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- 5:13
So the first stage of lamrim is relying on the guru. And again, that's something unique to this tradition. In other traditions, they might say the first step is simply to calm your mind. But in this tradition, we have a beautiful tradition of honoring our gurus. And it's for the simple reason that just all of our wisdom and our knowledge comes from our precious teachers.
- 15:09
The precious human rebirth is to realize how valuable our life is. So it's great to do this immediately in the morning. I mean, that's what our teachers tell us and that's what I've found for myself too. It helps to generate what's called a joyful effort. So to have like a real enthusiasm for everything you're doing all day. Maybe some of you are people like that. And if you're a person like that, you notice when you go into a room.
- 28:47
Really, really naturally, the next topic that we already touched on a little bit is death and impermanence. So once you thought about how precious your life is and everybody else's life is, then you think, oh, well, nobody has ever escaped dying. No one gets out alive, right? Like Jim Morrison says, I guess, right? It can be very useful. Once these prayers have some meaning for you, it can be very useful to memorize them. So this one that I memorized, this is one of the first things I memorized when I started getting into Buddhism.
- 36:30
So this is actually one of the most powerful that i found was just to memorize the 10 non-virtues um you know there's 10 commandments in christianity and in the buddhism there's seven out of ten and then there's a couple there's there's a couple others that are unique to buddhism general idea of karma is that our actions have some result.
- 54:07
And tells you the results of the positive actions. Because you get kind of down thinking about all the negative things to avoid. Better to think about what to cultivate. So there's what's called the six perfections. Our generosity, patience, joyful effort, concentration, morality and wisdom, cultivating wisdom. So,
Transcript
0:00 That started with Atisha in the 11th century and then was refined and in a beautiful way by Lama Tsongkhapa. Do we have a picture or statue over there? Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 0:00
0:19 So it's broken into, sometimes I have trouble counting whether it's 10 stages or 11 stages. 22 stages, yeah. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 0:19
0:31 You can break it down in different ways, but it's one of the main topics we study in this tradition. And it's complete. It's a complete stages of the path to enlightenment from the beginning to the end. I think when we studied with Geshe-la, it was over like four years or something. Yeah. So I've studied it a couple of times with different teachers. And once you've learned the topics. Report an error in the passage at 0:31
0:59 It's almost like having a Swiss army knife. You know, then you've got like the tool for every single situation. Oh yeah, it's a leather man now. You know the Swiss army knife because you're from Belgium. The Belgian army knife. The Swiss knife. Okay. No more army. That's good. The Swiss knife of peace. Report an error in the passage at 0:59
1:29 So. So the trick is to, I've found, is to know what to apply in what situation. We learn a lot in other Buddhist traditions. In some other Buddhist traditions, you just learn one thing your whole life. You just try to concentrate, essentially. You try to train your mind so that you won't be distracted by other things. Report an error in the passage at 1:29
1:51 And that seems like a very worthy path. And another one that leads to enlightenment. But this particular path, there's a lot of thinking involved. There's not just the concentration meditation but what's called analytical meditation where you deliberately cultivate either thoughts or even emotional states like strong emotional states that help you on the path to enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 1:51
2:21 So the different paths are suitable for different people. In this tradition you can have both. Of course you can focus mostly on concentration practice or you could focus mostly on analytical practice. But our teachers tell us it's the combination of those three things that's essential because until you can really concentrate, you couldn't really think about anything for more than five or six seconds. Report an error in the passage at 2:21
2:46 And that's been scientifically proven. An average person can only concentrate on... anything at all for seven seconds and then your mind flips to something else. So what I wanted to talk about today is start going through the stages of the path and probably won't get through all of them. But that's also kind of a part of this tradition is to not complete the teachings. Report an error in the passage at 2:46
3:12 If you've ever been to see some of the high lamas, very often they'll only get through, you know, the first quarter of a text or something. And that used to frustrate me when I started out in this tradition. Report an error in the passage at 3:12
3:24 I want to just start by saying That work seems to be one of the places that I get to practice the most. And I bet it might be for you guys too. There's a simple reason for that, which I think is that we spend most of our time at work. We spend more time at work than we spend usually with our families or with friends or at the Dharma Center, unless you work at the Dharma Center. So then, just because we spend most of our time there, we have most of our difficulties there. Report an error in the passage at 3:24
4:22 I mean, is there anyone who doesn't have difficulties at work? Raise your hand. So, I wanted to start off with the various topics in the lamrim and how I use them at work. I've, you know, in many ways have to simplify things for myself because in each topic there would be big lists, like when we talk about the... Report an error in the passage at 4:22
4:48 The precious human rebirth, there's eight freedoms and ten endowments. And it's fantastic if you can remember those or memorize them. Report an error in the passage at 4:48
4:58 But if you can't, then you've got to do something else to bring that topic to mind. So I want to talk about some of my little shortcuts I use when I don't have time to do that or I don't remember. So the first stage of lamrim is relying on the guru. Report an error in the passage at 4:58
5:20 And again, that's something unique to this tradition. In other traditions, they might say the first step is simply to calm your mind. But in this tradition, we have a beautiful tradition of honoring our gurus. And it's for the simple reason that just all of our wisdom and our knowledge comes from our precious teachers. Report an error in the passage at 5:20
5:44 And one of the things they... And it becomes really difficult for us, especially as Westerners, looking at our teachers to think of them as a guru because they might be scratching their head. You even see the Dalai Lama sometimes doing things that don't seem appropriate on national TV or something. It's like scratching his ear or something like that, yawning. Report an error in the passage at 5:44
6:08 And what they say is that those things that our teachers do are also there to... For our benefit, kind of so that we can cultivate our own wisdom, that we have, ultimately that we have kind of an afflicted view of things so that the only way we could encounter a teacher is to see them as a little imperfect, you know, and that if we had, if our minds were a little more pure and clear that we wouldn't see any, things wouldn't appear as difficulties or things that are annoying or socially inappropriate. Report an error in the passage at 6:08
