"If there is love, there is hope to have real families, real brotherhood, real equanimity, real peace. If the love within your mind is lost, if you continue to see other beings as enemies, then no matter how much knowledge or education you have, no matter how much material progress is made, only suffering and confusion will ensue. Human beings will continue to deceive and overpower one another. Basically, everyone exists in the very nature of suffering, so to abuse or mistreat each other is futile. The foundation of all spiritual practice is love. That you practice this well is my only request.
"Oppression has never, anywhere, succeeded in suppressing the eternal desire of people to live as free men - free to think their own thoughts, free to act as they consider best for the common welfare and live as human beings - not as slaves or robots. Even if the Chinese leave nothing but ashes in our sacred land, Tibet will rise from these ashes as a free country even if it takes a long time to do so. No imperialist power has succeeded in keeping other people in colonial subjection for long.
"Only a spontaneous feeling of empathy with others can really inspire us to act on their behalf. Nevertheless, compassion does not arise mechanically. Such a sincere feeling must grow gradually, cultivated within each individual, based on their own conviction of its worth. Adopting a kind attitude thus becomes a personal matter. How each of us behaves in daily life is, after all, the real test of compassion.
"Suffering originates from various causes and conditions. But the root cause of our pain and suffering lies in our own ignorant and undisciplined state of mind. The happiness we seek can be attained only through the purification of our minds.
"One aspect of compassion is to respect others 'rights' and to respect others' views'. That is the basis of reconciliation. The human spirit of reconciliation based on compassion is working deep down, whether the person really knows it or not. Our basic human nature is gentleness; therefore, no matter how much we go through violence and other bad things, ultimately the proper solution is to return to human feeling and affection. So affection or compassion is not only a religious matter, but in our day-to-day life it is quite indispensable."
The Dalai Lama

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Bodhicitta
Maitreya Institute, San Francisco, May 1989

