Mind Training, 2011, part 8

Okay. Hello? Hello? So we will meditate for five minutes or so on generating the appropriate meditation for listening to these teachings on the Wheel of Sharp Weapons. Generally speaking, to listen to Dharma teachings, one must have a good motivation.

And this good motivation is a motivation to benefit all sentient beings as vast as space. Sentient beings are indeed numberless, countless in numbers, and for the sake of every single one of them, we should listen to these teachings with the wish to place them in the state of great enlightenment. Great enlightenment here refers to full enlightenment. And with this as a motivation, we should listen to these teachings. So So as the great Āryadeva, who was one who was Nāgārjuna’s foremost disciple, and Rinpoche says was an inconceivable scholar on equal keel with Nāgārjuna, said, where indeed are the hearers, rarer again is that what which is heard, yet again rarer is he who utters.

For that reason, it cannot be said whether cyclic existence has an end or not. This beautiful quote of Āryadeva refers in the case of the hearer to the Sangha, these are those who actually hear teachings, in the case of that which is heard to the Dharma, and in the case of the utterer to the Buddha who utters the Dharma. Now, all those who actually hear or listen to the Dharma, the Sangha, are are rare, rarer again is the Dharma which is listened to. Yet rarer again, however, is him who utters this Dharma, the Buddha. For this reason, we refer to the triple gem as in Tibetan, koncho sum.

Kon means rare and cho means supreme. Kon is refers to the rare objects from within this world, such as gold, jewels, and so forth. But within these rare objects, there is one supremely rare object, and this is a triple gem. Precisely because the Buddha is supreme among rarities, he is referred to as one of the triple gem. Therefore, in this world of ours, where are the listeners of the teachings, where are again are the teachings, and where are yet again are the Buddhas who utter these teachings.

As a result of this, Āryadeva says, it is not possible to say whether cyclic existence ends or not. While indeed cyclic existence has ended, has a boundary or a limit for arhats and Buddhas who have put an end to their own cyclic existence through great effort. Nonetheless, it has not had an end so far for sentient beings. Therefore, it is not possible to say whether cyclic existence has an end or not. As to cyclic existence or saṃsāra, what is it precisely?

In the context of Pramāna or debate, the great Dharmakīrti says, saṃsāra are the suffering aggregates. In other words, saṃsāra is nothing else but this process of cycling within the six realms of cyclic existence, the three happy realms and the three unhappy realms, which are none other than a result of virtuous and non virtuous karma. And then to understand in greater detail what are these three higher and these three lower rebirths, we have to understand that they arise respectively from virtuous and non virtuous karma. From virtuous virtuous karma arise the human rebirth, the rebirths of the demigods and the gods, and from non virtuous karma, or black karma arises the rebirths of the animals, the pretas, and the hell beings. Therefore, all six realms of cyclic existence are the result of virtue and non virtue.

Now, there are some nowadays who think that this is actually not the case, and that we choose our rebirth. We choose to be reborn in the higher realms, or we choose to be reborn in the lower realms. This is not the case at all. We are, we have absolutely no choice, no independence in the matter. We are impelled there by the karma we have accumulated.

The lower realms are characterized by various types of suffering, such as the six sufferings, the three sufferings, and so forth. And Ārya Nāgārjuna, the great being in this respect, said, from non virtue arises suffering, hence the lower realms from virtue arises the happy realms, and thereby beings progress ever upwards until they attain felicity. A Buddhist is one who accepts karma and causality. In other words, someone who exists, accepts the existence of virtue and non virtue. Now if we enter in detail in the presentation of these realms, the lower realms are the result of three different levels of intensity of non virtue.

As a result of great non virtue, one experiences in turn later on great suffering, and this refers to the hell realms. As a result of middling non virtue, one experiences middling suffering, which corresponds to the preta realms. As a result of small non virtue, one experiences small suffering which corresponds to the animal realms. So the rebirth is contingent on the greater or lesser strength of the karmic imprints. To give an example, in worldly matters, when a criminal is tried and the judge has to decide the sentence for a great crime, he will condemn, be sentenced to a lengthy stay in jail and great suffering.

For a middling crime, he will be sentenced to a middling stay, and for a lesser crime, he would be sentenced to a short stay. So in general in this matter, worldly affairs and the dharma are identical. As for virtuous or happy rebirth, from a high level of virtuous activity, one experiences rebirth as a god. From a middling level rebirth as a demigod, and from a small intensity of virtuous activity, rebirth as a human being. While gods themselves have not attained liberation, nonetheless, they experience great happiness, long lives, and extremely pleasant sensations.