6:45 Something the Dalai Lama once said that I always think about is a person with no imperfections sees none in others. Report an error in the passage at 6:45
7:07 So I often think of that when I'm critical of anyone, especially if I'm being critical of a teacher. But when I'm thinking critically about anyone, I think of what the Dalai Lama said. Oh, if I had no imperfections. with no imperfections. Report an error in the passage at 7:07
7:21 then I wouldn't see any in other. that's, I think, a very deep teaching, actually, when you get more into studying the nature of your mind and how things appear to us. Shantideva, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Lama Zopa Rinpoche One of the things that I do is actually just imagine that my teacher is right next to me. So like one of my teachers, Venerable Rene Fusi or Geshe-la. Report an error in the passage at 7:21
8:03 So I think I can remember how I was trying to act, you know, when I was around Geshe-la. Like I see Geshe-la and, you know, I just feel so humble and so much love towards him because he taught so many years for us. He gave up all his culture, all his friends really. Report an error in the passage at 8:03
8:23 So that he can be here and teach us who are mostly lazy, I think, you know, we mostly miss a lot of classes or don't study, whatever. Report an error in the passage at 8:23
8:33 So when I'm with Geshe-la, I feel so much devotion and humility and I want to try to be the best possible person I can. So I don't know, a lot of you are new students and you may not have a teacher. teacher um but Shantideva, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Lama Zopa Rinpoche My teacher sitting next to me. And if you don't have a guru teacher, you can also think of His Holiness the Dalai Lama or you can think of, if you were from another tradition, you could think of Jesus or Mary or anyone like that. Report an error in the passage at 8:33
9:34 And then a lot of us don't have any, have a secular background. So we may not think of, we may not have any, you know, devotion or familiarity with any spiritual figure. So then I think what's sometimes helpful is to think of secular figures. Even a friend. We all have a kindest friend and a meanest friend. Report an error in the passage at 9:34
10:00 So you can even think of your kindest friend sitting next to you and have that inspire your behavior. Anyway, that's just a simple way of really practicing. What I find is that I have to make the practices my own. Report an error in the passage at 10:00
10:36 is anybody um student who has an altar at home that's like a Buddha and so on okay some people yeah so that's um Something that once you learn why you have an altar, which is essentially a purification practice, having an altar. It's a way every day of creating merit and also in some ways of purifying some of your negativities. Report an error in the passage at 10:36
11:05 So once you understand the benefits of having an altar, there's a certain kind of energy that comes out of that. Report an error in the passage at 11:05
11:15 I've noticed like gradually I started to do all of the different things involved with the altar. Like at first I just had a statue and then I got the water balls and then I started to get the other things and to prostrate. Report an error in the passage at 11:15
11:28 And it's an interesting thing to experiment with your mind because you can almost see, it's almost like tuning a radio in a way. You can kind of see how your mind comes more into focus as you perform the ritual. that the ritual has an effect on your mind. So I actually have an altar at work and in San Francisco it's probably not something that's too difficult for Shantideva, His Holiness the Dalai Lama You'll probably be a little less, especially within eyesight, you'll probably be a little less likely to get really angry and so on. Report an error in the passage at 11:28
12:25 I was a little shy about doing that at first, because I don't want to disrespect anybody else's beliefs. But it's actually, I've had an altar for maybe six years at work, and I found it has a really... Positive impact. People generally, you know, there's a picture of the Dalai Lama and my other teachers. And then people often have questions and generally a positive view and often very positive. Report an error in the passage at 12:25
12:51 It brings up, you know, a nice discussion with somebody. Of course, you have to be very careful about, you know, talking about religion at work. Sometimes there's lines you can cross. Report an error in the passage at 12:51
13:03 But there's a way to do it that's, you know, non-threatening and positive. cross Report an error in the passage at 13:03
13:11 Very positive. I notice my employees really enjoy it too, even though many of them come from different spiritual traditions. So those are a couple of ways that I try to practice guru devotion at work. There's to imagine your teacher with you and also to have some sort of an altar at work. And again, these things could feel a little foreign to you if you're new to this tradition because in our culture we're... Report an error in the passage at 13:11
13:43 We believe everyone's equal, right? It's like a democracy, right? We supposedly live in a democracy. And it can be very uncomfortable for us to actually say that somebody has more achievement than us. Even when we're in school, I think in college we're very critical of our professors. professors, you know, we kind of bring talk. Report an error in the passage at 13:43
14:10 They talk about their faults very much to kind of bring them down to our level. So it can be a real challenge to say like, hey, there really is somebody who's worth my respect and even worth, you know, frustrating to like we do at the beginning of class. Report an error in the passage at 14:10
14:26 And that's, it's really essential and that's, there's a reason this is the first topic in the lamrim because it is actually difficult to get into the other topics without really respecting whoever's teaching them to you. Report an error in the passage at 14:26
14:42 So the next topic is the precious human rebirth. And this one is very practical for you don't need to be a Buddhist. Most of these topics you don't need to be a Buddhist in any way to practice. The first one with guru devotion is maybe kind of the exception actually. Report an error in the passage at 14:42
15:03 But I wanted to go in the right order or what I think is the right order. The precious human rebirth is to realize how valuable our life is. So it's great to do this immediately in the morning. I mean, that's what our teachers tell us and that's what I've found for myself too. It helps to generate what's called a joyful effort. So to have like a real enthusiasm for everything you're doing all day. Report an error in the passage at 15:03
15:30 Maybe some of you are people like that. And if you're a person like that, you notice when you go into a room. Everybody gets excited, like everybody wants to work with you, they want to talk with you and so on. Or maybe you know somebody like that. So you probably know somebody who you work with that just their coming into the room makes you want to do things with them, like anything even. Report an error in the passage at 15:30
15:55 Something that might have been mundane and boring all of a sudden becomes exciting because you're with this person who has a sense of humor, who's very enthusiastic and positive. So this is a way to make yourself that kind of person, is to think about how precious your life is. And so there's a lot of creative, simple ways of doing that, like to think just how magical it is that I'm alive. Report an error in the passage at 15:55
