One was absorbed in the concentration on the categories of phenomena called profound perception. Also at that time, the bodhisattva Mahāsattva Ārya Avalokiteśvara looked upon the profound practice of perfection of wisdom and beheld those five aggregates also as empty of inherent nature. For through the power of Buddha, the Venerable Śāriputra said this to the bodhisattva, Mahāsattva, Ārya Avalokiteśvara, How shall any son of the lineage train who wishes to practice the activity of the profound perfection of wisdom? He said that in the Bodhisattva Mahāsattva, Ārya Avalokiteśvara, said this to the venerable Śāriputra. Śāriputra, any son of the lineage or daughter of the lineage who wishes practise the activity of the profound perfection of wisdom, shall not abide like this correctly and repeatedly beholding those five aggregates also as empty of inherent nature.
Form is empty, emptiness is form, emptiness is not other than form, form is also not other than emptiness. All sorrow, feeling, discrimination, compositional factors and consciousness are empty. Śāriputra, likewise, all phenomena are emptiness without characteristic, unproduced, unceasing, stainless, not without stain, not deficient, not fulfilled. Śāriputra, therefore, in emptiness, there is no form, no feeling, no discrimination, no compositional factors, no consciousness, no eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind, no visual form, no sound, no odor, no taste, no object of touch and no phenomena. There is no eye element and so on up to and including no mind element and no mental consciousness element.
There is no ignorance, no extinction of ignorance and so on up to and including no aging and death and no extinction of aging and death. Similarly, there is no suffering, origination, cessation and path. There is no exalted wisdom, no attainment and also no non attainment. Śāriputra, therefore, because there is no attainment, Bodhisattvas rely on and dwell in the perfection of wisdom, the mind without obscuration and without fear. Having completely passed beyond error, they reach the endpoint nirvana.
While the Buddhas who dwell in the three times also manifest the completely awakened to unsurpassable perfect complete enlightenment in reliance on the perfection of wisdom. Therefore the mantra of the perfection of wisdom, the mantra of great knowledge, the unsurpassed mantra, the mantra equal to the unequaled, the mantra that thoroughly pacifies all suffering should be known as the truth since it is not false. The mantra of the perfection of wisdom is declared: gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha. Śāriputra, the Bodhisattva Mahāsattva should train in the profound perfection of wisdom like that. Then the Bhagawan rose from that concentration and commended the Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Ārya Avalokiteśvara saying, well said, well said son of the lineage, it is like that.
It is like that. One should practice the profound perfection of wisdom just as you have indicated, even the Tathagatas rejoice. The Bhagawan having thus spoken, the Venerable Śāriputra, the Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Ārya Avalokiteśvara, those surrounding in their entirety along with the world of gods, humans, asuras and gandharvas were overjoyed and highly praised that spoken by the Bhagawan. I prostrate to the gathering of dakinis and the three chakras who abide in the holy yoga of using space, power the powers of clairvoyance and magical emanation, look after practitioners like a mother her child. By the teachings of the three supreme jewels possessing the power of truth, may inner and outer hindrances be transformed may they be dispelled may they be pacified may they be completely pacified may all negative forces opposed to dharma be completely pacified May the host of eighty thousand obstacles be pacified.
May we be separated from problems and harmful conditions to Dharma. May our enjoyments be in accord with the Dharma and may there be auspiciousness and perfect happiness here right now. So now we’ll offer a mandala of the universe as a way to request the teachings. So do you hear me properly? So please say if you don’t hear properly because I don’t realize if it’s okay or not.
This is interfering. Could you can you hear now? Is it okay for okay. So when you offer the mandala, please don’t think that you’re offering it to me. So think that you’re offering it to all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas starting from Śākyamūni Buddha onwards to all the great scholars of Nālānda and all the holy beings from this tradition and, visualize that you’re making this offering to the ten direction Buddhas and bodhisattvas and all their, emanations, wherever they are, their infinite manifestations.
And, remember that we do this offering of the mandala to purify our body, speech, mind. And that’s for this purpose that we make this offering of the mandala. Think also that you offer this mandala to the embodiment of Vajradhara himself, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the actual Buddha that we can relate relate to directly. So then because I don’t feel that I’m suitable recipient of this kind of offering. So as today, we are going to talk about the Dharma.
It is your mic off. Okay. Yes? So because today we are going to talk about the Dharma, then for the Dharma to become actual Dharma it is essential to cultivate a proper motivation. Therefore we are going to take refuge in the Three Jewels and cultivate the mind of bodhicitta.