We have a very precious subject to explore this evening-bodhicitta. The teaching of Buddha known as the Middle Path is based on bodhicitta. First Buddha taught about suffering and peace and the various methods through which we can overcome suffering and develop both inner and outer peace. Then Lord Buddha gave a vast number of teachings, the essence of which is bodhicitta. These were later compiled into sutras by his disciples.
Bodhicitta is a Sanskrit term. In Tibetan it is chang chup che sems. Chang chup and sems are two distinct words, with two distinct meanings. Chang can be explained as purification, clarification or the total result of practice. We get used to it. There is no boundary. There is no obstacle. Chup means inclusiveness. Nothing is left out. It is under, it is total, everything is included in it. Che is a particle of grammar that connects chang chup and sems. Sems means mind. Here it also indirectly represents thought, attitude and motivation-everything that is involved with mind.
Chang chup che sems can be looked at in several ways, all of which arrive at the same conclusion. One way of understanding chang chup che sems is total, pure dedication towards full realization and full liberation. The principle thought and motivation of a person who has chang chup che sems is, "I wish to be liberated from the ignorance and defilements of samsara for the benefit of all sentient beings."
Approaching bodhicitta from a more academic or philosophical perspective, it is a particular attitude that will benefit our development. It is a way of thinking, a principle that imbues all of our efforts with meaning. With bodhicitta as our aim and principle, our efforts become continuously more and more meaningful, until we ultimately obtain enlightenment, liberation. This is the inner development that results from the practice of the bodhicitta principle. A bodhisattva is a person who practices that principle of bodhicitta.
In sutra, Lord Buddha said many times, "The validity and the benefit of any expression, activity, outward appearance or practice is totally dependent upon the purpose, philosophy and motivation behind it." Lord Buddha taught about generosity, morality, diligence and all the other positive qualities, but he always emphasized the motivation behind these so-called good and positive actions. That principle, that motivation, is bodhicitta.
Lord Buddha describes the value of bodhicitta in a very direct and strong manner. "Moments before you develop bodhicitta you can be the most evil being in the whole universe, but the moment after you develop bodhicitta, you instantly become the most noble, kind and precious being in the whole universe."
Then he said, "Developing bodhicitta is taking birth in the family of enlightenment." You will find a similar statement in every sutra. Without bodhicitta we can never attain enlightenment, because bodhicitta is the beginning of enlightenment. To succeed on the path of liberation, one has to reach the realization of the bodhisattva by developing bodhicitta-by recognizing it, by practicing it, by putting it into action. That is the first important step.
Four Limitless Thoughts
To understand bodhicitta totally, we must look deeply into each aspect of it. We can get a solid understanding of bodhicitta quite simply from the four-sentence prayer called "Four Limitless Thoughts" that every Buddhist is supposed to recite everyday. Translating these is always a challenge for me. For now I'll use the most common words in use by translators these days, and I'll try to explain them.
In Tibetan, the first limitless thought is champa, the second limitless thought is nying je, the third limitless thought is gawa, and the fourth limitless thought is tang jung. We add che ne at the end of each of them-champa che ne, nying je che ne, etc. Che ne means no boundary, no limitation. Champa is translated as loving-kindness, although many people have told me that loving-kindness doesn't make much sense in English. I have to believe them, but that is how it is usually translated, so we I'll go along with it for now. Nying je is translated as compassion. Some people have said champa should be compassion and nying je should be something else. Gawa is like joy. Tang jung is a little more difficult to translate, but basically it means impartiality. But when we say impartial, there is a risk of misunderstanding. It can mean impartial in an unhealthy way as well as in a healthy way, and definitely we should keep on the track of healthy impartiality. (Health food for enlightenment!)
There are very slight differences between champa, loving-kindness, and nying je, compassion. Champa is being naturally kind and gentle, like a mother towards her child. We have compassion regardless of the other party's suffering. If they're suffering, we have champa. And even if the other party isn't suffering, still we have champa. Nying je is more specifically related with the suffering of others. The example given is the attitude of a powerful and kind king toward his poor and needy subjects. That is nying je. So there is a slight difference between these two.
For champa it is said, "May all beings be happy." For nying je it says "May all beings be free from suffering." These two are the same, of course. If everybody is happy, then everyone is free from suffering. If everybody is free from suffering, then they must be happy. It comes to the same thing. Still, they have their own definition, however subtle.
The gawa is the joy that is naturally there when we have champa and nying je, loving-kindness and compassion. Then, anybody's happiness makes us happy, and the fact that we are able to have this loving-kindness and compassion makes us happy. We have a saying that might sound a little ridiculous if not understood precisely, but it is worth exploring. "Even if we have to suffer, suffer happily." The reverse would be, "Don't enjoy sadly." There is something in it, and I leave it for you to ponder what it means.
The fourth aspect of bodhicitta is impartiality. Our loving-kindness, our compassion and our joy shouldn't be limited to our friends or relatives. It should be impartial to every sentient being. In Buddhism, when we say "every sentient being," it is a vast subject. Lord Buddha's teachings allude to "all the sentient beings in the entire existence." He described the existence of sentient beings, along with where they exist. He said, "Sentient beings exist in space." And he said, "Space is endless." That is quite understandable-I don't think we can knock at the wall of space. There is no end to space. Then he said, "This endless space is filled with numberless universes of all levels." Then he said, "Those numberless universes are filled with countless sentient beings."
Lord Buddha classified those countless sentient beings into six realms. These six realms reflect not only physical differences but also levels of external and internal mental condition. He said, "The highest realm is the devas and the lowest realm is hell. Human beings are somewhere in the middle." He said, "Being human is very fortunate because humans can taste both suffering and happiness." And he said, "If you take advantage of your human life, you can learn a lot. You can make a tremendous leap in your progress." Finally he said, "The human realm is better than any other realm for the development of wisdom and enlightenment." So, impartiality is for all sentient beings of all six realms, for all the sentient beings in the entire universe.
These four limitless thoughts that describe bodhicitta prove that we're extremely ambitious, because we pray that every sentient being will be free from suffering. I think that is quite ambitious. And we wish all sentient beings to be happy. There are practical reasons for this. It's not just a dream. It is practical because every sentient being has the potential to be free from suffering and to be happy. More than that, every sentient being has the potential for enlightenment. There is no one whose ultimate potential is negative. Lord Buddha says, "When it comes to the ultimate potential and essence of everyone, there is no evil in existence." Of course, relatively speaking, there is evil. Buddha, himself, had a brother who caused him lots of trouble. But it is the potential of every sentient being to attain enlightenment that makes this prayer practical. We're praying that every sentient will recognize what they are and who they are. May every one of us realize that our potential is good, not bad, our potential is healthy, not unhealthy, our potential is perfect, not imperfect. Nothing is missing. So may everyone recognize that.
If everyone recognizes this and decides to do something about it, a big part of our job is done. That is the biggest step. Once that step is taken, we should feel a sense of promise or a guarantee that there will be momentum that will move everything forward. But until we recognize this, even if we try to be good, it is a challenge. Because if we don't know that our ultimate potential is good, we assume that we're bad by nature, and therefore we have to become good. We try to be good, but we think that goodness isn't in us, that it's out there. We feel we're trying to become something we're not. But when we know this potential is there, we realize we're not trying to develop something that isn't there. Instead, we're trying to liberate whatever is inside of us, our potential, our real self. This makes a big difference.
When we look at bodhicitta through these four limitless thoughts, we see it is the source of all goodness. I'll give you an example that you can easily apply. When we don't have bodhicitta, others' happiness causes us suffering. It sounds unspeakable, but that is what happens without bodhicitta. It even gives me a funny feeling to say it. When we develop bodhicitta, another person's happiness becomes the source of our own happiness. We have been praying every day for the happiness of others, so when we see somebody happy, it's got to make us happy. There is a big difference in the attitude. And there is a big difference in the impact of the reality of life on our well-being. So, bodhicitta is very precious. Just by clearly understanding the preciousness of those four limitless thoughts, with no strings attached, we recognize what we are, what we can be and how to realize our potential.
Bodhicitta is fundamentally and superficially described as the Mahayana principle. In one way, this is true, because the disciples of Buddha categorized his teachings into many different levels and included most of the teachings related to bodhicitta in the Mahayana sutras. But bodhicitta is the foundation for all Buddhism, because every Buddhist should practice bodhicitta.
All the sutras that are involved with bodhicitta include the philosophy, or the view, and the meditation, contemplation and action that comprise the actual practice. Lord Buddha said contemplation is very important. For example, the first thing we should do with those four limitless thoughts is contemplate them. The purpose of most prayers is contemplation. I'm quite certain the Tibetan word samten and the English word contemplation are the same.
There is a fine line between contemplation and meditation. Meditation is usually a particular method for dealing with mind. Meditation involves using a particular method appropriately, step-by-step, as given in the teaching, in the lineage, as it was continued throughout Buddhist history. Meditation isn't like saying "May all sentient beings be free from suffering." Meditation involves concentrating on the breath, or on a particular visualization, or watching the thoughts, or trying to recognize the pure quality of bodhicitta within. Meditating on each one of these is quite different from contemplating a particular philosophical or technical subject through chanting or a step-by-step thinking process. There is a difference.
When it comes to action, such as diligence, patience, and contemplation, how do we apply that bodhicitta, those four limitless thoughts, into daily activity? Such principles as morality, tolerance (or patience), diligence and contemplation help us to be generous, to be compassionate, to be impartial, to be mindful, and to be aware. They help us to manifest these qualities. They naturally develop wisdom, because wisdom is something that develops within. Intellectual input is information, knowledge. The appropriate application of that knowledge develops wisdom.
Knowledge and Wisdom
It might be appropriate to discuss the difference between knowledge and wisdom in more detail here. Knowledge is information, knowing how to go about something. As far as the practice of the bodhicitta is concerned, knowledge is how to develop bodhicitta, which is our essence. How can we manifest our perfect, kind, compassionate, impartial, joyful potential? By applying our knowledge so that the essence is able to manifest correctly, purely and sharply. This is wisdom. So knowledge and wisdom work hand-in-hand. We cannot say this is knowledge but not wisdom, this is wisdom but not knowledge, because the wisdom of today can be the knowledge of tomorrow, and the wisdom of today can be good information for tomorrow's development.
This is why, in the development of a bodhisattva, there are ten levels. We call them ten bhumis. This is a way of describing the constant development. Actually, rather than there being ten distinct levels, we just continuously grow and develop. The ten levels are just a way to describe it. It could be a thousand levels, it could be a million levels, it could be five levels, three levels, it could be anything. But in the Mahayana teachings, it's taught as ten levels.
Why is it taught as ten levels? Just to give some idea how we progress step-by-step. First we progress to the first level, or first-level bodhisattva. Then, to advance to a second-level bodhisattva, we have to undo everything we've done to become first-level bodhisattva. We do this not by going backwards, but by a process of refinement. So the knowledge that enabled us to attain first-level bodhisattva becomes wisdom after we reach that point. By the time we become second-level bodhisattva, all the wisdom of the first-level bodhisattva is just knowledge. That is what I mean when I say there is no clear distinction between what is knowledge and what is wisdom.
What is real wisdom, ultimate wisdom? The moment we attain enlightenment, the moment we become Buddha, everything is wisdom. There is no more knowledge. From the level of the most basic knowledge, like knowing what to do when we're hungry, to the realization of the tenth-level bodhisattva, everything is a kind of knowledge. And Buddha is the final wisdom.
People like myself understand things by knowledge. But even in my knowledge, certain things are wisdom; whatever inner realization I have is my wisdom. But if I compare this with the wisdom of a realized being, it is knowledge that is probably only 5% correct. Even that is being very presumptuous, because 5% is a lot. So the subject of knowledge and wisdom is quite vast, and it is almost impossible to be precise.
Relative and Ultimate Bodhicitta
In fully understanding bodhicitta, it is important for us to know the difference between relative and ultimate bodhicitta. Relative bodhicitta is all four limitless thoughts. It is related with dualism, with "I want to be enlightened for the benefit of all sentient beings." It's absolutely dualistic. And it would be a lie if we said we were non-dual right now. We may be non-dual for short periods of time. If somebody knocks us on our head with a hammer, we'll be non-dual for a couple of minutes. Even that is a rather forced non-duality. Everything we do-learning about dharma, meditating, doing something for other people-is dualistic. We don't have to feel bad about our dualistic condition. We're not cheating ourselves, we're not dreaming, we're not imagining. We're handling our present condition appropriately when we deal with dualism in this way.
Ultimate bodhicitta is non-dual. When a person like me says "non-dual," I'm thinking about something like a first-level bodhisattva. Even that can be too much, but it's close. How will a first-level bodhisattva manifest for the benefit of other sentient beings? As non-dual. But it can't be totally non-dual, because otherwise the first-level bodhisattva would be Buddha. But we have to be practical and honest. If I saw a first-level bodhisattva and a Buddha together, I don't know if I would recognize which is which. I'm afraid I might say to the Buddha, "Please wait here," thinking he is the attendant! I might bring the first-level bodhisattva to my home and serve him. This is because, compared to us, the first-level bodhisattva's bodhicitta is non-dual and ultimate, so it would be hard for us to know the difference at that level.
The second-level bodhisattva's bodhicitta and activity manifestation is non-dual compared to the first-level bodhisattva, and this can go on and on and on. But what is the ultimate bodhicitta? The non-dual manifestation, the Buddha, Buddha activity-only that is final. That is the definition of Buddha. So these two things are important for us to know-relative bodhicitta, which is how we practice, and the ultimate bodhicitta, which is always within us, always there, but when it is totally liberated, it is called enlightenment. And Buddha's compassion, Buddha's loving-kindness, Buddha's joy, Buddha's impartiality are, taken together, the ultimate bodhicitta.
Five Strengths
In order for a person like ourselves to apply bodhicitta in our everyday lives, a few important principles are described. These five principles are entitled "Five Strengths." This means a strength that will never be exhausted, a strength that can go on and on until enlightenment. This is inner strength. Every bodhisattva should practice these five strengths.