16:23 Sometimes I think, how amazing that there's something rather than nothing. And the idea of nothing is really, really deep in our culture. But Robert Thurman says, there's no evidence that nothing exists. You know, because nothing isn't just space. It's not air. It's really, it's an absence of anything. And when I think of it, it's often in the morning that I think of this, like, how amazing that there's something rather than nothing. Report an error in the passage at 16:23
16:58 You know, why would that be? It seems the way we're raised, we often think like, well, we think we're going to become nothing. Honestly, I guess that's the thing, is that we think we came from nothing and that we're going to nothing. That's not inspiring, not very inspiring. And there's also no evidence for it. Robert Thurman is very funny, but what he's talking about is something scientifically accurate, that there is no evidence for nothing in the universe. Report an error in the passage at 16:58
17:31 All we have is stuff, different types of stuff. energy and matter and thoughts um and thinking of it that way just opens you up i think to the magic of of reality even if there's no explanation for it because from the buddhist view you're asking questions you're just thinking like how is it that there's something rather than nothing That's a meditation. That's a meditation on precious human rebirth that you can do all day long. Report an error in the passage at 17:31
18:04 And you probably won't come to a conclusion because it's quite a profound and deep question. But just to think about it, this is the essence of analytical meditation in this tradition, is to contemplate a question. It's not necessarily ever to get to an answer, at least the way that I understand it. And then as you see people, like right now, you can think, oh, how beautiful all these faces are. Report an error in the passage at 18:04
18:31 What is it that brought all these beautiful faces smiling together into one room at once? I think it's Geshe Michael Roach who I got that thought from. What are the causes for all these smiling, happy faces here? Or just your attention? Oh, and then this is something really, really useful. you know Report an error in the passage at 18:31
19:00 I think it might have been from Ven. Sange Kadro, is to look at people, because you get stuck in a really solid idea of a person, especially when someone's causing me a problem. You know, like, oh, that person is causing me a problem. You know, they're the source. If they were gone or if they were just behaving differently, then I wouldn't have this problem. Report an error in the passage at 19:00
19:19 So in this antidote to that, what I think is that that person was born. You know, that person was in the womb for nine months. And then their mother made a big effort to push them out into this world and to take care of them, to feed them, to teach them and so on. And then there's this long chain of cause and effect until they're standing right here in front of me. And then there's a long chain of cause and effect until they die, hopefully long. Report an error in the passage at 19:19
19:51 And then there's a day that they're going to be on their deathbeds and that they'll be with their loved ones or they'll be alone. And they'll say goodbye to everything. So to look at all those people that we're working with and see their lives as a heroic arc, that every one of us is like a hero, you know, that has this beautiful, incredible arc to our lives, including yourself. Report an error in the passage at 19:51
20:16 But when contemplating on the precious human rebirth, that's often what comes back to mind to me and it really opens you up to the humanity of the other person. Report an error in the passage at 20:16
20:29 to think, wow, that person was born. Their mother's put all that effort and that person's going to die. And it often really softens, softens my heart. You can also do that with everybody on the street. As you're encountering people, it transforms them from being strangers into someone you really care about. Report an error in the passage at 20:29
20:56 Right, when you think, wow, that person was born, like think about them. The key with all the analytical meditations, like we've been taught, is to make it as specific and real as possible. So, I mean, it doesn't have to be too gory and graphic, I guess, with birth. But, you know, to think about that person being born, you know, think about the mother. Report an error in the passage at 20:56
21:18 So all the strangers, like try when you leave today, you know, as you see strangers, try to think about their mom holding them. You know, that little face. You know, every single person out there was like that and we don't, it's just not natural. We don't naturally, some of you might, but mostly we don't naturally think about that, right? Report an error in the passage at 21:18
21:39 So that's the whole purpose of these meditations is to train our mind like gradually, gradually, gradually. So that happens instantaneously. Like I'm sure for Lama Zopa, when he sees people walking down the street, that's what he sees. The whole arc of their life and even more, if you have some conviction about past and future lives, he might actually see the whole arc that brought them here, millions of other lifetimes of creating positive karma so that they could be born as a human. Report an error in the passage at 21:39
22:09 But for us, let's dispense with that because it's hard to come to conviction about karma and past and future. And just think about the arc of the person's one life. Report an error in the passage at 22:09
22:28 So that's one way to think about the arc of a person's life. The other way to contemplate precious human rebirth is when things go wrong, just to think about what you have. I'm sure you've heard this kind of advice before. But just to think, hey, at least I'm alive. At least I'm healthy. Even with big things, like say you've lost all your money. Report an error in the passage at 22:28
22:52 You know, all of a sudden some business deal went wrong or you got really sick and then got better but had to pay all the medical bills. Or like all these people, it's like, what do they say, like 700,000 foreclosures. Report an error in the passage at 22:52
23:07 So all these people who have like lost everything. So how do you deal with that situation? Because you can't change that situation. If you've lost all your money, you've lost your house, your mortgage is foreclosed. Report an error in the passage at 23:07
23:21 How can you at least transform your mind so you're just not miserable and getting angry and frustrated? And that's the time to think, okay, I'm healthy. I've got food. I have friends. I have this body, this incredible instrument. Report an error in the passage at 23:21
23:39 And from our teacher's perspective, that's all we need to attain enlightenment. That's all we need to become a Buddha, is to have a human body. instrument. Report an error in the passage at 23:39
23:48 Some basic conditions of like food and shelter and also some friends, you know, especially some friends that help us reinforce our positive behavior and not the negative behavior. Report an error in the passage at 23:48
24:02 And, you know, I think of, I have a friend, one of my teachers is a Kagi Lama and she went through really horrible things. Like she was, she was raped and they, People tried to kill her and threw her in a ditch and thought she was dead. And she managed to recover from that. She became a Buddhist nun and she forgave those people. Report an error in the passage at 24:02
