Teaching | New Delhi, 2017 | Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche

[Music] I hope Georgia to high expectation [Music] I hope that you would not consider this as a comprehensive I don't know introduction to the very probably the most important Buddhist philosophy of what we call super Cola which is basically I think loosely if you translate with love life we did have a very brief discussion last time and we will be I'm hoping that this is more like really free interaction so please feel free to ask argue which is a very important tradition in India which we Tibetans cherish and learn still trying to learn but before we do that people we get into inter reaction I'd like to briefly just go over this the sort of the Buddhist definition of life every time we talk about life but it's tend to use the word the will carlough sort of super corner also Colin has this connotation of will going round and round which is actually kind of important I know this jargons a little academic and intellectual but I think between for this context had to be important as the this icon or graph II which is what are actually very important in the past I was told that in fact this icon is probably more important than statues and or the images of the buddhas and bodhisattvas as this symbolic representation of a life so called life indicates life for Buddhist life is something that goes round and round cyclic existence I will have to bore with bore you with some term first before we get into discussion because I think definition terminology connotations and we important otherwise many times we sort of missed the point and we have to come to some sort of a mutual agreement what we mean by life also okay the Tibetan word CIPA is really it's a quite a rich term I think it had it it derived from the sanskrit word bhava it it refers to things like possible possible which is a very interesting because you know am i living are you living do you have life is this life so called life it may be just a possible existence it's only a possibility it's it's a really interesting approach and also the word CIPA life refers to becoming so so-called life that we have is a continuation of becoming becoming we will go through that later on but let me just quickly go through all the terms also the word CIPA which is translated as life for today is something temporal so life is always it has the big connotation of something temporary nothing permanent it's it's always fading it's always moving it's always transforming it's always metamorphose it's always like taking a different shape all the time and then then in the general sense the word zipper also refers to the saffir whether it's a physic Saphir or whether it's a mental sphere it doesn't matter some sort of a severe a base then more easy connotations are living beings even though we you know most of the times the so called living being the term living beings kind of vague because we really don't know what do we mean by living and then exclusively I don't know whether I should say exclusively in the tantric Buddhism the word zipper or the life also refers to the state of intense ort of intermediate something in between for instance right now this very moment I'm guessing that we are alive and this very moment is all we have and even as I speak this very moment is past so we are always living in between what is past a moment before and what is going to come a moment later and this very moment is all we have and this is the most precious this is the most important and what you do and how you handle this moment really is all that matters so to speak if I speak it very sort of I don't know very it's a very big generalization but I think it's easier to understand this way so all these connotations that I've been presenting is all together we also use the word samsara the word samsara so this I hope I have managed to sort of give you a vague at least a vague idea of what do I mean by life before we talk about the Wheel of Life okay obviously Buddhism is a path it is a means it is not the end it is not the it's not a aim it is just a means it's like of course means are important but more important is the result the end so when we talk about path as a technique as a means I'm sure many of you know the Buddhists love talking about mindfulness but is love talking about awareness so so when we talk about mindfulness what are we mine what are we mindful of and this is a really important subject and this is where the Buddhist Hall Buddhist technique of meditation discipline even like ethic morality everything generates from general generates from this based on this so called mindfulness okay now it looks like our religion seems to talk about some sort of a negative force if I put it very crudely all the religion seems to talk about sort of the ultimate enemy the Satan the devil the evil force if you were to ask does Buddhism have disco equivalent of Satan what is the Buddhist concept of Satan evil force Buddhists don't believe in an evil force that exists externally now if you fall if you insist in having one then Buddhist would say it is the distraction distraction is the force the evil force and when we talk about the distractions we are not talking about big distractions such as web browsing or you know social media or you know we are not talking about that we are of course that - that comes when we talk about that kind of distractions we are already talking about a very gross level of distractions we are talking about a very very subtle distractions for instance even now as we talk you must be thinking something you must be listening to me at least do you know that you are listening to me probably not probably you can only remember that you are listening to something you are sitting here until I mentioned that you have been sitting here but you have you been aware that you are sitting here probably not if I ask you what's your name most probably you will give a very accurate answer my name is decent dad but as you speak are you are you aware that youth you are saying what you are saying everything are you aware of the humming of her condition are you aware of the birds chirping constantly we are not aware of what is happening in your Saphir of consciousness we can remember we can recall it we can throw our projection to the future we can even imagine what we will cook tomorrow but that you are doing now we can think about what happened last year but you are doing it right now this very moment and why do you do it you are not aware of what you are doing it as you are doing it and this actually affects lots of things for instance even if you if you are having a cup of tea you are not really thinking about the tea you have and most probably you are planning you are already thinking about what had happened in the past you are thinking about the future now this constant distractions or cons continuous unconsciously living basically is what Buddhist called ignorance avidya so constantly not living consciously is one of the agent that goes round and round remember i'm i was going to talk about what is it that is going round and round okay if i summer you know since this is kind of a very philosophical and kind of a difficult subject I have to sort of repeat this so you'll have to excuse me if I keep on repeating this like zipper Kalos samsara cyclic existence what is going round and round and round there has to be something that goes round so one of the agent that goes round and round is this unconsciously living not knowing while it is happening it's not as if you are dead or it's not as if you have suddenly become a strong or a piece of wood you are you're perfectly alive you have a mind you are cognizing you are imagining you are daydreaming you are tasting you are planning you are recalling but as you do it you are