The first strength is described as "I will attain enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings." If we know what enlightenment is, if we know what we mean when we say "I," if we know what we mean when we say "I will attain enlightenment," if we know what "all sentient beings" means, if we know precisely what we mean when we say "attain enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings," that is the first strength. Once we say it, and we know what we say, we'll never give up.
The second strength is that once we say it personally and honestly, we have the constant motivation towards action related to that first strength. And those conditions will help us to gain the momentum to go on.
The third strength is that when that momentum goes on, everything becomes like a seed. Whatever we do now becomes a seed for the next thing. That particular creation which comes out of the seed isn't just a fruit that comes up and is gone. It will be another seed. Everything becomes a seed. When we look at it from another point of view, this is karma. Karma means condition, so everything that is done now becomes a condition for later. Everything that is happening now has a condition related with the past.
To illustrate the fourth strength, we have a saying. "When I make a journey of a million miles, I might miss my step, I might slip millions of times, but I will put my feet back on my path." We're expected to make mistakes. We must not, but we will. It's almost guaranteed. All of us will make mistakes-sometimes terrible mistakes-but we should learn from our mistakes and not lie to ourselves. We shouldn't try to brainwash ourselves that our faults are not faults. We make mistakes and we learn from them. Very simple. We acknowledge our mistakes and then bring ourselves back to the right track and go on. Then we become invincible, because there is nothing that can destroy us. We recognize every mistake we make and we go on. Any bad situation that happens becomes good circumstances for us because it helps us to see all of our mistakes that caused the negative situation.
The fifth strength is very important-to let go of everything at every moment. I have to explain this a little bit more. When we say "Let go of everything," it means that when we do something good, if we don't let go of that, we'll get stuck there. We might get proud of it. And when we get proud of it, we naturally become arrogant. That arrogance becomes a roadblock for us that will keep us from progressing. That is why we totally dedicate anything positive that we're able to do. We don't think about it, we just appreciate it and then dedicate it for everyone.
In the practice of Vajrayana Buddhism especially, it is always emphasized that if we forget to dedicate, then our good deed isn't complete. For that reason, every prayer or practice has three parts-the beginning-the refuge and bodhicitta-the actual practice, and the dedication. First we remind ourselves of Buddha, his teachings and his followers, and bodhicitta-the four limitless thoughts that I just described. Then, the actual practice. Last is the dedication. When we dedicate, it simply means, "I dedicate this merit, I dedicate this wisdom, for the benefit of all sentient beings." We can add, "I dedicate this merit and wisdom for the benefit of all sentient beings, so I will attain enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings." If we add that, it becomes complete. That is the fifth strength.
These five strengths empower our bodhicitta and make it complete and strong. That way it gains momentum and goes on non-stop.
I've read in many Mahayana sutras and commentaries that if we have pure bodhicitta, the four limitless thoughts, and all of these strengths together, then even if we're not doing anything, our bodhicitta naturally increases. It says, "Every pulse that is moving in your body, every breath that you take, becomes practice." That is quite good. And the reason is because we are the bodhicitta, so therefore we are the bodhisattva.
Thank you for listening. I feel we have communicated to each other quite well. Does anyone have questions? I'll welcome them.
Rinpoche, will you say a little more about the second strength?
The second strength is the constant motivation and momentum towards action related to that first strength. The five strengths are actually just one described strength enumerated into five aspects. The second strength is just the continuation of the first strength.
Did you say that the number of sentient beings is limitless? Doesn't that mean that a bodhisattva who has dedicated himself to always coming back until all sentient beings gain enlightenment will never, himself, reach enlightenment.
That is correct. That is why a bodhisattva's thought has to be limitless.
But he'll never be Buddha, though.
Of course, he'll be Buddha. Don't worry about that. Buddha became Buddha, and he's still helping us just as if he were living and breathing right now, after 2,500 years. This is ultimate bodhicitta activity. Buddha didn't stop being a bodhisattva after his enlightenment. He is working right now through ultimate bodhicitta-not through relative bodhicitta. If we like, we can make up our own vocabulary and say that Buddha isn't a relative bodhisattva, Buddha is an ultimate bodhisattva. Buddha's compassion, Buddha's loving-kindness, is helping us. He didn't abandon us when he became enlightened. But there will be an end, of course. When all sentient beings attain enlightenment, that is the end. When one sentient being attains enlightenment, that is one less in the limitless sentient beings.
Rinpoche, will you say the four limitless thoughts in their entirety?
It's very difficult to say it precisely, although I read it many times in English. It says something like, "May all sentient beings be happy and be with the causes of happiness." But "be with" is poor English. I'm certain there must be better way to say it. The second is, "May all sentient beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering." But here I have difficulties with the "free from." Should it be free from or free of? Or free with? I don't know. The third one is complicated, "May all sentient beings never be separate, or never be in the absence of pure happiness, pure joy-that is, without any suffering." About the fourth, because of the number of words, the prayer doesn't say "May all sentient beings," because it becomes too long. So it says, "Free from closeness and free from distance, free from attachment and free from hatred, may they always remain in great impartiality." I think that is it. But then, of course, "May all sentient beings" should be at the beginning. I have read many translations on this because it's very important, but unfortunately I haven't found one that makes similar sense to the prayer in our language. So somebody has to do hard work on this.
Would you talk about the relationship between bodhicitta and emptiness?
Because we will talk about emptiness later, I didn't say much about it today. Emptiness is a very difficult word. I personally have lots of difficulty explaining this subject using the word emptiness. Emptiness means that nothing is out there more than just interdependent manifestation. Physical, mental and emotional-everything is there indeed, but just as interdependent manifestation. A person who is very mean, angry, negative and evil can develop bodhicitta because of emptiness. If that person decides not to be mean, not to be evil, not to be unkind, not to be angry, that's where it starts. The person has to work to overcome their habit of being rude or evil, but it won't take long once he or she decides. So it's absolutely connected with emptiness. Everything is possible because of emptiness.
Rinpoche, how can we develop bodhicitta?
It sounds a little presumptuous, but I can almost guarantee that we will not find it difficult at all, because within each one of us there is nothing but ultimate bodhicitta. That is our essence. It is what we are. But relatively, our circumstances cause us to be deluded, so we have to overcome those delusions. Each one of us has different type of delusions that we must overcome, and there are many methods by which we can overcome them.
One of simplest methods is sitting meditation. To do sitting meditation, we don't have to believe in anything or perform any rituals. We first relax our body and our mind, and we use a particular method, such as breathing. That is the easiest method, because we breathe all the time. And breathing properly is even good for the temperament and the health as well. So it's multi-purpose.
If we practice breathing meditation, these delusions temporarily fall away. It's like taking off our dark glasses so we see what is there, even if it is only for a short moment as the result of half-hour of meditation. We see nothing but our ultimate bodhicitta-some part of it, some aspect of it. Then, with the proper information, such as the four limitless thoughts, we recognize how to go about it. That might be the easiest way. But we need proper instruction. You can't just do it from the information I've given. You have to have a teacher to teach the particular method. It will take at least one good session.
Rinpoche, would you say something about Manjushri?
Manjushri is one of the eight bodhisattvas in the Buddhist texts. Each of the bodhisattvas represents a particular quality. Manjushri Bodhisattva represents wisdom. The specific purpose of Manjushri Bodhisattva is for the development of wisdom. We practice Manjushri sadhana, Manjushri meditation, and recite Manjushri mantra to receive the blessing of the Lord Manjushri. Through that blessing, our wisdom will be awakened. That is a short way to describe it.
Rinpoche, can you say something about the three wisdoms?
The most common way to describe the three wisdoms is töpi sherab, samde sherab and gomde sherab in Tibetan. Töpa means listening. It's more like academic wisdom. Samde sherab is contemplation. Samta is like contemplation-samten, samta. So it is thinking or contemplation wisdom. The last one is gompa, gompe sherab, gompa is meditation. So, it's the wisdom that is developed through learning, through contemplating and through meditating.
Rinpoche, I'm still a little confused about the difference between wisdom and knowledge. Could you say more about this?
Knowledge and wisdom are two different things. If we look at the three aspects of wisdom I just explained, knowledge is the first wisdom, the listening. The bridge between listening and meditation, the real wisdom, is contemplation. The contemplation process confirms. In contemplation, we explore every corner, leaving no detail unsearched. We contemplate everything, so what we know is complete. That's roughly it. And today's wisdom is tomorrow's knowledge.
Now, I just said today's wisdom is tomorrow's knowledge, but that is such a short time. Maybe "this lifetime's wisdom is the next lifetime's knowledge" is more appropriate. Now, what is the ultimate wisdom? That can only be the wisdom of the Buddha. Until that, everything is a kind of learning that is more or less dualistic. Even the wisdom of a tenth-level bodhisattva is dualistic compared to Buddha. So when we attain first-level bodhisattva, our realization should be wisdom, but when we become second-level bodhisattva, then the wisdom of the first-level bodhisattva isn't wisdom anymore. That wisdom causes us to attain second-level bodhisattva. That wisdom is the information, that wisdom is the knowledge.
I have been using that particular example, but we can relate this to everything. We can relate this to the tantric way of describing the highest level. We say dorje . . . . . It's like the last state of mind, which is like a diamond, to break through the final boundaries between enlightenment and non-enlightenment. Even at that stage, wisdom still has further to go. And as I said earlier, there is even a difference between the enlightenment of the Buddha and the enlightenment of the highest bodhisattva, or that bodhisattva would be Buddha.
When we look at the life and teachings of the Buddha, obviously everything he had to say contained quite a bit of knowledge, and yet you just described what he attained was not knowledge but wisdom, and so I need a definition of this kind of knowledge.
This is a totally different subject. Buddha's teaching is knowledge for us, but Buddha's teaching comes from his wisdom. Buddha himself said very clearly, "I haven't said anything, but everybody heard me say things." And I'm sure he even didn't say that. So the teaching of Buddha isn't like any of us talking. I learned for almost thirty years from many teachers. Then I did homework to prepare this talk. I thought very carefully about it before presenting it to you. This is absolutely dualistic. But Buddha's teaching is spontaneous, according to the capability and need and condition of the disciples who heard it. And that is the result of the relative bodhicitta, which is the ultimate bodhicitta, which is the ultimate wisdom-not knowledge.
In that sense, the wisdom of the levels is not really comparable to the wisdom of the Buddha but is somewhat like a Nirmanakaya manifestation.
Dharmakaya. Nirmanakaya manifests through the Dharmakaya. The teachings of Buddha that people heard, and which we have in black and white, are the Sambhogakaya aspect, the physical.
So the bodhisattva is working in the Nirmanakaya level?
No. The bodhisattva's contact to Buddha is Nirmanakaya. This is another subject. I don't want to confuse all of you, so I'd like to explain a little bit. When Prince Siddhartha attained enlightenment, he became the Buddha. Anybody who attained some level of bodhisattva realization received the teachings and the benefit from the Buddha in his Sambhogakaya manifestation. Ordinary people in India who saw Buddha in his form received the teachings from the Nirmanakaya. The Nirmanakaya of the Buddha died when he passed away in Kushinara. That is the correct way to relate to it.
Although many of the tantras are the teachings of the Buddha's Sambhogakaya, when it is put on paper with ink, and we read it, it is Nirmanakaya. But the contents, the meaning, is the Sambhogakaya teaching, which is heard by the bodhisattvas.
Rinpoche, could you say a little more about the difference between inspiration bodhicitta and practice bodhicitta?
When a person formally takes the bodhicitta vows, we call that first step nunpa senche. Nunpa is translated as aspiration. After that, jigpa senche, entering the real practice, the real application, of the bodhicitta. Most of the time it is done in two individual steps, and in a very serious, elaborate ceremony. It is very important. But these days it became more casual, with almost no ceremony at all. If people want to take bodhicitta vows, they just do it. If they want to take refuge, they just do it. It became simpler. I'm not sure if this is better or not, but that's how it's done now.
The aspiration is, "I want to do my best to be a bodhisattva. I want to try." That is aspiration bodhicitta. Real practice is "Now, I will do everything. I will live as a bodhisattva. I will act as a bodhisattva. I will function as a bodhisattva." There are more vows in practice bodhicitta than in aspiration bodhicitta. These are usually done in two individual ceremonies.
It would seem that you need skillful means to be a bodhisattva.
We need skillful means to do anything. I agree. As a bodhisattva, we definitely need skillful means, because bodhisattva means that we try to help other sentient beings, and for that we definitely need skillful means. We have to be very skillful about this, because if we're not skillful, we might think we're helping somebody when actually we might be destroying them.
Could you please talk more about renunciation, and how it is viewed by the different schools of Buddhism.
Renunciation has many levels. The word renunciation is used more in vinaya. As I said yesterday, Buddha's 45 years of teaching were later categorized by his disciples into four: vinaya, abhidharma, sutra and tantra. According to the vinaya teachings, we renounce anything that is a condition for desire, anger, ignorance, jealousy or ego. Men become monks and women become nuns.
When it comes to the practice of sutra, it is expressed differently. The sutra might say that we leave selfishness behind and we take responsibility for others. Practically speaking, this means we're renouncing our selfishness, renouncing doing things for ourselves. We commit ourselves to doing things for others.
In tantra, we have this same renunciation principle, but the word is hardly ever used. What is renounced in tantra is duality. Dualistically speaking, bad is bad and good is good, and they are entirely different. In tantra, bad is the other side of good, and ignorance is the other side of wisdom. When we overcome ignorance, when we turn the page of ignorance, what happens is wisdom. When we overcome not knowing, we become knowing. So, in tantric practice we renounce the separation between bad and good. And roughly speaking, that is how the different levels of the teaching of Buddha apply the principle of renunciation.
It is time for us to draw a conclusion for today. I believe we have learned from each other, and I very much appreciate that Lord Buddha and all of our teachers in the past made it available to us. Even if it is limited, I'm glad I was able to share some of what I know with you so that you can apply it to your daily situation. Now I would like to request all the venerable monks and lamas and nuns to pray for all of us, that we are able to use this in our daily life, until we reach enlightenment.
[Dedication]

