Okay, so we continue from page To strengthen one’s bodhicitta after taking the bodhisattva vows, best always reminded the needs of sentient beings’ enlightenment and dedicating every single action of one’s body, speech and mind for all sentient beings’ ultimate liberation. And if that is not able to do so, then at least be reminded with the short prayers. There are a few prayers that you can engage. One of the prayers is this one in the text, so you can recite this and remind the Buddhist vows and the commitment that you have taken. Or you can also recite the four line prayers of refuge in bodhicitta.
You refresh the refuge, then after that, from the first two lines, refresh the refuge, then the second two lines, refresh the bodhisattva vow. Then another prayer is the four line bodhicitta prayer. The first one is rousing bodhicitta. Now this one is a bodhicitta prayer, So you can recite that, or you can take the bodhisattva vow. There’s a letter, I think, restoring the bodhisattva vow or taking bodhisattva vow.
So there’s about half a page. Prayers, the teachings can be recited. With that, then you retake yourself out. If you cannot manage to take a few rounds, but at least one time in the morning. So before you start your daily activities, then you freshen up yourself, and if you have an altar, you arrange the altar.
If not, then just visualize Buddha Bodhisattvas. Wherever you are going to take the vow, then do three prostrations. If you can manage, do the seven limb practice. Then after that, do the short mandala offering if possible. If not, just do three prostrations, kneel down, put right knee on the floor, left knee put up, then put the palms together like this, and put hands at your heart, refreshing your Buddhist vows.
And that refreshing itself, case any degenerated, it will revive. If there’s any transgression, it purify that. It won’t take much time. You can do it within five minutes, very easy. So therefore, since it’s taking just five minutes, if you can do at least twice a day, one in the morning before you start your activity and one is before you go to bed.
Brush your teeth and then after that, two, three prostrations and do short purification practice reflecting throughout your day. And those negativities, negative imprints that are accumulated from the beginning of this lifetime to purification on the basis of Vajrasattva practice. Reciting thirty one times or just recite seven times. If possible, the long, hard syllable mantra. If not, just the short one.
Just seven times, very fast, om ben ze sata om ben ze ben ze ze sata om like that. Then, you can, then good to engage the four opponent powers when you do the Vajrasattva practice. Purify, including the transgression that’s committed, even in case transgression happens to the bodhisattva conduct. Transgression on refuge vow, transgression on bodhisattva. If you are Sangha, transgression on the Sangha vows.
Just everything purified. Then after that, then recite the prayer that which you the Buddhist vow, you can recite that prayer, or you can recite the rousing bodhicitta prayer, or you can recite the four line bodhicitta, dedication prayer, then restore the conviction that, okay, now I have pure vow, I’ll restore it and all the transgression is purified. So you should label that, not just name, but label that with conviction that you did it. So this is how you keep up day to day the purity of your practice and your vow. Then he has said, Do not give up bodhicitta because of the misbehaved deeds of sentient beings.
So this is one of the reasons that we may give up. If Śākyamūni Buddha is unable to liberate all sentient beings, how can I possibly look at them, so difficult people? So that’s the danger. So don’t excuse the Śākyamūni Buddha, he has done his part, we have to do our part. There are so many sentient beings who don’t have direct affinity with Śākyamūni Buddha.
There are so many sentient beings, Very obvious, your family members are dependent on you. Your family members’ enlightenment is dependent on your enlightenment. So they are waiting for you to become Buddha so that they can be your first disciple when you turn the wheel of Dharma. So you have great privilege but big responsibility. Great privilege of becoming in the category of Buddha’s family member, but then at the same time the responsibility, know, have to live up to the privilege that we have.
So therefore, we just cannot give up anybody. If you give up one person, one being, then that transgresses, Buddhism, a vow, just even one person. Ninety nine percent of sentient beings are all right, but one person, I just cannot handle them. That’s not allowed. Building up the very matured bodhicitta through the training, the gradual training from the seven causes and effect, or the four point training, and that will make sure your bodhicitta is a really genuinely matured one, a very solid one.
In that way, then you always will have an antidote to deal with difficult situations when you’re practicing altruism. So D, work to accumulate the true collection of merit and wisdom. So, while developing bodhicitta, the method, then simultaneously we also need to develop the wisdom. So therefore, just being kind generous, but then you also need to try to figure it out, absolute reality of things and events and self and others. At least starting with knowing the reality nature of such as impermanence, such as interdependent cause and effect.
Then eventually to actualize the understanding of two truths, relative truth and ultimate truth, on the basis of self and on the basis of other. So, well developing compassion and altruistic bodhicitta, simultaneously we also need to develop the wisdom. These two have to go together. Because without wisdom, you cannot eliminate the saṃsāra. So without bodhicitta, you cannot fulfill the benefit of sentient beings, actualizing enlightenment.
So both are needed. So that’s why I say work to accumulate two collections of merit and wisdom. By developing wisdom, we’ll accumulate the merit of wisdom. By developing the method, such as loving, kindness, compassion, bodhicitta, we’ll develop the merit of method. And the merit of method will bring about the result of Buddha’s Rubakaya body.
Developing the wisdom, will bring the Buddha’s dharmakaya body. So on the basis of two truths, you develop the two paths. And by developing the two paths, you will bring into the resultant the two resultant Buddha’s body. So learn the knowledge of two truths. The two truths are the knowledge that we need to learn.
By learning the conventional fact of saṃsāra, develop compassion, loving kindness. Then that will develop the method part of the practice. And that will eventually result into Buddha’s Rūpakāya body in the aspect of Sambhogakāya or Nirmānakāya benefit that we can offer greatly to sentient beings through those platforms. Then, learning the ultimate reality of the conventional phenomena, which is learning the absolute nature of all the phenomena, including the absolute nature of saṃsāra and nirvana, can be able to result to develop the wisdom realizing emptiness. And that wisdom realizing emptiness, through the absolute purification of all the defilements, will bring about the dharmakaya bodies of the Buddha, or dharmakaya results of the Buddha.
In the beginning, you can acquire extensive merit by making offerings to the poor and to the Three Jewels, and wisdom by contemplating emptiness. So this will help to strengthen your bodhicitta. So the emptiness realized by the bodhisattvas is called the ultimate altruism. We also call it the ultimate bodhicitta. The bodhicitta that is realized through loving kindness, compassion is called the conventional bodhicitta, or conventional altruism.
So from the content of Mahāyāna, just Mahāyāna practice, then altruism can be interpreted into two, ultimate altruism and conventional altruism. So conventional altruism is referred to the bodhicitta, which is very much referring to the conventional aspect. Ultimate altruism refers to the wisdom of realizing emptiness, which is infused by the bodhicitta. So it’s like two wings, it supports each other to cross over the oceans of saṃsāra and to reach the state of full enlightenment. So how to maintain and enhance your practice in future lives, page seven.
So for that, abandon the four negative Dharma, knowing confusion one’s knowingly confusing one’s abbot guru or other holy beings with lies, such as changing the subject when your guru asks you to do or not telling your guru or your thing because your affair of his calling you. So basically, be very lawful, obey the law. If you are in a monastery environment, then yes, starting from Abbott, the discipliners, etcetera, etcetera, you have to follow the law, be lawful with very much respect, So not just in the monastery, but everywhere, wherever you are, different places, different communities have their own individual ethical disciplines, so following that, not against that, and try not to use mysterious ideas to stick around. So in that way, then your body, speech, and mind is always kind of under the influence of moral discipline, especially the altruistic discipline. That way, without any doubt, the five powers in the lifetime, which one of the powers is the imprint of the virtues, imprint of the altruism, be fully matured and you can utilize those five powers as a tool of the five powers as transferring one’s consciousness into higher realms at the time of dying.