not aware of this and this is the central agent that goes round then continuous unawareness this continuous no cognition this continuous no but I call it mindful what does this lead to this then leads us okay so you think of something and you are not aware of it this gives birth to nama names Rupa form this gives birth to projection basically then you create ideas I think everybody has this bit of life picture but probably no need to really differ but just in case you want to want they in the outermost ring there's the twelve different representation of what we call leaden Madonna's and the first one actually is represented with a picture of a person who's who's blind basically which represents ignorance and then the second picture a second painting many times the second painting has the potter making pots and this is the this is to present the projection so anyway out of not knowing constant not knowing creates the projection which then gives birth to form lot of things names and then craving of course before the craving values thing you you project and then you give value some as a desirable others as not desirable and once you have this desirable and undesirable then that all leads to hope and fear hope to have desirable things and fear of bumping into unfavorable circumstances and the situation so then as you have hope and fear then this gives birth to all kinds of emotions such as aggression desire the jealousy pride doubt so on and so forth and then of course craving and then leads to but then it has there's already the action of trying to acquire what you think is good and what do you think is beautiful what do you think is desirable and trying to escape or avoid or stop or defend yourself from things that are not good which is action once you have projection and action it then leads us to the result reaction effect of that and that's where things does not stop once you have the reaction or the effect you then have a more reference and more reference you have more hope and fear and more emotions and so these so so these are the subsequent what you call it agents so there's an ignorant and then there's what I call it projection then there's craving hope fear reaction a result which leads to more ignorance more action so this is what goes on and on and this is called cyclic existence and as long as you are bound by this cyclic existence you are not free you are not you are bound so this is basically the Buddhist definition of life we love life now before I'm thinking of actually taking advantage of such a beautiful setting and apply these theory into practice by actually maybe sitting and actually experiencing how the constant ignorant appears and constant distraction actually how how how much distractions we have by probably maybe sitting for a few minutes but before we do that since it's an interaction I'd like to I'd like you to actually maybe ask questions and then I'm happy to answer you can also ask questions regarding the the iconography also directly do they happen so people will use the mic okay so if anyone yeah [Music] Ramachari one of the explains in the world CIPA you said it is in between the moment in between that in the past and the future so whatever the moment is there living in that moment without distraction you said is the Buddhist way of looking at the life hmm that is what you are something that is a technique that you have to apply and by doing so what will happen is you will not be carried away by the past and the future by not being carried out by a past in the future means you have less hope and fear less and less hope and fear means less what you call it defilement less emotions less judgement so you are totally living in the present now this is also you know one should not be thinking that this you will then reach to some sort of a vegetable state or some sort of go through some sort of coma it's not like that at all as shantideva said in one of the most important texts that when you totally are of course totally even if you are free from the past and the future if you are free from the hope and fear to the certain you know a little bit you in the way you look at the life is like how a mother would look at her children playing in the sand and building a sandcastle you will look at them and you will you might even engage and get along with the children play with them but deep inside you also know this is not really this castle this is a sand castle so you have this sort of a compassion and also the awareness compassion to play along with the children but also the wisdom and the guts to sort of say okay time to pack up go home rinpoche could you explain the difference between the second compositional actions and existence because they are both types of karma and I've heard this before and I find it very hard to grasp the second I think one of the problem is when we talk about this 12 interdependent coronation somehow we think it comes one after another as if there is a time but often most of the time it is not like that the speed is so fast the cyclic existence is so fast in fact one of the Buddhist analogy is like fire ring of fire when you move the fire so fast and when you circle it around so fast the illusion it gives is there is actually a ring of fire even though there is no averting or fire so first I want to tell you this so this first a video second a vidya there is not really a big gap in between that but having said that this is a very technical by the way for those who are kind of new into this it may confuse you a little bit it's bit like this okay and this is example that I use often for instance and this is kind this is quite useful example I think every time when we are talking about something like okay the hand when I talk about my hand like shaking hands with somebody okay the moment we thought moment we think about hand we think in terms of whole unit which is not really true there is no such thing as a hand there's a skin there's a bones there's a vein there's a blood there's all that component but we don't think like that we think in one unit that's already the first one the ignorant and then also when we talk about our hand we never think that the hand that we are talking about is gone now there's a new hand you know so to speak like yesterday's hand and today's hand is a different hand has to be even this morning's hand and this very moment the hand is a because of the law of impermanence but we don't think like that we think oh this is the same hand that I've been having productive five decades so on and so forth there's so many misinterpretation and assumption now you may ask what's wrong with that well generally really nothing much is wrong but if you really think deep there is fundamentally it is wrong because when you have that misunderstanding then you would have a different kind of expectation this is my one day after 56 years later when you look at your hand and when you see more wrinkles you think it's unfair but actually is not really it's not really unfair this is you know the your baby hand is gone but this is how we think in terms of everything about our idea about our just everything all values we think in one unit as a permanent and also as independent and this is the first ignorant we are talking about okay the second composition you are talking about the porters thing after that then we we interject to the world as if you know I but when I say please can I shake your hand I will never say can I reserve your skin and you are sweat and you are blood you know I want to have the experience of that you don't things like that so then you know you could go get into a big problem shaking hands with the wrong people not shaking with the right person that could really you know destroy your family relationship national relationships on and so forth this happens a