[Transcribed and edited by Stephanie Harolde]

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Emptiness
Maitreya Institute, San Francisco, May 1989

Tonight we are facing quite a challenge-we're supposed to say something about nothing. With the blessings of the Buddha, hopefully we'll manage.
To understand emptiness, we have to relate to particular teachings of Buddha known as prajnaparamita, or she-rab-pha-rol-tu-phyin-pa. These teachings are contained in seventeen texts, which are recognized as the fourth of Buddha's teachings on emptiness. They contain both philosophical teachings and an introduction to the practice of emptiness. Later, Buddha's disciples, such as Lord Maitreya, elaborated on those practices in teachings such as prajna-paramita-abhisamaya-alankara, which is an instruction on the practice of emptiness.
With this background information, let us now look into the subject. I will try to share what I know about it in the simplest way possible, since that is the only way I can communicate.
The Nature of Emptiness
Emptiness makes everything possible. If it were not for emptiness, nothing would be possible because everything would be fixed, solid. If everything is solid and fixed, then nothing can change, nothing will happen, nothing will improve, nothing will get worse. Emptiness explains why everything is always changing, why everything happens to everyone, and why we can improve. It explains why those who don't see things clearly and don't relate to things appropriately sometimes develop tremendous ignorance and aggression. All possibilities are based upon emptiness. Emptiness provides space for everything.
In the dharma, there are two sentences which express this subject simply: "There is nothing that isn't interrelated, therefore there is nothing that isn't emptiness." Emptiness simply means that everything is there, but that everything which is there is interdependent manifestation.
Views of Emptiness
There are several ways to relate to emptiness. We can relate to it in an ordinary, practical or scientific way or we can relate to it in a spiritual way. Relating to it in an ordinary way, Lord Buddha says, "Nothing is happening, therefore everything is happening." For example, when a family is in a crisis situation, the husband is the same person he was before the crisis, the wife is the same person she was before the crisis, the children are the same people they were before the crisis, and the home is the same home it was before the crisis-nothing has changed. But the communication between the family members is quite poor, so there are facing a family crisis. Yet when we look at it from a deeper perspective, nothing is happening, everybody is the same. Every situation is the same. But relatively, because nothing is happening, everything is happening. If the communication between the family members isn't synchronized properly, problems arise.
When we look at emptiness from an ordinary sentient being's point of view, we need money, we need shelter, we need food, but when we look at each one of them, nothing really is happening. One family is living very comfortably and the next family is facing a crisis, but nothing is happening. Everything is the same. Yet because of interrelation, something is happening. One family is happy and the other is suffering. So, from a situation-oriented perspective, we can see very clearly that because nothing is happening ultimately, relatively everything is happening. And everything happens only as interdependent manifestation.
The Interrelation Between External Existence and Internal Individual Sentient Beings
Lord Buddha then taught about how the interrelation between external existence and internal individual sentient beings takes place. It is also based on the principle of emptiness.
Emptiness from a General Point of View
In sutra, and specifically in abhidharma, Lord Buddha explains emptiness in a most ordinary way. He says, "We relate to external existence through our senses-our eyes see, our ears hear, our body touches. How we feel when we touch something is totally interdependent on the nature of our body, and in connection to that, how that external element manifestation exists." It is the same with all of the senses. He says, "What we see and hear as a human being of this planet doesn't cover even the entire human realm. We are only the human beings of this planet and our particular solid existence." It has nothing to do with any other kind of human being, only human beings of planet earth.
Then he says, "If your mind could enter the body of the person sitting next to you and relate to the same environment you were previously relating to, it would not seem the same." If it were possible for us to enter another person's body and touch things, listen to things, taste things, look at things as that person instead of as ourselves, it wouldn't be the same. He also says, "More than that, within a single lifetime, from childhood to adulthood to old age, how we relate to things and how things affect us totally changes." He is talking about the most basic external things changes. Why does everything change? Because of emptiness.
He gave another, more spiritual. example, involving the River Ganges, a holy river in India. He said, "If you are a human being, the Ganges River is a holy river. You bathe in it in order to receive blessings." Then he said, "If you are an animal, the river is your source of water for drinking and bathing." Then he says, "If you are a hungry ghost, you might run away from this river. Perhaps you cannot drink from it or even touch it." Then he says, "If you are a hell realm being, this river will be like flowing lava that will burn you in one second." Then he says, "Even if you relate to the holy river from the different levels of the different realms, it isn't the same river." Why is it like that? Because of emptiness.
But why do all of the beings of the six realms of this place relate to the same river in a similar way? Because we have similar karma. In abhidharma, Lord Buddha refers to it as kal mnyam. Kal relates to time, or timing, and mnyam means equal. So, it means "equal time." There are karmic causes and conditions the make us see, hear, relate to and be affected by things in a similar way.
For example, here in this room, in this part of the city, we are all in a similar condition. I'm sure some of you think that what we are communicating is very valuable. Some of you think "I already know that." Some of you think "That fellow doesn't make much sense." Some of you wonder "Does he know what he's talking about?" (You're right!) Anyway, kal mnyam means "similar." It's almost impossible to be exactly the same. All of us look different, think different, and feel different because of emptiness. If it weren't for emptiness, everybody might look and feel exactly the same. That is how Buddha explained emptiness from a general point of view.
Emptiness from a Spiritual Point of View
When it comes to the spiritual aspect of emptiness, Buddha says, "Although every sentient being has Buddha nature, he or she can still suffer in samsara, because of emptiness." Then he says, "Even the most ignorant sentient being can attain enlightenment because of emptiness." Then he said, "Billions of lifetimes might go by from the time that we make the decision to attain enlightenment until we actually accomplish it, but when we finally do attain enlightenment, those billions of lifetimes are not even a moment-because of emptiness."
Then he said, "The compassion of the Buddha and the devotion of sentient beings can meet. Why? Because of emptiness." Even if Buddha has compassion, if sentient beings don't have devotion, it won't be effective. Why? Because of emptiness.
In the sutras Lord Buddha repeated this many times. It simply means that all the delusions, all the obscurations, all the defilements are emptiness. And, all the knowledge, all the wisdom, everything is emptiness.
At this point, I'd like to share some good advice from the teachings of Lord Buddha that I have found to be very helpful, and very important. First, if we understand that both ignorance and wisdom are emptiness, we might develop an attitude that since everything is emptiness, why not just do whatever we feel like doing? Buddha strongly cautions us against this kind of attitude. The term he uses makes perfect sense in Tibetan, but when it is translated directly into English it might sound too strong. It says, tong-nyi-dar long. Tong-pa-nyi means emptiness, and dar long is something like an obstacle. So Buddha is cautioning us that knowing about emptiness can become an obstacle to our development if we develop this kind of attitude.
In some of the tantras, a two-sentence caution is given. In Tibetan it's precisely said tong-pa-nyi-la . . . sherab . . . . This means that if we understand emptiness incorrectly, those whose wisdom is limited can be destroyed. And even if we understand emptiness halfway, it isn't good enough because even just a little misunderstanding can cause great damage.
So how do we go about properly understanding emptiness? There is a long verse in Tibetan which says, "Your view can be as limitless as the sky, as space, but your mindfulness, awareness and action should be fine, like a powder." In other words, to the degree that we understand emptiness, we have to be mindful, aware and disciplined in our actions.
If we understand emptiness and become involved with the method and discipline, much benefit will result, because we will not become fanatically involved with our discipline. We will never get obsessed by attachment to our particular method because we know it is just a method. We know negativity is not solid, it is empty. And we know positive things are also not solid. They, too, are empty. But is we work with positive methods to overcome negativity, then it really works.
Since we know this, we can be more relaxed and explore the subject further. If it sounds like I know a lot, that isn't true. Because of the kindness of all the great masters, I have some information. The good part is that I'm more than happy to share it with you.
Emptiness and Interdependent Manifestation
Emptiness and interdependent manifestation are closely related. Interdependent manifestation is the easiest way to understand emptiness, so I will be using this term throughout this talk.
There is a general samsaric interdependent pattern that explains how every sentient being evolves and continues. And there is another pattern that is like enlightenment, the interdependence of enlightenment, and how Buddha manifests and benefits sentient beings. I would like to explore both of these tonight.
Normal Samsaric Interdependence
In normal samsaric interdependence, every sentient being continues through the twelve links of interdependent origination. The core of the entire interdependent circle is ignorance. Ignorance makes everything happen in a samsaric way. Ignorance simply means not knowing exactly what everything is all about-who we are, where we are, what is happening and why it is this way. It is not so dreadful, it's simply the way things are.
I'd like to share with you four sentences from a particular Mahamudra prayer that relate to the practice of mind. Actually, every practice is a practice of mind, but this one particularly so. These sentences are very important to me because I intellectually understood emptiness through them. It says, "Nothing was ever there. My own projection, reflection-I have said it and I have taken it as my object. Then I always recognize myself, but I miss it and I call it I."
I always recognize myself non-stop, but since I don't really recognize what I recognize, that becomes I. Because of these two-out there and in here-I go in a circle, a non-stop circle. Sometimes I go up, sometimes down, sometimes I go out and sometimes in. But it is a non-stop circle. The prayer is: "May I finally overcome and realize this ignorance at once." These four sentences quite clearly explain what ignorance is.
Twelve Links of Interdependent Origination
There are twelve links in the chain of interdependent origination. I will go through them briefly, one by one.
1. Ignorance
The first of the link in the chain of interdependent origination is ignorance. Because of ignorance, there is I, there is other, and there is interrelation-relatives, friends, enemies, strangers, neighbors. These various interrelations involve many concepts: "These people are our friends, therefore we should be nice to them." "These people are strangers, so we can dismiss them." "Those are our neighbors, so watch out!" "They are our enemy, so we have to be nasty, and rude." All of these concepts are developed. We can reverse our concepts so that we try to be nice instead of nasty and rude to our enemies, but it is still just interrelation.
All of this is related to two major principles-one is identified as attachment, passion or desire and the other is anger, or aggression. We can refer to them as the positive side and the negative side. Both develop because of ignorance. And because these two develop, when we're in a positive direction in a positive way, good karma is accumulated, and when we're in a negative direction in a negative way, bad karma is accumulated. When we're negative in a positive way, another level of bad karma is accumulated, and when we're positive in a negative way, another kind of good karma is accumulated. This can go on and on and on, in endless combinations.
2. Preparation
The second link in the chain of interdependent origination is that all of this is preparation for more to come. And until the chain is completed, this scenario of samsara is not going to end. It is one scenario preparing for the next scenario. Whatever we do now is the result of the past, of course, but it is also a cause for the future. Just because our present action is the result of past action does not mean that it is also not the condition for future action. Our action now is the result of past but also a cause of the future.
This is definitely the result of ignorance, which is the first link, but it is also called preparation, because it is preparing for the next. It sounds like karma is fixed at this stage, but that's not true. Karma is emptiness. But don't worry about this--we will talk about it later.
3. Consciousness
The third link in the chain of interdependent origination is simply "consciousness." Because of preparation, which we just talked about, everything will continue, and all aspects of consciousness will be strengthened. This preparation of positive and negative activity is reinforcement for our consciousness. We develop more ideas, more habits, more anger, more desire, more aggression and more passion. This will make it more solid.
4. Physical Existence
Because our consciousness became very strong and solidified, it became involved with physical existence, such as the substance of the physical body and all its interconnections. Right now, people like ourselves are totally inseparable from our body. We cannot look at something without looking through our physical eyes. We're totally sealed, bound and inseparable. That is how mind becomes solidified with physical existence.
5. Five Senses
The fifth link is that when this consciousness and this body are totally involved and inseparable, like the eyes through which we see, the ears through which we hear, the nose through which we smell-all of this develops very solidly, very strongly.
6. Touch
The sixth link is touch. Touch doesn't simply mean physical body touch, but includes all aspects of touch, of being in touch. The eye, the form and the color in touch, the ear, the sound, etc. in touch. All the different levels in touch.
7. Feeling
The seventh link is feeling. Because of being in touch, we develop feelings-"I like it," "I don't like it," "I hate it," "I don't mind," "I'll think about it," etc. All of these are the result of getting in touch.
8. Sred-pa, or Obsession (Fear and Greed)
The eighth link is obsession, or sred-pa in Tibetan. Some translators translate sred-pa as desire, but it's more like obsession. If we don't like something, we feel as if we can't stand it. Alternatively, if we like something, we can't stand not having it. We can't have it but feel we must have it. Not being able to stand something and pushing it away is called jigs-sred, like fear. And when we have to have something, we call it dod-sred. Jigs-sred is the fear aspect and dod-sred is more the greed aspect. So greed and fear develop next. That is sred-pa.
9. Taking, or Len-pa
The ninth link is len-pa, taking. We push away everything we don't like, and we strive to get what we like. This is len-pa, or taking.
10. Srid-pa, or Possibility
The tenth link is possibility. Because of the tremendous activity we've described-which we can understand very well, because we've all been doing it ever since we can remember-srid-pa becomes solidified. Srid-pa simply means possibility. Nothing is impossible. Everything is possible. Srid-pa also means samsara, and can mean existence as well.
In Tibetan, two terms are used to describe the universe, including all sentient beings and all of existence: srid-pa and jig-ten. Both words have great meaning. Srid-pa simply means "possible." So, one of the names of all existence is srid-pa, possible. Nothing is impossible. Everything is possible. Jig-ten means "impermanence." Jig means "destruction"; ten is the "foundation of destruction." Everything that exists can be destroyed one way or another. This is another way of saying impermanence. Because of all of this activity, everything is possible, and samsara is maintained. Whatever is needed for the existence of samsara, now the job is done. Srid-pa is the last.