So without a consistent remaining within the boundary of discipline, it’s so difficult for us to have a concentrated imprint on the virtues. Discouraging others from practicing virtuous actions. So we always have to inspire others to accommodate virtues, which is the best way is oneself living in the virtue. Oneself always tries to encourage others to practice altruism by oneself living in the example of practicing altruism. And not only that, not misusing the Dharma, not misusing the altruism in the name of altruism, then completely indulging in worldly concern.
You’re not supposed to do that. So always remain free from the worldly concerns when you engage in the practices of Buddhist verbal conduct. Sometimes, Sangha vow is superior, there’s no point for to practice bodhisattva vow. Especially being someone as a Sangha, I have individual liberation vow and you’re nobody. As long as you are not Sangha, you have no hope And really hurtful, and there’s a danger of feeling there’s no point in holding the Buddhism vows like that.
And people do make mistakes, so it’s asking us to be mindful of that. Abusing bodhisattva out of anger. Even if bodhisattva is at fault, if your abusive words are hurt by others, you create this negative karma, negative Dharma. Negative Dharma, I don’t know. Negative karma.
One is newly practicing or observing the Buddhist vows, perhaps good to be extra careful in order for us not to commit any transgression or not to interrupt the continuation of the impact of bodhisattva conduct, even from a future lifetime. Then always find ways to avoid extensive committing or negative karma. Such as angry towards Buddhas is more extensive, more intense negative karma than angry towards AryaBodhisattvas. Angry towards AryaBodhisattva is more extensive than angry towards ordinary bodhisattva. Angry towards ordinary bodhisattva is more intense than angry towards arhats.
Arhats are more intense than angry towards ordinary people. Among ordinary people, although some are doing a lot of good things, a lot of kind words, and angry at them is more intense than angry at someone who is always doing the wrong thing. So I’m just asking us to be mindful of that. So putting on an air of selfless thought, but having ultimate motivation in other than the pure wish to attain enlightenment. Oh, I practice bodhicitta.
So boosting your arrogance, showing your arrogance, which is very dangerous. So again, it has to be mindful. So the higher the practice the practitioner has, the more humble the practitioner should become. The longer the practitioner practices Dharma, the more humble it should become. The more you hear of greater and greater Dharma, need to see the sign of more subdued speech and physical gesture.
The effect of the more that you meditate, less the delusion has to see the result, the impact. So bodhisattva vow and bodhisattva practice is so high and comparing oneself having that vow with someone who doesn’t have a vow, one has to be even more humble than someone who doesn’t have. One has to regard even much less important than someone who doesn’t have. So this is the attitude that we have to have. Practice the four positive Dharma that oppose the four negative Dharma.
This one maybe I won’t go through, so you can just read it very easily. Engaging bodhicitta. So now it goes to engaging bodhicitta. The commitment of having taken the vow, developed engaging bodhicitta, divided into two sections: eighteen root vows and forty six branched vows. The eighteen root vows, you must abandon, praising yourself or belittling others out of attachment or receiving offering or admiration.
And this is danger. It sounds quite simple, but it’s quite easy to commit. Sometimes during just casual conversation, sometimes you are gossiping, praising yourself and trying to put down others by saying little, little, small bad things. As a bodhisattva, then no. For the purpose of inspiring others, you may say, I have this and these qualities, but then not with the attachment to receive respect or receive admiration offerings, not for that purpose.
More than that, praising yourself and blaming others, which are absolutely not allowed. So always have to speak wisely and kindly, and think kindly, think wisely. So then second is, even though you are able not giving material aids to others through miserliness, or not teaching Dharma to those who are suffering and without a protector because you want to amass knowledge just for yourself. Generosity in your capability. So you cannot overstretch either material level or any form of generosity.
You need to have the capability. So when you know you have capability, then due to the grasping to the object with generosity, then you hold back. That’s again the bodhisattva’s conduct. So it will break one of the vows. It’s not like I practice this vow and I must give because I have a bowl of rice which is enough for one week and now I practice bodhisattva vow and that bowl of rice gives away.
You have nothing. You also have to be practical. You are a human being, you still need to survive on the food, and that’s the only means you have, then you can share half, but you don’t have to give everything. That doesn’t mean you break the transgression. But you have abundance than just holding back, so that’s not the right thing like that.
Or, if you’re not capable to cut the tie and give to the tiger, then even though you have tie, but then better not, because you’re not capable. Eventually we need to bring into perfection training through these vows. We need to come to a perfection where we can be able to give whatever we love, including our body, including our organs. But then we are only allowed to do when we really are capable. So that means totally free from miserliness, free from regret.
Free from miserliness, free from regret after giving. You only need to receive a sense of rejoicement. Like Āryadeva. Āryadeva only got one eye, the great Indian pandit from the Sixth Ornaments, two supreme, the great Indian pandits, Āryadeva. So he was actually put into a test by the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and he didn’t know that was actually a test.
But then he was practicing Mahāyāna Dharma and altruism and very compassionate. So while he was walking through one place, he saw one old lady begging for eyeballs. It’s very, very destitute, poor old lady asking for an eyeball. Then Āryadeva thought, Oh, I have two eyes, I can use one, and one I should give. So he plucked the eyeball and gave it to the old lady, and right in front of him, after receiving, smashed the eyeball on the rock in front of Ayadeva.
Āryadeva said, Oh, I shouldn’t have given. Now she doesn’t have, I also don’t have. Since then, Āryadeva didn’t gain his eyeball back. But if he did totally free from miserliness or free from regret, he will gain back. The old lady will have the eyeball and he will have the eyeball back.
So this is just an example that we need to have that much selflessness. Then you are capable to do. Like Buddha himself, the great hearted bodhisattva, who makes the charity of his flesh to the five tigress. So that time he was traveling with another prince, and that other prince regarded as one of the reincarnation of Maitreya. And this bodhisattva, great hearted, he is the reincarnation of previous reincarnation of Śākyamūni Buddha.
So two of them had quite a great gap of intensity of their altruism. So Maitreya, he has great compassion. He really wants to liberate the hunger of these five family tigers, but then he has no courage to give his own flesh. He’d rather go and search for the food. But then the Buddhist self was great hearted.
He just sits there and if I go to search for the food, by then maybe the tiger is already dead. Rather, what I have, I have flesh, and so I cut the flesh and asked to eat. And he was put into another test that he was able to cut his thigh and asked the tiger to eat, but the tiger didn’t want to eat. So already cut. The tiger don’t want to eat.
So then the bodhisattva instantly gets into making aspirational requests. You must have it. By having it, you will create a connection with me to be born as a first disciple turn the wheel of dharma. So right after that, it confirms a definite selfless generosity, even in your body. Then the tiger consumed the meat and consumed the entire body.
After that, the great hearted bodhisattva, he was born a Tuśita, pure land. Then from there he descended and manifested as Siddhartha. When he came to turn the wheel of dharma and he met these five bhikshus, it’s the reincarnation of these five tigresses, and turned the wheel of Dharma on the Four Noble Truths. So how amazing it in short, you need to be capable to do it. Otherwise, cannot how to say?