lot so it could really you know get into international war even something so ridiculous like this so we are being very meticulous here which Allah when you are talking about mindfulness we often you know try to disconnect from past and future and we try to remain in presence remember we try to you know focus more like in the present moment but at that point of time how do we justify that action because that action could be you know or probably I might be doing something which is may be harmful but I might not be knowing at that point of time but then I might apply the mindfulness the concept as such I don't you know I don't care about my past and I'm done nothing about my future and what action currently I'm doing is justified for me so how do we do fringe those actions okay so I'm going to I want to clarify the question a little bit what you are saying is okay you are doing something probably something not so nice but you are totally you you are totally in the present how do you define that how do you distinguish this is it a bad is still a bad okay yeah okay this is a quite a very big and very important question I will answer you from the top first okay from the most very quality sophisticated level this is what what a meditation master who has a lot of guts depends on meditation masters who has got and Laura yeah courage and skillful this is how he or she would say let's say you do an hour of philanthropic love and compassion amazing great you know good good things but you are never in the present okay one hour then you I don't know maybe you then next time you throw tantrum you really you know rude harsh words probably even much worse than that but for one moment you actually are in the present this courageous meditation master would say actually the second one he will he will give you metal for that second one if there is a metal you understand and there's a very good reason why because when you are so-called philanthropy love and loving kindness actions are not accompanied with a mindfulness it could lead to all kinds of things it could you know plant the seed of self-righteousness puritanical all kinds of things but when you have a such a strong negative action but if you are really in the present and when we talk about in the present we are when we are totally in the present you are not feeding the emotion so it's bit like this a train of negative thoughts and action the moment you have the present moment you are in the present somehow the chain of this train is unhooked so the speed and the force of this negative train got to be disturbed at least a little bit and if you do it more this train will derail so from a very highest level I would say you should this is something that you should be investing on but of course not everybody can do that so this is why even in Buddhism there are many other technique I mean in Buddhist sutras Amisha stress there's even technique there's even a prescriptions of how to wash your hand now you should wash this way that way how to walk how to look at people all that kind of you know methods and discipline which unfortunately ends up becoming a ritual and once a technique become a ritual and once a taken once a technique become a culture then the that Buddhist culture I mean Buddhist technique has lost its meaning so this is why I know that meditation has become kind of a trendy thing to do these days but many times we don't know how much of these meditators are really wanting to be in the present or they want to just sort of recharge their greed they're planning their viciousness so we don't know okay oh yes can you hold on computer my question goes is a very basic question you used when you were explaining life you used two words bhava and you use samsara so still can they be used like one in place of the other or it's they all both of them have their own specific meaning in explaining the word possibility in the Tibetan word the C is used quite in a many different ways one is as I was saying the possible possibility this has a really very subtle but college connotation and I think I think personally I think it's quite an important word because what it really is indicating is that you know probably you are not there you just think you are there you know we all have life we think we are I think I'm here but are you sure I would think that you are here so that that's an important aspect of the word existence you know look what this is you know the sub this subject is quite difficult and quite quite a big one we actually before we even talked about this you and I should come to a conclusion what do we mean by the word existence what is existence in Hindi I stick to what does that mean it comes from the boob have a brother is to come into being into being okay yes and then the second connotation of becoming of into being is again very important because okay suddenly I'm thinking of rape you know for no reason I'm thinking about a grape now the grape has taken life in my mind you understand it has you know the becoming of the grape now I would think okay grape the dry ones fresh ones and then it leads to a grape wine you understand all the then it leads one becoming these to many many other becoming and if it there if you stop there that's fine but it usually doesn't stop because usually as I said earlier you have projections you have hope and fear you have value you and once you have the value that you place then yes then lot of other emotions arise and then you fight you suffer you and then of course when we suffer we try to react to that suffering and usually we apply a some sort of a method of escape or MIDI and then we get addicted to that remedy we we become a slave to that solution and many times yes problem is a problem is not a nice thing to have but solution is also not a nice thing to have you know ideally you should never have solutions I wanted to ask yes please you said distraction is a form of evilness actually what's wrong with distraction sometimes we all get distraction and that leads to something okay well when you are distracted yeah very good when you are distracted probably the word distract is not really the right right translation of the word Tibetan birth young Tibetans they use the word yang which is quite a again I don't know where that would come from it has to be translation from a Sanskrit a very really powerful word anyway when you are so-called a yang basically you are not there that's quite bad don't you think if you are not there that's not so good but I know what you mean I mean you know when you reason why we take panadol is so that you are not there with a pain for four hours so then you have to take it again that's how why we drink that's why we is socialized that's where we throw parties that's why we do shopping all for all kinds of what you call it addiction we apply so that we will be distracted and of course the consumer society loves it because if everybody becomes a such a good meditator and they do not get distracted the market will collapse the you know business will be will collapse but I don't think we have to worry too much about that we we we die we long to be distracted and yes as I I can understand this many times you know we'd love to be distracted in distractions kind of nice is very blissful but it then leads us to more distractions and then you get entangled yeah that's that's the word entanglement distractions gives birth to entanglement so that's why I was saying then then you try to get out of that applying another method okay so knowing about the distraction would be able to manage the distraction yes interesting so this is what we are going to do I may be after the break knowing that you are distracted is a really bad news for distraction already the distractions are not so happy you understand but we are talking about it in