24:28 And she's a person who has this blissful happiness, much happier maybe than any of us in this room right now. And she's the one that I heard this teaching very basic from. She said, you know, every morning I'm alive, I'm awake. I'm in good health. These are the perfect conditions for practice. Get to it. And then practice means whatever it means for you. Report an error in the passage at 24:28
24:57 In this tradition, you've really got to figure that out for yourself. You'll learn the whole Swiss peace knife techniques, but you'll have to figure out which specific ones help you. And so that's the purpose of this lecture is just to talk because there's some like, there's a real like, especially for our culture, there's a real sense of individuality and you've got to somehow adapt these teachings to yourself. Report an error in the passage at 24:57
25:27 So Lama Zopa, if you have his guru yoga practice, right at the beginning of that practice, he makes it really blunt and clear. He says, how lucky I am, I didn't die last night. Right? Just really get to the basics. Like even if you're... That really transforms your mind if you're upset about things like, hey, there's a lot of people. I don't know how many people die every day. It's something like 300,000 people or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 25:27
25:56 Is that in the world or I think worldwide? Something like maybe even more. But hundreds of thousands of people died last night. So how lucky I am I'm not one of those. And you have to be careful with these. There's a lot of teachings that are about comparisons and you never want to be feeling like superior or guilty, either superior or guilty about that fact. Report an error in the passage at 25:56
26:24 It's just a fact. You're lucky you didn't die yesterday and a lot of people did. Our teacher here, Geshe Dakpa, referred to these kind of thoughts as transforming the neutral into the positive. So an example of that is that when you're sick, like you are sick, Report an error in the passage at 26:24
26:46 When you're sick, as soon as you get better, you feel incredible, right? You just feel like the first day that you're really sick, you really feel better after you've had a cold or the flu or something like that. You feel so amazing. It's just like you're on top of the world. It's one of the best days of your year, right? And so you can actually cultivate that all the time. Report an error in the passage at 26:46
27:14 That's really the... And this is one of them. So you can actually just think every morning, oh, I'm so happy I'm not sick. And try to remember back. So this is why we cultivate, think about suffering, right? Try to remember back really clearly what it felt like when you had the flu or worse, if you've had worse medical problems. Report an error in the passage at 27:14
28:00 And then just think, I don't have those today. It's fantastic. It's a fantastic day to practice. And by practice, it doesn't mean you have to sit in your meditation room all day for 10 hours and do mantras. It means to go out and to be kind. to be kind to people and to do some of these practices when people are difficult towards you think about precious your life is So try those things, you know, see how it transforms your mind. Report an error in the passage at 28:00
28:45 So then... Really, really naturally, the next topic that we already touched on a little bit is death and impermanence. So once you thought about how precious your life is and everybody else's life is, then you think, oh, well, nobody has ever escaped dying. No one gets out alive, right? Like Jim Morrison says, I guess, right? Report an error in the passage at 28:45
29:14 It can be very useful. Once these prayers have some meaning for you, it can be very useful to memorize them. So this one that I memorized, this is one of the first things I memorized when I started getting into Buddhism. And I think it's from, you can tell me where it's from. I think it's from the Diamond Cutter Sūtra. Anyway, it goes like this. Like a star, an optical illusion or a flame, a magical illusion, a dew drop or a bubble. Report an error in the passage at 29:14
29:44 Like a dream, a flash of lightning or a cloud, so should one consider all compounded things. Report an error in the passage at 29:44
29:56 So it's this really beautiful statement the Buddha made on the nature of reality. It's just that everything is both impermanent and has some kind of illusory nature. Report an error in the passage at 29:56
30:13 And I'm not going to or not qualified to give a teaching on that quote. But just to, in some of you, you know, I saw some of you kind of smiling as you hear those words. Like there's something there that you can get experientially, even if we can't fully understand like what's the nature of reality, what happens to us when we die. Report an error in the passage at 30:13
30:36 But somehow reading and thinking about this Buddha's words, it opens us up to that feeling that there's something, there's some other aspect of reality that... Thank you for listening. something really about death and that all things end. But somehow it inspires us the way the Buddha said it. Report an error in the passage at 30:36
31:06 thing is, we want to cultivate this kind of... Report an error in the passage at 31:06
31:11 of beautiful, expansive, infinite view of death rather than the nothing view of death. Report an error in the passage at 31:11
31:24 though... You know, I've been practicing it. I meditate on this every day. And I know a lot of you guys do. You get tested. I think we all have times when we get... You all must have had some time when you got in a car accident or almost did or someone almost hit you or something like that. I actually passed out in a restaurant last December. Report an error in the passage at 31:24
31:48 I mean, it turned out I was okay. Nothing seriously wrong. But at the time... I came back too and then they called an ambulance, I had to go to the hospital and everything. And I just remember thinking, I don't want to die. I love my girlfriend and I want all these things. It made me realize that I don't at all have this sense of unattachment, this sense of death's Report an error in the passage at 31:48
32:27 a transition, this sense of death. can actually be something positive and blissful. That's what Venerable Rene has said to us, is that death is actually the most pleasurable, blissful experience you have, not the process of dying. But once you actually enter into that, we have teachings on the stages that you go through as you die and you have various visualizations and forms of light and then a beautiful kind of expansive feeling. Report an error in the passage at 32:27
32:58 Even scientists have studied this and asked people what happened, people who were clinically dead and came back. And they all come back with a similar account, that there was this great feeling of expansiveness and light and joy. Report an error in the passage at 32:58
33:17 So, I don't know, when I think of death, it often makes me think that I need to think about it more and more and more. Because I do have kind of fear and attachment. Report an error in the passage at 33:17
33:37 But to come to some kind of... attachment. Report an error in the passage at 33:37
33:39 This is probably the most difficult topic, I think, for a lot of people because a lot of us don't want to contemplate our deaths. I know my grandpa was an atheist and he had a living will. I was his healthcare proxy and he had a living will that said, you know, when I die or if I stop breathing, then don't try to resuscitate me. Report an error in the passage at 33:39
