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s life story and it says…” (I don’t remember the name of that bodhisattva’s life, Sonam something, I don’t remember exactly) so anyway, Guru Shakyamuni Buddha made charity to others’ eyes and limbs, to other sentient beings, and only this part of the holy body was left. So the surrounding people in the city thought, “This is useless,” because he didn’t have limbs and no eyes, so they threw him out of the city. They threw him in the dump. They took him away from the city and threw him away. Then, even after this part of the holy body was thrown there, he did so much work for other sentient beings, making charity for the flies and other creatures to eat. Then the devas came down from the sky and made offerings to Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s holy body.

Azara, Je Drubkang Gelek Gyatso Rinpoche’s guru said, “Guru Shakyamuni Buddha is also his mother’s son. I am also my mother’s son but look at the differences! He is also his mother’s son; I am also my mother’s son; but look at the differences. We are the same, but what incredible sacrifice and dedication he made for sentient beings and look at me! Look at me! My, look at me, what did I do? What do I do for sentient beings? Look at my personality! We are the same. He is born from mother, his mother’s son. I am my mother’s son. But Guru Shakyamuni Buddha did incredible work for other sentient beings, sacrifice and dedication. Look at my personality!”

What he is saying is, “Look at my personality.” Seeing this, he cried very much. He pointed it out like this to Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, “You are worthy to become the son of the mother. You are worth being born from the mother. Sentient beings are born from their mothers, and you are worthy. You are worthy to become the son of the mother.” He pointed it out like this. Then he cried very, very much, knowing that he was unable to do it as Guru Shakyamuni Buddha did.

Gandhi is similar. I went to see the movie of Gandhi in Delhi, with Lama’s brother, but most of the hours he slept. I cried very much in that movie, seeing his incredible dedication for all the people of India, for independence for everybody, to be harmonious and all that. And you see how much—each time he told the people, “Do not fight and be harmonious,” and people didn’t listen and fought because of different things, religion or nationality or I don’t know, whatever it is. So each time when there was fighting like this he sacrificed, he gave up his life, living in starvation to stop the fighting. So many times he did this. Then, when it is near independence, when it was agreed to give independence, then people didn’t listen, they wanted to be separate. They didn’t want to be one, unity, so difficult. Then, seeing his great dedication for others, unbelievable sacrifice… I couldn’t even do my prayers for others. I saw that I do nothing for others, for other sentient beings, nothing. So by seeing these differences, it made me cry very much. It is incredibly inspiring for to dedicate the life for others.

Like this, Guru Shakyamuni Buddha became enlightened, finished all the work, completed the merit, and purified all the obscurations. He achieved full enlightenment, then revealed the three levels, the teaching of the three vehicles. Then an incredible, unbelievable number of pandits, great yogis happened in India, in many different countries. Then, also in Tibet, there were uncountable numbers of the yogis and pandits, who achieved enlightenment by practicing the teachings that were revealed by Guru Shakyamuni Buddha. Then in each sect, uncountable numbers happened who achieved enlightenment—their minds approached very high attainments. Uncountable numbers happened in each sect: Nyingmapa, Kagyu, Sakya, and Gelug, so many.

During Padmasambhava’s time so many happened, and after during Lama Atisha and Lama Tsongkhapa’s time so many became enlightened in one brief lifetime. Even now there are so many in Tibet who have reached a very high level on the tantric path, so many in Tibet, and in India.

Then nowadays, not only Tibetans who practice Dharma have meaningful lives, even in one day accomplishing so much temporal and ultimate happiness. Relating to us, some years back, even twenty-five years back, we had no idea what the meaning of life is, no idea; the mind was completely dark. We didn’t know the cause of happiness, the cause of suffering, nothing. As there was no Dharma wisdom, there was no opportunity to abandon negative karma, or to practice good karma. Before it was like this, relating to us, but now we have that much Dharma wisdom, not only the lam-rim practice, but we even have the opportunity to practice the Maha-anuttarayoga Tantra path and to achieve enlightenment in one brief lifetime. These teachings have been practiced by all those great yogis in India and Tibet by Naropa, Tilopa, Saraha, Marpa and Mila, the great yogis of the different sects, and we have the opportunity, the ability to plant at least the seed. The whole twenty-four hours we have the opportunity to create the cause of happiness. We have the opportunity, we have the freedom.

All this is by the kindness of Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, who is benefiting, enlightening numberless sentient beings, enlightening us now, every day benefiting us so much, enlightening sentient beings now and also in the future. All this advantage, all this benefit, the work that Guru Shakyamuni Buddha does, all came from bodhicitta; all this extensive benefit for sentient beings by becoming enlightened, all this came from bodhicitta—from the root, from compassion.

It is said in the teachings, when one of the continuations of Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s past lives was in the narak realm, in the hot hell, he was pulling a carriage on the red hot iron ground with another person. Then Guru Shakyamuni Buddha got incredible, unbelievable compassion for the other being who was pulling the carriage. He thought, “I’ll pull this by myself instead of him suffering by pulling it. I’ll experience his problem, his suffering pulling it, I will take it on myself, I will pull this carriage by myself, and also for any sentient being who has to experience this karma, for all negative karma to ripen and to experience myself, and for others to be free from those sufferings.”

When Guru Shakyamuni Buddha generated compassion to suffer on behalf of all, thinking, “I will take the suffering for myself,” when he generated this great compassion, the guardians of the carriage put their hands on his head and said, “You have a good heart.” Just by that, right in that minute Guru Shakyamuni Buddha was born in Tushita through consciousness transference from the hot narak realms. It is said in the teachings that this was the first time Guru Shakyamuni Buddha generated great compassion. Guru Shakyamuni Buddha himself became enlightened, leading numberless sentient beings into temporal and ultimate happiness, and all this came from that great compassion, which Guru Shakyamuni Buddha generated in the narak realms. So you see the benefits of the thought of cherishing others.

The present life’s perfect human rebirth of all sentient beings, as I mentioned this morning, is caused by the kindness of sentient beings. That we have the opportunity to achieve the three great meanings, the opportunity today to practice Dharma, to practice moral conduct—all these things with this perfect human rebirth came because of the kindness of all sentient beings. You have to think of the cause, and then you can understand. If you think of the cause then you can see how it came from sentient beings.

Similarly, even if we wish to achieve the perfect human rebirth in the next life; that result and its cause, moral conduct, charity, all these things, are received by the kindness of sentient beings. Even if we wish to achieve liberation, the essential path is moral conduct, higher concentration, great insight; the foundation is moral conduct. So the whole path, liberation, is received by the kindness of sentient beings. As I mentioned this morning, without sentient beings there is no way to practice moral conduct. We can understand from this that completely we have received it by depending on the kindness of sentient beings.

Same thing—the root, great compassion, bodhicitta, the path, the six paramitas, the resultant enlightenment—the whole thing, even if we wish to achieve it, we accomplish this by depending on the kindness of sentient beings. Great compassion, this Mahayana compassion, the Mahayana thought of loving kindness is, first of all, if one sentient being is left out from the object of compassion it does not become Mahayana compassion. If the enemy is left out and you have compassion for everyone else, it is not Mahayana compassion. It should cover all the suffering sentient beings. Not only that, but we want to cause, want to liberate sentient beings from suffering by oneself. That is Mahayana compassion. So you see, great compassion and the Mahayana path, achieving enlightenment, is completely dependent on the kindness of each sentient being. Like this the sentient beings are extremely kind.

Not only that, but each day of life our comfort, happiness and enjoyment—everything comes from other sentient beings. They are creating negative karma by killing others, by harming others; some other sentient beings are killed, are dead, while all the comfort and happiness and every enjoyment that we experience in everyday life, and all the means of living, come form sentient beings, by the kindness of sentient beings. Therefore, our being alive today, our being able to be human beings, is by the kindness of sentient beings, completely by the kindness of sentient beings—as is having the opportunity to practice Dharma.

So remembering the enemy—as I explained—and every sentient being, feel their past, present and future kindness from the depth of the heart. Think, “Even if they know the cause of suffering they cannot practice. Even though what they want is happiness, they are devoid of happiness. They are ignorant of the cause. Even if they know the cause, they can’t practice, they are unable to practice. So what they want is happiness, the best, highest, longest happiness—that is enlightenment. This is what is needed.

“This time, I have this perfect human rebirth, which is highly meaningful and difficult to find again, and as it doesn’t last a long rime, it is very uncertain when I will separate from this perfect human rebirth. This can happen at any moment.”

There is no profit in following the self-cherishing thought, only loss, only problems, even interference in the works and happiness for the self. Besides interfering in the works of other sentient beings, it interferes with fulfilling your wishes for your own happiness. It disturbs you to succeed. So the self-cherishing thought is an object to renounce forever. Since the thought of cherishing others is the source of all happiness, since all success comes from that, and all the wishes, your own and all other sentient beings wishes are fulfilled by cherishing other sentient beings, from that thought, therefore, cherishing others is the object to be practiced forever.

What are called other sentient beings are numberless, who want happiness, who do not want suffering; who are devoid of all happiness and are suffering. What is called “I” is one person, so it is completely lost. When you think of this one number, this one person and uncountable other sentient beings, however much oneself is happy, there is nothing to be excited about, and however much oneself is suffering, there is nothing to be surprised or shocked about. It is one person. Others are uncountable numbers, so oneself is completely lost when one thinks of other sentient beings. In regards how important it is, whether one should dedicate the life to work for oneself or to work for other sentient beings—which is more important? Working for oneself is completely lost. You don’t find even the slightest importance.

“However, to lead sentient beings to enlightenment I must reveal the path to them. In order to reveal the path to sentient beings, I must understand clearly all the different personalities and capabilities, and then also should have understanding of the entire method, all the different methods that fit them at different times, all the different methods to be revealed at different times to the different sentient beings. It is only omniscient mind that understands all this, so therefore there is no other method except achieving omniscient mind. Achieving omniscient mind for the sake of all sentient beings, to fulfill extensive benefits, to accomplish extensive benefits for all sentient beings—there is nothing more important than this in my life, there is nothing more important than this, nothing more beneficial than this in my life.”