11. Birth, or Che-Wa [Skye-Ba]
As a result of cause and condition, there is birth. Birth is very important, whatever kind of birth it is. We have to be born to go through what we have to go through. That is how we become engaged with all of these conditions. Right now I am here as a human being of planet earth, of this universe. To experience another realm, I have to die from this realm and be born in other realm. And remember, birth does not always happen from the mother. There are many kinds of birth.
12. Ga-shi, or Worn Out
The twelfth link is ga-shi. Ga means "worn out"; something that is used becomes old. Shi means "death," "totally completed." The circle of relation of body and mind comes to an end. Then the next life, and a new circle, begin.
These twelve interdependent links explain precisely how every sentient being comes into existence and establishes the conditions for his or her future. And this is how cause, condition and result are all interdependent. So it is emptiness.
Emptiness of Enlightenment
Until a person attains the enlightenment of buddhahood, all processes are interdependent. This isn't difficult to understand. For example, when Prince Siddhartha attained enlightenment, he himself was beyond interdependent influence, but his manifestation was not. His manifestation was totally related with interdependence. This is why those who had the karma to see him saw him 2,500 years ago. And those who have karma to see him now will also see him. Those who have the karma to receive his blessing in a most direct way will do so. Those who have the karma to receive his blessing only in an indirect way, that is the only way for them. It is not the case that because Buddha's blessing is given equally to everyone that everyone will receive it equally. It doesn't happen that way. It depends on the karma, on interdependence.
As a follower of Buddha, we say, "I want to liberate all sentient beings." Well, Buddha attained enlightenment 2,500 years ago, and still lots of sentient beings are suffering, and lots of his own disciples are still confused! We can't say to Buddha, "What's the matter with you?" but everything matters with us. So Buddha, as an individual, is free from all interdependent influences, but his manifestation is not. His manifestation is definitely subject to interdependent influence.
This is how the practice of devotion works. We have to develop pure compassion in order to develop pure devotion. The reverse is also true. We have to develop pure devotion in order to develop pure compassion. Depending on how pure our compassion is to the Buddha, that is how pure the Buddha's blessing will be to us. If we want to see something clearly, we have to have clear eyes. Depending on how clear our eyes are, that's how clear our vision will be.
The same is true with devotion. Depending on how pure our devotion is, that is how pure Buddha's blessing will be. So, people like myself who don't have such clear eyes have to wear glasses. Those of us who don't have such pure devotion and pure compassion will need advice and practice to establish it. Then we can develop pure devotion. As I said yesterday, the potential for that pure devotion is within us, but it won't come out by accident. And even if it comes out by accident, we'll almost certainly lose it.
This is mentioned in bodhisattvacharyavatara of the great master Shantideva. He said that in the darkest night, a split second of lightening is brighter than anything, but then it's gone. We can have a pure encounter with our ultimate potential by accident, but we can't count on it happening again. Occasionally, when something extremely shocking happens to us, we experience a moment of understanding, or vision, a glimpse of recognition of something deep, but as soon as things settle, it's over. Since we can't count on those things happening spontaneously, we have to practice.
Application and Practice of Emptiness in Ordinary Life
Now that we have this information, we need a method to help us apply it and share it with others. Whether people are Buddhist or not, they can benefit from it. So, let's talk about the application of the philosophy and practice of emptiness in ordinary life.
I found an interesting sentence in a Tibetan fairy tale which involves a king and his soldiers. It was a time of war and there was lots of pain. Someone said, "No matter what happens, only my body can be hurt; no one can hurt my mind." If we can apply such a clear understanding of emptiness as this in our everyday life, we can lessen our own suffering as well as the suffering of others.
This next piece of advice, which is related with defilements, is from the teaching of the Buddha. It gives us some guidance about what to do if we have a particular problem, like anger. Suppose we feel furious, and we want to shout at someone, and maybe even hit them. Instead of shouting and hitting, Buddha advises us to sit down and calmly look into the face of the anger and ask: "What is the anger?" "Where is the anger?" When we do this, we find that the anger is not there. It is no more than just a reaction of all kinds of interdependent manifestation. This same advice can be applied to any defilement-attachment, desire, jealousy. Many people tell me they have a problem with anger and ask for a method to deal with it. This might be a good one.
Another problem we have is habit. In Buddhist terms, it's pa-cha-che-dupa. Defilement is also habitual, but it's a little different. Pa-cha-che-dupa is a very subtle obstacle-like projecting ourselves onto other people, or making the same mistake over and over because we misunderstand other people and judge them in an ignorant way. Later on we find out that we were wrong, but most of the time it's too late. So, from the subtle habitual obstacle, the concept of I, to the most rough-that kind of habitual problem.
In the West, this is quite prevalent because you have so much freedom. If people are free, they have to make their own judgments. You don't go up to someone and ask "I think it's like this, but what do you think?" They might think you're stupid or crazy. So as a result of freedom, people can develop a subtle and positive type of presumption. And of course, it is not possible for us to think through every little detail. We have to draw the best conclusion we can-that this means this, that means that, he meant this, she meant that. We really don't know if we have it right or not, but we assume that we know Consequently, we might live with a particular misunderstanding forever and never understand it clearly because there's no chance for that particular event to take place again.
I'm being very presumptuous here, but I hope you don't mind. I'm sharing this with you hoping it will be helpful. I was personally convinced of this because of some specific experiences I had. When I first came to the West, I heard many people say that they hate themselves. I had a hard time understanding that at the beginning. I couldn't imagine how anyone could hate themselves. I really thought it was impossible. After all, it's you! I must confess that initially I assumed those people were mentally disturbed. Later I was convinced that it wasn't the case. Now I believe it comes out of a deep subconscious habit that draws conclusions too fast. We drew the conclusion so many times that we were a bad person that it became a habitual thought and turned into something like self-hate. But how, having learned about Buddha nature in our past discussion, hopefully we won't have that problem. The practice of emptiness relating to subconscious habits will help very much here, because if we look at statements like "I hate myself" from an emptiness point of view, it's not there. It's not true.
We have another attitude as well. People say "I can't stand such and such and so and so." People even have nervous breakdowns. But if we look at it from the emptiness point of view, I don't think it exists. What does "I can't stand it" mean? When somebody like myself talks and talks, you might think "I can't stand him," but I could continue talking for ten years, and you could go out, have lunch, come back, and sit there year after year and you would somehow manage. You can stand it. But these things are very disturbing to people. Hopefully you can apply your understanding of emptiness to overcome those difficulties.
Well, it has been very nice talking to you, and trying to explain emptiness and share the great teachings that were given to me by my masters. But I'll be happier if you can do something with it. And you don't have to tell me.
If you have questions, I will try to answer them.
Rinpoche, when you were repeating the four sentences from the Mahamudra, you said something about an I which is always present but doesn't recognize the I. What is that I?
Let's go back to yesterday's subject-Buddha nature, the tathagatagharba, the limitless potential, the limitless essence that is always there. It is not hidden. We just don't recognize it. We miss it every moment. Therefore, that becomes I. If I said "I which is always here," I made a mistake. I'm sorry. I should have said that particular essence of I.
So, you're saying that what I usually think of as I-this is the real I?
That's close, but it's not exactly true. It isn't two things, it's one thing. It's like this eye is looking through this eye itself. The eye who misses and what it misses is the same. I think that's where the problem is. If it were two different things, it would be much easier to sort out.
Rinpoche, will you explain that in more depth?
I'll try. Everything that is out there, all the objects, were never there beyond my own projection, my own reflection. But because I don't recognize them as my own projection, I take them to be objects. It's like a magician who builds a castle out of his magical power. He forgets that he created it, gets attached to it, and tries to sell it. Then the castle collapses on his head and he dies there. It is something like that. My ultimate, limitless Buddha nature is always there. And it is me, so there's no question, whether I recognize it or don't recognize it. It is not two things. But because I miss it all the time, that becomes "I." That limitless, ultimate essence is limited to one, and that is me.
Now, we can go on and on-that me becomes my body, my race, my sexual gender, and the type of person I am. All of these limitations make us very small and put us in the smallest possible box in the universe. And the box is locked. We can't get out, because the key is in the ocean. No, I'm joking--it's not that bad. The key is inside with you. So, because of this duality, we're circling in the endless samsara, and may I overcome this ignorance. These are the four sentences.
Rinpoche, earlier you said, depending on how much compassion we have for the Buddha, that much Buddha's blessing comes to us.
I meant devotion. Maybe I said it wrong. Of course, we can say compassion because when we have compassion towards sentient beings, that is having compassion to the Buddha, because sentient beings are Buddha by nature. But usually we don't say compassion to Buddha. Asian culture is very specific about that.
How does emptiness relate to Buddha nature?
Buddha nature is emptiness-but as we've learned, emptiness doesn't mean nothing. If we really want to describe the real emptiness, it is the Buddha nature. Buddha nature is beyond dualistic existence, so it is the real emptiness. Buddha nature is beyond time, beyond limitation, so we can say that it is the emptiness. But if we say that, we have to use all the other characteristics of emptiness, without the "the." So, it's true, buddha nature is beyond everything, so it is emptiness.
With the twelve interdependent links, where is it in the cycle that we stop?
We can stop anywhere and we can attain enlightenment at any stage. But the key to all of it is overcoming ignorance. Then everything is over.
So anytime we feel we're looking at something and that something is still out there, we're still in the cycle?
Of course. But don't worry about that. When you start to worry about that, I worry too! When anybody is worried about that, we all have to worry! Something can go wrong, so don't worry about it. We should be happy about knowing this, and then we can deal with everything normally, applying effort to overcome ignorance and develop our wisdom through practice. But don't worry about it.
But if someone is awaked, don't they also experience the solid, dualistic, relative world?
By awake, do you mean Buddha? Buddha is beyond. We cannot imagine how Buddha sees and thinks, because we're not enlightened yet. When the time comes that we can think like a Buddha, and understand precisely, we will be Buddha. It's the final taste. For example, how can you explain about snow to a person who lived their whole life in the South African desert and never saw snow? What will he think if he hasn't see it in person, or on TV, or in the movies, or in photographs? He can talk about it, and he might have a particular idea, but when he really sees and walks in it, then he knows. So Buddha's way of relating to everything is beyond dualism, but we can't say anything more than that.
Did you say that you would explain how karma is also empty?
Okay. Yes, I did said I would say something about it. If karma is empty, all the tigers can go to sleep. Karma just means that everything has a cause and condition. The cause and condition of everything is what we call karma. Karma is emptiness because it's nothing more than cause and condition. Karma cause, karma result, karma condition. When we really look into the study of the karma, there are, if I remember correctly, six causes, four conditions, and five results. That's how karma is explained. The karmic cause, condition and result are all interrelated. That is the definition of emptiness.
People talk about emptiness a lot and it seems like they dress it up. It's made into some big thing instead of something sensible. I feel there's a joke being played on me, because when we talk about it, it seems so very accessible.
That's what I try to do, but sometimes it's hard to manage because when we communicate, we have to become a little wordy. But if no one talked about it, it would be difficult for people to know about it, or think about it. So it's a very good thing that there are teachings and methods for it. But I can't agree more with you that the teaching of Buddha is the most accessible, most ordinary and most direct teaching. Whenever Buddha taught, he taught in order to give advice. He never taught courses or performed ceremonies the way we think of courses and ceremonies these days. A person simply came forward and asked Buddha questions. Buddha then gave direct answers and the person went off to practice it. People came to him with full devotion and gave him their cold heart and he made it warm and gave it back. Then, after many hundreds of years, it became the religion of hundreds of millions of people. And still nowadays there are institutions where they study and debate on the texts of Buddha, like in any other religion. But even though there is a vast difference between how Buddha taught and how we learn now, we shouldn't be disappointed. If those things didn't happen, maybe we would have nothing. Instead, we have something. So I think we should accept it.
At the end you were talking about habit, and repeatedly making mistakes by misunderstanding people and projecting ourselves onto them. Could you say a little more about that?
Okay. I think it's unnecessary to involve emptiness in this answer, so I'll just answer straight, without worrying about how it ties into emptiness. First of all, we can't think of anything which we can't think of. And what we can think, and how we think-these things we can improve. Whatever it is we communicate, we can only relate to in our own way. No matter who we are or where we come from, we always deal with things from our level. That's the only way we can do it. But if our mind is able to see whatever it is clearly, our communication will be more accurate. When our mind is confused, we can be misunderstood. So the basic reason to practice Buddhism is to develop clarity.
Meditation methods like shamata are given to settle our mind so that when we relate to something, our mind isn't involved with hundreds of other things. It can just relate to that one thing. Then, when we listen to a person, our mind is calm and clear and we're just concentrating on what that person is saying. We can totally listen to that person from beginning to end. And when we respond, our response wouldn't be too far off. Even a little bit of simple shamata meditation every day will help to develop clarity. It might also awaken our clear potential so we can work with it.
I've found for myself that studying quantum physics has helped me visualize more clearly the concept of emptiness. And I was just wondering if you saw a way of incorporating that into the teachings?
I'm sure there is a way, but I don't know how at this point. What came into my mind was a place I visited in Europe where they worked with the smallest particles. One professor took the time to explain to me what they were doing. He said that the Dalai Lama and a few other great masters had a conference or discussion there several years ago that involved emptiness. It sounds like they understand emptiness, but I can't really judge.
Now let us make a dedication.