I think there are transgressions that if you are not sure and you try to act like bodhisattva, and you fail miserably, you will fail. So we need to know well about our capability. So, okay. So I don’t know. It seems like I’m discouraged.
So the third one is not forgiving others, but harboring a grudge and holding it even when they apologize. We, as a beginner, sometimes if we are not mindful, we may do that. And even if we have this kind of attitude for even one moment, then it does get it. So we need to practice well with the practice of forgiveness, especially when someone asks forgiveness, then you just have to say yes, no problem. So then the fourth is abandoning the Mahāyāna teaching by saying that some part of the teaching are not teachings of the Buddha and propounding your own fabricated or perverted doctrine.
Certain teachings are almost impossible. How possible is such practice totally taking other’s suffering onto you and giving all your happiness to others? Are you sure there is such practice and anybody could really do that? Is it just a saying? Maybe this is just a blah blah blah.
Sometimes you reinterpret that and make it very diluted. So not to do that. The fifth is taking by offering to the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha, or taking them by robbery or dubious what do you call? Scames, using for your own purpose material dedicated to the Sangha. Whenever we take offerings, even not necessarily in the actual buddha, actual Dharma refuge, ultimate Dharma refuge, ultimate Sangha refuge.
But even for the conventional buddhadharma, Sangha refuge, whatever offerings that you take, you take as a blessing. You need to have the idea of taking as a blessing. They have consumed the nectar, then you are taking the blessing. Otherwise, just take it as a material, just as a possession, has nothing to do with granted as a blessing, then there’s a danger of committing the transgression. Among the three objects, the heaviest is the relation to Sangha.
Then second is to Dharma, then to the buddha. Not the other way around. So then, even to the conventional Sangha, if it’s something dedicated for the conventional Sangha, then if the Sangha is alive, then take it as a blessing. If it’s given by the sangha, then that’s fine. But if you didn’t give, you need to take and you need to use, consume, then you just take it as a blessing or for the right purpose.
And for this purpose, logically, it’s definitely he or she will permit you, because it’s like that. So we do tsog offerings, we make a lot of offerings during the tsog offering pujas, and after that we distribute the tsog around people. Even the person who distributes, it’s just good to have an idea that this is granted a blessing by the Buddha’s merit field and to share with all the people as a blessing to bless their heart. Even individually, if possible, it’s good to have a good thing like that. But if not, at least either the vajra master or the channel leader or at least the ritual assistant who go and distribute the tsog should have that kind of idea and share around to bring the purity of that aspect of practice.
Then the seventh is harming an ordinary person, inflicting violence on them, stealing their robes or causing them to lose their vows. So there are many, many ways to harm even dividing the community, even though that is one of the heinous crime, but then if it’s a Sangha community, then it’s destroying the Sangha’s way of life, which is heavy karma, and also So if it’s conventional, ordinary monk or nun, then from the lay community, especially those who practice Buddhist vows, then we have to relate to them with a certain degree of mindfulness. Because in the Sangha, monks or nuns, there are so many different levels of Sangha, monks or nuns. There are sanghas, there are monks and nuns who are already enlightened and continue to inspire and preserve the dharma and inspire the sentient beings. They again manifest to pursue these Sangha robes, Sangha vows, and live in the monastery.
And there are a bunch of Sangha monks and nuns that are not enlightened, huge merit accumulation from the past, and they again dedicate their life preserving Vinaya vow. And there are a bunch of sanghas who by force of their parents or their community or their livelihood, because no food to eat, no place to stay, and forced them to be in the monastery, become a mom or nun. Or by the parent, just due to the culture, you must become monk, you must become nun and forced into monastery, but not by their own will. So they are not necessarily subdued ones. They’re still struggling.
They still have to remain within the monastery discipline environment, but then there’s a lot of struggle. It’s not fully subdued. As a lay person, coming in contact with these type of people, these type of monks or nuns, if there’s any opportunity to give up the robe and run with you, it happens. Then there are a bunch of monks and nuns in a lay society that just can’t handle them. Send to a school, school teachers, school cannot handle these little boys or girls.
Basically, no one can handle them. Then the society or the parents just decide that the monastery has the strictest rule, and hopefully they can be tamed there and force them to bring into the monastery. These monks and nuns can be quite wild, you know? They can be more wild than many of the very wildly people. Maybe some of them just waiting for the chance, either to take advantage of you with money or take advantage of being disrobing in any way, there’s a possibility.
So therefore, there’s a certain degree of mindfulness required when we relate to Sangha because we don’t know what level they are. So therefore, in any way they have the vow, whatever way they in, for the benefit of your practice, you have to view them as a Buddha. You have to view them as a Buddha in the robe. It’s a Buddha in the human being, as a monk or nun in the monastery. So you just have that belief to any Sangha from a three or four years ordained monk or nun until the old one.
Whether they have education or not, as long as they have the vow, just regard them as a Buddha. Just regard them as a refuge, an object of refuge from your heart, then physically it’s good to have a fine line. Usually, I advise my students, those who visit monasteries before they visit, I always say don’t go and do handshakes with the monks and nuns. Don’t go and give a hug even though this is your culture, which is wonderful. But then, most of the monks and nuns are in the east, not in the west.
In the eastern culture, even in Thailand or Cambodia or Burma, or even in Nepal, India, Tibet, they don’t have much culture of hacking. The best is to do like this, like that. So maybe even the monk comes with, Hello, you just do like that. This is very powerful. It’s a very powerful protection, very, very powerful.
The moment you do that, the hand stops. And this is such a wonderful gesture of respect, such a wonderful gesture of respect. And you have the pure heart. And if in case of untamed sangha who may possibly be taking advantage of because you show so much respect, they just kind of set back, and you are helping them. It’s so powerful.
You’re just helping them. So you’re just also, Ah, no. So then everything messes up. So it happens. So like that.
Based on the Vinaya assertion, as long as there’s four fully ordered Sangha, that means definitely there’s one arhat. So we don’t know who are arhats. It can be in the rough look monk, in the aspect of a very rough look monk, or in the aspect of a very subdued monk. You don’t know. Just for the practice, just regard everyone as an object with your refuge, the Sangha refuge, and physically have some distance.
And always, there’s so much benefit in physical respect and verbally. I think for the sanghas, I think what do you call that maybe more beneficial not to be too frank. Be very kind, be very respectful, but sometimes frank also makes you easy to lose your senses. It’s very easy. So like that.
Sangha is then there’s no point discussing about movie with the sangha, isn’t it? No point discussing movie with the sangha. So since they are the kind of dedicated girls and boys in the Vinaya monastery life, then they should have more idea about Dharma. Because they are dedicated to practice Dharma, even their way of life, then the conversation is like just always discuss about Dharma. That also helps both sides to only bring virtuous benefit.
So this is how we should relate to the sangha. So I think in the west at the moment, there’s not much of that culture yet. You see, Hello, how are you? So I saw some great sangha who had been sangha for more than thirty years, but there’s no how to say, inconvenient how to behave in relation to them. Due to that, sometimes I cannot feel the value of the existence of Sangha, even though they may be so pure.
So anyway, like that. And Sangha is so important, it’s needed. Buddha’s says whether Buddhadharma exists or not, it depends on Vinaya, the existence of Vinaya or not. Existence of Vinaya is dependent on the Sangha. Sangha is, in any way, for the preservation of Dharma.