a very very subtle level very subtle level okay don't you want to have a full life don't you or you want to have a mediocre half you know like unconscious life I think everybody would like to have a full life life in full measure so to speak so the Buddhist would argue saying that if you have distraction constant distractions you are not having the full 100% life you are thinking about something else you are thinking you are in the past or you in the future remember she saw from the word bhava and sip in the Tibetan so we are always becoming never being there unless we're distracted is that what you're saying we are only seen on distracted sorry so like it was always becoming yes we are always becoming that's fine there's no problem with that but we are not knowing while it is becoming you you understand like for instance when you are asking questions I'm sure you are more entangled with your questions then being aware that you are now asking these questions and me too I am so caught up with trying to listen to you and trying to I have to put her you know I better give you a good answer otherwise zuray she would never talk to me you know stuff like that it's so much entanglement so much hope and fear okay I think it's a continuation of maybe what you said how do you distinguish between the becoming and the past becoming in the past yeah because by the time you know that it's becoming it's already the past isn't it okay for some reason this morning most of your questions very philosophical which is good which is good of course well you know just proves that I'm with the Indian very good you know actually there is no such thing as a past and the future apart from the present but there is an illusion of the past and the illusion of the future which we unnecessarily get entangled with which is ridiculous it's really ridiculous pass is gone the future hasn't materialized yet yet I mean leap in hand about the future be brood about the past we get so influenced by this illusory past and the illusionary future and actually for that matter strictly speaking from the Buddhist point of view even the present is a labeling but for the sake of our conversation there is a some sort of a cognition or awareness don't don't me I mean I'm talking and you are sort of hearing and I'm you are talking and I'm hearing it I'm not like a piece of stone you are not a piece of wood there is some sort of you know injured reaction there's a cognition there's an awareness very hearing we are experiencing we are feeling you define ignorant as constantly not living consciously or mindfully so little confused mindfully means for example you have to be mindful of your present moment you said but you said when you are mindful of your present moment and you are not distracted you are not there actually so when you are not distracted even then you are not there in the present moment so why distractions can't lead us to the same goal as being mindful of the present moment can take us to I'm not I didn't really get you a question she said when you are mindful of the present moment mm-hmm so actually you are not distracted so when you are not distracted in a way you are saying you are not there when you actually sophisticatedly know this mindful being mindful or being mindful of what is that being in the present moment so you are not there that's why you are in a somewhere relatively speaking you are there on the relative level of course so even this when you are distracted and relatively if I am there for example the two questions comes to my mind for example if I be become mindful of that I am in pain more mindful of I'm and pain in present how it does how does it help me to get rid of my pain if the answer is that you won't be there oh no no no then when you are not when you are distracted to past and future even then you are not in there in the present you will probably especially in the beginning you will still go through the pain all of that and of that I must also stress you know mindful mindfulness practitioners should still take pen at all if you have pain still do all the things you do when you are in pain I mean whatever you need web browsing you know meeting a psychologist I don't know all of that you are you can but the suggestion is if you are mindful if you are aware of this very present moment chances of you not getting entangled not only chances actually it's for sure you not getting entangled with a hope and fear all the unnecessary hope and fear is much lesser and the less you get entangled with a hope and fear less you get entangled with the past in the future you are more sober you are more sane sober sane always gives you the chance to do the right thing right decision unless fear less hope when you're mindful of your present uh-huh how that helps you to not to have hope and fear because if you're in present your I agree that you won't have hope of the future and fear of the past but present if you say even relatively you have pain and you become more and more mindful of your present that too can entangle you oh yes in the beginning yes but if the end it helps you what health what what happens at the end that it helps you suddenly but should you be mindful of at the end mmm you know I've already told you most of the pain met actually I would say 99.99 pain deprived derives from hope and fear so when you are in the present I told you your hope and fear you will not entangled yourself with the hope and fear so that's already taken care of I think it's like this let me try to give you an example [Music] you know actually after the break maybe we will actually sit and try to experience what we have been talking probably then after that you can ask again if you still have the question but it's not like it's like tackling and illusion okay you are thirsty let's say and you are in the desert and you really want water and then you are looking at a mirage and you think it's water first time but then oh no that's not water that's just my illusion that's just a mirage you are already liberated from all the you know delusion of really thinking that illusion is real and what will that - that will to save you from walking by the way you can still for the fun of it you can still go to the illusionary water thing knowing it is a water that's fine that many practitioners do knowing it is an illusion you can still go to it for the fun of it but we don't we don't know it's an illusion we think it's real then we struggle and then you reach there and to find it's just an illusion then you get more disappointed you get more frustrated something like that I'm referring to the cycling life and the factors that make life and conscious like action-reaction cravings in my experience there are some actions that I feel coming from my inner space sort of inner need and that make me feel that these kind of actions are part of an aware life can you try to elaborate on that because maybe there are actions and actions or this is not very clear to me I am very sure not many times we react consciously we act consciously we act with awareness we act with mindfulness so many times I mean probably not a hundred percent but you know quite a good amount of awareness and consciousness and mindfulness and that's the time that human nature what Buddhist called basic goodness of human being love compassion you know all this actually sort of surfaces but the moment we get entangled with hope and fear then we forget that then the basic goodness of human being somehow gets lost in the you know this muddy hope and fear and all kinds of developments I want to point this out there's a common misunderstanding that people think that the practice of Buddhism is to do good things doing good is the ultimate practice good karma let's call it that's not necessarily true actually to be free of course