[Transcribed and edited by Stephanie Harolde]

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Enlightenment
Maitreya Institute, San Francisco, November 1989

Good evening ladies and gentlemen. Our subject tonight is enlightenment. Believe it or not, we're talking about enlightenment! Enlightenment is the most important subject for Buddhism, because the purpose and intention of every action is enlightenment. In fact, for Buddhists, attaining enlightenment is the purpose of life itself.
Although we can describe enlightenment in very simple terms, this won't give us a complete understanding. It does allow us to draw a number of quick conclusions, however, and most of us like quick conclusions because they usually take less time and effort. The simplest way of defining enlightenment is that we become what we ultimately are. We achieve the ultimate goal that is there to be achieved. Or, we are liberated ultimately. But to do justice to this subject, we need more than just a quick definition.
Tonight I would like to give some background on this subject and look into it in more detail. It will be a little like putting together the pieces of a puzzle to arrive at the whole image-which, in this case, is a wholesome understanding of enlightenment.
Distinguishing Between a Perfect Human Being and an Enlightened Being
Enlightenment and realization are the two English words most often used to denote ultimate liberation. Sometimes the word buddhahood is used. When we contemplate or meditate on enlightenment, there is, in addition, the presumption that an enlightened human being is a perfect human being. While that depends on what we mean by a perfect human being, to my understanding there is a difference between a perfect human being and an enlightened person. When I say enlightened human being, I'm talking about a being who has become a Buddha. When I say perfect human being, I'm talking about one who is accomplished in the practice of shamata and vipassana meditation. As you know, shamata and vipassana meditation develop calmness, stability and peacefulness, and from that calmness, stability and peacefulness, clarity will emerge.
Two Tibetan terms describe this process: dod-sems-tse-chig-pa and lus-sems-shin-tu-jem-wa. Dod-sems-tse-chig-pa is rich in meaning. Dod-pa means desire. Sems means mind. Tse-chig-pa means one-pointed. This is directly related to human beings of the human realm. When Buddha taught about sentient beings, he described six major realms-human beings, animals, hell beings, ghosts, gods and semi-gods. The gods are the highest. Semi-gods are below them. Human is below them, then animal, then hungry ghost, then hell beings.
Within those six realms, we are human beings of the planet earth. The human realm is considered to be the desire realm, because human beings are primarily occupied with fulfilling their desires, ambitions, attachments, and passions. That is the primary physical and mental structure of the human being.
Dod-sems, the mind of the desire realm, is the human mind. As soon as the mind of a sentient being enters the body of a human being, no matter where that mind comes from-whether it comes from the god realm, the hell realm, the animal realm, or any other-that mind becomes the mind of a human being. Mind is always the same, but because of the human body and human environment, the human mind becomes a unique mind, strongly preoccupied with attachment and all aspects of desire. That is dod-sems, the human mind, which, again, means one-pointed.
Within the dimension or realm of human beings, how one-pointed, stable, consistent and sane we can achieve is dod-sems-tse-chig-pa. We still have attachment, desire, everything, but we're a perfect human being. That is dod-sems-tse-chig-pa. But this not ultimate enlightenment, buddhahood.
Lus-sem . . . shin-to-jen-wa makes the dod-sems-tse-chig-pa more clear, complete and wholesome. Lus means body, sems means mind. Shin-to-jen-wa means totally developed, totally purified, totally mature. A mature mind and a mature body. So, it is the highest of one-pointedness of the mind of the human realm, the desire mind. It is mind and body that are fully developed and pure.
One way to describe this is by looking into the opposite-the body and mind which is not purified, the mind which is not one-pointed. What kind of mind would that be? Mind that is not one-pointed is confused mind. It is influenced mind. It is mind that is unstable, mind that can be easily changed by outer circumstances. Neurosis is determined by how easily the mind changes and how much influence occurs.
When we say "I feel neurotic," what does it mean? When I say it, I personally mean that I am totally overwhelmed by the situation. I lose my perspective. I can't think anymore. I can't expect myself to get the truth straight. My mind will be totally influenced by everything. This is the confused mind. It is the total opposite of dod-sems-tse-chig-pa.
Then, the opposite of lus-sems-shin-to-jen-wa is that it's very easy to do harmful things, easy to fall into negative actions and thoughts. For example, most of us have to exert effort to do something good, but we find that it's quite easy to do something not so good, to do things we're not supposed to do. That's what I mean by the opposite of lus-sems-shin-to-jen-wa. So therefore, the dod-sems-tse-chig-pa is the opposite of that confused mind, and lus-sem-shin-to-jen-wa is the opposite of having a difficult time doing the right thing and finding it much easier to do the wrong thing. In other words, lus-sems-shin-to-jen-wa is when doing the right thing is automatic and doing the wrong thing is almost impossible.
So, my definition of a perfect human being is a human being who achieves dod-sems-tse-chig-pa and lus-sem-shin-to-jen-wa. And if you ask me personally, I'm very far away from it. But that is what I mean by perfect human being. When we talk about enlightenment, it is more than just a perfect human being. Enlightenment is much more than that. It is much deeper, and limitless. The perfect human being, as we just described him here, is limited.
With these two definitions, we will hopefully have a more accurate perspective about enlightenment. This doesn't mean a perfect human being is not worth aspiring to. We have to become a perfect human being before we can achieve enlightenment. We have to become what a human being should be-a human being who has feeling, who has desire, who wants to get the best out of the best as well as out of the worst, a human being who can go through all the realities without having to make excuses or ignore things, without having to make up things, who is able to handle whatever is going on without becoming affected by it. We don't have to brainwash ourselves. We face the reality, we handle it and we don't get affected by it. That's what a perfect human being is according to this definition.
Enlightenment is a continuation of this. The perfect human being is like the foundation of a building. Upon that foundation, enlightenment, or buddhahood, or realization, is based. As I said earlier, realization, enlightenment and buddhahood mean beyond any limitation or boundary. That includes any limitation we can think of. It means free of every aspect of limitation.
The Three Kayas
There are several ways to describe enlightenment, but the simplest way is through the principle of the three kayas. In Sanskrit, this is dharmakaya, sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya. I'll go through each of these definitions briefly.
o Dharmakaya: Dharma means everything-all phenomena, everything. Kaya means body. Dharmakaya means the body which is the embodiment of everything.
o Sambhogakaya: Sambhoga means complete, nothing is left out, nothing is excluded. It is like a person who is fully dressed, from head to toe. So sambhoga means the total. Kaya means the body. So, sambhogakaya is the body which is the total development, the total everything.
o Nirmanakaya: Nirmana means emanation, manifestation. One emanates two, three, to numberless manifestations. Kaya means the body, or embodiment, which is the manifestation.

When a person like ourselves becomes enlightened, when we become Buddha, our mind is dharmakaya, our body is nirmanakaya, and our energy, speech, and expression is sambhogakaya.
Now let's look more deeply into each of these.

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Fire Pujas: Smoke Offering, Smell Offering & Fire Offering
by
Tai Situ Rinpoche

Three kinds of fire pujas
The fire pujas, there are three major different fire-related pujas. One is called SANG, another is called SUR, and another one is JIN-SEIG. So. SANG, SUR, JIN-SEIG, three kinds of fire pujas. AND inside of each, there are many different kinds, but mainly there are three.
The major principle of fire pujas is offering. You put the food and whatever ingredients in the fire. Fire burns it, so fire eats it. Then, it is totally consumed, so that is way of offering.
In the SANG, you are offering the smoke, in the SUR, you are offering the smell. And in the JIN-SEIG, you are just offering fire itself, flame itself, and burning itself.
Offering to four categories of objects
So, all of them involve four objects, to whom you are making the offering. You are making the offering to Buddha and Bodhisattvas, and the deities that are one. Then you are making the offering to the protectors, and very high spiritual gods, that are number two, And you are offering to all sentient beings, that's number three. And you are offering to the ghosts, and hungry ghosts, then also the special being that you have negative karma with, like karmic debt to pay. So you are making offering to them, this is the fourth. So, to these four you are make offering. Or sometimes the fourth one we call it generous, the third one we call generosity, and the first and second one we call it offering, offer and give.
SANG: Smoke offering
Now, SANG is mainly concentrating on the Gods of the mountain, the Gods of the sky, the Gods of the sky, the Gods of the river, and the Gods of all aspects. So, specially offer to them. You invite the Gods of the whole universe, and then especially you are offering the Gods of your local place. So, there are all four, but concentrated on this, that is SANG. We do that normally on the top of the house, or on the top of the mountain, make very big smoke. It is very important for SANG offering to be clean. It has to be 100% vegetarian, and cannot have any meat in the SANG. So, it has to be purely vegetarian. It has to be purely clean.
SUR: Smell offering
Then SUR, it is for all four, but more concentrated on ghosts, and the spirits, and the beings that you have negative karmic debt with. So, you are giving it to them. That you are burning al kinds of foods, and anything. And there will be some SURs that also need to be non-vegetarian. You also burn meat. But there is vegetarian SUR, and there is non-vegetarian SUR. There are two different types of SUR, and you have to separate them. Prayers have to be separated, and also fires have to be different fires, not same fire.
JIN-SEIGN: Fire offering
Then, the JIN-SEIGN is strictly, it is related with all, but strictly concentrating on the deities. So, JIN-SEIGN you can't burn anything. There has to be special ingredients according to each different kind of JIN-SEIGN. And it has to be done by the priest, not by the public. Public can not touch the JIN-SEIGN ingredient. So, only the priests have to handle the JIN-SEIGN. And it has to be a particular ingredient, not anything, not just anything like this. (Note: there is a SUR offering at the same day and place) Here is everything, not like that. It has to be specific, and it has to be handled and offered according to the prayer. Then this particular ingredient has to be offered, then that has to be offered. Then, when other one comes, then that one has to be offered. Normally, there are four kind of JIN-SEIGN, peaceful, wrathful, powerful, and magnetic, four aspects of JIN-SEIGN, and sometimes combination of all four. So, each one have their own ingredients you have to follow. And it is not handle by lay people. It has to be priest, or ordained, or even sometimes not ordained, but has to be priest.
So, that is what JIN-SEIGN is. I think I don't know, but I think HUO-KONG (Note: in Chinese, which means fire-offering) in Chinese language is actually the JIN-SEIGN, not the SANG, not the SUR. I think it is the name of JIN-SEIGN. I think I am not sure. What does KONG means? (people answer: offering) Fire offering, I think that is the last one. But I think in old days Vajrayana masters came to China, and performed JIN-SEIGN. JIN-SEIGN is normally done after very big puja of a deity. And after that you do it. Or you do it for the whole temple; you do it for the whole country. So, JIN-SEIGN is not like SANG, or SUR, that you do all the time now. So I think it was performed for emperor or for the like. By that way this language came, I think, maybe I am wrong. Maybe HUO-KONG can be for all three, the name for all three, it is possible. But now it is used for all of them, HUO-KONG is for all three of them.
Question and answer
Question: What is the Mantra and visualisation methods when we are doing fire offering?
Answer: Normally, that is all done by priests, the lay people just participate. But if you want to, then it is OK. You can do it. You can say OM-MA-NE-BEI-MEI-HUM. Or, if you are doing different kinds fire of pujas, there are different kinds of Mantra. But OM-MA-NE-BEI-MEI-HUM will be the most appropriate to recite. Then you should think of offering to all the Buddhas... etc, the four objects, you know? Offering to all the Buddha and Bodhisattvas, offering to all the Gods and Protectors, and big generosity to all sentient beings, and then specially, to all the spiritual ghosts and those ghosts you have karmic debt to pay to. You can do like that. But what you burn are just so little. Those we burn, if you really give them, cannot be given to too many people. You know. But, then, you have to pray, just fit the all styles, it will multiply countless times, billions and billions times. They become many different things what those things need. And whatever offering is appropriate to Buddha and Bodhisattvas will become limitless. So you have to think of it. Otherwise, just these, you know, are just little things. Yes, they are a lot, but still in reality, how many people you can make happy to have these. And there are countless sentient beings in the whole universe. Six realms you are offering to. So it has to be multiplied, and transformed. Each grain might become skyful of grains that supposedly can fulfil the need of hungry ghost, for example.
We don't have time to have many questions, because we have to do the puja on the following. Anyway, one more question, it is OK? (Note: During Rinpoche's answering, there are a lot of questions written on the paper and passed to the interpreter.) But anyway the kind of visualisation thins we don't encourage people. Because, for example, if you are calling all the spirits to receive your offering, OK, then, you make, you can call them. But if you can't offer, then you call. It's like you invite ten thousand people for dinner, and you cannot give food, not very good. So, this way, if you do, you have to be able to do properly from beginning to end. And if you cannot, then you can just sit there, and say OM-MA-NE-BEI-MEI-HUM, and have faith to the Buddha. Do these things that are much much better. Because you have to be really able to do it. Otherwise, you call so many, and you can't do anything. That you are not to be positive.
Question: When we do the wind horse, or prayer flag release, should we do any prayer at the same place that we release the wind horse?
Answer: No, not like that. The Lamas have to do the puja, there or somewhere. Because, normally, we put the prayer flag very high up, and then we invite Lama there to do the puja, then people put the prayer flag there. But sometimes Lama is doing the puja in the Temple, and people carry the prayer flag to the mountain where there is no Lama. So, prayer flag blessed in the Temple, and then they carried it very very far away, many many miles to the mountain. That also is done. But during that, there should be a puja right there or somewhere else.
Conclusion and dedication
Now, I hope this is beneficial for all of you. And, since you do it so much. Then, when you know it, I am sure; it makes quite clear for you that why you do this. But even you don't know, even some people don't know, if they have faith, they do it still the same. Because if we have headache, and we take medicine. And some people know what is in the medicine; other people don't know what is in the medicine. But for both, medicine works. So if you have faith, it works for both. Then, let's do the dedication. (Note: Disciples followed Rinpoche and Lama reciting the dedication prayer.)

Original article was publishes by Wisdom Eye Spring 1988.
This edition was published with the permission of the owner Pema Chodron.
We appreciate her kind support.