Ceremony of taking the aspiring bodhisattva vows

Then, with this strong attitude, wishing to reach omniscient mind not for “my happiness,” but only for the sentient beings, I think that is very good like we used to do before, in Lama’s time, to do prostrations in each direction. First of all, you visualize the guru surrounded by all the buddhas and bodhisattvas and then make three prostrations to the eastern side, then the south, the west and the north, and then make prostrations to the buddhas who are above—three prostrations to each direction. I think maybe first to the merit field, the lama who gives the wishing vow, the bodhisattva vows—first make three prostrations. Then to the east, make prostrations to the buddhas.

Lama Yeshe used the words, “Open the heart toward all the sentient beings, to those who are in the east.” Think that. “Open the heart” means to have thoughts of loving kindness, to cherish all those sentient beings who are in the east and benefit them.

Then south, the same thing: think, while you are doing prostrations to all the buddhas, to cherish all the sentient beings who are in that direction, to benefit and work for them. Then to the west, all the buddhas and at the same time remember, think of all the sentient beings in that direction, and cherish them and sacrifice yourself for them or benefit them. Then the north; then also thinking of the buddhas above, make prostrations. Again think the same thing, to dedicate the life for sentient beings. Also remember the lower direction buddhas, then make prostrations and again think of sentient beings, to sacrifice one’s life to benefit them.

Then please kneel down with palms together like this. Strongly remembering the kindness of other sentient beings, remembering, as I explained the different kindnesses before, and also the numbers of others who are uncountable, how important it is to work oneself, to sacrifice one’s life for others, to practice Dharma, not only for oneself, but for all sentient beings. Whatever action of body, speech and mind one does, to do it for others—how that is extremely important. Bring that feeling of kindness. Feel from the depth of the heart, “There is nothing to do in my life other than this.” And it is incredibly enjoyable to sacrifice your life for uncountable numbers of sentient beings; for those who are devoid of happiness to have happiness; for those who are suffering to be devoid of suffering; to sacrifice one’s life for them. No matter how hard it is to work for them, how long it takes, how many billion of eons, how long it takes, how hard it is: “I will do it. However difficult it is I will do it, sacrifice my life for others to achieve omniscient mind. Therefore, I am going to take the wishing vow and practice, and not separate from this until I become enlightened.”

Then repeat that prayer. The first one is refuge, “I go for refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.” So, when you take refuge in Buddha, who has achieved the greatest cessation of the two obscurations, remember this—relying upon Buddha, remember all the lineage lamas of lam-rim. As His Holiness the Dalai Lama says, you can remember all the different sects, those who were enlightened, those who completed the path, all those great yogis who became enlightened.

Then the Dharma, the true path, the true cessation of suffering, which is what the absolute Sangha, the bodhisattvas, have in their mind—one can think of the five paths, the bhumis, the tantric path.

Then, those who have the arya path, the bodhisattvas, the Sangha, completely relying upon them, like relying upon the chief person in that country, the king or somebody who has the power to save you from problems. You are asking for help, for someone to save you and rescue you from those life problems. One has an incredible problem and the king is the only one who can help, who has the power to help. You are relying upon him. No others can help, no other lower people can help you and all sentient beings to be free from the lower realms, to be liberated completely and to never be born in the lower realms; to be saved from samsara, to be free from samsara, to be free from falling into lower nirvana, to achieve enlightenment relying upon the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. The Buddha, Dharma and Sangha are the only ones who can help to achieve these three great successes.

So, with this, with such a complete reliance on Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, please repeat the prayer, “I am taking refuge in the Guru, the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. Sang.gye cho dang… I take refuge until I achieve enlightenment. Due to the merits of practicing charity and so on, and all the other merits, may I achieve enlightenment. I will achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings. Therefore I am going to practice bodhicitta, and never give up the wish to achieve enlightenment, until I achieve enlightenment.”

[Tibetan… repeating aspiring bodhisattva prayers]

Now think, “I have received the wishing bodhisattva vow.” Then feel great rejoyfulness, happiness in the heart—as we repeated three times, as we generated bodhicitta three times, we made the vow, and each time there was infinite merit, equaling the infinite sky and space, that we received.

It is said in the sutra teachings that by putting the palms together and simply thinking, “I am going to practice bodhicitta for the sake of sentient beings, to achieve enlightenment for the sake of sentient beings,” the merit that we accumulate is so much greater than offering to the buddhas’ equaling the number of sand grains of the Ganges River, worlds equaling the number of sand grains of the Ganges River filled with all the seven precious jewels, for eons equaling the number of sand grains of the Ganges River. Making offerings to that many buddhas is nothing compared to the merit of having taken the bodhisattva vow, to always have the wish to achieve enlightenment for the sake of sentient beings and to practice bodhicitta. Taking this again and again becomes the cause to generate bodhicitta in this life, to get nearer and nearer to this. If not, then in the next life; even if we don’t generate it in this life, in the next life sooner or later we receive the name, “Son of the Victorious One.” We receive that title. Then we even overwhelm those arhats who have many psychic powers, many realizations. We conquer them even before becoming enlightened, and we do extensive works for other sentient beings.

So, by having taken the wishing vow, there are four things, four black dharmas to avoid and four white things, white dharmas to practice.

First, to not cheat the guru, who is the object of offering. Then, one should avoid the black dharma of feeling wrong regret—feeling regret about other people practicing Dharma, other people accumulating virtue. That is wrong regret. Feeling regret for somebody who is creating negative karma is right regret. One’s own created negative karma, feeling regret is right regret. But if one is creating virtue, if one feels regret then it is wrong regret. Feeling regret when others are practicing Dharma is one black dharma.

Then, even for the life, not telling lies [about one’s attainments?] even if it causes one’s life danger—the whole thing depends on the attitude, the do with a selfish attitude. There is an exception, if an action becomes beneficial for others, with strong bodhicitta, renouncing oneself and cherishing others, if it becomes beneficial to others. Yes, please sit down (laughter, everyone still kneeling).

One black dharma is insulting and saying rude words to other sentient beings [bodhisattvas?] out of anger. That is one black dharma. That is the third one to avoid. The fourth one is cunning and it involves two things, being cunning and hiding from other sentient beings.

Then the four white Dharmas—the method to not degenerate bodhicitta, to be able to develop bodhicitta.

Being sincere, not cunning and hiding. And respecting the bodhisattvas, those who have bodhicitta, as Buddha and expressing their qualities. And then leading sentient beings to enlightenment by revealing the method, whatever fits others—the main aim is to lead them to enlightenment. It is also said in one text, I think, to recognize the other sentient beings as Shakyamuni Buddha, to look at them as the guru or something, I don’t remember one hundred percent. And to respect those who have bodhicitta as Guru Shakyamuni Buddha and to always talk about their qualities to others, express their qualities to other sentient beings. Then manage the sentient beings, to lead to enlightenment.

Then the secondary ones: practicing patience as much as possible. One’s body, possessions, and everything belongs to other sentient beings, as much as possible trying to practice this. When we do six session yoga, those who have the commitment to do six session yoga, there is a word, there is a prayer, there is a word there in that prayer that says, “I am giving up, I am dedicating the whole thing to sentient beings—body, possessions and merits, everything, to sentient beings.” So that is recited three times at night and three times a day. As one recites the prayer one should think of the meaning. Think, “They belong to the sentient beings, I have given them to sentient beings.” As much as possible practice against the self-cherishing thought.

Then please dedicate the merits that in this life one is able to generate bodhicitta, without delay—a year, a month, a week, a day, an hour, able to generate bodhicitta, renouncing oneself and cherishing other sentient beings, able to benefit all sentient beings like the lineage lamas of lam-rim, like the bodhisattvas, like Maitreya Buddha, like Manjushri, like Shakyamuni Buddha, like the bodhisattva Samantabhadra, all the bodhisattvas, like His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Then remember Lama, to be able to benefit for all sentient beings, dedicate the merit very strongly from the heart in this way.

Then, “Due to all these merits may any sentient being who sees me, who hears me, who remembers me, who touches me, who talks about me, just by other sentient beings seeing me, remembering me, touching me, hearing me, talking about me, immediately in that second may all their sufferings be pacified and have happiness.”

So please dedicate strongly in this way. [Rinpoche chants in Tibetan]

“Due to all these merits may I achieve Guru Chenrezig and lead every sentient being rapidly into Guru Chenrezig’s enlightenment.”

[Dedication]

Please do three prostrations with the same visualization.

I think the refuge will be maybe tomorrow morning or afternoon or whatever, which is suitable

[End of bodhisattva vows]

Refuge and precepts

…then feeling compassion for all sentient beings. In this way one is highly skilful to guide sentient beings, to liberate others from all the obscurations. Then one is able to have compassion for every sentient being without discriminating thoughts of far and close, discriminating some sentient beings as very far and others as very close. Without this discrimination it doesn’t matter how much evil they do, wealthy or poor, whatever they look like—have compassion to every living being without discrimination.

Because of that, the third reason; you guide those sentient beings who make offerings to Buddha, who benefited; then those who didn’t benefit, who didn’t worship or make offerings you don’t guide, you kind of renounce them, you don’t work for them—it shouldn’t be like this. It is said in the teachings, there is someone who makes offerings and puts on ointments, with thought of loving kindness, doing service and so forth, a person who likes Buddha and puts ointments or perfume on the Buddha; and then there is one sentient being who cuts Buddha’s flesh piece by piece—from the side of Buddha there is no discrimination. Both sentient beings, those who like him and those who dislike him, who cut him piece by piece—from the side of Buddha there is no discrimination, feeling one is distant and the other is close. He has the same compassion for this sentient being as for that. So Buddha’s work, with the holy body, speech and mind, is done with equal compassion for all sentient beings; without discrimination, whether they are benefiting, worshipping, liking or not.

For us to be a perfect guide like Buddha, having these four qualities to guide sentient beings, there is no other way except lam-rim, generating realizations of the graduated path to enlightenment. Even the wish to practice lam-rim, itself, is the actual refuge. That is the best refuge. Then, similarly, by hearing shunyata teachings, about the object that the wisdom realizes, which exists, and the object of ignorance of true existence, which doesn’t exist: by recognizing these things, by knowing these things, hearing Buddha’s teachings, wanting to realize shunyata in order to cut off the root of samsara—that is taking refuge to Dharma.