So these six series of lives or cycles of existences are what is referred to as the experience of migrators, and migrators are beings who circumambulate in cyclic existence under the power of karma and afflictions. They circumambulate, Rinpoche says, in the same same way as the twelve hours of day, which correspond to the happy realms, are succeeded by the twelve hours of night, which correspond to the lower realms, and again and again. And therefore the rising upwards and falling downwards depend exclusively on karma. We have absolutely no control in the matter. Someone who has accumulated great non virtuous karma cannot be protected by the Buddha and will have to experience it.

Likewise, someone who has accumulated great virtuous karma cannot be prevented by the Buddha from experiencing its happy results. Therefore, from virtuous karma happiness arises, and from non virtuous karma unhappiness arises. It’s exactly the same thing that which he says as a scale. So if we have a scale, then if the virtue is dominant within our life lives, the branch of the scale will rise up and we will be reborn in one of the three higher realms. If on the other hand, non virtue and sin are dominant in our lives, then one of the branches of the scale will sink and we will fall into these three lower realms.

It depends exclusively on the respective weight of the karma we have accumulated. So in the same way as a mirror reflects everything which appears in front of it, the good and the bad, and is perfectly honest. If there are those among you who say that they have committed no sins, they have committed no faults, then check your minds with a mirror and examine carefully, and you will probably find that there are many faults such as killing, stealing, sexual misconduct. These all appear in this mirror. It is said of some one in a sūtra who had to recite some commitments that he actually sold the sūtra he was supposed to recite on the market, and then denied selling it.

When confronted, his confronter was able to point out quite clearly to whom he had sold it and he had no way to deny this. And regarding the respective weight and lightness of karma, in other words, virtue and non virtue, it is said that there has to be someone who inspects this, someone who verifies this. And this is the manifestation of Mañjuśrī, Yamāri or Yama, who verifies this. And when upon examining the dead person’s record, he sees that the dead person has accumulated much virtue virtue, then he stretches out his hand to him and congratulates him. On the other hand, when he sees great sin in the mind of the dead person, then he calls his savage helpers and they first start flaying and then beating the dead person.

If we were to examine carefully a representation of the 12 links of dependent origination, such as the wheel of life we see in monasteries, thangkas, then we would understand this better. We can see that one can move upwards in cyclic existence or downwards, and within the center of the wheel of life, we see the representation of three animals. A pig, a hen, or a cock, and a snake. These three symbolize respectively in the case of the pig ignorance, since pigs tend to be notoriously very stupid animals. And in the case of cocks and hens, this symbolizes desire because as you can see they peck at food all the time.

And finally in the case of snake, snake symbolize anger. So it is through the power of the three poisons that we circumambulate or that we travel within the 12 links of dependent origination, impelled or motivated by them. These three poisons, desire, anger, and ignorance are afflictions. And it is impelled by them, motivated by them, that we accumulate karma. However, the very root of karma is or ignorance.

This in and of itself is neutral. On the basis of of ignorance, it is possible to accumulate everything, both virtuous and non virtuous deeds. Regarding the two other poisons, desire and hatred, they mainly, if not overwhelmingly, lead to the accumulation of non virtue. Perhaps on the basis of desire, one can only accumulate non virtue, and on the basis of hatred or anger, one can only accumulate non virtue. Whereas when one refers to ignorance, one is referring to that ignorance which apprehends phenomena as truly existent.

So cyclic existence is akin to a watch, which is constantly moving, whether it wants to or not. We ourselves like to think that we are here and we will we will stay here. This is not the case at all. Will necessarily have travel on to migrate. We belong to the realms of the migrators.

The six realms of cyclic existence could be seen to on the face of a clock as corresponding to two hours each. Every two hours one has move on to another route. And we are called migrators precisely because we migrate. We have to leave. We have no choice in not migrating and migrate under the power of karma and affliction.

To give an example of what Jean if we were to take a factory for instance, factory and factory machines can only work under the power of electricity. So when there is no electricity, they simply don’t work. If we ask what basically makes the factory machines work, it is electricity or power. This corresponds to karma and affliction. Now, Australians like to believe that they have a lot of independent independence.

They are very independent and autonomous people. Rinpoche says this is absolute nonsense. There is no such thing. And therefore, cyclic existence can be understood as the continuum of suffering aggregates in keeping with Dharmakīrti’s explanation. This cyclic existence is composed of six realms, as Rinpoche explained, the three higher realms and the three lower realms.

And the continuum of the suffering aggregates refers to the continuum of the five or the four suffering aggregates. We ourselves have five aggregates. The form aggregate, our body, in other words, feelings, discrimination, volition, and consciousness, whereas gods of the formless realms have only four aggregates. They lack bodies or they lack the form aggregate. So, in our cases, we have five aggregates, and these are the five aggregates to which the Heart Sūtra refers in the famous passage, these five aggregates are to be understood as lacking inherent self existence.