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Health and wellbeing of mind and body

Ever since human beings have evolved, the purpose of any religion, any culture, any way of life, always has been to take care of the body and the mind.
When we look at a place like New York City, we see many millions of people who walk around and who do all sorts of things. With all respect, if we look from one perspective, it is just like looking at ants. But what is happening is that they are all just trying to take care of their body and their mind, what else? So this is a rather vast subject: the importance of a healthy body and a healthy mind and the connection between the two. First of all, let's look into the Buddhist concept of enlightenment and try to relate that to this subject. Enlightenment, or Buddhahood, means that a person reaches finally to their potential or destination, and that the person fully awakens and fully develops. So that particular person, whoever he or she is, when he or she fully awakens and fully develops, they reach Buddhahood. Reaching Buddhahood means a state of consciousness totally awakened and developed. So that means that such a person has a perfect and healthy mind.
Who has the healthiest mind on this planet? It may sound dualistic, but with the limitation of our language and vocabulary, I would not feel guilty by saying that the Buddha has the healthiest mind. And below Buddha, one person may be healthier than another, but there is a little bit of something there, so their mind cannot be considered ultimately healthy. Now don't take this literally; I am just using our title tonight and trying to combine this with it and make some sense out of it.
So now the mind-body connection can be explored by going into a little bit of detail about the Buddha. When a person becomes a Buddha, what is supposed to happen to that person? When we don't learn about Buddhism deeply, it sounds like when we attain enlightenment, we just disappear or something--we become nothing. That isn't the case. Enlightenment means that the mind reaches the ultimate level. So the physical manifestation, the spontaneous manifestation beyond limitation, that is what a Buddha's body would be. In Vajrayana Buddhism there is a very appropriate term for it, and the mind aspect is expressed through this word--dharmakaya. The physical aspect, energy and all that, is indicated through the words sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya. So what is the healthiest body and mind on earth? The sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya. So if we relate the idea of a healthy mind and a healthy body to the Buddhist principle, then the ultimate of the purest and highest level of the mind and body is indicated through the dharmakaya, sambhogakaya, and nirmanakaya principle of the Buddha.
Dharma practice means doing things and saying things and thinking about things that will help a person to develop the healthiest aspect of mind and body. Therefore we have centers, membership, program--you know, we have all kinds of things. But the main purpose, the main core is doing every thing we can with our body, with our speech, and with our mind to reach that level of being fully awakened and fully developed.
Now, as knowledge, the Buddha taught many sutras and many tantras, and they are all words--words of advice given by the Buddha, the enlightened one who reached that level. Now all of his words can be interpreted on many levels, for the very simple reason that every single human being is at a different level of inner development. We all have different levels of mental health, let's say, to use our term of tonight. Therefore the particular method has to be the most beneficial instrument for us to proceed further. Because of this reason, the teaching of Buddha, called Dharma, was given at many levels. Those levels are sometimes described as the nine yanas, sometimes as the three yanas, sometimes even as the two yanas. (I think when people's time is so precious, like a New Yorker's time, nine yanas might be two yanas.) Anyway, those different levels, those different yanas, can sometimes even become a different sect: the Hinayana sect, the Mahayana sect, the Vajrayana sect. And in the Hinayana sect itself there are many sects, and then among Mahayana and Vajrayana there are also plenty of sects.
The reason for all those sects is quite simple. It is because different levels of individuals received different levels of teachings to help them, and they continued that particular style and it became their particular sect or particular kind of lineage. But all these particular lineages have a very simple belief in common: That is, to refine and purify and develop the mind, one has to apply the right methods and the right kind of discipline that will make it happen.
The practices that involve discipline, physical discipline, deal with causes and conditions that will result in physical negativity. In Buddhism, everything has a cause and condition. It can be a distant cause and condition, it can be an immediate cause and condition, it can be an accumulation of millions of things, but there must be a cause and condition for anything to happen. Therefore, these physical disciplines deal with those causes and conditions of negativity.
There are two ways to overcome negative physical manifestations. One of them is to dissolve the negative causes and conditions, while the other is to develop positive causes and conditions. It is actually the same thing, like two sides of a coin, but one is heads, and the other is tails. Those physical disciplines, then, are actions such as trying not to perform harmful physical acts against others, and trying not to perform harmful physical acts against yourself as well. Against others would be something like killing, and against yourself would be abusing yourself. So these are the basic disciplines.
Then, there are also disciplines for the speech, like not to say negative things, and on the positive side, to try to do beneficial things for yourself and others. Now look at these two. When you look at them, they are just two sides of the same coin. If you try to do positive things, you do not have to make two efforts--trying not to do negative things and then trying to do positive things. It's the same thing when you avoid negative things. How will you avoid doing negative things? Anything you do to avoid negative action itself is positive. So in that way the method of discipline involves the physical and verbal in dealing with the causes and conditions of negative manifestations. And it involves the causes and conditions of positiveness.
When you do something physically, you have to involve your mind: You cannot do something positive without involving your mind. You cannot say something positive with out involving your mind; therefore your mind is involved there as well. But there is another method that involves the mind more than the body and the speech, and that is meditation. When I talk about meditation here, what I am referring to is a particular method that involves a special discipline of the mind. It can be just sitting and not following thoughts, or just sitting and thinking of a particular thing. But there are very specific methods of meditation. When it comes to meditation, we don't have to think, "Now I want to meditate, but I don't know what to meditate on, or how to meditate." That question does not exist in Buddhism. If you want to meditate there is a meditation method, and you don't have to invent it. (Inventing is supposed to be risky, actually, from the Buddhist point of view). So in the Buddhist tradition, all the methods of meditation are already prepared; one just has to follow them.
So what happens during meditation? First, the mind must become calm. The reason is that our mind has all the capabilities--capabilities to understand, to think--everything is there, but it is like a precious thing that is locked in a safe. What appears is just a solid unmanageable safe; you don't see what is in there until you open it. In the same way, our mind has all the potentials, but without letting those potentials manifest, there is no guarantee that it will work. Because of that, we make lots of mistakes; we have ignorance and so forth. And worse than that, we are not even helpful to ourselves most of the time. So the number-one step in meditation is to make your mind calm. And because of the calmness, a clarity will happen; calm mind will be clear. (Generally speaking, people are always saying, "Don't disturb me right now, I have important things to think about," or "Don't make noise, go away; I want to think, I have some important decisions to make." So that is one expression of common sense.) After developing some clarity, then there will be the next method, the continuous method, to use that clarity, implement that clarity, and to develop further clarity.
Let's look into two particular terms: ignorance and wisdom. What do they really mean? Ignorance means that there is no understanding, absence of clarity. But what is wisdom? It is knowing, the absence of not knowing; and it is clarity. Through practice of meditation, you make your mind calm and clear, and you gain wisdom.
I come across people who like to ask tons of question. With all respect, they mean very well, because for them it is very complicated and they want to ask questions, but I end up asking them the questions back, because the question itself is not clear. I don't mean I am better than they are. I have been through meditation, and practices, and I have met many teachers. I have been fortunate, I think most unfairly fortunate, and therefore I have had all these advantages in the early part of my life. Because of that, I have gained some kind of understanding, and somehow I will be able to see the questions clearly, a bit more clearly than some people who are asking them. (Not every person's questions are like that. Some people ask me questions that give me a headache. I have to think: they give me a hard time. I appreciate that, because I learn from them; those kinds of situations are my classroom.)
But anyway we have a saying, "Where is the answer? Where is the answer? The really true answer is in the question." If you are able to phrase your question clearly in your mind, that is the answer. Of course, if you take it literally, certain kinds of questions will not follow that. If you ask me "When were you born?" even if you know how to ask that question with super clarity, it won't answer itself. But most of the important questions, the questions that are related to insight, more advanced questions, they contain the answers. What I am trying to say here is that to develop the clarity of the mind is the most important first step of meditation, which will naturally develop wisdom.
An average person might ask how we define a healthy mind. Healthy mind does not mean stubborn mind; many people think that healthy mind means stubborn mind. And in some places that are very liberal, they think healthy mind means the most emotional, sensitive mind--for example, a huge man who can cry just like a kid. That is culture, but it doesn't really mean very much when we talk about a healthy mind.
Anyway, when we talk about the body and the mind and its healthy quality, and also about well-being and all of that, they are all connected; they are definitely connected.
Now let's touch on one part of our title, "well-being." What is well-being? Well-being means a principle. When you have a valid principle, and you center your entire physical, mental, and verbal activities around that principle, then I think that is the definition of well-being.
I have been asked several times in different places to talk about "the practice of Buddhism in lay life in North America." There are a lot of specifics in it: "The practice of Buddhism in lay life in North America." So people want to talk about it. Now what really makes sense in that is the well-being. That makes sense. Of course I can say when you wash your hair (because you wash your hair every morning in America), then you can think of your soap as the blessing of the Buddha, washing away all the negativities; I can talk like that, but that does not make too much sense.
Of course there is benefit if we have that kind of practice; we call it "Beginning to end, the circle practice." When you eat, you think of something, when you talk, you talk of something, when you sleep--everything. But that is too much for most of the people in North America. I think I would be responsible for making quite a few people quite crazy; I think some people could develop paranoia--imagine thinking like that for every single thing! It is not invalid; for a person of that level it would be very good; but what makes sense to me (and also there is no risk) is the well-being. If you have that principle, and if you are able to place every single effort that you make, even just to survive, around that principle, then I think you could consider your life very meaningful. That way, everything that you can do has some kind of benefit for yourself and for others, and everything that you do will have less chance of becoming harmful for yourself and for others. That would be a very good beginning.
And if you are able to carry on with that kind of well-being, that principle, then you can expect that just by living a normal life, and by doing a little bit of meditation every day, and some kind of study and further exploration into knowledge and wisdom--putting some kind of effort there, but for the rest just living a normal life--you will get great benefit out of it, because your life will be lived with a most valid principle and everything that you do will be involved with that principle. So my understanding about well-being means living with a valid principle.
Now how do we define that principle? Of course, according to each person's state of mind, according to each person's involvement in reality, there will need to be a slight alteration or adjustment, but one principle that always remains is having faith and trust in the truth. Truth is the most important thing, for me. The reason I have faith in Buddhism is because everything that Buddha said is true. So because of that, I have faith and trust in the teachings of the Buddha. That is why I try to do something meaningful, even if most of the time I don't manage, and I have to work hard at it. I do it because that is the truth; to do something meaningful is beneficial, is good; doing something meaningless is harmful and not good. If somebody says a bad word to you, you don't like it, you don't feel good; if somebody cheats you, you don't like it, it doesn't feel good. It's the same for others: if you do something that is not good, people will not feel so good, they will suffer.
So believing in that kind of truth, having faith and trust in that kind of truth, is what I mean by the principle. That principle can become almost spontaneous, so that you try not to do anything that would be harmful to yourself and to others, and try to do everything beneficial, try to be as helpful as possible to yourself and to others. In that way, one can live a life with the most appropriate kind of positive qualities and good will.
Therefore I think it is most important as a Buddhist, or as a person who tries to be a good person, to discover the most essential principle, the most personal and simple, and then proceed from that principle and involve your entire actions and intentions in applying that principle. Somehow that covers this subject.

This article is an edited version of a teaching by H.E. Tai Situ Rinpoche given in New York City on November 24, 1987. It was edited by Kathy Wesley.

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Introduction to Mahamudra
Sherabling, India, October 2000