Sangha does not necessarily always come in the monastery amongst the nuns. In the conventional Sangha, then yes, it has to come in the monastic way of life. The ultimate Sangha is someone who realizes emptiness directly, and whether it’s in the layperson form or audience, it already becomes ultimate sangha. So as long as you have emptiness realization, direct realizing emptiness, you have reached the path of seeing and become ultimate sangha. Three fifteen to three thirty is tea time.
Whatever you think. You want to have tea? Oh, you want to allowed to bring tea inside? No. Better not.
I don’t want to break your Or you want to have there’s not much, you want to have tea later or you want to have tea now? Later? Okay. But also, if in case anybody wants to have tea, you just go and get it or drink. So I will just continue.
Is that all right? Then, committing any of the five hindus actions, killing your parent, ad hoc, and causing disunity among the Sangha and to draw blood to the buddhas. So this is quite difficult to commit, but anyway, to keep aware of it. Then the tenth is destroying any town or country, such as by fire, bomb, pollution, black magic and so forth. This includes destroying any places that is inhabited by others, such as houses.
Then eleven, teaching voidness to those who are untrained or not ready to understand it. This could be harmful due to causing fear and causing one to abandon bodhicitta, thus failing to the level of Hīnayāna. So one of Buddha’s disciples got into the transgression of revealing and giving the most profound teaching of emptiness to one of the kings, and the king was frightened and shocked and died there. So since then, he said that you have to be careful. So then the monk says, You’ve got transgression.
Turning someone away from walking to attain enlightenment and encouraging him to walk merely for his own liberation. So, for example, if someone is training in bodhicitta, saying to that person, If you practice this, you will never attain enlightenment. Would it not be better to train in Hīnayāna? At least you will be free from saṃsāra. So this is danger.
Not only discourage yourself, but then you start to go and discourage others because you find the bodhisattva’s way of training is too tough. So then the third thing is encouraging others to abandon their patimokshi vows. For example, if someone is abiding by these vows, saying, What is the use of that? Would it not be better to train in bodhicitta, whereby your non virtues of body, speech and mind will automatically subside? If that person abandoned his or her pratimoksha vow, you have created the transgression, saying that the pratimoksha vows are not necessary for Mahāyāna practice.
So this is wrong. So they are the best working basis for the tantra and Mahāyāna and all the tantric practices. So this is also very dangerous. As long as you practice Buddhist vows, then individual liberation vow, like a lay vow, no need. It’s so minor, you say, Oh, it’s just included.
Or if you practice Buddhism vow, then no need to become Sangha. No need to take any ordination vows, because the supreme vow is the bodhisattva vow. Sometimes you get so inspired and you just hear the best of the bodhisattva vow, and the rest you feel like it’s not so important. And you try to drag everybody into the best path, but then if that causes you to abandon some of the other areas, like taking Sangha vows, etc, then that will transgress. So, bodhisattva vows will be even more effective if one can ever practice on the basis of individual liberation vows, starting from practice of refuge vow and then lay vow, then pre-ordination vow, novice vow, fully ordination vow.
Then, on top of that, then you take on the basis of that, your attitude completely actualized with the Buddhist level conduct or Buddhist level, then it will be even better. Causing others to hold the incorrect view that you might hold regarding the Hīnayāna teaching, such as saying that by practicing the Hīnayāna one can never give up attachment or be released from suffering or delusion. If that other person believes you, it is a transgression. This is also very dangerous. Even when I was sharing here, if I’m not careful, if any of you misunderstood, I get the transgression.
The Hīnayāna practice, the practice of the small scope, practice of middle scope, that is the most solid foundation to develop the mionic, the highest scope paths. Without that, the myonic path cannot be matured, cannot be established. Without the practice of refuge, which is in the category of small scope, without that there’s no basis of any vow, no basis of Buddhist vow for sure. So without the practice intense conviction and practice of karmic law, cause and effect, which again comes from very much common from small and middle school practice, without that, in no way one can be able to practice purely of the Buddhist avowals. Then the common practice of teaching the Four Noble Truths I’ve discussed before, without the intense understanding and practice of Four Noble Truths, it’s not possible to gain genuine renunciation in self, and also not possible to gain great compassion towards others.
So it must require the small and medium scope teachings and practices and path in order to develop the highest scope practice like a bodhisattva conduct. So even tantra, to practice tantra without the practice of the three scope, the common three scope practices, tantra doesn’t make any sense. Emptiness is common to all scope. Without that, tantra is not possible. And Mahayanaic Kausaryana, the principal teaching on bodhicitta, without that tantra doesn’t make any sense.
So even how powerful the tantric technique can be, and that powerful technique only can manifest the power, can manifest the benefit if we have the tool to altruism. So it’s all connected. In that sense, Tibetan Buddhism, the way that Tibetan, what do call it, the great Kadampa master of the past, how they adopted Buddhadharma in Tibet is one of very, unique, very, very special, and very, very complete. There are so many Buddhist teachings. There are so many countries where flourish Buddhadharma, and there are quite a number of countries.
The entire great population is Buddhist, but then it has nothing to do with Mahāyāna, nothing to do with altruism. It’s just strictly based on Vinaya and the sūtra. But as far as it’s concerned, Mayanic teaching, bodhicitta, great compassion is regarded even as a criticism saying that these are like a flower of sky. Tekchen means mahayana, nam kwa means sky, mendo means flower. It’s not a word of Buddha.
It’s like there’s no flower in the sky, isn’t it? Saying that there’s no such teaching in Buddhist teaching, it also happened like that. This is also one of the main reasons great degeneration of Buddhadharma happened in India for many, many hundreds and hundreds of years. India is the place where Buddhism started. Buddha turned the wheel of twelve deeds of the Dharma in India.
And especially the Mahāyāna practitioners are almost like gone totally. Even the Hīnayāna practitioners shrink so small. It’s almost like to only the remaining great holy places can tell the history, but then when you go and find an institution where there is a living of great practitioners and preserving great learning, it’s almost gone. And this has happened because they didn’t have the capability to adopt entire Buddhist teaching. So in that sense, in Tibet, really something extraordinary.
This is very much by the help of Lama Atisha and the practice of these great Kadampa masters from all the four traditions. So it says Tibetan Buddhism is the complete of Vinaya, Sūtrayāna, the causal Bodhisattvayana, and resultant Tantrayāna. Everything is together. If you are really practicing Tibetan Buddhism, that means the Hīnayāna practice must include as a base. Mahāyāna Sūtrayāna practice is a must as a body practice.
Tantrayāna is also a must as a resultant, the sweet technique of enhancing your practices in Dharma. There are some countries that practice tantra only, and nothing to do with what do you call it, the Vinaya discipline. And even in Tibet in the earlier part it happened that before Lama Atisha came, and in particular, before Lama Atisha came, it was even more crisis. And after Lama Atisha came, it had been much better, but then when Lama Tsongkhapa came into existence, then he really illustrates through his way of life that tantra and sūtra, or tantra and vinaya, is not contradictory. In fact, it has to be supporting each other.
Because in the earlier when you practise tantra, you cannot practise vinaya. When you practise vinaya, you cannot practise tantra. So even there’s a saying that tantra and vinaya are like hot and cold. Happened there. And due to that, a lot of superstitious buildup and a lot of misuse of the tantric images, tantric implements, and also even the tantric doctrine, less commentary, but rather just kind of like without commentary, literal surface.
You take it, then there’s a lot of abuse that happened. Comparing even then in Tibet, like in the west now, I think quite fortunate because there’s a lot of study institutions there and a lot of interest in study rather than just taking blessing. But then, what do you call this? Okay, I don’t want to go into that. Otherwise I will get transgress.