34:07 Don't do anything. I just want to die. And my grandpa really believed nothing happens when you die. It's just turning off the TV. Report an error in the passage at 34:07
34:17 So then, as he got closer and closer to his death, he was in the hospital. He was very close to his death. And I was his health care proxy. So the doctor came to me and said, what does your grandfather want when... If his heart stops, if he stops breathing, I said, oh, he's been really clear about that. He has all these documents. Just don't hesitate and let him go. Report an error in the passage at 34:17
34:45 And the doctor said, are you sure? I said, well, that's what he's told me for years and he has all these documents. He said, let's go ask him. I said, okay. So he went to go see my grandpa and I said, grandpa, what should we do if he stopped breathing? And he said, Keep me alive at any cost. Report an error in the passage at 34:45
35:09 So, I don't know. Now that I look at my notes, I'm not sure how beneficial this is. I guess I'm just trying to be honest in that what we're taught is to try to be really at peace with our death and to take it gently and to not be attached. But honestly, even though I've meditated on the topic, I mean, what's eight years times 365 days? It's a lot, like 5,000 times or something. Report an error in the passage at 35:09
35:36 So even though I meditate on death and impermanence 5,000 times briefly, I still have a lot of attachment and fear. So I guess I'm just trying to be honest in this talk rather than to say that I've really achieved any realization that it takes a lot of effort to overcome that habitual fear. So that's the reason we contemplate death and impermanence, is to just gradually make it like. Report an error in the passage at 35:36
36:09 So the next topic, actually there's different orders, but the next topic I want to talk about is karma. So this is actually one of the most powerful Report an error in the passage at 36:09
36:37 that i found was just to memorize the 10 non-virtues um you know there's 10 commandments in christianity and in the buddhism there's seven out of ten and then there's a couple there's there's a couple others that are unique to buddhism Report an error in the passage at 36:37
36:57 general idea of karma is that our actions have some result. When you think about karma, I think it's good to just think if you really believe this or not. Do our actions have a result or not? If we kill somebody, are we going to go to hell? Are we going to get a negative rebirth? Or are we going to be miserable for our whole lives and feel guilty? If we do something positive, are we going to go to heaven or get a positive rebirth? Report an error in the passage at 36:57
37:30 Or are we simply going to be at ease and happy in our life? So again with these topics, I think what a lot of my teachers have encouraged is to be open-minded about it, to not just swallow what we're taught, but actually to think for yourself. Do my actions have a result? Like Venerable Chukki was talking about a lot during the meditation. Report an error in the passage at 37:30
38:02 What are the real causes of happiness? And you can just think, try to be like a scientist and think, when have I been the happiest in my life? Was that a time when I was very selfish and getting things just for myself, you know? Was it when I bought a car or an iPod or I don't know. Or was it when I was being very generous? Report an error in the passage at 38:02
38:29 You know, was it when I was taking care of my grandpa or when I take care of my kids or, you know, whatever it is for you or doing something for my partner. So that's the common sense way that you can think about karma without getting too caught up in, you know, past and future lives and so on. Report an error in the passage at 38:29
38:55 But you've got to come to some conviction about that for sure. You want to verify it in your own mind like a scientist. Do my actions have a result or don't they? Report an error in the passage at 38:55
39:10 The Buddhist view is that ultimately all of these things are in your mind. That's why we suffer, that you're in hell. Hell is not necessarily a place that you go to, but you're in hell if you spend all day being angry and screaming at people at work. Then you come home and you feel horrible. You might feel guilty, but even if you don't have that level, you're just irritable and angry. Report an error in the passage at 39:10
39:34 You know, you're the person that generally suffers the most when you behave negatively. So there was another, this was again one of the first lines that I memorized was one of the Buddhist words that he says, abandon evil doing, practice virtue well, subdue your mind. This is the Buddhist teaching. So simply give up the causes of suffering. Give up being angry, being jealous. Report an error in the passage at 39:34
40:04 Having obsessive desire. Calm your mind. And then that's where happiness comes from. So there are these ten non-virtues, like ten things you're not supposed to do. Because if you do them, they'll make you suffer, they'll make you unhappy. And it's not because an authority said it, but it's because it's an experimental result. Report an error in the passage at 40:04
40:35 Shantideva, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. that if we do any of these things it usually leads to suffering so there's 10 of them shouldn't kill things Report an error in the passage at 40:35
40:51 if anyone's ever, probably everyone's stolen something somehow, like maybe cheated on your taxes or, you know, even if you haven't done anything else. Report an error in the passage at 40:51
41:01 something that's a good one yeah so you borrow something and not You're not really planning on returning it, you know, unless the person remembers. So if you think about those things, did they really make you happy? Like somehow, somehow you're doing this thing because you think it'll make you happy. Like, I don't know what it is, borrowing my friend's iPod or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 41:01
41:28 Or, you know, cheating on your taxes so you pay like $100 less tax, right? So somehow you think that that's... Report an error in the passage at 41:28
41:39 friend's ipod or whatever but then look inside your mind like what did this what did this event do for your mind um and if you really start looking usually you'll find some kind of disturbance that either you feel guilty um or you might feel like ego kind of arising that like i deserve this somehow like i've done this because there's a reason um you know because i have I have more more more problems problems than than somebody else in the world, so I cheated on my taxes a little bit because I deserve that money. But if you really look inside your mind, Report an error in the passage at 41:39
42:16 you'll find that agitated. There's some kind of agitation there. And it may be an agitation that is continuing for years, like thinking about that cheating on your taxes. Because you might be trying to justify it. Like, you know, your mind starts to be fighting with itself. You know, you've got different parts of your mind. And one saying, Shantideva, Shantideva Oh, Scott, it was fine that you cheated on your taxes. Like they have this war in Iraq and you know, you know, oh, you really cheated on your taxes because you don't want to support the war. Report an error in the passage at 42:16