Then, the same thing, knowing that the root of enlightenment is bodhicitta and that to have that realization in the mind one should renounce the self-cherishing thought. It is like this, taking refuge in order to achieve liberation, in order to achieve enlightenment, one should have bodhicitta, and for that one should have the renunciation of samsara. In order to be free; we are suffering, bound by attachment, clinging to samsaric perfections, samsaric happiness, temporal happiness, so, practicing renunciation of samsara, to be free from this craving that binds us to samsara, is the actual taking refuge in the Dharma, the main taking refuge in the Dharma, the Buddhadharma. In order to be free from the root of samsara, the ignorance of true existence, we practice shunyata. That is the actual taking refuge in Dharma.

Then, in order to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of other sentient beings, we practice bodhicitta. To accomplish this one should be free from self-cherishing thought, which is the main interference to complete success in the works for self and works for other sentient beings. Also to not be bound to the liberation for self, the lower nirvana, to not be bound by that, to not fall into this.

If, without practicing bodhicitta, generating renunciation of samsara, one follows the lesser vehicle path, then even if one achieves liberation, the release from the bondage of karma and disturbing thoughts binding oneself to samsara, even if one achieves the release from this, one cannot achieve enlightenment soon. For many eons one abides in this state of ultimate peace; one is completely distracted by this blissful state of peace, completely caught in this, bound by that. Then one stays there for many eons. Then, after a long time, after many eons Buddha sends light, there are some verses in which Buddha says… I don’t remember exactly. Then they follow the Mahayana path, after so many eons, after an incredible length of time. In that way, if you don’t achieve enlightenment soon, you don’t get the works for other sentient beings done. Leading sentient beings to enlightenment is not done quickly.

To guide those sentient beings to enlightenment, with whom you have a connection, to lead them to enlightenment, as long as it takes for oneself to achieve enlightenment that much longer the other sentient beings have to suffer in samsara. So therefore, there is the need to achieve enlightenment quicker and quicker, because others are obscured, suffering in samsara, and it is so unbearable, so unbearable. So unbearable, even one hour in samsara, in the lower realm is so unbearable. Even to be a human being and have all these problems, so many problems, from all directions, almost from the ten directions, so many problems. There are so many problems from outside and from inside. The person, from his own mind, has so many problems from outside, and it is so unbearable to be under the control of karma and disturbing thoughts. It is so unbearable to be caught in samsara. It is so unbearable even for one hour, even for a minute, even for a second—for those in samsara, so unbearable.

Therefore, by taking refuge in the Dharma, by taking refuge in the Buddha, by taking refuge in the Sangha we should complete the realization of the whole path in our mind. Then, in that way, we have the actual refuge of Dharma within us, the true path and the absolute Dharma; the true path and the true cessation of suffering. Then, generate the whole realization of the path to enlightenment. When we have absolute Dharma, the true path and the true cessation of suffering within us, we are the Sangha. In that way we become the Sangha, absolute Sangha. When we have the absolute Dharma, true path and true cessation of suffering, we become absolute Sangha.

Then, when we achieve the Mahayana true path, which is bodhicitta, the Mahayana true path, the wisdom fully, directly perceiving shunyata, possessed by bodhicitta—when we have this Mahayana true path and achieve the true cessation of suffering, the great cessation from all the obscurations, the cessation of obscurations, that is the purity, which is the omniscient mind. Separation from all obscurations, from all the stains, that is what is called “nirvana,” “great nirvana”—separated from even the subtle dual view, the subtle obscurations. That is the great nirvana.

When we become an arhat, there is purity; at that time the stream of this consciousness becomes pure. This present consciousness becomes pure, separated from the nyon.drip, the disturbing thought obscurations, and even their seeds. That is what is called “nirvana.” The absolute nature of the mind or separation, separated from the disturbing thought obscurations. That is what is called “nirvana,” cessation of suffering. Then, similarly, the separation of the omniscient mind from the obscurations, including even the subtle dual view; that is what is called the actual, great nirvana, the non-abiding sorrowless state. “Non-abiding sorrowless state” means enlightenment. So, when we achieve this, we become the Buddha. One becomes Buddha and Sangha by having the Dharma, the actual refuge, in one’s mind.

Like that, then, we are able to perfectly guide other sentient beings in this way. By taking refuge in Dharma, by practicing these lam-rim teachings, from this you can understand how the Dharma guides us. Dharma guides us from attachment, clinging to samsaric happiness and perfections, so in that way Dharma saves us from the lower realms, from samsara. Then, by taking refuge in Dharma, particularly the Mahayana teachings, bodhicitta, it guides us from falling into the lower nirvana, from that danger and even from the subtle obscurations. This is how the Dharma guides us. Simply talking, like this.

By hearing the teachings, by reflecting and by doing meditation practice and having the realizations in the mind, Dharma guides us. Like taking medicine from the doctor, who prescribes how to take the medicine; if the patient does not take the medicine, the patient’s disease doesn’t get recovered. It is the same thing in the case of the teaching that is revealed by Buddha, such as the lam-rim teaching: without putting it into practice, our mental disease, our disturbing thoughts are not repaired. If you don’t put it into that practice, even if Buddha has taught it… actually, what helps the person recover from disease is the medicine, so therefore Dharma is like medicine. So by putting that into practice, actualizing it, we recover from the disease of the disturbing thoughts. We recover from the true cause of suffering; we are liberated from the true cause of suffering and all problems.

In order to practice this Dharma, this teaching on the graduated path to enlightenment, it should have a founder who reveals the path. Therefore, automatically we are dependent on the founder who reveals the path. When we practice the Buddhadharma, automatically we are dependent on the founder who reveals the path. So therefore, automatically we are taking refuge in Buddha. Even though with the traditional ceremony, from the abbot or from something, even though we didn’t take the refuge vow, in practice we have taken it already. Automatically we have taken refuge in Buddha, because it should have a founder who reveals the teaching, and that is Buddha. Taking the medicine is dependent on the doctor who knows the disease and who knows the right medicine to give. You have to rely upon the doctor, his advice and his medicines. This is similar.

That’s how Buddha is revealing the path to us sentient beings, revealing the teaching. That itself is the way Buddha guides us. Putting that into practice, we get liberated from all the obscurations and we achieve peerless happiness. That is how Buddha guides us. By relying upon the doctor, his advice or the medicine he gives, and putting that into practice, the patient recovers from his disease. It is similar. That is how the doctor guides and that is the way Buddha guides.

Now, by taking refuge in the Sangha, how does the Sangha guide us? The Sangha guides us like this. For example, so many people, reading Milarepa’s life-story, got interested in Buddhadharma, having seen the great yogi Milarepa’s life-story and having such a strong wish to become like that, to practice what he practiced and to become like Milarepa. Seeing the incredible peace, control and liberation, the qualities Milarepa has and the incredible benefits he gave, what he did to other sentient beings, knowing this, wishing to be like that. That is how the Sangha guides. Then, by seeing the life-story of the great yogis, Milarepa, Naropa and Tilopa, those great yogis, such as Lama Tsongkhapa, the life-stories of bodhisattvas, the biography of Guru Shakyamuni Buddha—wanting to become like that. They achieved the graduated path to enlightenment, having all these qualities, and they become the example for us, giving inspiration, giving us the wish to be like that, to practice the same way they practiced.

Then we practice, we seek the teachings that they have practiced, that they have brought, which made them possible to have enlightenment within a few years, in a such brief lifetime in these degenerated times. So we seek those teachings, and by practicing those we get liberated from all the wrong conceptions, from all the obscurations. We reach the same state as those great yogis have reached and we are able to benefit others as they did. That is how the Sangha guides us. The Sangha is the example, then we practice the Dharma that they practiced, so Dharma guides us from all the wrong conceptions. Then we become the Sangha, and in that way we become the Buddha.

Like this, when we hear the life-story of some meditators, how they have realizations of lam-rim and how they practiced so strongly, how they did pure practice by cutting off the distractions, living an ascetic life, all those things; when we know the life-story of a meditator it inspires us to be like that. That is how the Sangha guides. That is the way all the Sangha guides us and that is the way that we, having the actual refuge of Dharma in our mind, practicing the actual refuge of Dharma in our mind, become Sangha and we benefit other sentient beings.

By taking refuge in the Dharma, we should renounce harming, hurting other sentient beings, intentionally or purposely harming other sentient beings. That is a very fundamental practice of Buddhadharma. Often His Holiness the Dalai Lama says that even if we cannot benefit other sentient beings, we cannot solve their problems, we cannot help them, at least we should not harm others. In these two words, “not harm” and “benefit,” all the teachings of Buddha, the teachings of the lesser vehicle path, the Mahayana paramita path, the path of secret mantra—all the teachings of Buddha are contained in these two words: to not harm others and to benefit other sentient beings.

In the Theravada teachings of the lesser vehicle path, the main emphasis is to not give harm to others. Then the bodhisattva’s path, the paramitayana path is to benefit. It is not enough to not give harm to others; we should benefit others. We should benefit other sentient beings skillfully, as it fits. At the level of one’s capability one should benefit others. Then, the actual benefit is to free them from all the stains, to achieve and lead them to enlightenment. That is the actual benefit, the ultimate benefit for other sentient beings. To rapidly accomplish this ultimate benefit for sentient beings, for this to quickly happen, one should practice tantra, the teachings of secret mantra. Like this the whole teaching is contained in those two.

If we don’t do the practice to not harm others, then there is no Dharma practice left. If you don’t even do this last Dharma practice, to not harm others, if you don’t do this, there is no Dharma practice left. There is no practice. There is no Dharma practice, the practice of holy Dharma is no other than this.

The greatest harm is taking others’ lives. Among the harms, the greatest harm is taking others’ lives. So therefore this is fundamental. But if, without having the intention or without knowing, creatures get killed, or those things, that is not called the four root vows of not killing. It means intentionally, purposely killing. It is not counted in this. This means to stop intentionally, purposely killing.