In that sense, maybe I should say this. What I know well is the FPMT organization, FPMT centers. One thing is even though you may not necessarily see thousands and thousands of people flocking into that center, that organization, But then, whatever is happening in the center is a lot of, lot of study. Study is like studying lamrim. The lamrim provides the entire teachings of both sutras, the teaching of three scopes, and also introduced to tantra the complete sets of teachings.
Not just performing initiation, not performing puja. Actually, puja’s initiations are just occasional. The actual main program is learning and varieties of level of learning, philosophy, practical, preliminary practices and Vajrayāna practices. So Lama Zopa Rinpoche used to say, there’s a lot of struggle because our focus is not just to have a fancy program with some rock star and get thousands of crowds. We are focusing on the main, the real thing, And since you provide the real thing, it may not be interested by everybody.
It requires a lot of merit, a lot of karma, but then it’s very satisfying because whoever you’re able to offer, you really offer the solid, the real thing. So not just at FPMT, whatever center you’re able to offer like that, I think it’s very, very beneficial. Otherwise, danger of falling into a certain trap, which already had in the history in India, even in Tibet, and even in the West. And also I think in the FPMT Center, the teachers are very strict, choosing the teacher. You cannot simply just allow anybody to teach and allow anybody to get the student to just get connected with any teacher.
They really feel that they have a very strict regulation. And this is, in fact, not suppressing actually is very good because there are a lot of faults that are happening in many organizations from the teacher’s side, not from the disciple but from the teacher’s side. So therefore, rejoice. Where we are positioned is we rejoice like that. So it’s a sidetrack.
So then the fifteen is proclaiming false realization of voidness. So although you have not understood emptiness, emptiness is teaching others, if you meditate on this, you will be like me. I don’t know. I think this is a good commentary, but it must be don’t know. Yeah, proclaiming not just emptiness, I think any lies on spiritual realizations.
If you don’t have, then you say you have gained that realization, then it’s transgresses. It can be just even conventional bodhicitta, you know, or I have not gained the realization but say that claim that I have, so it also transgresses. Therefore, the great practitioners you see mostly is the hidden yogis in Mayanic practitioners. What do you call them? Great practitioners, but then you don’t know much about them because they are hidden yogis, because they never proclaim their realisations.
I remember, even my late guru, Geshe-la Konchog Kyab, everybody, not in the west but in the Tibetan community, everybody knows how hard he practiced. Just like for twenty six years in the cave, just totally dedicated and without any conditions like food and shelter, etc. And I wanted to know how you did it and ask to share a story. Remember he was just always denying. Reject, not deny, always Always saying, this is not important.
I remember Venerable Robina Courtin, and many of you know how hard she is. Venerable Robina Courtin. Yeah, isn’t So she was editor, she was working in the Mandala magazine, I think, the Wisdom or Mandala magazine, editor of Mandala magazine. Maybe she may be working in a Wisdom publication, I don’t know, but she has that response. So she came to Copan, and she admired Lama Koncho, and she wanted some story for the mandala.
Geshe la always said, That’s not a story. That’s not a story. Then, Venerable would push you to the corner. Said, Cashelai, so many people will be inspired. What’s a big deal of telling?
He said, Oh, I don’t think it’s to inspire people. I just want to fill up your page. There’s no greater yogic story than Milarepa’s story. It’s already there. Why you need some new one?
So no need. So then I remember she’s very upset, and she chased after year after year, year after year. So Geshe-la Konchog Kyab spent quite a lot of time in Taiwan giving teaching, and Venerable assigned a Taiwanese student, hoping that maybe at least find a different way. So I asked to go and get some story, And I did it. This group of people, they really put a lot of effort, and I also put a lot of effort.
Said, Geshe lah, just tell this. People are putting so much effort, just tell. Then he said, Okay, you’ve been chasing after me so long. Okay, so my story is eat, sleep, go to the toilet. It’s a common story we all have.
It’s the same. So he said that. Then they said, Who are the people that you usually mix with to get inspiration or to your level? Then he said, Oh, in Himalaya, nobody. But when I came into the monastery in Kampung, the Kopan monastery, I usually mixed with the two guys.
And those two guys are Gongpo and Mahākāla, it’s two dogs. Lamai Shi had two dogs, huge ones. One is brown, one is black. The black one is called Mahākāla, the brown one is called chen. So he says that I spend time with them and I communicate with them, and the rest I don’t know much.
And he succeeds just hiding it, but then illusory it through his way of life, just being himself until to the last breath. Inspired by Venerable and since then, and I also have an interest to write a biography of H. L. R, but it’s not possible that he will tell you his story. And you have limited people to ask because twenty six years he stayed in isolation, and before that there were only a few people who remained.
Whenever his friend or some classmates come to visit him, that time I got this audio recording, and I quietly hide and record what they’re talking. So I gathered about twelve or fifteen cassettes recordings, omniscient he will know, but then he showed the aspect where he didn’t it’s my fault. So then after Geshe-la Konchog Kyab passed away, then he started to transcribe. Then there are amazing stories shared. And of course, I also did interview some of the disciples who met Geshe la in later part of his retreat in the Himalayas.
And there are amazing, amazing, unbelievable stories. Venerable Rubina volunteered to do the editing. She was very excited and very happy. But then somehow it took so many years that we cannot come to a final conclusion because there are some stories that are almost unbelievable. It’s not a human thing.
Variable things that this is a bit insane. It’s how to believe such thing happened, that kind of thing. So try to make it more comfortable for the reader. But then those are facts, but I cannot let go. I said this has to be there.
Whenever I cannot come together, Then after that, after many years, we really put so much effort to come out of the book. It’s about six hundred pages. Then after that I give up. Then I realized that during his lifetime he never wanted to reveal. I was thinking that, yeah, it’s quite true.
His way of life is quite like a Milarepa. It’s not much different from that. The only thing is the time is different, a different person. So I thought maybe I did the wrong thing, recording all this, and I don’t have the permission from him. So I said, okay, we have to stop here.
And now I’m waiting his reincarnation to grow, then one day I will respectfully ask permission. The EB says, Go ahead to publish, then I will do it. So until then we are holding on to it. Okay, now I don’t know why I’m saying of awareness. So great practitioners, they really, and you see when he passed away, the sign of realization that which is described in the tantric texts, in the sutras.
There’s an abundance of teachings by Buddha, what it means about those relics, and he illustrated all those things. And even for Buddha, Buddha, during his lifetime, he remained as one monk and died as one old monk, but then after he passed away, he revealed whatever he thought into a sign. So there are many great masters even today like that. He’s on the Dalai Lama, all the time he says, Oh, very far away to realize emptiness. Oh, far away bodhicitta.
I’m just working it out. I’m just trying my best for thirty years, forty years, fifty years. If you be consistent, yeah, I can see some sign up there, but it’s still he always showed that he has not realized that. Through his way of life, you can see he is so special being. What the Tibetans believe is he’s truly generous, and there’s no doubt with that.
Buce, late Geshe Lama Konchog Kyab traveled with him in Tibet, and they have a very close relationship. Geshe-la said, Lama, the reason, why he doesn’t have to sleep, free from sleep and this and that, is because he have already, of course, higher realization for Buddhas and bodhisattvas, but just from the common realization that we are struggling, like highest realization of śamatha, he said he has already achieved that level. That’s why this is the answer why you don’t have to sleep. So that kind of thing. So there are practitioners within our time, but they don’t proclaim.