from the bad action negative action of course you don't want to do that but even to be free from good action because the Buddhist would say it doesn't matter how you are being bound you can be bound by a iron chain or a golden chain as long as you're bound you are still a prisoner so even some so-called good action can bind you I always caught this and is a great Indian master called Chan tacitly he said he was a scholar from Nalanda University he said that an idiot will do bad things and go to hell and idiot will do good things and go to heaven only wise will transcend good and bad and then be liberated this is important for Buddha Buddhism to be liberated from getting entangled the whole point of this what we call super caller this teaching is actually to be liberated from the chain this going round and round cyclic existence we will have just one or two more questions and then actually to make it more I don't know applicable more I don't know hands-on so to speak we will try to I'll try to sort of relate this with some sort of a meditation or some sort of an exercise so my question is these twelve links of dependent origination it seems that the deepest layer of dependent origination comes from mere mental imputation and if we in our day-to-day I mean the philosophy is very deep and to really habituate the mind with this view of reality which Li's with reality it seems like a very profound but in our day-to-day life how do we combat this okay yeah I will keep that question and that's exactly what we are going to try to demonstrate anyway my question is that like earlier you were discussing that if you have any distractions so we shouldn't have distractions and we should we want to live to the 100% okay I want to be careful here when I say you B should not have distractions I don't want to make it sound very dogmatic I think better you should be phrased it like this if you are distracted you will get entangled and who wants to be entangled what do we mean by entanglement entanglement means you don't have a control who is not controlled freak here everybody wants to control at the least I want to control my own life I want to actually be sober about my life okay I want to also control you guys good but I want most importantly I have myself and that controlling myself only happens when you are sober otherwise I'm not claiming you know I'm completely in control otherwise you know you can bribe me by giving me some praise oh I will fall for it or you can you know like criticize me even a small harsh words will do I will throw my Trent Rams I haven't always fall for that so the reason why we fall for these things is because we are so habituated in getting entangled and how do we not get entangled developing the mindfulness but then what are we supposed to do like if like you said that distractions are such as shopping and entertainment basically so oh okay well there's a Buddhist sort of answer for this which I'm hoping that we will and discuss as as we go through the hour you know sort of more experience and I would relate to try to relate to this one okay I think we can start actually now is there one more cause okay with your permission yes please you spoke of being and non-being in a sense so I'm a little confused my question is that our being and non-being manifestations of the same larger reality if there is such a thing and are there different types of cells the wise self or the higher self they self a lower self and image itself a deeper self I don't know so just well [Music] strictly speaking the Buddhists don't even assert Buddhists don't believe in inherently existing self Buddhist think is a totally imputed labeling it's actually just an idea now we don't want to get in there because we are really talking about difficult subject I mean you know it's difficult just because of our habit actually philosophically it's not difficult people could get into this the idea of control self control yeah so if there is no tangible self what are we asserting control over exactly actually not but even though we don't have inherently existing some point the problem is it's bit like this okay and this is again a classic Buddhist example let's say you are having a nightmare and you are having a terrible time stomping over by an elephant the fact of the matter is there is no elephant so what are you trying to get at all what are you trying to awake from but that kind of philosophy doesn't really work when you are having the nightmare when you are having the nightmare elephant is really there so even even though the bucket of water to wake you up the bucket of water is not going to shoo away the non-existent elephant it does help point is you have to wake up I know the the method is method is totally vertical it is it's a it's a trick it's important that we know that there you know the whole is a trick actually so on this not maybe we will try to cover this okay now we talked about the definition and I hope that we have at least some sort of our understanding what is life when when I say life samsara from my point of view from the Buddhist point of view now you know many questions very good questions I asked so what is it that the Buddhists are trying to achieve what is the goal their real goal is to understand the truth actually that's it this beautiful you know there are names beautiful names like Nirvana sometimes very deceiving because they are so poetic the language so it you end up thinking you you know there must be an exotic place called Nirvana but actually not true Nirvana is understanding the truth and when we when I say understanding the truth I'm not talking about some exotic supernatural truth not at all I'm talking about very very simple truth it is so close to you yet we don't know for instance I mean forget other but even certain truth like all compounded things are impermanent or in other words we are all going to die from the time we were born we are dying a lot big part of us is already dead yet okay so intellectually we may understand this technically scientifically you may understand this but emotionally we don't we plan as if we are going to live forever we shop as if we are going to live another thousand years we mimic plants like me even me supposedly a follower of this path I have made plans to go to some place April 2019 somewhere and sort of Renault pledging people to here oh I'm going to turn up they're just never really managing to accept who knows I might die today tonight even this blatant obvious truth we cannot accept not philosophically philosophically and scientifically you can accept but habitually we cannot accept so we are so ok aim is to understand the truth but very difficult to understand even simple and blatant truth such as death and impermanence why is that what what makes you forget these truth Buddhists think it is the distraction you are distracted and as I said early this morning we are not talking about gross distractions such as web browsing or you know we are talking about constant distractions constant and that is what makes you get so entangled and then you you forget the truth okay so what do we do so what can we do a lot of things a lot of things and one very popular thing is something in Tibetan it's called gum I think in Sanskrit is yarn Ian meditation yarn [Music] meditation is not really a good translation yeah but that's the word that we use right now gum okay but the moment we talk about meditation we think in terms of sitting straight and some sort of a posture on a meditation cushion and closing eyes or sitting very in a quiet place at a designated area at a designated time but actually that's really not the case meditation is allowing yourself to have it doesn't matter whether it is a momentary or whether it is a few minutes over there's a few hours allowing yourself