It is said in the pratimoksha vows, in the Vinaya teachings, “Even when you sit on your cushion, watch well if there are any creatures there. You look well before you sit. You watch well and see if there are any creatures, insects or any creatures, then you lift them, you take off that creature and then you sit down.” Like this, when one uses things, as much as possible it is important to not harm the ones that you can see with the eye—as much as you can, do not harm them. It is explained like this. If we don’t practice this, not taking the lives of others, that is the very first thing to practice. You begin the meditation on lam-rim from perfect human rebirth; you begin the practice of Dharma from karma. Without protecting karma there is no other Dharma practice. So to not kill, not take others’ lives, is the fundamental practice.

By taking refuge in the Dharma what one should renounce is harming others. Killing others, taking others’ lives is the most harmful thing, so therefore it is more skilful to take the vow. Even if one doesn’t take other vows, to take this vow to not take others’ lives is more skilful. Anyway, taking refuge in the Dharma, this one automatically comes, not harming others; practicing this advice comes automatically. So if one does not take the vow to not kill others then it doesn’t make sense. If one takes the vows against the other secondary or lighter harms, then the greater harm, of course, it doesn’t make sense to not take that vow.

One might think, what is the point of taking a vow? If you don’t do it, it is okay. As long as you don’t do it, it is okay. It is the same as living in the vow. What is the point of making a promise in front of a lama or something, the abbot, in front of Buddha? There are big differences between these two. The second that person took the vow that, “I won’t kill until death-time,” from the second he received the vow, received the upasika ordination until death, even if he lived thirty years, even if he lives one hundred years, even if he lives one thousand years, even if he lives a billion years, there is that merit all the time. Even though he is unconscious, even though he is in a coma, unable to die, still the consciousness lives with the body, even though he is in a coma for years, unconscious, as long he lives there is this good karma all the time. He is accumulating good karma day and night, all the time, while he is eating, while he is shopping, while he is sleeping, all the time.

So even though you don’t do much other practice, even though you don’t do retreat, even though you don’t do many other things, by just simply living in these basic vows all the time you are creating good karma. Even though you are going to the office, even thought you are doing a job, you have a busy life, you don’t have time for others but since one is living in these basic vows, your life is that meaningful. You accumulate as much good karma as the precepts you have taken, like this.

The person who degenerates the root vow by killing human beings, purposely killing creatures, can confess it in front of a monk. It is said in some teachings, such as those of Kachen Yeshe Gyalsten, one very high lama, that even though the root vows are degenerated, you can take the upasika, the five precepts ordination, again. I think for killing creatures you can just confess in front of one monk and that will be sufficient. I think you don’t need to take the vow again.

For the one who didn’t make vow, no matter how long he lives, even though he doesn’t kill creatures, if he doesn’t live in the vow, if he didn’t take the vow, then even though he lives one hundred or five hundred years or however long he lives, there is no merit. Just not doing the action doesn’t mean that there is merit. The trees, the stones and rocks don’t harm others—it doesn’t mean that they have merit, that they accumulate merit. Like this, there are big differences. The other one is an empty life, empty, no merit.

Similarly, the person who made the vow to kill humans, who made the vow to be a butcher, the moment he decided to become a butcher or to kill human beings in the military, took vow to do that, from that moment until he stops, until he changes his attitude, continuously there is negative karma that he is accumulating. So there are differences.

The reason Buddha is a worthwhile object in which to take refuge is, as I explained before, that he himself is free from all the fears; that he is highly skilful in guiding other sentient beings; having compassion for all sentient beings without discrimination; and benefiting, working for all sentient beings without depending on whether they benefit him or not. Those are the four main reasons that taking refuge in Buddha is worthwhile. This means that there is no misguiding. By relying upon Buddha, by practicing what the Buddha advised, definitely Buddha guides.

Then please make three prostrations, first to the guru—there should be a Guru Shakyamuni Buddha statue there. By thinking of the actual Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, the founder of the Buddhadharma, make three prostrations. Then please kneel down with the palms together in the mudra of prostration. Is there anybody who is taking all the five precepts—just raise a hand—you are taking five? Okay, okay. As long as there is just one, it is okay. Just thinking of the prayer.

In this samsara, as long as we are not liberated from samsara, whatever enjoyment we have, it is all enjoyment of suffering. Even though in the beginning there is temporal pleasure, this pleasure is merely labeled on the base, which is suffering. That is how, as enjoyment continues it turns into the suffering of suffering. So whatever enjoyment we have, all the enjoyments are the enjoyments of sufferings. What worldly people, who haven’t heard of Dharma, even regard as happiness, pure happiness, actual happiness, actually however, even from the beginning is a problem. Even from the beginning, what one labels “pleasure,” what one clings to, itself is a problem. Then from that problem other problems come. The gross, heavier suffering, the second problem comes, which those who don’t know Dharma, who don’t know the lam-rim teaching, is the problem that they can recognize, discomfort.

Like this wherever one goes, any place where one lives, all the places are places of suffering. In a similar way, as I mentioned in the example of enjoyment, like that, with whomever we keep company, as long as we are not liberated from samsara, any friend, whomever we accompany are friends of sufferings. Similarly, you can recognize the whole thing as enjoyment. There is the beginning problem, and then it can end up with the heavier problems, for those who do not understand Dharma, haven’t heard Dharma, which they can recognize as problems. Any friend that one accompanies is a friend of sufferings.

There is no ultimate happiness as long as we are not liberated from samsara, so therefore, “I must achieve the non-abiding nirvana, the sorrowless state, enlightenment for the benefit of sentient beings. The ultimate, the ever release, enlightenment, the ever release from this samsara, these aggregates, to which we are bound by karma and the disturbing thoughts. The ever release from the samsara, which is caused by karma and disturbing thoughts, which is completely only in the nature of suffering—for that, by relying upon Buddha as a founder, Dharma as the actual refuge, and Sangha as a supporter to actualize the refuge, I am going to take refuge and the upasika vow.”

Then you think of whatever number of precepts you are taking. If you are taking just one, then you think of one precept. If you are taking five, you think five, if you take three, think three, like that, okay?

“I am going to take and keep them until death-time.” You should have such a motivation as this, renunciation of samsara.

Then please repeat this prayer of taking refuge to Buddha. You feel the Buddha. First of all take refuge in Buddha.

Refuge and precepts ceremony

[Rinpoche speaks in Tibetan]

When you repeat this, you are taking refuge in Buddha. You should feel like you are the patient who has a disturbing, unbearable disease; how the patients cannot wait, they need the doctor. Those patients have unbelievable pain, and that patient is relying completely upon that doctor—you should feel like that about Buddha, the founder of Dharma.

Those who have taken thirty-six vows shouldn’t take upasika vows, the lower ordination. This causes one to not have the higher ordination, the thirty-six vows ordination, so one shouldn’t take upasika ordination. You can sit there, but you don’t need to think, “I have received upasika ordination.” You don’t need to think, “I am going to take upasika ordination,” because that makes to not have the higher vow, the ordination that one has taken.

Make prayers requesting, “Please grant the upasika, the only refuge, upasika ordination,” with whatever number of vows that you have taken, requesting to have this ordination until death-time, okay?

Generally upasika, gen.yen means all the five precepts. Then one, two, or three are not called complete upasika; they are not regarded as the actual upasika. Generally it is like this. In the Vinaya teachings it is said that even though you don’t take all five you can take one, two or three, like that; this is said in the refuge-upasika ordination. It is numbered like this in the root text of Vinaya. So it is not something that you can’t take; you can take it. But the complete upasika is the one that has the five precepts. The other is not the actual upasika; it is the ordinary upasika or something like that. This might help to stop doubts, to stop wrong thoughts about your own vows.

So please repeat. Then when I say loudly, [Tibetan], think, “I have received the vow.” Then feel great rejoyfulness, as I have explained before, in all the merit, the differences and how, from now until death, life becomes highly meaningful. This is the real protection from the lower realms, the real protection from the problems, even the realm of the happy transmigratory beings.

[Ceremony]

When we take refuge in Buddha, Buddha is the absolute Buddha and the conventional truth Buddha. Absolute Buddha is dharmakaya and conventional truth Buddha or the truth of the all-obscuring mind is the sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya. Then, when we take refuge in Dharma, there is the absolute truth of the all-obscuring mind. The absolute Dharma is the path of the true cessation of suffering, the truth of the all-obscuring mind, the conventional truth. That is the Tripitaka—not the realizations but the words of the Tripitaka, the lam-rim teachings, the scriptures. That is the conventional truth Dharma. Take refuge in both. It is the same thing with Buddha.

Then one should feel very strongly how there is a great need for the medicine for the patient. A Dharma need, a greater need because the disease came from karma and disturbing thoughts. Without this disease there is no cause, so the disease doesn’t arise. There is no sickness without disturbing thoughts and karma. So Dharma is the greater need. We are the actual serious patients, having the serious disease of the disturbing thoughts, which didn’t have beginning. There is a greater need than medicine for the Dharma.

[Ceremony]

Now taking refuge in Sangha: the patient feels a great need to have a nurse, to receive help from the nurse. Then, we should feel the need for the sangha, the example of the Sangha, to be much greater than that. We need help from the sangha to actualize the actual refuge in Dharma, founded by Buddha. We should feel like this for the Sangha. If even one person, living, a monk, nun, or even lay, has absolute Dharma, then that is absolute sangha. The relative Sangha or the truth of the all-obscuring mind Sangha is four ordinary monks, who don’t have absolute Dharma. If there is one, it is not called “Sangha”; only if there is absolute Dharma in that mind is it called Sangha. Therefore we are taking refuge in both, the absolute Sangha and the relative Sangha—or the Sangha of the truth of the all-obscuring mind—who are living in the two hundred and fifty-three vows.

[Ceremony]

Then think, even if one has received the vow, if one doesn’t protect it, then one doesn’t receive the great benefits but receives the shortcomings. So therefore, one should keep it. The way of keeping it is as the arhats avoided such things as taking the lives of others—then think of the number. If you have taken five, then think, “As they avoided all five, mentally and then with body and speech transformed, changed from those negative karmas, I am also going to practice.”