So please cultivate the pure motivation by reciting those verses of that say, take refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha until I reach the state of enlightenment by my the strength of my of merits and my accumulations of generosity, May I become a Buddha to benefit all? So while we recite those verses, remember their meaning and in this way, please cultivate a pure motivation. So whatever whatever Dharma we accomplish, whether we are talking about the Dharma, whether we are reciting even one OM MANI PADME HUM mantra or whatever prayer we are doing, our motivation is essential. So with all this, of course, you already know not only are you Buddhist, but most probably you know much more than me about Buddhism. So because thanks to Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Lama Yeshe, as you are their disciples, I think that thanks to their kindness, you have a great experience of the Dharma.
So it’s not just that, but because of some unfavorable conditions that happened, we lost our country of Tibet and many people had to leave. Doctrine of the Buddha, is complete in sūtra and tantra, extremely vast and extremely profound, developed all throughout the world. So, And then according with temporal characteristics, timely characteristics, we talk of different schools, the Gelug, the Sakya, Nyingma, etcetera. So there are these different schools but they are only labeled in this way due to some kind of period of time, nothing much, nothing else because actually the basis or the foundation that we all practice is the teaching that was shown by one one Buddha, one founder, and the same. So we are all the followers of this one Buddha, and we are all walking on the same path.
So then of course, the fact that we lost our country, some unfavorable event, but it turned out to be somehow positive or fruitful because thanks to that the precious doctrine of Buddhism which teaches the precious view and precious conduct which is like the treasure of our world has been spread thanks to these conditions and then can reach throughout the world to so many people. So of course now we are like, Tibetans are like refugees wandering here and there in the world. But in this way it has brought this favorable result of spreading the Dharma. So thanks to that, I think that most of you have encountered many precious lamas and have heard from them very precious teachings. So if in these circumstances your motivation is not proper, not positive, then the Dharma will not become Dharma and worse, if your motivation is negative, then even though it looks like Dharma because your mind whatever you do with your body because your mind will be under the sway of the delusions then this cannot also become positive.
Let’s recite the prayer of refuge and bodhicitta together three times. So as today we are all gathered here in Buddha House Dharma Center, that is Dharma Celebration Invitation Centre, and we are gathered for the purpose of talking about the Dharma. So I’m very happy. So I think you already know the Dharma quite well. And this is really due to the great kindness of this precious lama, Lama Zopa Rinpoche And not only this center, but so many centers of the FPMT are extremely beneficial in the world and this is due to the kindness of their founder or head, yeah, leader.
That is Lama Zopa Rinpoche. And I think this is something that one needs to know and one needs to remember. And it is clear that the happiness of sentient beings depends on the doctrine of the Buddha. And so for the doctrine to be upheld properly, this really depends on the twofold aspects of the doctrine, which is the scriptural aspect and the aspect of realizations. And so for the doctrine to abide, if there is not a very great gathering, like ocean like gathering of Sangha, spiritual community, then it’s very difficult.
It is quite amazing to see how Lama Zopa Rinpoche is practicing and upholding, preserving this doctrine, both scriptural and of realizations. So this extremely precious doctrine of scriptural both of scriptural doctrine and of realization has to be upheld by this ocean like Sangha community. And of course there are many different monasteries, but I think that the main ones which are like the foundation, the basis for upholding this doctrine are the three great monasteries. And so for the Sangha community to be able to uphold this doctrine of scriptures and realizations, they need to engage in thorough studies of the doctrine. And for this to enable this, Lama Zopa Rinpoche deliberately volunteered to be like a sponsor for these monasteries, for these monks and has offered all their meals.
So you can see to what extent the extent of Rinpoche’s generosity towards monasteries such as Sera Je, which is a very big monastery. You already probably know about these things. So but I think it is good to remember and to continuously rejoice in this great activity. And of course, are many hardships and difficulties that these monasteries were facing and are still facing because of course we are now refugees, we do not have any country. And so these monasteries are set in other people’s country.
And as we come from Tibet and we arrive there, everything is completely new. The only thing that we know and we are familiar with is just the ground, the earth and the sky, that’s all. So because as human beings the conditions for our survival is food and clothing and to some extent reputation, we need to have those positive favorable circumstances there. Otherwise if we cannot survive or if we are not healthy, then it’s very difficult to study and to contemplate the dharma. So these conditions have to be gathered.
So, and of course I think in these monasteries there must be so many emanations of bodhisattvas and it is good to continuously remember to rejoice and to remember how precious they are. And if we do so then in this way we can accumulate so much merit and purify so much negativity. As for Lama Zopa Rinpoche himself, he’s a great practitioner, an amazing practitioner of bodhicitta. Actually, in general, the holy qualities of the body, speech, mind of the lamas are not easy. Not it is not possible for a sentient being like me, an ordinary being like me, to utter.
So particularly what Lama Zopa Rinpoche does to uphold and serve the Geluk tradition is quite amazing. And one has to understand that Rinpoche is actually, his foundation is non sectarian and he puts in practice the this the doctrine of the Buddha and particularly the Gelug School by preserving it and practicing it himself and by having as his foundation the practice of the Vinaya and what he does to also help and serve the school as a whole is quite amazing. And then also how he adapts to the different aspirations and dispositions of all the different sentient beings to have them is quite wonderful. And I’m not just saying that to sound nice or to praise him. It’s not an empty praise.