42:45 But then I look inside my mind like, no, I cheat on my taxes because I want to have extra hundred dollars or thousand dollars or something. So that's the key is just to be honest with yourself and then don't use that to be even more upset about yourself. You know, the key is to let it go and just be like, OK, this is what's in my mind. Report an error in the passage at 42:45
43:06 I'm going to resolve not to do that again. This is why we don't steal. It's not necessarily because of the reasons society might tell us not to steal, because the authority tells you it's wrong, or because God says you'll go to hell if you steal, but actually because it just disturbs your mind. It makes you in hell right now. Report an error in the passage at 43:06
43:32 The next one, there's three physical non-virtues. So the next one is sexual misconduct, which is like not cheating on your partner. And it's the same thing there. Even if nobody finds out, in general, you feel terrible about doing something like that. And hopefully nobody here has done anything like that. But there's also like different levels of sexual misconduct, you know, because sometimes you might be like fantasizing about somebody else. Report an error in the passage at 43:32
44:03 Bam Anderson or something like that, I don't know. But these things, if you really look inside your mind, they're not really making you happy. They're actually making you feel agitated, like thinking again and again about something you want that you can't get, like a person. It just makes you more and more and more frustrated. Report an error in the passage at 44:03
44:29 And then there's non-virtues of your speech. frustrated. Report an error in the passage at 44:29
44:34 So, lying. And the same thing, just look at the effect it had on you. Don't take any of this stuff on authority. And if you can't verify it for yourself, that's what the Buddha said, if you can't verify my teachings, put them aside and you can examine them later. But there's no way you can accept them just on my word or on anyone's authority. So, same thing with lying. Report an error in the passage at 44:34
45:01 I think we all must have told lies and it's the same thing. You start to feel very bad about what you did and then it also gets so complicated because then you have to remember what was the truth and what was the lie and then weave them. There's often more lies that you have to, even if it's something seemingly harmless, Report an error in the passage at 45:01
45:32 Someone asks you how much you like their dress or something like that and you say like, oh, it's great. And then somehow it leads to more and more and more and more. Report an error in the passage at 45:32
45:46 I think we've all seen that, right? When you lie, then all of a sudden you have to make another lie on top of it, another on top of it. And then obviously if you get caught, then it will cause you a ton of suffering because once someone's caught you lying, they're not going to trust you ever again, really. Report an error in the passage at 45:46
46:06 Right. I mean, we've all had this experience when somebody's when we found out someone's been lying to us. Is it really possible for you to ever trust that person again? You know, even the one act of lying. So is it worth losing the trust and, you know, a lifetime relationship of somebody? Report an error in the passage at 46:06
46:26 And then we have so harsh speech is also considered a non virtue where you you speak out of anger. and it you know it harms people and it also harms you because what happens is you start to have fewer friends um or else you only have other friends who are harsh This is what Venerable Renee says. It's like when you speak gently and when you're kind to people and loving and funny and honest, then you have tons of friends. Report an error in the passage at 46:26
46:58 It's a mundane benefit and you don't necessarily need to be attached to that benefit. But it's the fact that when people see you as having gentle speech, being honest, then they trust you a lot and you can accomplish much more in this life. Report an error in the passage at 46:58
47:15 Divisive speech is also considered a non-virtue when you speak to divide people. So that one was very helpful for me to learn because you start to see that it's very, very subtle. Report an error in the passage at 47:15
47:28 With myself, I'll often try to get some kind of gain by using device of speech to divide people. So say, oh, you don't want to work with that person because they're not as reliable as I am. And yeah, that might get me a job. Report an error in the passage at 47:28
47:47 But then I've created this negative thought in another person. Like I've made someone else who, before I came and talked to them, they might have had a positive. positive or neutral view of that person. And then after I talk to them, they have a negative view of the person. So that's divisive speech and if you look at it at that basis, it's so sad. Report an error in the passage at 47:47
48:12 And this is so important. It seems minor because we do it all the time. But when people ask His Holiness, I've seen people ask the Dalai Lama many times, what can I do to stop war in the world? How can I stop the Iraq war? How can I stop what's happening in Darfur and so on? And every time the Dalai Lama gave the same answer, he said, make up with all of the people you have problems with in your life personally. Report an error in the passage at 48:12
48:36 So anyone in your family, any of your friends, anyone at work. Is, you know, stop speaking divisively, do whatever it is in your power to resolve that conflict. And that's the cause of harmony in the world. That's the best thing we can do as individuals to stop war. It's not demonstrating, although that's a great thing to do. It's actually being harmonious in our personal relationships. Report an error in the passage at 48:36
49:05 And then idle speech is the one that always surprises us. Report an error in the passage at 49:05
49:14 So, idle speech is speaking without a purpose. And we Report an error in the passage at 49:14
49:26 do this constantly, right? If we're talking about just pointless... It's so incredible that we can communicate with other people, right? It's such a blessing that... And you can do so much with your words. Like when you go to see the Dalai Lama, he'll speak for two hours and it will affect the rest of your life. So, we all have that potential. Report an error in the passage at 49:26
49:45 That's not just for the Dalai Lama. Or Geshe Dagpa or anyone else. We all have that potential for our words to be profoundly powerful, for people to be impacted for their whole lives based on something we said to them today. Report an error in the passage at 49:45
50:01 And so that's the motivation for avoiding idle speech. It's not like, oh, I don't get to talk about the TV show last night, Survivor or whatever. Report an error in the passage at 50:01
50:13 Instead of thinking of it as giving something up, like, oh, I have to give up. But there are even more harmful forms of idle speech though, because often idle speech, when you're sitting around, you just start to talk about other people. And you start to say like, oh, you know, so-and-so, like he has this problem with that person. Report an error in the passage at 50:13
50:34 So we just, to fill space, we start to talk about, once we're sick of talking about ourselves, I guess, we start talking about other people. And then that often leads into this idle speech or divisive speech. so. When we were talking about rejoicing, when we did the seven limb prayer, when you hear the Lamas speak, like sometimes we see our Lamas meet each other and it's so interesting to observe their conversations because they're all, everything they do is so pure, you know, so they start talking and all they're doing is rejoicing and speaking to bring people together. Report an error in the passage at 50:34