[Ceremony]

By taking refuge in Buddha, one should renounce relying upon or following the wrong founder. The wrong founder is one who shows the wrong path, contradictory or opposite to the path that is revealed by Buddha; in that way Buddha cannot guide you. For example, if you want to follow the wrong doctor while you are following the doctor who gives you the right medicine, who has all the understanding, who knows the diagnosis, everything about your health, who could give the right medicine; if at the same time you follow the wrong doctor who has a wrong understanding of your diagnosis and gives the wrong medicine, you cannot recover from your disease. So it is similar. Like this but more dangerous. That is a physical thing. That mistake you did is just a physical harm, not so much mental harm. But now, following the wrong founder has great damage or great harm for the mind and, through that, also physical suffering and problems come. There is greater harm than following the wrong doctor.

By following the wrong founder who shows the wrong path, one is led to the lower realms and for many lifetimes will follow the wrong path. It makes one lose many lifetimes of temporal happiness and ultimate happiness, enlightenment. Instead of achieving happiness beyond this life up to enlightenment, there is suffering in so many lifetimes. That is what one should renounce by taking refuge in Buddha. Why? Because that way, Buddha cannot guide us.

After taking refuge in Buddha what one should practice is, regarding Buddha statues and tangkas, paintings, even broken or old tangkas, even if there is only a half figure of Buddha, a statue, you should respect it as the actual Buddha, remembering the qualities of Buddha: “This is my guide, who liberates me from samsara, the guide to enlightenment.” Remembering this, you always put them on a clean place, on a higher place, even if it is a broken statue.

Now we see just a statue. We have very thick karmic obscurations, so we don’t see it as an actual Buddha but when we have entered the five paths, when we have achieved the path of merit—I think this path has three levels, three or four, so when you achieve the level of the concentration of continuous Dharma, even the statues speak to you. You see the actual Buddhas and you receive advice and teachings from them. Like this, it is dependent on our mind whether we see these things as real Buddhas or not, and being able to communicate is dependent on how thin our karmic obscurations are.

Then, by taking refuge in Dharma, what we should renounce is what I explained before: as much as possible to stop giving harm to others, to stop hurting others. Then, even besides not giving harm, if you find two animals fighting, you try to help, to separate them. Two insects eating, fighting—if there is a way to help, you help. If somebody is carrying a very heavy load, if you can help, even for a small comfort, then try to help. Besides not giving harm, as we are practicing the Mahayana teaching, if we can give even a small comfort, if we have the capability, then we should do so.

Practicing Dharma, what we should practice is this: keep Dharma scriptures, even one page, even though they are not complete, even a few lines, in a higher, clean place. If there are missing pages of Dharma scriptures or they are old-looking or torn, we should not throw them in the garbage. We shouldn’t put them on the dirty ground, in a lower place. We should think, “These words reveal the path. This Dharma, these teachings, these words reveal the path. Practicing these things, by understanding, reflecting and actualizing the path, it liberates me from samsara, from samsaric sufferings, and leads me to enlightenment.” You should think like that and put them in a high, clean place.

If you have many torn Dharma books—in Tibet they build a small stupa or a small square house somewhere near monasteries, and then they put all the missing pages and so forth inside, so in that way they don’t go in the street or outside. Then people won’t create the negative karma of stepping over the holy Dharma texts. We won’t create negative karma and others won’t create negative karma.

Even if you don’t have a table, at least you should put some cloth first. Don’t put Dharma texts on the same cushion on which you sit, or lower than you. Also, put them in a clean place. Like that, respect these things as the actual, absolute Dharma, which liberates one from suffering. Then, if there is no place, if you cannot find a place to put all the missing pages that you don’t use, the very last thing is to burn them in a clean place, reciting OM AH HUNG. Burn them if there is no other method.

Don’t carry your book and your cushion together, and you shouldn’t step or cross over the Dharma books or use the book to sit on as a cushion. You see these karmas, these things… I’ll explain later.

Then Sangha: by taking refuge in the Sangha one should renounce criticizing—this is very heavy karma, criticizing one who is living in celibacy. The more the person is living in higher vows, and the higher level of realization the person has, I think, the more negative karma we create in relation to this being. It is explained like this in the teachings. The more the person has a level of higher realizations, the more negative karma there is. So therefore, normally with anybody, with any human being, with any other being, we don’t know who has a higher realization or not, who has a higher realization than ourself. So there is a great danger if you get angry, if you harm, if you insult. We cannot say who is a bodhisattva, who is a Buddha and who is not a Buddha. We don’t have clairvoyance, to read the mind, to understand the mind of the other person, so there is danger of very heavy negative karma.

Particularly the ones living in celibacy, with vows; even if we see the robes, besides criticizing the person, being angry with that person, we should not even create the negative karma of crossing over the robes, stepping over the robes of those who are living in celibacy. We should not cross over them. If there is no other way to go, we should put them in another place, a little higher place, and respect them like this. We should think, “Those who wear these robes have more qualities than me. They live in many precepts, which I cannot do. They have realizations, understanding of Dharma, many things that I don’t have.” By thinking of the qualities, we should respect the robes and not step over them.

When the Kadampa geshes, Lama Atisha and his disciples, those lam-rim practitioners, those lamas, saw a piece of red or yellow cloth on the road, they put it on their crown, thinking, “Those who wear this robe have many qualities.” By thinking of it as absolute Sangha, they put it in a high place. This is how they practiced the advice of refuge. So normally whenever we see celibacy, people wearing robes, we respect them by thinking, “This is the absolute Sangha, this is my guide from samsara, my guide to liberation.” We should think, “This is my guide.” By thinking and feeling this, we respect them as absolute Sangha. This is the advice, what we should practice.

One may think sometimes bad karma can be created from carelessness. Even if the person knows and has heard the explanation, sometimes he is careless. Out of ignorance he creates negative karmas. Sometimes it can be out of anger, but basically it is out of ignorance. Even if there is no anger, it is done out of ignorance, not knowing the result, the problems, that he will receive. Even if it is not a human being, even if it is a creature, same thing, even if it is an animal who goes over Dharma texts, the Buddha’s holy object, he creates negative karma out of ignorance. For example, the animal or the child doesn’t know that the electricity will burn. By touching the electricity, biting the wires, it will burn, and he doesn’t know that. He is ignorant about that, but doing that, even though he doesn’t know, it burns. It is not that if somebody who doesn’t know the danger of electricity touches it, it doesn’t burn. It is the power of the electricity that burns, that damages, that endangers your life. It is not a question of whether you know or don’t know.

It is similar in relation to holy objects. Why should we renounce such and such things? Because it is similar. Just as the electricity has power, by disrespecting, putting holy objects in dirty places, the mind gets polluted, the mind gets obscured, the mind becomes unclear. Then when you meditate there is no clear mind, there is a very disturbed mind, fogginess, and you cannot think about the meditation subject. You get very sleepy. Whenever you start to meditate you sleep. Like this, sleepy mind. When you read Dharma texts you get pains, you get diseases or you get sleepy, fogginess; you cannot understand clearly, it is difficult to comprehend the words. It is difficult to comprehend the teachings.

That electricity burns is a dependent arising. The power of the object is burning, it happened by dependent arising, because of being under the control of dependent arising. It is the same thing; even though we don’t have clairvoyance about karma, it works. There is mental damage due to the power of the object and dependent arising, like that.

Then there are general practices of taking refuge. You should rely upon the holy beings and listen to the teachings, reflect on the meaning of the teachings. You should not use the senses in a negative way; try to stop creating negativity, and take the vows also as much as you can. Then, whenever you eat and drink, make offering to the triple gem, either by visualizing them in front of you or visualizing Buddha in your heart and then making offerings. If you know the prayers to be said, you can say the prayers and make offerings. Then, you should follow the holy Dharma, having compassion and love toward sentient beings generally. These are the general upasika precepts.

If one has killed a human being, broken a root vow, then there is no ordination, but one can take it again. If all the four root ones are broken, you can take the ordination again. Then, if there is alcohol or killing other creatures, not human beings, one can confess in front of one monk. Just confessing is okay, saying that, “I have done this.” Then, relying upon this, “I will try, I will practice to not do.”

Then, slandering and these other negative non-virtuous actions, insulting, heresy, ill will, miserliness, covetousness. If those things happen, then again one makes this decision, “Oh, I won’t do it”; oneself deciding. If these bad thoughts or things happen again, think, “Oh, I shouldn’t do that.” Like that.

Yes, I think that’s all. So then make three prostrations. It is not necessary to have a Dharma name, for refuge, for upasika, as some other ordinations do. But if anybody wishes, they can have. The purpose of having a Dharma name is to remember the practice; that is the main purpose. So if somebody wishes to have a Dharma name it can be given.

Student: Do you change your actual name or do you receive an additional name?

Rinpoche: It can be both, depending, but basically, it is to change the name. Not additional; to change the name. That is the basic thing. When you take the higher ordination, they only call the Dharma name. But anyway, the main purpose is to just remember the practice. Those who feel to have one can take. This is not making the person Tibetan, okay? I am not asking you to become Tibetan (laughter). All right, thank you so much.

[End of ceremony]

Oral Transmission of the Nyung-nä text 

I thought to do the lung of the nyung-nä text first, then the Thirty-five Buddha prayers. Otherwise it may not be done. So I thought to do the nyung-nä first, then, if there is time, maybe a few words. Since many people wish to do the practice and to receive the oral transmission of the nyung-nä text of Buddha, I am also very happy to do it.

So please listen to the oral transmission of the nyung-nä practice, handed down from Chenrezig to Gelongma Palmo, the bhikshuni, the full nun Gelongma Palmo. She was Indian. I think in Nepal there is one place, on the way to Pharping, the Vajrayogini holy place, where you cross the other mountain. From the city, when you reach the other mountain, where people say that the mountain was cut by Manjushri and the whole Kathmandu valley was filled with an ocean before. So by cutting the mountain, the ocean went through and then it became the city. On top of that hill they say that Gelongma Palmo’s family lived. I don’t know many details about it. There is one red Chenrezig there.

I don’t remember, probably it might be in the collection of the more than twenty different aspects of Chenrezig—it might be in the Rinjung Gyatsa initiation.