These five aggregates in detail are first and foremost the form aggregate, which is our body. Secondly, the feeling aggregate, which is subdivided into happy, unhappy and neutral feelings. Happy feelings are, for instance, the feelings we have when we eat a good meal and enjoy it and say this is really tasty. Unhappy feelings or suffering arises when we are pinched and we say ouch, ouch. And neutral feelings are feelings which are neither happy nor unhappy.

The third category of aggregates are the aggregates of discrimination. We all have this, we recognize things and say this is this and that is that. This is a man, that is a woman, this is my husband, this is my wife, this is a horse, that is a cup, this is all the activity of the aggregate of discrimination. The aggregate of volition is that aggregate containing mental factors which are included within these three mental aggregates, the two first mental aggregates, which are feelings and discrimination. And this includes such mental factors as bodhicitta or for that matter, the view which realizes emptiness.

Finally, the last aggregate is the aggregate of consciousness, whose relation to the previous four is like that of a king to his servants. Consciousness cognizes, recognizes feelings and discrimination. All beings have these five aggregates. So we have to therefore ask ourselves what precisely cyclic existence is and cyclic existence is none other but the five or the four suffering aggregates of beings. The five aggregates for beings of the desire and form realms, from the form aggregate to the consciousness aggregate, and the four aggregates of the gods of the formless realms.

So when we refer to migrators of the six classes of beings, we are referring to persons. They have five aggregates if they are in the two realms of form and desire. And this is what circumambulates. These five aggregates are the product or arise from karma and affliction and they are what experiences suffering. They are actually the basis for the experience of suffering.

Persons actually are the transmigrators in cyclic existence. It is their bodies and their minds which experience sufferings. So we have to ask ourselves, is cyclic existence, is saṃsāra, a good thing? This is something which we can only know if we understand what actually are the six realms of cyclic existence of the migrators and their specific sufferings. Once we understand this, we will see it is not.

The aggregates which are the foundation of cyclic existence, in turn are that which experiences suffering. If the aggregates were not there, there would be no experience of suffering. So if we take for instance, the body of a human being, of a horse, of an animal and so forth, If this body is not there, the experience of bodily suffering of a human being, an animal and a horse does not arise. When we start reflecting on the suffering of the lower realms, we will be very humbled, because what we call suffering for ourselves in this human realm, such as heat or cold, is actually bliss for the beings of the lower realms. For the beings of the hell realms and the pretas, our suffering is great happiness compared to the agonizing suffering they have to experience.

Pretas, for instance, live five hundred years and more in bodies which are thin as twigs and which crackle when they move. They can never find either food or water as sustenance. If we were to be reborn in this way, it would be extremely hard for us to support it. So when we have no understanding of what the sufferings of cyclic existence are, it is ridiculous and pathetic for us to say that we have renunciation. What renunciation?

Let alone bodhicitta. What bodhicitta? We do not understand anything about this. His Holiness the Dalai Lama has said, my main practice is bodhicitta and the view of emptiness. Deity yoga, mantra recitation, looking grand and impressive, are of no benefit at all when there is real difficulty.

It is through meditating on bodhicitta and the view that we are able to benefit when we face difficulty. So we should adopt for ourselves the Dalai Lama’s prayers for as long as they are sentient beings, may I be a bridge for them. This is something actually we might want to recite on a regular basis. Otherwise, there is no foundation, there is no basis for the practice of body of deity yoga. Therefore, this practice of bodhicitta and of the view is fundamental and we ourselves should focus on this as our meditation.

Otherwise, to stand, sit back and say, I have recited 1,000,000 Manis, and to be filled with oneself at the thought of this puts us in the situation of someone who hasn’t even recited one single Mani. So says in his personal opinion, has himself received many initiations, given many initiations, done many retreats, completed the approximation retreats and so forth. And And it is true that the very essence of the Buddha’s Dharma is secret mantra, and it is worthwhile to implant karmic imprints in this matter. Nonetheless, Rinpoche himself feels that we do not understand the very basis of this. And because we do not understand the very basis, there is very limited benefit.

We are unable to protect the ethics, which is the foundation of practice, specifically the ethics of secret mantra, which includes protecting the root tantric vows and preventing from falling in the remaining vows and so forth. Now in as much as we don’t even know the root tantric vows or understand the remaining thoughts, it is very difficult for us to prevent from falling into them. Likewise, we have no bodhicitta and no understanding of emptiness. So the very root causes for a practice of secret mantra are absent. This therefore is an extremely dangerous situation.

And we can see when we practice in this way, that within our minds a lot of lung, a lot of mental energy arises and our minds become like whirligigs just running around left and right. We ourselves being unable to hold within our minds, literally to memorize these vows are incapable to protect them. As Śāntideva said, what is not held by the mind, how could it be held by the hand? Śāntideva likewise added, the mind is more dangerous than wild elephant, since it can precipitate us into the Avichi hell. A wild elephant can only harm our bodies, but our mind can harm us durably by causing us to accumulate great non virtues and fall in the lowest of the hell realms.