But they live a life with their way of life like that. So, example, great teaching like that. So then, accepting the gift of material you know has been stolen or embarrassed from the three jewel from a bhikṣu. So this is, I think, a danger for especially people who are buying antiques. Because I think in Nepal, in India, in Tibet, many antiques come from stealing I mean, it means that maybe whoever is selling is not by stealing, but then people who bring into that kind of shop the channel, you never know.
So anyway, if we know such things, then we cannot accept. Then, so when you’re taking material from someone who is meditating on karma writing and giving it to someone who is merely reciting texts. So this is taking from Buddha and giving to the arhats. Taking from arhats, giving to the ordinary person. Taking from someone who is actualizing śamatha is far more greater than just simply doing a practice of reciting texts, reciting sūtra, and take from there as if you are helping someone.
This is also not then eighteen is abandoning bodhicitta by thinking, I cannot help a sentient being or I do not want to help this particular sentient being. So this is very dangerous. Number eighteen, there are four factors to transgress, four conditions to transgress any of these vows, but for the number eighteen, the number nine and the number eighteen does not require the four conditions to transcribe it. Arising in your mind, just transcribe it. Just break the vowel like that.
So the four conditions are, except for the vowel nine and number eighteen, four conditions are required to complete tasgrace the major vows, in which case you will need to take the vow again in order to restore them. So, buddhist vows first time is not something must, but is a great benefit to take from a master. If there’s no master at all in your whole lifetime, but then you’re inspired to take the vow, then you can just take in the visualized presence of Buddhas and bodhisattvas. But then there are opportunities, then first time is so beneficial to take from a master. And that master also is not qualified to grant the vow if the master only has taken and practising his or her very best the inspiration of bodhicitta.
Someone has to have and practising their best ability on the engaging bodhicitta, then qualified to grant even someone just taking inspiration on bodhisattva vow. So that is the qualification that’s required. And for that, not necessarily has to be like a monk or nun or man or woman or young or old, as long as someone who him or herself, has this wholehearted dedicated commitment to engaging Buddhism about, then it’s qualified to receive from them. And as far as it’s concerned, the ritual is not as complicated. It’s not complicated like individual liberation vows such as a monastery vow.
For monastery vow, there are so many, many requirements. The monastery vows are not allowed to take in the visualised objects, you have to take from a person. And also a person is not just one, you need to have a for the pre ordination, you can take from one person, but for nervous ordination and fully ordination, it requires a minimum of four fully ordained sanghas present. And also the monosyth vows, only take once in a lifetime. Even though it’s a lifetime commitment, but then just one time.
Buddhist vows, you can take. If you take more, the better. You take again and again, you take every day, every moment, it’s even better. And you can take just in your heart, on your bed, or anywhere you are in the flight, anywhere. It’s not even necessary for you to kneel down if there’s a possibility, but it’s very much of expressing the commitment from your heart.
So four factors are: you fail to regard the action as wrong. So if any of the transgressions that you knew, then you have to admit it. So if you don’t admit it, that is one of the factors. Not abandoning the thought to do the action again, reframing to tasking or to tasking that vow again. You need to have a reframing, mind refraining.
Then rejoicing or admiring yourself for having done that. Then having no shame or consideration for others. You see, shamefulness is one of the virtues. Not from the ten virtues, but they are, when the minds are categorized in the virtue, non-virtue, neutral, then shamefulness is also one of the from the fifty one mental factors, shamefulness is one of the virtues. Because when you have a certain degree of shamefulness, then you reserve, you refrain from committing wrongdoings.
Some people just don’t care. So if you don’t care anything, then sometimes the danger of committing more negativities. Are you still can manage, or you want to have tea? Tea? Judy, you suggest me.
Continue. Stretch. Okay, now you stretch. Okay, stretch. Or if you need to go to the washroom, and I will still sit here.
Or you can go and have some quick tea. I will briefly finish today, and tomorrow I will be very fast. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you very much. I thank you for the present last time. Did I? Okay, thank you. Oh, some chocolate.
Some chocolate. This is Isabella. Oh, I see. I heard. The little girl behind.
Here, here, here. Enjoy. Yeah. So, it’s quite difficult to, you know, transcribe the eighteen root vows completely for us. I think it’s not easy to transcribe.
Instead of saying so easy to transcribe, I would like to say not easy to transcribe. Not easy to lost a vowel completely. Maybe some fracture is, yes, But because you see, as someone like any of us who truly admires altruism, compassion, and if we have done something wrong or if we know any of the vowel transcript, we won’t rejoice. We won’t feel, Yay, I did it. We’ll never do that.
At least that is what we’ll never do. So that means it’s so hard to completely lose the vows. It’s so good to know this because sometimes we always talk about this, it’s so easy to break and I must have break completely, lost completely, quite a negative way. Even though are aware after taking the vow, you are not always refreshed or reminded all the time, lose a lot of opportunities to accumulate so much merit because you are not alert with those vows. As far as concerned with losing the vows, maybe it didn’t really happen.
So then here, the advice here, if vows are broken, if any of the eighteen root vows are broken, you lost all of your buddhistva vows, and therefore should retake them as soon as possible. If the vows are not broken from the root because of not present all the four factors, but one or two or three of them are, your vow, while not lost, has still degenerated, but not lost completely. So therefore, in this case, it is important to purify any transgression through applying the Four Opponent Powers, the best way, and restore the full strength of the vow in your mind stream by taking them again. You can take the bodhisattva vows, retake the bodhisattva with qualified master or by yourself in front of the image of the Buddha, if there is otherwise, from the visualized image. Visualized image as one with your guru and repeat the prayer for taking the Buddhist vows three times.
So, prayer to retake the Buddhist vows, refresh the Buddhist vows, is on page twenty one. So there’s a short prayer. Just, as mentioned earlier, do three prostrations and if you can’t remember that you have transgressed, then just simply visualise the presence of Buddhas and bodhisattvas, then do three prostrations, then kneel down, then recite these verses, these prayers for three times, then at the end you make a short dedication and conclude with confidence of fresh Buddhist vows. So if you know that you have transgressed, do a bit of purification either through Four Opinion Power or at least do the seven-limb practice. Within the seminal practice, one of the limbs is to purify the karma and purify whatever is tasculated.
Then do the same thing, then you restore it. Even if you have lost the bodhisattva completely, then you do a purification practice best is for open and power or through the seminal practice, then do the same thing and you regain the Buddhist vows. The versus whether you’re transgressed or not, we can take every day because it’s so simple. Every day you retake. And if you can even retake twice, that will be amazing.
Because throughout the day we may task grade and before going to bed, retake it and make your life during the sleep become so meaningful. Then tomorrow morning, the job less than five minutes? We can do it. Okay, so now we’ve got the forty six branches vows. So from the one to seven are in connection with the perfection of generosity.
So this is the practice of six paramita is all about the essence of all the vows, the root and the secondary vows. The secondary vows are very much kind of go more subtle level, more specific points. So because of that, it becomes so many. But in short, as I mentioned earlier, as long as we live within the paramita of six perfection, then that’s the way how to keep the practice. So, first one is not making offering every day to the Three Jewels which with your body, speech and mind by making prostrations, offering praises and meditating on their qualities.
