Mind Training, 6 April 1993, part 2

And then slowly as he progressed in his practice and made effort to implement the practices, he came to the place where the pile of black stones was equal to the pile of the white stones. And as he progressed progressed further and making effort in his practice, eventually, the pile of white stones became huge, and the pile of black stones became extremely small. Very good. Very good. Thank you.

Very good. So. Then when Geshe Ben saw how high the white pile had become, he would, scold himself. He’d go, wait. Wait.

And he said, if you aren’t, if you don’t improve, if you aren’t careful, I’m not gonna feed you tomorrow. I’m not gonna let you have any tea. So as he progressed in his practice, he was able to achieve place where he there were no black stones, there were only white stones. And that is to say he was involved in creating skillful actions both day and night. And out of this, not only mental actions, but the physical and verbal actions which flowed from his mental states would also be concordantly skillful.

And so this is the way that we can progress ceasing all our unskillful actions whereby we can eliminate our suffering, and we can achieve an ultimate type of happiness. And request that he might be able to generate the the mindfulness and awareness in order to be able to train well in in the in the skill of the mind. We in order to maintain a skillful states of mind, we have to develop these two factors of mindfulness and awareness. Without these, it’s difficult to keep the mind in a in a positive state. Okay?

So we’re to stop there for today. If you have any questions? Yes? Okay. So okay.

So, okay. So to be reborn in a celestial realm, those beings are still existing within cyclic existence. So they they haven’t attained enlightenment. Now according to Sūtra, one must attain enlightenment in the embodiment of a celestial being, you know, an enjoyment body. So one must attain one attains it on the basis of a of a the embodiment of a celestial being.

On that basis, one attains Buddhahood. And according to Tantra, one attains it on the basis of the embodiment of a human being. So that last statement has to be qualified slightly. In order to attain Buddhahood in this world, one must according to tantra, one must attain it in dependence upon a human embodiment. In in general, we even whether it’s Sūtra or Tantra, we can attain enlightenment, dependence upon either a human or a nonhuman embodiment.

Yes. Where is Free Will in Karma? Is Free Will in Ansom Farm? Just down the street. Free will.

Thank you. So is it the So the one’s free will arises out of karma. You know, like, there’s so what I was getting at was well, first, the the cup of tea, for example, the cup of tea, whether I’m going to drink tea or not. If there’s no cup of tea, then I have no free will to to choose to drink a cup of tea because there’s no tea there. So the the fact that there’s a cup of tea, which is I’m able to drink is a is a product of karma.

Then I also have to think, well, I’m going to drink the tea. And that also arises, but I can I can make that choice? I have the free will to make that choice because because of my karma. Without that karma, then I don’t have that free will to make that choice.

Thank you. And So, I mean, in general, there’s no such thing as mean, the word word I use to translate free will is is independence. Self powered. Self powered. In in general, there’s not there’s not such thing as self powered.

Everything is other powered. Everything is the other thing is is under the influence of causes and conditions. But in but when we speak of it in terms of, well, I’m going to drink tea or not drink tea, then we can talk about being self powered, that one has that choice, and that choice arises out of karma actions. So recommend that we develop faith in three Three Jewels, for instance. How can we how how how is that how how can we do that if if it’s if if there’s some sort of propensity for all being predetermined?

That’s And then Some people, they just by by listening to, you know, the teachings on the qualities of Three Jewels, they develop a very powerful faith, very readily. And this is this is, and this is out of the the force of having these predispositions, having listened to teachings and developed faith in in the past with respect to Three Jewels. Some people, matter what you teach them, no matter what you say, they aren’t they don’t gain any faith. This is due to a lack of predispositions in the past. So if we we are we are at present engaged in in listening to teachings on the Dharma where we describe the benefits of the Three Jewels, you know, where the disadvantages of of of not making use of the Three Jewels.

And through listening in this way, the the all the qualities of the Buddha, for example, we are implanting latencies which will gradually develop into a faith. You know, just like if we’re going to grow a flower, we have to plant a seed. If there’s no seed, then there’s there’s no flower will grow. So if there’s no seed of faith, then no faith can arise. And in in listening in the way we are, we’re planting seeds for the eventual development of faith.

So some people have lots of money in their wallet, in their purse, in their bank. And this is because they have practiced generosity in the past. Some people have they’re broke. They don’t have any money in their purse or the bank, and this is because they haven’t practiced generosity in the past. So this difference is brought about by those having practiced generosity and those who haven’t.

So previously, in the Buddhist time when Śākyamūni Buddha spoke one verse of the Dharma, thousands of people would achieve great realizations. They would achieve paths and grounds. They would, some would achieve the level of a foe destroyer. Some would become Bodhisattvas just by the power the force of listening to one verse. And this was all brought about as a result of their having listened to the teachings in the past and developing very powerful predispositions or latencies within their mind.

And we and for many, they though they listen to lots of teachings in the Dharma, they meditate, they don’t gain any realizations. They don’t come to any understandings. And this is due to their lack of latencies of listening and meditating previously. So now we are engaged in planting latencies, these predispositions, such that in the future, when when we receive teachings from the future Buddha, Maitreya, then we will gain instant realizations. So now we are engaged in these in the processes of listening, reflecting, meditating, and through all of these activities, we are implanting extremely powerful seeds within our minds such that in the future we will gain tremendous, we will develop tremendous qualities.

This, and therefore, in this, the opportunity that we have at present is really a golden opportunity. It is it it has great meaning.