So having many commitments and not bothering to keep our commitments, we only generate ourselves the causes for ever lower rebirths. Instead in our cases, we should be realistic about who we are, and we should start by focusing on the practice of the being of small scope. This is a very good thing. One thinks of future lives, and a true practitioner of the small scope will not experience lower rebirths. That in dependence on this one moves upward to the practice of the being of middling scope, who is afraid of the sufferings of cyclic existence in general.

And then in dependence on this alone can one move up to the practice of the being of great scope who trains in bodhicitta. Otherwise, all this talk about arhats and bodhisattvas has no meaning. There is an anecdote from Tibet, which I will translate as best I can. It concerns a famous character called Akutempa, uncle Tempa. And in days of yore, Tibetans were very naive, which is actually very dumb.

And they believed what they were told. So Akutempa walked around making believe he was an emanation of Avalokiteśvara and he would throw his toga a certain way over his shoulders and say it was empty down here and empty back behind as well, which everyone thought was very profound. Therefore, we, within the two categories of love, love for our self and love for others, we have to start by having love for ourselves, since this is what will protect us from the lower realms. Through wishing by being protected ourselves from the lower realms, in turn we can wish to protect others from the lower realms. Otherwise, if we do not have good self love, then how can we hope to love others?

Any talk of others at this point is empty talk. It is meaningless. Therefore, we first have to want to eliminate our own suffering, and on this basis alone can we wish to eliminate the suffering of other sentient beings. We ourselves are heading straight to the lower realms. This is our destination.

And the only means to be freed from this, to eliminate this, is the practice of virtue. Money, wealth, health and so forth will be of absolutely no benefit at this time. It is only virtue which is of benefit. Therefore, we have to take refuge in the triple gem, abandon the practice of the 10 non virtuous deeds, practice the 10 virtuous deeds, and on this basis alone can we hope for a higher rebirth. Not understanding what are the 10 virtuous deeds and what are the 10 non virtuous deeds is the surest way to lower rebirth.

So this practice of taking refuge, abandoning the non virtues and practicing the virtues, is what it means to be a Dharma practitioner. There is no such thing as a Dharma practitioner who does not do this. This body of ours is actually the very foundation of our own cyclic existence, of our own suffering. All beings, all migrators, whether they are human beings, fish, horses and so forth, transmigrate under the power of karma and afflictions, and experience their own cyclic existence within their own bodies. If we were able to eliminate cyclic existence, we could eliminate suffering, and this is what the Arhats have done.

They are no longer born under the power of karma and afflictions. The same is true for the Buddhas and so forth. They have put an end to their own cyclic existence through putting an end to the cause of suffering. As a result of this, they experience only happiness and don’t experience even the slightest suffering. We therefore must practice, otherwise there will be no liberation and there will only be the experience of the lower realms, which will be very difficult.

So since beginningless time, we have been circling from the higher to the lower realms and back, and this has been going on and on under the power of karma and afflictions from which we must strive for liberation. Foremost, as things to be eliminated are the afflictions. These are the three afflictions symbolized by a pig, a cock, and a snake, symbolizing respectively ignorance, desire, and hatred at the center of the wheel of 12 links. These must be destroyed. So he says we’ve not had time today to enter in the Wheel of Sharp Weapons, but he would like you to reflect on what he said.

And if you have not understood, ask your friends. It is not enough to reflect and to understand what was said. We have to practice it. If we practice it, it can protect us. If we do not practice it, it will not protect us, it will not help us.

The same way as just making a meal and not eating it does not protect us from hunger, we must eat it to be protected from hunger. Or just drinking, putting a glass of orange juice on the table and not drinking it does not protect us from hunger. We have to understand that when we harm others, we harm others and ourselves at the same time, because as a result of our harming them, we ourselves will be harmed in the future. When we help others, we help them and we help ourselves at the same time. Because as a result of helping them, we ourselves will be helped in the future.

This is the very essence of Buddha Dharma. What we do to others, we ourselves experience. When we help, we are helped. We harm, we are harmed. Apologizes.

It’s after 09:00. So Rinpoche has finished commenting only the first verse of the two verses of Āryadeva he was commenting today. The second part of that stanza, that it is not possible to say whether cyclic existence has an end or not, he has not commented, he will comment on it next time. It is very difficult for us to know. So Rinpoche will explain quietly next time whether it has an end or not.

There are numerous examples in Bodhicaryāvatāra which Rinpoche will refer to progressively over the next couple of weeks. Okay. Thank you.