Anyway, three times, we will never forget eating, never forget drinking. So then every time we drink, every time we eat, just make offering. At least om our home. If it’s in the office, if it’s with people who don’t have this practice, then you just do it in your heart. So that is already fulfilled.
More than that, if you can do abundance offering, then why not? In fact, wherever you go, everywhere there’s abundance of colors, abundance of lights, abundance of flowers, water. Adelaide, plenty of seawater, just Om Ah Hum offer. And every season, every now and then, different flowers come. Without needing to spend money, just Om Ah Hum, everything you see.
Make offering to the Three Jewels and the bodhisattvas. So these vows make you consistently let you accumulate so much merit by engaging in these limbs of practices. So this is how wonderful it is. Then, a very simple way, just make offering of your own body, spirit and mind in the service of sentient beings. From the very morning you just dedicate my body, spirit and mind, it’s offered for the service of San Jinping.
Create the cause of happiness for San Jinping. Start with one sentient being, yourself, be happy. It’s my service to one San Jinping at least making myself happy. Stay very positive. Stay very virtuous.
So even that is part of the offering. Many, many ways. Second is, without trying to oppose your greed or dissatisfaction with what you have, following the mind that strives to accommodate more. So always reminded with containment, the practice of containment. And magnify with your wisdom mind whatever you have is abundance, and share that happiness, whatever you have in your best with any sentient being as possible.
The third is not showing respect for your elder and those who have taken this vow before you, you should not think that you are equal to complete with them. It is better to make an offering to them. If you respect the master’s orders, it increases your knowledge and bring prosperity of the place. So, this one is, Buddha’s teaching, says, if you are respecting Buddha, then all sentient beings have equal reasons to be respected. So not just the elderly one, but not just the senior practitioner who have that vows, those are definitely have to respect.
But then as long as you sum up that all sentient beings are equal as a Buddha for me to show respect in your best. Therefore, is true hatred or laziness not answering or giving wrong or distorted answers to sincerely ask questions. So this is more dangerous us. People ask questions, then you don’t answer. So, you need to stay very active in Facebook, very active in email.
Those are dangerous. WhatsApp message, now you know, more and more WeChat message, WhatsApp message, Facebook message, you know. From very beginning, maybe better don’t have all this. After having that, there’s so many people asking questions, you know, just don’t answer. Oh, dangerous.
Not accepting invitation or offering of food or cloth from others because of either anger or wanting to hurt the other person’s feelings, pride, considering yourself too high rank to sin in humble people, etcetera. So you need to have a lot of meditative stabilization, otherwise you’re going to get very fat. You follow the Buddhist other vow, every food invitation you go and eat, eat. So if you have high meditative stabilization, then no problem. Just joking.
Not accepting money, gold and so forth from others, such as a sponsor, because of anger, pride, jealousy, laziness. So basically it’s all with a negative mind, then you reject when people sincerely are doing that, then that does create because your purpose is to be the cause of others’ creating of merit, to be the cause of others’ happiness when someone wants to give something, offer something, so happily accept. But if you have a good, more beneficial reason to return the gift or reject the gift, then of course, with using wisdom, then we won’t ask for it. Out of hatred, laziness, jealousy, madness, grudge, neglecting or not giving teaching to someone who is interested and sincerely approach you for Dharma. So that is very dangerous for the Dharma teachers.
Always living your mindfulness with the three types of generosity: generosity of material, generosity of protection, generosity of Dharma. So as long as you’re mindful of that and do your best, then that’s it. Then, vows six to sixteen are in connection with the perfection of morality, you know, ignoring or forgiving or not helping those who have broken their moral discipline by cultivating the ten immoral actions or pratimoksha vows. So basically, if someone has broken a valve, then you need to find a way to help them, not by neglecting them. If possible, if the vow can be restored, if you can be part of it, then help them to restore it.
If the vow is like such a sangha vow, you cannot restore, then you just find ways to at least secure their inspiration and dharma even though they have broken the vows of the sangha vows. So, not being very negative or treating very badly because someone did wrong things. So it’s a very compassionate act, very considerate act. Denigrating, not instilling faith in those who follow the path that is not your own practice or your main interest. For example, even following of the hinayana.
So if someone is karmically affiliated with the hinayana practice, then when you meet them, just inspire them. Inspire them to pursue even more intense, instead of saying that my part is so great and your part is so low, not like that. If we meet Christian friends, it’s almost like become like a Christian. We’re very supportive of what they do. We don’t have to boast about being a Buddhist or whatever.
So I usually say that you have to be very flexible. When you talk to a Christian, you talk like you’re a Christian. With a certain confidence of who you are as a Buddhist practitioner, the calmness and dignity, whatever. Then, unless they ask you to talk so much good things about Buddhists, Otherwise, if someone just keeps quiet and asks you talk about something, they better talk a good thing about them rather than talking so good thing about yourself. So this is a very good attitude.
And you meet someone who is a free thinker, then just be like a free thinker. You mean one hippie, you become a hippie. I think that’s what great masters like Lama Yeshe, you know? That’s how they’re able to benefit so much. It is all due to the bodhisattva’s conduct.
They’re really able to be so skilful. But then without losing your own principle. So if it’s a sangha, then you say you want to benefit sentient beings and you disrupt, then that didn’t serve the purpose. And if someone becomes a reason for you to give up, then that person will accumulate a lot of negative karma, which we have discussed before. Holding very, very firmly your principle, then be flexible.
I think that’s needed. So being a Mahāyānist, be very open hearted, very relaxed, very broad hearted. Without losing that, in a very compassionate manner, then we can still kind of live among other faiths, etc. It’s okay. Then, ten, performing actions which are of lesser benefit to others because of the rigid ly adhering to the vinaaya.
So this is like this. When it comes to comparing the vow, the vinaya and bodhisattva vow, the bodhisattva vow has to be the priority. An example, in a Vinaya vow, let’s say fully ordained sangha, not supposed to touch a female below the body with a bare hand, not supposed to touch. That’s the Vinaya vow. But then you come into a position that there’s a big river, right in the middle of the river there’s one woman almost carrying away by water, and you as a fully ordained monk who have this Buddhist vow, and not helping that lady go and rescue that lady, just protecting your individual liberation vow and that’s tasking it.
So in that moment, you have to let go of the monastic individual liberation vow, and you have to, how to say, bypass and go and grab the lady and save from river. So there are many cases like that. So in general, Buddhist vows surpass. Are many Buddhist vows that have to go bypass the individual liberation like the Sangha vows. So, then not committing one of the seven non virtues of body and speech to benefit others out of compassion.
This is also one of them. So again, this can be explained with an example. So there’s one monk, fully ordered monk, who definitely has to practice ten virtues. Then there’s one deer, and there’s one hunter. So you see, the handa chasing the deer, and there’s one crossroad.
So the deer run and the monk saw where the deer run, and the hunter asked the monk, If the monk tells the truth, the deer’s life will be gone. If monks tell the wrong direction, you commit the karma of lying. So in that aspect, in that junction, you need to choose the compassionate part. You lie, but then you save the life of god. So it’s like that.
We have to be when we practice like this, if you go very rigid like that, it’s as if you cannot move because there’s so many restrictions, so you always have to weigh. Are many occasions that come that we need to weigh and always choose the advantage from the compassionate side. Then accepting material that has gained by yourself or others through one of the five wrong livelihoods. So, similar, you know, before, even in the eighteen rule book, we talked about it. Now here is more detail like that.