As I was requested, I am going to give teachings on mahamudra. Mahamudra, as a teaching, is presented in an enormous amount of texts, some of which might take a very long time: some as much as a year, with daily teaching sessions. Then, mahamudra introducing the nature of mind might not even take one hour. So there is so much variety in the mahamudra teachings. Therefore, I am not going to teach from just one particular mahamudra text. This will be very much like an introduction for those who don't know anything about mahamudra, or for those who know very little about mahamudra. For those who know a lot about mahamudra, it will be a reminder, because when you know a lot you might get a little bit mixed up. So this might sort out some of the over lapping and some of the confusion, or what is unclear about the mahamudra teachings in general. So for that purpose, I am teaching mahamudra here as an introduction or clarification or general teaching.
Chagya Chenpo
First of all we have to define the terminology. Mahamudra is Sanskrit terminology, and it is translated into Tibetan as chagya chenpo. So the terminology itself, or we can call it a title, even though it's not really appropriate to give a title to something that doesn't have anything to do with a title. It's a little confusing, but we have to "play dumb". We know mahamudra cannot be boxed into anything or packaged, but we have to play dumb and package it, and then put the title 'mahamudra' on it. We have to do that, otherwise we might get very confused, and even worse we might get lost. It could be like a 1000 story building with 10,000 rooms which have no floor numbers and no room numbers: it would be very complicated to find anything. So we have to conventionalise the ultimate, and give a title to something that cannot be restricted or limited by a title.
Now the mahamudra word itself, chagya chenpo, somehow has to describe what the teaching is. So here, the simplest way to define the mahamudra terminology is to say that everything which is relative, from heaven to hell, is part and parcel of the most sacred, most ultimate and most profound essence. So let's put it this way: the most undefiled and pure environment of a Buddha, or pure land of a Buddha, and the most painful, negative environment of hell are connected. They are not un-connected. As long as something is there, it has to be connected with everything else. For example, there is the most profound and pure being, a bodhisattva, and there is the most neurotic and evil being, whoever it is. As long as they are in the universe, they have to move in the same space, they have to breathe the same air, they have to influence the short wave, medium wave and all kind of waves of the universe. So they are all interconnected. You cannot separate anybody from anybody, and you cannot separate anything from anything. Everything is connected. So that is the relative understanding of mahamudra. Now the ultimate potential of that is that the worst being has the possibility and the potential to be the best person, and the chance and potential to become Buddha. So when we see a bad person I don't know what it could be that your definition of a bad person is, but I am sure that each one of us has a definition of a bad person, the worst person in mahamudra understanding that is a Buddha who does not know that they are Buddha. They misused their time and opportunity and got it wrong. So temporarily they appear and manifest as a result of their own doing. Here, temporarily doesn't mean one week: temporarily might mean ten billion centuries or ten centuries or three life times It depends. But temporarily, as long as it is not forever, is temporary. So in that way, the definition of mahamudra terminology is most comprehensive, and is the most ultimate aspect of description of the teaching of Buddha.
Then we have the mahamudra lineage, and the practitioners of the mahamudra lineage. This means the teachings of mahamudra, which are bestowed by the Buddha Shakyamuni, who in this case we call Buddha Vajradhara. The Buddha Vajradhara's teaching, which is the essence of all the teachings, has continued from there until today, in an unbroken lineage of transmission. So how does the lineage get broken? The lineage means the Buddha's wisdom. Buddha is the embodiment of wisdom, and Buddha is the embodiment of compassion. That compassion and wisdom are received by the disciple, who is the embodiment of devotion. The devotion of the disciple and the compassion of the Buddha connect, and then wisdom is transmitted. That is the blessing; that is the transmission. If that connection is broken then the lineage is broken. But that will never happen from the Buddha's side; that will happen from us, the followers side. So that connection, unbroken from Buddha up till now, is the mahamudra lineage. Anybody who comprehends the mahamudra teaching, who implements the mahamudra teaching and who lives according to the mahamudra view, practice and action, then that is a mahamudra practitioner. Whoever manages that pretty well, then that is a mahamudra yogi. Whoever does not manage that very well, but tries, is a mahamudra follower. Whoever supports that is a mahamudra patron, and whoever admires that is a mahamudra devotee. So there are devotees, patrons, practitioners, yogis and so on and so forth. So that is mahamudra: the lineage.
Now there is a little, how do you say, 'unfinished business' here, because mahamudra means everything, but now here is the mahamudra lineage. One minute it is everything, and the next minute it is somebody, but not everybody. How come? Well that is quite easy to understand and comprehend. The mahamudra practitioner's view, practice and meditation is about everything; that's what it is. But it's like when a person has very clear, good eyes and can see everything clearly, but another person doesn't have clear eyes and can't see everything clearly. Or a person who has lost one eye and cannot see three dimensionally. If a person is sick with hepatitis they see everything yellow. If a person has bronchitis they see everything as white and grey. In that way the vision and the perception is limited. In this way, a person who practices mahamudra is supposed to be able to see everything clearly, with mahamudra view, but we can't claim that we do that all the time. Sometimes we might, but at other times we can't. It's like when we catch cold or hepatitis: we have to put on eye glasses and so on. In this way we are not perfect, but we try our best. So I think this much might give a very basic, very simple definition of the terminology and the title mahamudra itself.
The Source of Mahamudra
When we say 'teaching of Buddha,' it means sutra, abhidharma, vinaya and tantra. These are the teachings of the Buddha. But it is very interesting, because these days Buddhism has become so popular, and everybody knows a little piece of Buddhism. Because it is so popular it becomes a household language, but then it can become not so clear and sometimes even confused. For example, these days, if somebody sees a Buddhist person reading a book, they always say "Oh he's reading a sutra." I even saw one book about a Buddhist printing press, and the title of the book is 'Buddhist Sutra Printing Press'. So that means that in that printing press there will be only sutra. There will be no abhidharma, no vinaya and no tantra: only sutra. Anyway, the essence of the tantra, the vinaya, the abhidharma and the sutra is the mahamudra. Now out of all of these, which particular teaching of Buddha says this? It is the tantra. The tantric teachings of Lord Buddha cover everything. In the tantra you find the teaching of sutra, vinaya and abhidharma, but in the sutra , the abhidharma and the vinaya you will not find the teaching of tantra. So the tantric teachings of the Lord Buddha are the essence of everything. This means that the mahamudra teaching is the principle and the path that is given in the teaching of the tantra. In the tantra itself, there are so many levels, and the highest of these is anuttarayoga tantra. So the mahamudra teaching is the essence of the anuttarayoga tantra: the highest of all the tantra's that manifest from Lord Buddha. These tantric teachings, such as Guhyasamaja, Chakrasamvara, Hevajra, Kalachakra etc., are from the anuttarayoga tantra, and the mahamudra principle and teachings are the essence of that tantra.
The source of the mahamudra teachings is the Buddha. These days people use these words "Lord Buddha's words" or "Lord Buddha's teachings" and that's fine, but as a mahamudra practitioner we never think that Buddha was there and some crowd gathered, and he was in his room thinking about what to tell them. Then he did some homework, sought through his mind, and said "This is what I am going to say," and then came out and talked about this particular thing and taught it. Our mahamudra idea of Buddha is never like that. Buddha manifested as a result of what made him Buddha: his compassion manifested. So, to anybody who has devotion, Buddha will manifest to them. According to the capacity of the being, the Buddha's teaching manifests. They hear him say things according to their own capacity: their level of maturity, their level of devotion, and according to their level of compassion for all sentient beings, which we should call their motivation. According to that, the Buddha's teaching manifests. So although we have to say the words such as "Buddha spoke," "Buddha taught," "Buddha said that," and "this is what Buddha meant," we have to say these things, but we can never mean that. Because if Prince Siddhartha was like that then he is not the kind of Buddha that we believe in. He is a very wise person, a very intelligent person and a very clear minded person, but that's it. That's not Buddha. Buddha is beyond all of that. Buddha is not within the perimeter of dualism; Buddha is beyond dualism. Buddha is not limited by anything; Buddha is limitless. So in this way the tantric teachings, such as the anuttarayoga tantra texts that I have mentioned, these tantras and Buddha are inseparable. They are the embodiment of the Buddha. The teaching of Buddha is the embodiment of the Buddha. It is not the thought of the Buddha, or the words of the Buddha; it is the embodiment or manifestation of the Buddha. It manifests in the sound, and beings saw Buddha speak. Actually, in the sutra, Buddha once said "I did not say anything, but all sentient beings heard it". So surely, from the mahamudra point of view, Buddha didn't even say that [laughter]. So you can't say that that was the only thing he spoke: he didn't even say that. There was a need for that, so that's what manifested. That's what those particular beings heard and that's it. In this way the gyu, or the tantra, is the actual teachings of the Buddha, in which the mahamudra aspect of teaching is taught. That is one source.
The second source of the mahamudra teachings is called gyazhung. Gyazhung actually means those texts which were written by the great masters of India: the mahapanditas and mahasiddhas of India. Those teachings were translated from Sanskrit to Tibetan and are called gyazhung. What defines a teaching rather than just a book is that it is the teaching of the lineage, and not somebody's research and thesis or somebody's interest. For example, every year at the Frankfurt book-fare in Germany there are tens of thousands of newly published books, and all of them we would not consider this kind of text (but some of them might be). So gyazhung means the teachings about mahamudra. This is mahamudra gyazhung. Gyazhung can be about anything, so mahamudra gyazhung is the teachings about mahamudra, written or spoken by great enlightened masters of the lineage of mahamudra in India. All of these texts were translated, I think, more than a thousand years ago. So they are not recent translations. They are old, or ancient, translations. These teachings are numerous; there are so many. There are specific teachings, such as the mahamudra doha. Doha is like inspirational sacred poetry, a little bit like a song. For example, the Mahamudra Upadesha or Ganges Mahamudra, by Tilopa; so named because he wrote it at the bank of the river Ganges. Then there are other texts like Naropa's condensed text of view, which includes the philosophy, the view and the perception. So that is another text. Also, there are enormous numbers of teachings that are individual teachings: the 84 mahasiddhas' teachings, their poems and their songs; the teachings of the 30 great enlightened women the dakinis their teachings, songs, poems and so forth. All of these kinds of teachings that are translated into Tibetan are called gyazhung. They are another source.
The third source is mengak. Mengak means something like sacred instruction. It is not secret instruction, but sacred always becomes secret, because sacred, by definition, means that if somebody cannot comprehend it then it is not available. It is only available to those who can comprehend it. So that is sacred. The transmission of sacred instructions from the great masters of India and Tibet, as far as the lineage is concerned, is called mengak. Most mengak are written down on paper, but also a tremendous amount of mengak is from person to person: from lips to ear. So that is ear transmission. It is not written down.
But these days we have a tremendous amount of liberation, so even the sacred mengak texts, some of these are even translated, and many of them are printed. You can buy for just a few dollars. Very cheap. These are available, but an old fashioned and backward person like me doesn't like it, because then it is not sacred anymore. It becomes, how do you say, "accelerated" or "short circuit," and so it will be spoiled that way. The lineage can be destroyed very easily if mengaks do not remain as mengaks. So this is maybe a little bit off: a sign of this time of degeneration, but of course not hopeless.
Anyway, there are a tremendous amount of all of these kinds of teachings, and in our lineage there are three texts that somehow combine as one group of teachings. The first is Ngedon Gyamtso or "Mahamudra Ocean of Certainty". That's an elaborate text which has 97 steps of instruction, with each step having many steps of instruction within it. That is a tremendously detailed teaching about mahamudra practice. Then there is a secondary or medium size text, which is Marig Munsel or 'Dispelling the Darkness of Ignorance' I think that is how it is translated. That is the secondary text. The shortest text in this particular group of texts is Choku Dzuptsuk, which means 'Pointing Out the Dharmakaya': you use your finger to point out the dharmakaya. That means the direct introduction to the nature of mind: the essence of our self; the essence of everything. So those are three particular texts written by the Gyalwa Karmapa. But then, of course, there are tremendous numbers of other instruction texts, and a tremendous amount of person to person transmission lineage of mahamudra instruction. So gyu, gyazhung and mengak are the physical sources of the mahamudra teachings, which are the essence of all the teachings of the Buddha. That's where mahamudra comes from.
Ground, Path and Fruition
Now, since we have a basic understanding of the terminology of mahamudra and the source of the mahamudra teachings, I think it is extremely important, not only for mahamudra practitioners but any practitioner of dharma, to understand why we are practicing dharma. What for? You know? When we say "May I become Buddha for the benefit of all sentient beings" then we have to know: why would becoming Buddha be beneficial for all other sentient beings? Why should all sentient beings become Buddha? For what? What is the connection between Buddha and all sentient beings? What are they trying to become when they say "May I become Buddha"? We have to understand all of these things, otherwise it becomes some kind of curiosity or hobby, "lets find out": sort of temporary entertainment, you know? It doesn't go further than that. So therefore, we have to know as clearly as possible what all these things mean. What am I? What is Buddha? What are all sentient beings? When I say "may I become Buddha" and "For the benefit of all sentient beings" what am I actually saying? What does it all really mean? We can understand this through the very basic way of teaching dharma, which is through three things: ground, path and fruition. Through these three simple principles we can comprehend and have some idea of what we are saying and what we are doing.
Ground means potential. Path means how to materialise, purify or develop our potential. How to go about it that is path. Fruition is exactly the same as potential, because potential and fruition are the same thing. When the potential is fully developed, then that is fruition. You cannot achieve something that has nothing to do with you. What you will achieve at the end will be exactly what you are: what is in you or what is about you. So the potential and the fruition are the same thing. Undeveloped potential is ground, fully developed potential is fruition, and how to develop undeveloped potential into fully developed potential is path. So ground, path and fruition. Through this we will then understand what mahamudra practice is, and what we are saying in the mahamudra dedication when we say "Because of this merit may I attain the full realisation of mahamudra, and lead all se