There are two places where Gelongma Palmo did the practice. She had leprosy disease. She practiced at one place, and then she was advised by King Indrabhuti, who became enlightened in three years, something like that, I don’t remember. He is one of the examples of someone who received enlightenment in a very short time, only in a few years, three years or twelve years, or something like that. This king, it is said in the teachings, in Guhyasamaja or Chakrasamvara, I think the Chakrasamvara commentary, it is said that in this place where King Indrabhuti lived, all the village and all the people became enlightened or were born in pure realms. The whole village became empty. The whole village, the whole town became empty; there were only empty houses left. In the beginning of the Chakrasamvara commentary this is said. I think probably everybody in that town had practiced very strongly and then was born in the pure realm, and achieved enlightenment.

So King Indrabhuti advised her. There is another place where there is supposed to be an intuitive OM MANI PADME HUM appearing from a rock. She did many prostrations there, as she was advised. So anyway, due to leprosy disease I think her body became thinner and thinner and very dangerous looking, almost to fall down. She became very thin due to leprosy disease, very tiny. She did much practice there, prostrations and also recitations of mantra.

In the early morning of the 15th, the special day that Buddha became enlightened in Bodhgaya under the tree, combining two or three special days of Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, in the early morning Gelongma Palmo saw Chenrezig. Then Chenrezig gave her the nyung-nä practice. He gave her the elaborate initiation then these teachings.

This went from Gelongma Palmo to many other pandits and great yogis. In the biographies of the lineage lamas they had much pain in the eyes or leprosy disease or something happened. Then, by doing nyung-nä practice they recovered. Each lama did so many nyung-nä practices. There are amazing, wonderful biographies of those lamas, which causes unbearable devotion to arise. How they had great attainment by doing much nyung-nä practice. I did not finish translating the stories of the lineage lamas, the whole thing. There are some in English, which I did at Lawudo, on the mountain when I was doing nyung-nä there with other people. But there are still some more stories of the following lamas to be translated.

The reason the nyung-nä has benefited all these lineage lamas who practiced it so much, the reason they had great attainments from this practice and that they even recovered from those problems they had by doing nyung-nä practice—nyung-nä practice involves many things, the Mahayana ordination, prostrations to Chenrezig, reciting the admiring prayer to Chenrezig twenty-one times with prostrations, then prostrations to the Thirty-five Buddhas. Each Buddha is different; the absolute guru, the dharmakaya of the all-buddha, the holy mind of all the buddhas manifested, each one to purify a particular negative karma of sentient beings. So by reciting each of the Buddha’s names, many eons of negative karma, karma accumulated for 40,000 eons—there are so many infinite stories of the benefits of these practices.

For example, people in the world doing business always have the aim, the hope to get success, good result, profit, happiness. Even for the person who is very smart, so smart, the smartest, it doesn’t work, it doesn’t happen as he expected. It doesn’t turn out as he planned. It turns out completely the other way, the way the person never wished it to happen—it is uncertain to get the result that you want.

These virtuous actions, good karma, prostrations, mandala offerings, the practice of these offerings, as long as they are offered to Buddha, even if you offer it with worldly concern—without Dharma motive, without bodhicitta motivation, completely with worldly concern, for reputation, for you to be wealthy in this life, to be healthy—or under the force of somebody; without depending on a Dharma motive, a virtuous motive, as long as you think “Buddha” when you make offerings, as long as you think of offering to Buddha, it becomes merit, virtue. Any of these actions—prostrations, if you offer, if you throw some grains at a stupa, some flowers—even if there is no statue, no material, no substantial holy object, you just remember Buddha, then you offer.

For example, in the family, in the house, if an altar creates confusion, if it is the cause of displeasing others in the house, if it becomes disturbing and displeasing to others, you don’t need to have the objects of the triple gem. You can cover it or even if you don’t have any pictures or statues, still you can make offerings. Even when you give food or tea to the family people or something like that, you can think you are offering to Buddha; either you visualize them, thinking of them as Buddha or visualizing Buddha at their heart. In place of the person you think of Buddha, you remember Buddha, then you think of offering. Whether you are serving tea or whether you are serving food or whatever it is, even though you don’t have a particular altar, if that is kind of funny looking, there are so many ways. If one knows how to practice Dharma, from morning until night, whatever you do, without changing your activities, these actions can become virtue.

My main emphasis is to tell you that generally, for any actions that you do to become virtue, it depends on the motive. It depends on having a virtuous motive. But there are some actions that are exceptional. Manjushri advised Lama Tsongkhapa that most of the actions become the cause of samsara, except some exceptional actions. If one doesn’t have realization of the three principles of the path to enlightenment, if one doesn’t have at least the creative renunciation of samsara, bodhicitta or shunyata, if the actions are not possessed by any of the three principles of the path, most of the actions become the cause of samsara, except some exceptional actions. That means these actions, prostrations and making offerings to Buddha, these things, even Buddha’s paintings that are done on the wall, just even looking at them becomes purification. By looking at tangkas, statues, even just looking at them, this becomes purification. It is said in the sutra teachings that even if you look at the drawings of buddhas on the wall with anger, they becomes the cause to gradually see ten millions of buddhas.

The arhats who are always with Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, serving him, such as Sharipu—there is a story like this. The reason Sharipu was always with Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, able to receive teachings from him, offering service, is because a long time ago, in one past life he saw a Shakyamuni Buddha figure on the wall. When he was traveling, one night he stopped at a temple, and then he was fixing his shoes and he had a light in front of him, and while he was fixing his shoes he saw a Buddha painting on the wall. It was so wonderful that he got a strong wish to become like that. He looked at the painting of Buddha again and again. From that cause he became Guru Shakyamuni’s disciple and then he was able to receive teachings and offer service. The cause is nothing, the cause is so small, but the result is unbelievable. Like this.

If you have food on the table, tea or whatever it is, either at your heart or in front of you, think, “I am offering this to the Buddha.” Simply by that, even though the motive is completely worldly concern, just by thinking “Buddha” these actions become virtuous. The way it becomes virtue is by the power of the holy object. These exceptional actions, each of these offerings, each of these actions, making offerings to Buddha or prostrations, become the cause of enlightenment. Every single one of these actions becomes the cause of enlightenment; to achieve liberation, to achieve enlightenment; besides all those samsaric perfections, happiness, which one can enjoy for many hundreds of lifetimes while one is in samsara. Each offering has about eight or ten condensed benefits, as it is explained in the sutra teaching.

So you see, these mandalas and prostrations, these offering practices, with these things there is no betrayal. There is no cheating. No cheating. If one doesn’t do the actions, one doesn’t experience the result. As long as the work is done, as long as the action is done, it is definite—definite that you will experience the result, definite that it has the result of happiness. As by planting corn it is definite that it brings the result of corn, not bananas (laughter, Rinpoche laughs) like that, it is definite. It is unbetrayable, it is definite happiness. However many eons it takes, it doesn’t get wasted, it doesn’t get lost. So therefore to receive the good result, happiness, it is definite, definite, one hundred percent reliable.

The business, what worldly people believe in, even though somebody is so smart, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t work. For some people most of the time it doesn’t work. So it is not reliable. And also, the value of the material goes up and goes down. It goes up and goes down. Sometimes it gets very small and sometimes it gets high, but not always. Sometimes the value of that material is so little. But, these virtuous actions, good karma, these offerings, prostrations and mandalas, these offering practices, for these there is no such thing as the value, the good result—those various results, temporal perfections and happiness, and the ultimate, enlightenment—the good karma becoming of less value. There is no such thing as the benefits of prostrations becoming less, the results becoming less. There is no such thing, no such thing. There is no such thing forever. The result of these virtuous actions becoming smaller, sometimes greater, like the value of the material: no, not like that. So therefore, it is always one hundred percent reliable.

We can do very simply, even just with water. Even by visualizing, we are accumulating merit. Unless from one’s own side one doesn’t practice virtue, otherwise, from morning until night, as much as we want to accumulate the cause of happiness, from morning until night we have the freedom, we have the opportunity; except if from our own side we don’t do it.

By knowing the teachings of karma, relating to one’s own life, relating to the lives of others, we can understand. With those methods with which you can accumulate extensive merit, the great virtuous actions, even the small ones, even making charity to an ant, even giving two or three grains of rice, making charity to the ant, the creatures, the birds, the dogs; even speaking some nice words to another person to make them happy, to make charity; even a small merit, as we find the possibility, in any actions that we do, if we find any possibility to accumulate any great or small merit, we should. Even if it is small, we should try. Because it is small we shouldn’t feel careless, we should practice. Because we want even a small comfort, we want even a small happiness; therefore even a small merit we should practice, how important it is. By knowing the lam-rim teaching more and more, whatever action we do, living in the city, living in the family, there is always possibility to accumulate merit.

Nyung-nä combines prostrations, the eight Mahayana precepts, then Chenrezig meditation, purifying all sentient beings, reciting mantra. This tantra practice, purifying other sentient beings by sending beams, you as the deity sending beams, purifying other sentient beings, accumulates much more merit than tong-len practice. The tantra method of being the deity, sending beams, practicing pure view in the mandala, seeing sentient beings as Chenrezig, all these things, the practice of the four purities, the four pure results, four purities—all those are the tantra method. Even if it is a method explained in kriya tantra, you accumulate so much more merit in such a short time than those other previous methods in sutra. The tantra methods are much more skilful than the sutra methods. Then, there are even more skilful methods in Maha-anuttarayoga Tantra. So that is how one is able to finish the work, accumulating merit and receive enlightenment soon.

There are combined so many skilful methods, very powerful methods to purify, so that is why nyung-nä is very effective. Normally, for people who have cancer, it always comes in those cases that to practice nyung-nä is very helpful. To do ten, eight or fifteen nyung-näs—there are one or two students who got better by doing nyung-nä practice. I don’t know their names, I don’t remember. When the medicine doesn’t help at all, when the expert doctors don’t know, then you practice, because it is a karmic obscuration. The disease came from karmic obscurations, and by purifying the karma you get better, you recover from that disease. These are common experiences of many, many people, including my uncle; many Tibetans, many monks.