So, then the thirteen is having your main interest be in the idle gossip. Basically, since the altruistic attitude and reminded that altruistic attitude all the time in your mind is so precious, it has a great advantage of gathering merit and advancing yourself closer to benefit the sentient being. But instead of doing that and just do senseless things, or just don’t think nothing and just stay blah, Or just listen to music and just dance, hours and hours. And that is not supposed to do. It’s not because it’s bad, dancing is bad, listening to music is bad.
It’s because of wasting the greatest opportunity. Because life is so fragile and the altruistic attitude is so precious. Within one moment how much great thing you gather, and one or two hours you miss out cultivating that attitude, then it’s a great loss. In that point of view then there are so many things that become senseless activities. So, without altruistic intention, go for a nice long drive is wasting time.
Without altruistic intention, go for a nice shopping, spend three or four hours in the shopping mall, it becomes senseless because it’s wasting the opportunity. But if you go with altruistic intention to the shopping mall and spend the whole day and become such a marvelous, altruistic practice. So having your main interest to be idle gossip, okay. So then fourteen is wrongly thinking that the bodhisattva remained in saṃsāra for three countless great eons and not afraid of delusion. Because of it’s not because of afflict or delusion or whatever.
It’s because your dedication is to benefit sentient beings. As long as benefiting sentient beings, then it doesn’t matter whether you’re remaining in saṃsāra or whether you are remaining somewhere else. So then, fifteen is not trying to avoid a bad reputation or not abandoning the bad habit of body speech and speech that are the cause of your bad so you see. That’s why it comes to shamefulness. It’s one of the virtues because that helps to guard your body, speech and mind from misbehaviors, wrong speech, wrong physical actions.
So, we need to live up to the reputation of bodhisattva. Once you take the vow, then you have to live up to it. You take the bodhisattva vow but all the time lose your temper, then you lose your reputation. So it’s not because of, worldly concerned, reputation is so important, but here he’s talking about live up to the commitment that you take. So these are the practice of mindfulness.
It makes up the moral moral conduct. So then seventeen to twenty are in connection with the perfection of patient, becoming angry and retaliating with your body, speech and mind when you are insulted or blamed. So it’s basically losing patience in relation to your own reason, losing patience in relation to others’ reasons. The patient of accepting suffering. Patient of even accepting suffering.
If we experience suffering, we need to find a way to transform that into a practice. If you lose patience, then it’s also one of the secondary transgressions. Because there are amazing practices that you can do from the bodhisattva’s path to overcome the intensity of suffering. So simply, we need to use it, like Tonglen practice. If something goes wrong with your body or anything, just immediately reminded Tonglen practice, which is such a marvelous practice of bodhisattva.
Or if any good thing happens, also do Tonglen practice. If any bad thing happens, also do Tonglen practice. Then, if it’s in relation to others, others misbehavior, then we also need to practice patience by transforming that into a path to develop the altruism. Again, by doing Tonglen, generating compassion, etcetera. So, is rejecting someone who is angry with you.
So, all the lojong teachings, the harmful people, the angry people, the precious. They are the first object for you to make prayer, first object for you to find a way to help them because they are deep in suffering. Nineteen, refusing to accept the sincere apologies of others. So you see, from the eighteen root vow, it’s like just making it more spread, subtle. It’s almost quite the same, very much.
Then third is abandon it. So it’s not protecting your mind. Whenever negative emotion comes, just let it intrude. So as a bodhisattva practitioner, you always find every single means to reject the entering of negative emotion into your heart. And twenty one to twenty three is a connection with the perfection of perseverance, joyous perseverance.
So basically, for the benefit of sentient beings, eliminating laziness, self centeredness, and engaging in the rest of the paramita with much joy for knowing all the advantage. Then twenty four and twenty six are in connection with the perfection of concentration. Our prayers and our virtuous cultivation become most effective when our mind becomes serviceable. Serviceable. Yes, there are marvelous virtues out there, including bodhicitta, marvelous virtues are there, but then our mind is not trained to be serviceable, then how much we want, but it doesn’t happen.
So therefore, it is a teaching that one of the very powerful tools to use the bodhisattva’s deeds to be most effective to sentient beings, for that, then you need to develop śamatha. You need to develop śamatha. So, śamatha is the state of your mind becoming fully serviceable. Means whatever you want to order your mind to behave, your mind is fully functional in that. So for the purpose of benefiting sentient beings, most effectively then you get into a certain degree of training or retreat to develop śamatha.
So, if needed to go for it. Because for śamatha, you cannot develop being among busy circumstances. You really need to gather all the conditions based on the śamatha teaching in the lamrim. There are five conditions that you need to gather and five faults that you need to eliminate in order to gain the realization of śamatha. If you have those conditions and eliminate those obstacles, within six months you say you can attain the realization of śamatha.
So once you attain the realization of śamatha, then it becomes like lama zopa. Like twenty four hours, his mind is just totally serviceable to the benefit of sentient beings. Nothing affects Not your food, not your sleep, not your health deterioration, physical exhaustion, nothing disturbs you, just totally focused on benefiting sentient beings. So even you can see in our human guru who really is able to do like that, you see. Like great Lama Konchog Kyab, twenty four hours, twenty six years is also someone who don’t sleep, who don’t need to sleep, who don’t need to spend time gathering food because don’t eat much.
So, it’s twenty four hours single pointedly developing your heart, engaging in practice. And this is possible because of śamatha. If you don’t have śamatha, know, get tired, get hungry, get thirsty, get cold, get hot, know, need to go to buy a fan, need to go to buy a heater, So many activities will come. Therefore, śamatha is so important. So you’re talking about that.
Then, twenty seven to thirty four is in connection with perfection of wisdom. Looking down on the Hīnayāna scriptures, taking one of the bases to develop the highest level of wisdom, which is wisdom realizing emptiness, wisdom, lack of inherent existence on the basis of aggregates and phenomena. But in order to develop that, we need to develop the wisdom of selflessness on the basis of self. Selflessness is the main wisdom that develops the, what you call the, Śrāvaka and Pratyeka Buddha’s path follower. Therefore, the teaching, very elaborate, very straightforward teachings that you can find to develop this wisdom receptiveness are very elaborately taught in Hīnayāna teachings.
So therefore, just because of being Hīnayāna teaching and you just kind of avoid it, so that is not right. Rather, you should embrace it and take all those techniques to develop the wisdom of selflessness. Then that way, make possibility of developing the wisdom of the emptiness on the aggregates and phenomena so that they can be able to develop the wisdom that which is based on the Prāsaṇgika Madhyamaka view. Then vow thirty five to forty six in connection with the perfection of morality of helping others. The six perfections, all the six perfection, even for the perfection of generosity, one of the, what you call, generosity of benefiting sentient beings.
See, morality of benefiting sentient beings, joyous effort of benefiting sentient beings, concentration of benefiting sentient beings, wisdom of benefiting sentient beings. So in the Mayan, it contains the six paramita that these benefiting sentient beings are very much added. So therefore, from thirty five to forty six are in connection with the perfection of the morality of helping others, the moral conduct in relation to these paramita helping sentient beings. So like that. That’s it.
Seven minutes when Okay, we’ll stop here. Then we do the short mandala offering, then after that short dedication prayer, then we stop here. Thank you very much. Thank you. That’s page one hundred in the gold prayer.
So, it’s good to maybe keep this text, those individuals, especially who want to take Buddhist vows. I think this is a very good guide and so easy to understand. Also there’s explanation already inside there, so it’s