51:07 They'll say, oh, you know, Chodan Rinpoche is such an amazing teacher and did you hear those teachings and oh, did you see that movie Al Gore made? Like, isn't that wonderful how he's, It sounds a little sappy when you talk that way, but they also joke with each other and the Dalai Lama will tease people about not doing their practice. Report an error in the passage at 51:07
51:34 He's very funny and entertaining. So it doesn't mean you have to be like this person who's never making a joke and never doing anything funny. You can be very entertaining. Report an error in the passage at 51:34
51:47 But just avoiding kind of pointless things. Like why not, if we're going to spend an hour at lunch together, why not talk about something meaningful? We can still joke about it. It can still be funny. And then if you're really skillful, you can even use the normal topics of idle speech to become meaningful. Report an error in the passage at 51:47
52:04 Because really there's ways to find teachings in everything. Even, you know, Survivor, if you watch TV. There's even ways to look at that and see like, wow, these people. Like I've seen these shows sometimes. I don't have a TV, but I see it in a hotel sometimes. And everyone's so serious, you know. They have this like, it's like an illusion about their reality. Report an error in the passage at 52:04
52:26 They brought these people to an island and then everyone's like, they're so concerned with their loss. Like, I don't want to be thrown off this island. You know, it's so important. I want my reputation. You know, I want to get this money. Like it's this microcosm of our whole reality that they've created. Report an error in the passage at 52:26
52:44 But it's a total illusion. So you can actually look at that show and it's like a teaching on emptiness because you see that their reality is completely, someone constructed that reality. They built every little part of the set and their mental reality. And it helps us, you can watch that show and it can be an incredible teaching for your life because you can say, wow, my reality is actually like that too. Report an error in the passage at 52:44
53:08 Like I've got certain ideas and a script, kind of a little script and a set of rules for my life. But there's something, you can break out of that. Report an error in the passage at 53:08
53:21 So we're actually running out of time. Report an error in the passage at 53:21
53:31 One of the, I might just read this, this is something I memorized recently actually, it took a while. But every once, like I said, every once in a while you read something and it has like a visceral impact on you. And I'd really encourage everyone for those things you read that have that impact to memorize them because then you can have them, then you have it with you. Report an error in the passage at 53:31
53:54 And this was one about karma that Nagarjuna wrote that I memorized recently. And it tells you, what it tells you is that is the results of your actions, which I really like. And tells you the results of the positive actions. Because you get kind of down thinking about all the negative things to avoid. Better to think about what to cultivate. So there's what's called the six perfections. Report an error in the passage at 53:54
54:19 Our generosity, patience, joyful effort, concentration, morality and wisdom, cultivating wisdom. So, Report an error in the passage at 54:19
54:36 A little poem by Nagarjuna, I think, summarized it really nicely. So maybe that's like a nice way to end and then we can do dedication. So I'll tell you briefly the fine qualities of those on the path to compassion. Report an error in the passage at 54:36
54:51 Giving and ethics, patience and effort, concentrating wisdom, compassion and such. Giving is giving away what you have and ethics is doing good to others. Report an error in the passage at 54:51
55:06 Patience is giving up feelings of anger. And efforts a joy that increases all good. Concentration's one-pointed, free of bad thoughts, and wisdom decides what truth really is. Report an error in the passage at 55:06
55:23 Compassion's a kind of high intelligence mixed deep with a love for all living kind. Giving brings wealth. A good world comes from ethics. Patience brings beauty. Eminence comes from effort. Concentration brings peace. And from wisdom comes freedom. Report an error in the passage at 55:23
55:45 Compassion achieves everything we all wish for. A person who takes all seven of these and perfects them together will reach that place of inconceivable knowledge, no less than the world's protector. So Report an error in the passage at 55:45
56:03 that just summarizes everything. So it took me a really long time to memorize that one, actually. And I wanted to read it now because I thought I'd get nervous in front of everybody. I might forget it. everything. Report an error in the passage at 56:03
56:23 So yeah, so I got through the karma. I actually had a lot about karma. Yeah, so we can do the second part of karma. Yeah, and then everything, refuge and so on. So yeah, it's fun. So do you want to do, I was thinking of doing Shantideva's dedication prayer. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, do you want to do some questions? Report an error in the passage at 56:23
57:03 Yeah, any questions about what we talked about? Report an error in the passage at 57:03
57:15 Who was that last quote that you just said from? Oh, Nagarjuna? I don't know. I'll have to look it up. It's from the String of Precious Jewels. Precious Garland. I'll look it up. I'll tell you. Yeah, I know. Even the titles are translated differently. Nagarjuna was the teacher who... yeah. Report an error in the passage at 57:15
57:47 Revealed this middle way and the teachings on emptiness and dependent arising and the way that this tradition follows it. Maybe one of the most influential teachers of all Buddhism. You can look it up on Wikipedia. We have books by Nagarjuna here. But His Holiness is always mentioning Nagarjuna as... The source of the middle way teachings, which again is the middle way between asceticism and some Report an error in the passage at 57:47
58:32 kind of very materialistic approach. The middle way approach talks about many, many, many different things. There's no way I could speak intelligently about it. Report an error in the passage at 58:32
58:52 But I think the one that His Holiness gave a lot of teachings on emptiness and dependent arising two weeks ago in Pennsylvania. Report an error in the passage at 58:52
59:03 And the way that he talked about it is the middle way between either saying that things don't exist at all or that they solidly exist in the way that we see them. I think most of us tend towards that latter side. I've seen things as solidly existing, that I'm really here and isolated and independent from other things. Report an error in the passage at 59:03
59:29 But then you might think, oh, if I meditate then I'll dissolve myself and then I'm nothing. But then if you get, that's another extreme because then you might think, oh, there's no cause and effect and there's no reason to be moral. And so Nagarjuna was the teacher that solidly defined this path between those two extremes. Report an error in the passage at 59:29
59:49 In its most, most subtle elaboration, even towards explaining how our concepts and our teachings themselves are also dependently arisen, that even the concept of enlightenment, you know, enlightenment is dependent on all other beings for us to practice the perfections and so on. None of these things exist solidly on their own side from his perspective. So that's Nagarjuna. But, you know, that's a very poor explanation. Report an error in the passage at 59:49