So then please concentrate on the oral transmission, on the sound of the words. Please listen to the oral transmission by generating the motivation of bodhicitta, thinking, “At any rate, I must achieve the state of omniscient mind for the benefit of all the kind mother sentient beings. Therefore I am going to listen to the oral transmission of the nyung-nä and the Thirty-five Buddhas prayer.”

[Oral transmission]

You must be very exhausted sitting a long time, so I thought—the practice for life, generally while living in the West, how we can practice lam-rim, something just enough for each day’s life not to become empty. I think maybe, perhaps maybe just some advice, generally for life. I think maybe tomorrow morning. Is it dinner time, seven o’clock? Than maybe tomorrow morning before the puja, okay? Good night! Otherwise sitting a long time you may not hear. First of all you may not hear my English and secondly it may get harder to hear, you may get more distant (laughter). Anyway, I think that’s all, good night.

Gelongma Palmo’s traditional practice—I have received this oral transmission at Swayambunath many years ago from His Holiness Tsenshap Serkong Rinpoche. Rinpoche is the one who originally gave inspiration to do the nyung-nä practice retreat. Rinpoche gave the whole commentary of the Chenrezig Kriya Tantra practice, the commentary of this nyung-nä and all the stories of the lineage lamas, the elaborate commentary. Rinpoche kind of gave a lot of inspiration, so Rinpoche is the one that, by Rinpoche’s kindness, seeing the stories of the amazing, inspiring lineage lamas of nyung-nä. Nyung-nä practice was done many times.

We started at Lawudo on the mountain, where the original monastery was, where the school was started the first time, the original place. That’s how the nyung-nä practice spread to other centers in the West. One thing is by Rinpoche’s kindness and then, of course, originally by Lama Yeshe and the great yogi His Holiness Serkong Rinpoche whose life story is the incarnation of Marpa’s son, who is the embodiment of the deity Heruka, inseparable from Heruka. Rinpoche was extremely kind to me, always caring for me so much, always giving advice for personal practice and in general; there was nothing that Rinpoche did not accept to not give, initiations or teachings. Rinpoche accepted to give the whole collections of Lama Tsongkhapa’s teachings, these long eighteen volumes, and many initiations. When I requested in Dharamsala, Rinpoche accepted to give them. While Rinpoche was busy doing other things, in the break times, as Rinpoche had a little bit of free time, Rinpoche would give them to me. In every minute that Rinpoche found, Rinpoche would give the oral transmission. He accepted many initiations, besides Rinpoche giving those collections of initiations in Bodhgaya, last time, during the Dharma Celebration. But I think I ran out of merit, so I didn’t have time, didn’t have the opportunity to receive, even though Rinpoche accepted.

So anyway, dedicate the merits.

[End of teaching]

Final Lecture

The essential thing to do in our life, to make our life not wasted, to make the precious human body that we have found highly meaningful, the perfect human body that we have found once—that is what Lama Tsongkhapa explained in the Hymns of the Experience of the Graduated Path to Enlightenment. “This body having freedom is much more precious, much more precious than a wish-granting jewel.” It doesn’t matter whether you have a wish-granting jewel—in some ways you could say diamonds or some other precious thing from which you get means of living and enjoyments, some kind of wish-granting object, but it doesn’t mean just diamonds. It means the precious stone that the very fortunate ones find, by the power of which material one is able to get any temporal enjoyments or possessions one prays for.

What Lama Tsongkhapa is saying is that the perfect human rebirth is here and here is a huge mountain of wish-granting jewels—so which one are you going to choose, which one? Without having the precious human body, even if you have that many wish-granting jewels, mountains, the whole earth, you cannot achieve the three great purposes with that. But without possessing at all even one diamond, one piece of gold, with the precious human body you can accomplish all the three great purposes, you can fulfill all the wishes. All your wishes for happiness can be fulfilled with the precious human body. Therefore there is no comparison between a perfect human rebirth and mountains of wish-granting jewels, diamonds or dollars the size of the earth, that many atoms. There is no comparison between the value of that and the value of this precious human rebirth, no comparison at all.

So we should not renounce the perfect human rebirth and cherish something that is essenceless, something that doesn’t have that much value. We shouldn’t use it for that; we shouldn’t use it as a slave to take care of essenceless things. This perfect human rebirth is only this time. It is difficult to find again and so easy to decay, because death is definite and the actual time of death is uncertain. There are more conditions for death than living. Even the living conditions become causes and conditions for death; therefore, it is so easy to decay, so short.

The lifespan is so short; the appearance of this life is so short. Even though we believe we will live for a long time, so many years, thirty, forty, fifty, so many years but, actually, in reality, it is very short. It is as short as lightning, like the appearance during lightning. When there is lightning you see yourself and you see the road, the trees and things for just a very short time [snaps fingers] and then it stops, you see. It stops. The appearance started and stopped. So quickly it stopped. It started, but so quickly it stopped. Like that, when death happens to us, that is how we see our life, like the appearance during the lightning time. From birth until death that is how we see it; it finishes within a few minutes. Like that, how much we have trouble, a difficult life, how much we have been wealthy or whatever life we had, it is like this. Happy or suffering, whatever it is, it is like this.

Relating the example of lightning to our life, what appears to you during the lightning time is so short and also during those times, whatever it is, you see the base and then you label this and that, “I see this and that.” Similarly, whatever we see—friend, enemy, stranger, possession, house, everything—as we see the base, it is merely labeled. And it is so short; we cannot take any of these things with us to the next life, we cannot take them, we don’t have freedom. So therefore, what we have is merely labeled and so short, so there is no reason to cling so much. There is no reason to get angry and there is no reason to cling so much. It is nonsense, if you do that, it doesn’t make sense. It is childish, crazy or childish. The conclusion is that.

By reflecting like this on the nature of life, by realizing all the worldly works are like a husk, essenceless—there is nothing to eat, nothing to enjoy in the works done out of worldly concern; there is nothing to enjoy in this life, there is nothing to enjoy beyond this life, there is no result to enjoy—essenceless. We need to take the essence day and night. So what Lama Tsongkhapa is saying, “Therefore we need to take the essence day and night, by renouncing the worldly work.”

This means works done out of attachment clinging only to the comfort of this life. If you do not understand what the worldly works are, then confusion may arise. If one understands then one will not be confused, then one knows clearly how to practice and what to renounce. If one doesn’t know, it may cause conflicts if one generally discriminates worldly works, without checking the motive, as just outside activities. “We need to take the essence day and night, by renouncing works done out of worldly concern. The venerable Guru did the practice in this way. I am requesting also myself to be like that”; to be like the venerable guru, Lama Tsongkhapa.

So my emphasis is this: to take the essence, the greatest essence. Even if one realizes shunyata, it is still not the greatest essence. The greatest essence of this body is bodhicitta. One can take the greatest essence if one has bodhicitta. If one has bodhicitta, if one practices bodhicitta. Generating bodhicitta, obtaining enlightenment is the greatest essence. Obtaining enlightenment with this perfect human rebirth is the greatest essence, the highest, most meaningful thing of life.

So, how to practice bodhicitta? By integrating all the practice, the five powers. All these have to do with bodhicitta practice. So nothing much to say, except to practice the five powers, which are related to one’s own life. That contains the entire answer of what to do. All the answers are contained in the practice of the five powers. When there is a problem, when there is unhappiness, what to do; to transform the unhappiness into happiness; for interference to not become interference; for the interference to Dharma practice to become the necessary conditions to practice Dharma, the beneficial conditions to practice Dharma; to develop and generate the realizations of lam-rim, to develop the good heart.

As the great bodhisattva Khunu Lama, Tenzin Gyaltsen, who is my Guru, from whom I received teachings on the Bodhicaryavatara, commentaries and many other teachings on bodhicitta, said, in twenty-four hours, as much as possible try to do the actions out of a good heart. As Khunu Lama said, “If one stands up, stand up with bodhicitta. If one sits down, then sit with bodhicitta. If one eats, eat with bodhicitta. If one walks, walk with bodhicitta. When one looks, look with bodhicitta. If one wants to examine, examine with bodhicitta.” There are many verses like this.

So bodhicitta is the most kind; most precious, most beneficial, most kind. Any time, any time, when we are happy and especially when we are suffering, when we are sick, when we are dying, bodhicitta is the best. When we are in danger, any place, any time, any circumstance, bodhicitta is the main thing, the most skilful thing to practice. Khunu Lama said, “When you are happy, remember bodhicitta; when you are unhappy, remember bodhicitta. When you are sick, remember bodhicitta. When you are scared, remember bodhicitta. When you are dying, remember bodhicitta.” That makes all the experiences of life, happy or suffering, whatever happens, to not come under the control of the disturbing thoughts. Then, whatever one experiences becomes highly beneficial. It becomes the cause to achieve enlightenment and highly beneficial for all sentient beings.

So this is what we should keep in the depth of our hearts. Even today, if our breath is stopping, if the heart stops functioning, this is what we should remember. As you have heard from the Bodhicaryavatara, by practicing bodhicitta as the utmost, as the essential practice, the first thing to think about in our life, the most important thing in our life to think about, the first thing, the most important thing, more important than our means of living, than our job. In this way it purifies all the negative karmas. It is the most powerful purification and the method to finish accumulating extensive merit, unimaginable merit in such a short time.

Without bodhicitta, no matter how much dzogrim or dzogchen one practices, there is no way to achieve enlightenment. You accumulate so much merit, so by the way from this, also you can easily realize shunyata. You can easily realize shunyata by practicing bodhicitta. If your practice is mainly bodhicitta, then so much merit is accumulated and so much purification done, so therefore, it makes it very easy to realize shunyata. All the success, all the wishes get fulfilled by practicing bodhicitta, by practicing good heart.

Then practice tong-len. Do these meditations; apply these meditations to your life. Happiness, suffering, problems, whatever there is, transform them into the path to enlightenment.

One of the powers is to blame the self-cherishing thought. That is extremely important. So whenever there is a problem, whenever there are life difficulties, any problems, anything, you should remember that it came from the self-cherishing thought. And then you give the problem to the self-cherishing thought. Instead of taking the trouble on yourself, you give it to the self-cherishing thought. The self-cherishing thought gave you the trouble and you return it! You use it as a weapon to destroy the self-cherishing thought. Whatever difficulty, criticisms, bad reputation, anything—having found a very powerful antidote, you use it to destroy the self-cherishing thought, which is the greatest interference for your success and the success of other sentient beings. You destroy that.