disciplining yourself habituating yourself in in bringing yourself to this present okay but the ritual the discipline of sitting straight cross leg sitting straight closing eyes hand gesture all that could help chances of you being mindful sitting straight is you know it is higher than lying on I in a hammock you may fall asleep in the hammock chances of you developing mindfulness in a I don't know dance floor dancing with friends especially for the beginners once you are good at it then you it doesn't matter that the posture is not important at all but the bottom line is to bring yourself into the present so this is something we can do even now for instance you are sitting here and I'm not asking you to change your posture actually don't you know try not to really sit straight you know to be you know however you are you must be thinking of something you must be feeling something you must be hearing something during the break when you were having tea did you look at the tea are you sure you looked at the tea probably not did you notice the tea probably not because you just have a general assumption that that is a tea then there's a general assumption that the tea kind of looks Brown we are not quite distracted so distracted that one will not be surprised if some if you ask for tea and someone give you a cold water you will actually not know that much we are distracted we are feeling we are feeling the breeze [Music] okay now I'm going to ask our friend here to play flute and let's let's hear it and don't like it don't dislike it just know that you are hearing just be conscious don't get you know hooked by this very very good one so it'd be difficult [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] yes just they be heard we have noticed your conscience and then you are wearing things just be conscious of that the hardness and the softness of the cushion just knowing that no judgment no liking no disliking just simply being conscious of that okay now this time let's do one with more ritual so let's sit straight but we are doing the same thing okay we are doing the same thing we are sitting straight and try not to get distracted you must be hearing things you must be feeling things just be aware of that do not judge do not paint do not describe do not define just like a small child looking at a fresco okay very good so when you sit like this probably you may have heard camera clicking to do and then immediately you have thought that's a camera clicking you thought about a camera unit okay that is this blind person you have labeled camera clicking and probably some of you are trying so hard to really meditate properly and this cameraman came with clicking and this was this right no he's bothered you please click more okay later noise bothered you you know you understand you you don't want to be disturbed what's happening rest of this well you are trying to meditate and this camera clicking and the sound of clicking it bothered you action nama Rupa order and craving to properly meditate craving to concentrate o the way until the death of your mindfulness which is symbolized by a dead body here you understand or they not necessarily the death of the meditation it could be also the death of wanting to meditate so Donnie Donna's 12need honest or 12 inter dependent origination happens all the time but moment you're you hear the camera clicking and moment you are just hearing it as and you are not judging you are not valuing you are not getting caught up by that you are not entangled by the camera noise you have killed this no more ignorance just for a short time of course but you know old habit will come back so you have eliminated this basically if you eliminate this this can't happen the next one can't happen you will not compose it you will not compound you are not a portal if you do not compound there will be no form if there is no form there's no names if there's no names so on and so forth then there will be no hope in fear and craving and so on and so forth if they if none of this exists then there is no death or the extinction of what you have been wanting to or not wanting to have or not have and this what does this do more and more and more of this means we call it discontinuation of this cyclic existence and this continuation of this cyclic existence is waking up from the dream but I need to talk to you a little bit more from the inner one so but I want to do this again with a little bit of practice so again I don't want to emphasize on sitting please do you know be however you are scratch yawn I don't know massage yourself I don't know do whatever you want to do but try to be in the present if you are annoyed just be aware of that if you are blissed-out just be aware of that if you are a little bit agitated be aware of that if you're thinking about what to ask just be aware of that if you are hearing birds chirping just be aware of that nothing exotic nothing religious nothing supernatural nothing complicated okay let's stop here for a few minutes okay this time again let's do sitting straight no moving completely sitting straight and again be aware of what's happening right this very moment if you are thinking about Paris just know that's what's happening suddenly if you're thinking about a Rome you don't have to go back to Paris just being wrong you don't have to finish the story and if you're not thinking anything that's also fine just be aware of that does have awareness or the time okay let's try to explain the inner circle so when you are just and you were trying to be aware the present moment maybe the first one moment good maybe you were aware after a one I'm sure you are distracted and you as you are so distracted that you didn't even know you were distracted maybe mostly you were distracted in thinking am i distracted am I am i doing it maybe I'm not maybe I am no no I'm concentrating that's what you may have done actually just this is the site advice if you think that you have not been distracted chances of you being distracted is very high if you are paranoid I'm getting distracted actually you are okay especially for the beginners it's like a dawn of the wisdom this paranoia oh I'm going to get distracted that's about all you can have for now actually but anyway you get distracted then what happens then according to this picture generally speaking out of this distraction these so-called distractions become fatter let's say gross more grosser and fatter and more tangible okay very simple distractions okay you are trying to meditate or you are trying to be in the present you hear a noise or you think about a water or tea and you get entangled that entanglement leads to more entanglement and this entanglement then becomes fat big gross tangible and then generally speaking the Buddhist believed that this entanglement is categorized anyway the Buddhists categorize this into five or six different categories and let's say you become aggressive you know the entanglement leads to aggression and this aggression with the aggression you project to the world you see unpleasant things and that's called hell realm I don't know where it is I can't really see it properly as that is this is it hell yeah I think is this that's the hell realm it's actually a projection of your aggression Buddhists don't believe in Hell Rell underneath somewhere is it could be happening like this evening when you have a when you lost your you know temple or this entanglement and the becoming like a [Music] greet or stinginess and that gets projected into what we call Hungry Ghost realm thank you Hungry Ghost realm yes and then this entanglement also leads us to become very it leads us to be and become dull very dull and very kind of yes dull ignorant and this is called projection of the animal realm and then sometimes this an entanglement sort