1:00:17 Explanation. You should go, too. I'm just a... A student of Buddhism like you guys. And I think the purpose for me to give a talk today is just to show how you guys, how we all can just apply these teachings in everyday experience. But in order to really learn the teachings, you need a real teacher. So I encourage everybody to find one if you can. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:17
1:00:42 Other questions? Report an error in the passage at 1:00:42
1:00:58 I hope it's some benefit. So there's a... Shantideva, page 246 of this book. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:58
1:01:17 So for those of you who don't know who Shantideva was, he's also one of His Holiness' favorite teachers. And he wrote a book called A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life, which is how to live your whole life to benefit others. And we studied it with Geshe-la also for four years. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:17
1:01:41 Five years, yeah, five years. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:41
1:01:45 And it's just amazing because we don't get this kind of instruction. Like we study for however many years, 20 years in school, just how to do mathematics and writing and so on. But you can study this topic for 20 years and how to benefit people. And there's really some powerful techniques that you might not have thought about. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:45
1:02:06 So this is from the Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life, his dedication. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:06
1:02:16 And it's kind of like being a superhero, you know, that's very much, I think that's the closest thing in our kind of secular society towards what a bodhisattva is. It's someone who dedicates, you know, the lifetime of the universe towards benefiting others. So yeah, let's just, let's read this. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:16
1:02:40 Male beings everywhere, plagued by sufferings of body and mind. May no living creature suffer, commit evil or ever fall ill. May no one be afraid or belittled with a mind weighed down by depression. May the blind see forms and the deaf hear sounds. May those whose bodies are worn with toil be restored on finding repose. May the naked find clothing. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:40
1:03:15 the hungry find food, may the thirsty find water and delicious drinks, the poor find wealth, weak with sorrow find joy, the forlorn May there be timely rains and bountiful harvests. May all medicines be effective and wholesome prayers bear fruit. May all who are sick and ill quickly be freed from their ailments. Whatever diseases there are in the world, may they never occur again. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:15
1:03:53 May the frightened cease to be afraid and those bound be freed. May the powerless find power and may people think of benefiting each other. For as long as space remains, for as long as sentient beings remain, Until then, may I too remain to dispel the miseries of the world. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:53
1:04:22 And then you want to think really that you dedicate all the merits from our practicing, meditating and thinking about Dharma today so that we who have become Buddhas completely eliminate all of our negativities and Report an error in the passage at 1:04:22
1:04:46 tread as quickly as possible on this path to enlightenment. Thanks Report an error in the passage at 1:04:46
1:05:15 a lot. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:15
1:05:19 if you'd like to have treats and some tea and have a chat, I'm available if you have any questions. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:19
1:05:33 any questions you want to have Report an error in the passage at 1:05:33
1:05:39 mind if you could go ahead and come? Report an error in the passage at 1:05:39
1:05:51 He's tough. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:51
1:06:06 you know I think the blissful things in the dissolution Report an error in the passage at 1:06:06
1:06:22 Thank you. Here is one more booklet. Oh, thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:22
1:06:31 Yeah, just that we're definitely going to die and that time is urgent. It's like the twin of the precious human rebirth. I'm just scanning. Great time. Oh, thanks so much for coming. Right, wherever you can put them. Right where she put them is perfect. Perfect. She figured it out. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:31
1:07:04 it out yeah no that's a good idea I was I was Report an error in the passage at 1:07:04
1:07:20 working also little disappointments little changes can also be a change in your job you know Thank you for your time. fostering or you break up or you lose your job and those are all like thanks for coming um your name david david hi david i was just saying that all the little weird disappointments and stuff are also great Report an error in the passage at 1:07:20
1:07:53 breakups and also contracts like lots of 20 you know like whatever like they're all like little ways they're like oh wow yeah or like janet was saying yesterday in the shower like she all of a sudden she wasn't even doing anything weird but all of a sudden she felt like this pain in her lower back and she was like it's like that isn't that like don't become that fast like those little So do you mean that any loss you have is reliant? Report an error in the passage at 1:07:53
1:08:21 Yeah, it's after a lot of impermanence and then impermanence. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:21
1:08:33 examples. the biggest loss that we can imagine, like the loss of a wife or the loss of a job or that you never loved yourself. There's nothing to pray to your death. That's the biggest one of all. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:33
1:08:50 David, how did you find out about it? Google. And then the website this morning. I did mention, actually, that we have drop-in invitations on Tuesdays, Saturdays, and Saturdays. Yeah, I picked up the, because what I really wanted to do is learn how to meditate. Yeah, so those are great times for that. The biggest thing I started with. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:50
1:09:17 So you said, I was told the ones that are teaching. or this meditation? No, the 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Tuesday evenings. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:17
1:09:47 Okay. Yeah. Okay. Well, thank you. Great. Good to have you. Thank you. Have fun. Okay. Take care. Sometimes you get it. Sometimes . was a bunch going out in the mail. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:47
1:10:07 I think you may have grabbed a pound of it out of the bag. I was taking a bunch to mail. Oh. . It was. . Oh, sorry. Oh, I saw that. Yeah. So that person. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:07
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Talk by Scott Snibbe, recorded 27 July 2008. Original at Tse Chen Ling Center for Tibetan Buddhist Studies via Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/SN_SundayService_20080727. Licensed CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 US. Transcript generated automatically and may contain errors; the audio is the authoritative version.
Recorded at Tse Chen Ling Center, San Francisco, and archived by the center on Internet Archive. More from Tse Chen Ling