So when you go to work, whether work in the family or whether you go to work in the office, even if you cannot remember all the kindness of sentient beings, at least you remember the kindness of these people, the employers. You remember their kindness. You are able to be alive with the money that is given by them. So by their kindness, you are able to have comfort, you are able to be alive. You are able to be a human being, able to be alive, able to practice Dharma. Even if you cannot think of all sentient beings, at least remember their kindness. Then, with this attitude, remembering their kindness, go to work. Not thinking, “I am going to work for my happiness,” but completely renouncing that, making no place in the mind for that selfish attitude, thinking, remembering the kindness, from the morning, from the house, as you start to prepare for work, then go to work for the happiness of these people, these sentient beings, these kind sentient beings, to stop their undesirable problems and difficulties, and then to obtain the happiness that they wish for. Think of yourself as a slave, as a servant, as their limbs, as their hands, as their legs. Like that, with this pure attitude go to work in the office.

Even if one is working in the family, it is the same. Even if one is taking care of a child, of children, same thing. They are all kind mother sentient beings, the object that we generate bodhicitta on, that we become enlightened from, from whom we receive all our three time happiness, so then you think, try to feel happiness, rejoice in your mind, “Even though I cannot help all, even though I cannot give temporal pleasure to all the sentient beings, at least I can give temporal pleasure to these people in the office, to these people in the family. At least my limbs, at least my body, which has two or three feet, whatever, this body that I am able to use, I will dedicate, use to give comfort, happiness, to at least one or two, even one sentient being, one kind sentient being, at least. How wonderful it is!” You should feel rejoyfulness, having received this opportunity, to be able to use myself, body, speech and mind, to take care of and offer service and obtain happiness for even one sentient being. So great! So lucky! So great! You should feel rejoyfulness. Then it becomes the bodhisattva practice, the actual practice of the bodhisattva’s action. In this way, depression does not come, if you practice like this, always thinking of the kindness of others.

Otherwise, however happy you are, however wealthy you are, there is no surprise, nothing. Using these limbs for yourself is kind of wasted. We have taken this body to serve others, to work for others. The meaning, the purpose of your taking this human body is to work for others, to pacify, to free others from suffering and to obtain happiness for them. You should remember this. Whether we do meditation or not, this is what in everyday life, twenty-four hours, this is what should be done. Then there is no aggression, depression, these things, and also less delusion, less anger, less delusion. We practice that much good heart.

Then, on top of that, if you are able to practice in the morning whatever you did during the meditation course, do those short preliminaries. Then after that read this prayer, do direct meditation by being thoughtful of the meaning of the prayer. Then, during that time one can do the meditation on lam-rim, a more specific meditation—you can expand the meditation. So like this. For a new person, for somebody who doesn’t know the complete lam-rim, you should do like this. On the basis of the direct meditation, you expand first the perfect human rebirth. Then whatever is not finished, expand the next day. Then the usefulness and, gradually, you go down to bodhicitta and shunyata. Then again come back and again go down, again like that.

The purpose of the direct meditation… even if you don’t get a more expanded meditation on lam-rim done, at least do the direct meditation on the whole path. That is extremely important to do. Each day if we are able to do direct meditation on the whole lam-rim, just read the prayer, it plants the seed of the whole path every day, so we become closer to the realization of the path and closer to enlightenment. Each day we become closer to enlightenment by planting more seeds. That is extremely important to quickly generate realizations. Then after some time, when you know the whole lam-rim well, when you think, “Now, if I really spend my time on one meditation for one month, two months, or even one week, if I put effort, I will get the realization,” when your mind has reached that state, then you make effortless experience, it means the realization of each meditation, step by step.

However, the most important thing is bodhicitta, anyway. Even if one doesn’t have the realization of bodhicitta, the most important thing is that. Even to practice tantra, the most important thing to have as a foundation is that. In that way we can succeed in tantra practice. So first try to understand the whole thing.

When your attitude is different from previously, before more concerned of this life, not so much feeling for the next lives, but now, working for the happiness of future lives becomes very important in your heart, so important, and the work for this life doesn’t matter. The happiness of this life doesn’t matter—it is only a few years, a few months, it doesn’t matter, whether you are happy or not, whether you succeed or not. The works for the happiness of future lives are so important, up to enlightenment, so important. The happiness of this life, the comfort of this life, if it happens, it is okay, even if it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t matter. When it is like this you have generated the realization of the graduated path of the lower capable being, when your mind is in such a state, changed from the previous idea. But still, it needs to be stabilized. Otherwise, if you don’t still meditate on impermanence and death, then it will degenerate. Still you need to stabilize the realization.

Then renunciation of samsara: in a simple way of talking, not only just wanting to be free from the true cause of suffering and the true suffering, only that is not renunciation. This is actually having some kind of creative renunciation, it is renunciation, when you want to be free from that, but it is not enough. Realize that samsara is like being in the center of a fire. Then, wishing to achieve liberation day and night, all the time, to be free from this, is the actual effortless realization of renunciation of samsara.

Then similarly, any sentient being that you see, without thinking much of logic or anything, just automatically you feel kindness. Any creature, human being, any being you see, you feel so much kindness. And then, the thought to achieve enlightenment for that person—you see snakes, you see scorpions, you see human beings, or enemies—like how a mother feels when her one beloved son or child fell in the fire. Naturally, automatically, all the time feeling that it is so unbearable seeing others suffering and wishing to free them from that, like the mother feels naturally, so strongly to have happiness for the child. Like that same feeling, the thought naturally comes to achieve enlightenment for this person, for this snake, for this very vicious person. The thought to achieve enlightenment naturally comes from the depth of the heart. When there is such like this, then you have the realization of bodhicitta. Until that happens very powerfully, unbearably, we should train our mind.

Then nyung-nä practice is very good to do while you are working in the city. It is only two days. And Mahayana ordination; even without nyung-nä, taking Mahayana ordination at a certain time is very good. I am just suggesting what you can do. There is unbelievable opportunity and unbelievable benefit, causes of happiness. One time in a week, which means four times in a month, or one can take it frequently, whenever one wishes.

And dedication is extremely important. To receive enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings that is extremely important. If we don’t dedicate in this way, even though we accumulate merit, it may not become the cause of enlightenment. Even if the motive is not bodhicitta, if we dedicate the merit for enlightenment, then it doesn’t become the cause of a lower realm being’s enjoyment, like nagas having wealth. That is extremely important.

As one gets the opportunity, hear lam-rim again and again, subdue the mind, and retreat. If possible, each year plan retreat.

Then, one of the most important things, the direct meditation, very, extremely important, Vajrasattva mantra in the evening time, before going to bed: OM VAJRA SATTVA HUNG, the short one twenty-eight times or the long one twenty-one times. In this way, it stops multiplying the karma day by day, month by month, year by year. So even if you don’t do meditations, only reciting Vajrasattva mantra in the evening times, when you die the negative karma will have become very thin. You have purified past karmas, so life has become very meaningful and there will be a very happy death.

Having a happy death is the result of good practicing Dharma in life. We should aim, we should try, we should prepare for that. Pray all the time to the Triple Gem, the Guru-Triple Gem. Then as much as possible accumulate merit, as I mentioned last night. I think that’s all. I have mentioned many things that you can practice. If there is time, if you find you have time read the Bodhicaryavatara, the lam-rim teachings, rather than reading many other books, wasting life, rising delusions and again binding oneself longer in samsara.

Today is, I think, some kind of a long life puja. I don’t have interest to do that kind of thing, to perform things. Also there is no worth because I don’t benefit sentient beings. I have not, and I do not even now, so there is no reason, no worth to offer long life. And also I don’t have control over karma and disturbing thoughts, control over the lord of death. But this is what they wanted to do, their wish, and it may become accumulating merit, so in that case maybe it can be done, maybe in that case. Those who wish to do, then.

So anyway, all this advantage, all this merit during this one month, all this Dharma wisdom, the light that we have in the mind, and all this merit that we accumulated, the cause of enlightenment was done by the kindness particularly of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, then particularly of Lama Yeshe,. There must be many people here who have received the last teaching [from Lama Yeshe], who were here last course for the bodhisattva vows, which was the last teaching, there must be many people from that. So you can remember.

During this puja, the thing is this, the prayers and wishes of the students may have some good result, because all things are dependent arising, whether things will be beneficial or not. So please dedicate the merits, pray well, during the puja time, and remember the kindness of Lama. Even though you haven’t met Lama, remember as I explained now, please dedicate the merits to fulfill Lama’s wishes, for all the centers, all the students to be able to practice Dharma as Lama wished, as well as His Holiness the Dalai Lama wishes. Then, those who know His Holiness Zong Rinpoche and His Holiness Serkong Rinpoche, pray for that. So that is one of my requests or emphasis to do during the puja time.

Also for all the centers to be able to reveal the complete, pure teachings of Lama Tsongkhapa, unifying sutra and tantra in the minds of all sentient beings; and for all those students working very hard, not even having time to eat food comfortably, even no time to eat food, running the centers, running to fulfill Lama’s wishes—for them to have a meaningful life, to be able to have lam-rim realizations in this life, and for everyone, oneself and all others, to achieve enlightenment soon.

So yesterday I did the dedication, I did the prayer for the merits that you have accumulated, last night, those different prayers—normally I do prayers for all the students, all the hard workers at the centers to be able to do correctly. I pray also [for them] to be able to correctly devote to the Guru and to meet gurus in all lives as Lama Tsongkhapa, and enjoy the teaching, to never separate away from Lama Tsongkhapa’s teachings as a path. Then to have pure moral conduct, great compassion, bodhicitta, to enter the tantra path, Maha-anuttarayoga Tantra, bliss and voidness; then whenever death happens, to be born in a pure realm, to have lam-rim realizations in this life. I did pray in the past also, that is my responsibility, so also in the future the same.

So I think that is all, thank you so much! That’s all. (Laughter)

[End of course]

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