of as a jealousy and this is the acid result I think is there and then also the entanglement manifests as desire which is a human realm and then also the distractions end up becoming naka pride it manifests as a pride and is a God run and I remember telling you some of you this in the our last discussion and don't think that these six realms exist outside it can be made manifesting throughout our day you could wake up in the morning after a very busy night week you could wake up morning groggy top not thinking straight and you are experiencing animal realm you are basically animal and then after our grooming moisturize moisturizer after shave some foundations looking at the mirror kind of happy with yourself you are presentable you are attractive all that you are you have in the god realm and then you go to I don't know your work and then you you meet your colleague who you are jealous of with your big competitor and envy jealousy you are going through the Asura run you know so on and so forth and then your boss I don't know scores you for being late or something and then you lose your temper you know hmmm so whole six realms can be happening within a day so I I think we talked a lot about the inner and the innermost circle last time so I'm not going to speak too much about this too basically I don't know whether you've managed to I don't know comprehend this a little bit but basically all this is happening within these few moments or minutes of us getting distracted all the time and just and and then all of this is under the clutch vicious clutch of this big monster which is a representation of time you are victim of time meaning nothing is certain everything changes all the time and time is the most vicious so what do you need to do to get out of that well there's a symbol of the Buddha eating here that you need to be free from getting caught up getting entangled when you are free from entanglement you are free from time you have free from space and when you are free from time and space you are no you don't have anymore the experience of five or six realms then that's what the Buddhists think liberalization again I have to point this out it's not a a state it's not a some sort of a place it is a realization of the truth I think we can somehow understand this with the analogy of watching a movie you can watch a movie you can get totally engaged with it in one sense you know the love story whatever the suspense the thrilling whatever event whatever but inside you also know that this is just a movie so you can all especially if you are watching a video you can always pause it to go to washroom and come back or rewind it see you had the guts to pause it but this movie that's happening right now we don't know how to pause it we don't know how to rewind it we don't know how to fast-forward it and he s or entangled and we are totally you know unn we are totally under the control of this delusion so if you have some questions I'm happy to answer actually I don't know I hope this helped you understand them [Music] they're importing I was just looking at this picture and I suddenly noticed that within each quadrant in the corner there is a celestial being upon a cloud there's ever a celestial being like a Buddha oh yeah yes what is the significance of that oh my goodness okay second question I have is that every field of human endeavor requires in fact one's own livelihood it requires some degree of hope and fear and some projection like if you're a teacher then you're hoping that the students would understand if you're a designer you are hoping that whatever you create is beautiful yes and you're constantly making fine judgments about this mm-hmm is it possible to engage in this samsaric activity without getting entangled and caught up yes that okay first the six Buddhist or six Buddhist this this I've noticed that this chunk of the painting actually comes from a certain school of Buddhism in Tibet but anyway the six Buddhas representing that actually no matter who you are or what kind of beings you are animal Asura God human you have the Buddha nature in in you and that is actually the antidote the real antidote okay it's a little difficult to probably for instance okay if this the okay if this is a little dirty fact that it can be clean is because the dirt is temporary that is the ultimate antidote because when we talk about antidote we always feel that antidote come from outside the Buddhist always emphasized never antidote is you real sort of your basic nature is the antidote you have to really use that don't bank on the outer antidote outer antidote actually you know lingers your path it can actually entangle you so to really teach this this comes from a very very extensive teaching called part of the intermediate state which is explained taught especially in the nimma tradition by a great teacher called karma lingpa and in his teaching very extensive teachings about all of this as for your second question I think I've already said you know just as how a mother play with the children you can certainly develop the awareness and have the compassion to play with the world also it's important if you are learning this now if you are learning to write bicycle it's important not only learn in your living room you should kind of go outside and face the rough road there you will learn more so I think telling in your world being a father mother you know normal job all that could actually also stimulate or sharpen your wisdom but of course you're playing dangerous game here but it's always going to be like this they working with the habit is already difficult but it is doable in the same time the good news is habit is not your true nature so it is removable that is always the good news that one you have to bank on that because many times we think this is your nature but it's not true it's your habit it's a temporary it's removable Rinpoche I also noticed that depending on which quadrant you are realm you are the appearance of the Buddha also changes like in the human realm having a begging bowl and in the Deva realm he is holding a musical instrument yes have any significance oh yes okay you're very good in the court room in the diversion Buddha's playing get some sort of a lute right yes okay David realm has distractions and what is there distractions pleasure pleasure you know music I think harp and you know love no swimming pool swans I don't know that David realm descriptions all this pleasure objects and they get so distracted to this to teach the Dever you need to you you know it's always like this the path is very tricky a path has to look unlike the habit that it is countering with you understand many times actually if the path is very skillful and if the path is good it really should look like the problem that you are trying to counter then it's a really good path so it's almost like using pleasurable object to defeat the pleasurable object you know this six Buddha is a tantric teaching by the way and that's why this symbolism are quite sophisticated in fact that I think it is yeah I think in the Asura realm the Buddha is holding armor and sword yes again using the emotion as the path okay reboot this point of using emotions could you elaborate on that a little bit using emotions as the bath okay in the vimalakirti sutra buddha said notice will not grow in a clean water or our you know clean surface Lotus only grows from a muddy dirty water likewise Buddhahood the Buddha cannot be found in a clean place Buddha is only found where there is a dirt which is emotion this is a very big Mahayana teachings and it may be little bit confusing also for people mm I should I put it if you lost your cow and if you need to search for the cow you need to look at the footprints of the cow and following the footprints you will find the cow and according to tantric Buddhism it says that the emotions are like the footprints of the wisdom when the emotions are out of your control without mindfulness then emotions entrap you enslave you and control you but the moment you have the awareness moment you have the mindfulness it is actually these emotions that are like a footprint which will actually lead you to the wisdom because after all there is light if there is no darkness where is hello I mean where is light if there is no shadow if you want to sort of know what is light you need to have a shadow [Music] of course we are talking about tantric Buddhism here a little bit quite strongly and this is again kind of how should I call it okay the reason is this the emotions if you look at emotion that's a jealousy when you are jealous what are you experiencing you are experiencing of course among the pain and all that ignorant and delusion and all of that but the big chunk of jealousy is also a cute awareness there's a cognition there is a real but how should I put it this there's that what you call it consciousness you are very much there when we are jealous if you are really really jealous with somebody you can try to distract yourself with the web browsing or having a nice tea but it will still go back so strongly it is so strongly there so instead of trying to get escape from that taking advantage of that vibrant present force of this what you call it wrong it's a the jealousy is a consciousness isn't it it's it's been conscious yes it's very much mingled with you know ignorance but nevertheless it is very sharp and that need to be utilized again this is a little bit influenced by what I'm just telling you is little bit influence but the tantric Buddhism but also in the my inner Buddhism they talk about that for instance if you don't have an emotion at all what are you trying to achieve then you already achieved if you if you're not dreaming if you're not sleeping what are you waking up from we are assuming that we are dreaming we are having a nightmare and then you can talk about a path to a big from isn't it so and if you are having a mediocre dream that is sort of you know like not not cohesive no not well scripted sort of dream very hard to wake up from that not even a wish to wake up but if you have a nightmare of that spider crawling over you really want to get out of that so that need to be taken advantage you should do one must take advantage of that okay respected Rinpoche I think one understands the value and the importance of making the present and the now your friend the value of making it your friend and just like if you show anger you don't have to be angry my question is can you not live life in two planes one the emotional spiritual part which is in the now and the present without any suffering from the past or expectations from the future and at the same time in your physical state reflect on the past its teachings lessons and be prepared for future so can you not live life at two levels very much so actually the Buddhist term you are talking about that plane life whatever right plane yes yeah Buddhist and Buddhist to talk about specially my teacher one of my meditation instructor he says you should have two set of eyes on your neck one that is watching the watcher two eyes you know this is the eyes that we use to watch and but you should also have two eyes watching this watcher watching the watcher so to speak and I think this is the similar here very much so and if you do that this is what the Buddhist called oppaya skillful means so you know then I think life becomes so humorous and also you then this is where the great mahasiddhas of the past they play all sorts of games to really benefit others they you know they you know they staged how miserable they are they staged how they're so jealous they staged you know how they're doomed they staged how they are ignorant so on and so forth because you also have to well especially in the Mahayana Buddhism you know big heart is to really help others to benefit others and for that definitely having that you know awareness having that watching The Watcher it's it's very important Thank You rabbit it's now one o'clock would you like to continue would anybody like to ask a question I'm running out of things to say just a quick question how will we distinguish between making some progress being able to follow the footprints of your emotions and maybe perhaps hopefully yes being able to I guess be aware and apply whatever the material is teaching today how can we distinguish that from just being from becoming dull little difficult it's a little difficult but there's there's advice okay you're playing with a fire and since you decide you to play with a fire in the beginning you should play with a fire short time but many times especially in the beginning if you play with a fire long time it might burn your hand you understand so you are playing with the emotion so before the emotion grabs you and controls you you should you know hight escape and only escape too long don't hide too long quickly come back and play with the emotion you know fundamentally is like this I want to say this before buddhadharma is like a sharpening knife when you sharpen a knife what do you do what do you have you have a vertical little red stone and the knife and you what happens the stone burns out and the metal burns out learning of learning of stone and the metal is called sharp knife likewise you have emotions defilements and then you have wisdom both has to burn out never you should think emotions get it off and then we take the wisdom as a souvenir because it's useless to have visit them when you have no emotion so at the end Buddhism has to be weren't off Buddhism has to be abandoned this is my tria said this if you go to the other Shore you take a boat once you reach the other Shore if you're still standing in the boat sitting in the boat because you're so in love with Buddhism the boat because it's so beautiful all of that you are not on the other Church you have to get rid of the boat then you reach to the other Shore but meanwhile the way to play with the emotion there's many many ways that's why there's actually what we call three vehicles three many many Yanis viana vehicles there's a shadow Keanu disappear Caputo unit is a Mahayana days of Adrienne also to be honest and they all have a different approach and I somehow this morning we ended up talking more on the Mahayana and Vajrayana but in the Charaka Jana there is a method of actually imposing quite a lot of restrictions towards oneself to not get distracted so therefore you know the the discipline of Vipassana you know as I said this morning sitting straight and meditating probably for the beginners better than lying down or dancing or you know I don't know shopping but okay so in the beginning maybe cushion sits tray like that but after a while you actually should shop and meditate because if you're meditation if you are only good at meditating on the cushion in a quiet place in a designated area at a time and when the situation arise you can't fetch the cushion and no time you you'll be bombarded with all kinds of circumstance you have no time to go and sit there so you have to utilize the awareness there and then as the situation arise so for that kind of thing slowly slowly you you expose yourself more to the dangerous terrain and areas within your capacity once you are really really good at it then by all means play long you know roll over emotions again and again and again until the time happens when there is no difference between the emotion and the wisdom then there is no hope no fear nothing you are free

Channel: Vidyaloke

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Length: 122min 32sec (7352 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 14 2020