You just look at what he’s actually doing and you will just witness what I’m saying. And because his basic practice, the foundation of his practice is really love and compassion and bodhicitta. It is very wonderful. And he always teaches these things with great humility for himself and it is very nice to see and you can see that some other lamas or teachers can, if they get to go to the West and if they have a little gathering of disciples, immediately feel a bit proud and show off their disciple, dragging their disciples here and there and looking up like they can never look down on the ground anymore. So this happens sometimes.
But actually Rinpoche is most probably the one who has the most disciples. So if he wanted, I mean if he was inclined to show off or to give in the eight worldly dharmas then he would actually be the most qualified to do so. Nowadays, are also some strange instances of lamas and tulkus, reincarnations. Maybe they are very precious. So otherwise we say this and that person is a very precious reincarnation, reincarnated lama.
But then when we see their actions and we see that the way they behave is completely just like ordinary sentient beings, we feel a bit uneasy, right? But basically, the fact that the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas display the aspects of ordinary sentient beings is an act of great kindness. But those who if they or enjoy too much money, fame, reputation and if they make efforts to get more of this, if they strive for this, then it’s a bit weird. Some words coming up my mouth can be a bit rough, but I think I most probably I have a little bit of the western style. I’m quite straightforward.
But then as for you, really, I think you are not mistaken with regard to your spiritual master as Lama Zopa Rinpoche really is practices and his behavior is really that of a bodhisattva. So I think we can even say that he’s a bodhisattva because if we look at his behavior and his conduct, then we can see that it concords with the way of the bodhisattvas. So I feel he’s a very precious person. I think that in the minds of many people, mainly Tibetan people, when they think of Lama Zopa Rinpoche, the first thing they think of is that he’s a very generous sponsor. So then of course it is true that he’s an amazing sponsor for projects in Tibet, in India, in Nepal and so many different dharma centers.
So I think that also we can see that some other lamas will say, well, he has many Dharma centers. He’s very generous. He’s a great sponsor. But then they might not speak so much about what kind of practice he does, what kind of qualities he has. So, but then, so I heard only these things and then later when I got to know Lama Zopa Rinpoche more closely, then I saw what an amazing practitioner he was and I could see the depths of his practice and then I thought that just to merely think of him as a very general sponsor is quite stupid and very limited Because when we are seeing how he practices, for example, the clear light or bodhicitta and emptiness, how he thinks and cultivates these understandings, they are very uncommon and amazing.
In these degenerated times right now, those people who practice in this way are extremely rare. But then of course in general because we do not ordinary people cannot judge the level of other people, there must be so many amazing practitioners and emanations of Buddhism out there, many of them who certainly have amazing practices and deep realizations. But we cannot really tell. So once we’ve encountered such a spiritual master, it is quite important to remember to understand how precious he is. And also because whether we generate realizations or not really depends on our respect with regard to our spiritual master.
And to cultivate unwavering faith and unwavering samayas commitments towards our spiritual master, our guru is something that we should consider and value just as our own life. And then once we cultivate our faith, then what do we have to actually do implement or put it in practice is the teaching and the advice of our guru. The goal and the objective that the guru, the spiritual master has when he grants us Dharma teachings, these goals are liberation and the state of omniscience. And as methods to reach those goals, the teacher grants us very profound Dharma teachings on sūtra and tantra and different practices. So then of course in order to put to practice this Dharma that was granted to us by a guru, we need to understand what it is.
If we don’t recognize it then we won’t really have this liking or this wish to put it into practice. The presentation of what has to be abandoned, what has to be upheld, what has to be known is extremely vast. And because the presentation of the mind is extremely vast, the presentation of our body, speech and mind and mainly our three delusions are the three poisonous mind are very vast and detailed then Dharma teachings give us the essential points concerning this. Especially the Buddha has taught that all dharmas, all phenomena come from causes. So to understand the meaning of these words, we have to first go back to our own experience.
If we can understand those words from our own experience, we will not fall in the extreme views and the wrong views of nihilism and reification. So when we understand that these and that phenomenon depends for its existence upon causes and conditions, then we can see that the way we apprehend to this and that phenomena is wrong. And because of not understanding how this and that phenomena depends on causes, we have this type of clinging or apprehension that we have. And then from this, then naturally our very strong self grasping arises and from it, very strong attachment, very strong ignorance, very strong anger, all these types of minds appear. And we do not see anything as existing relatively, but we cling to their existence very strongly.
So then when you have a good understanding of this line then when you say the Heart Sūtra is very precious then it weighs more. And then you understand that when you go through the text and it says form is empty, emptiness is form, form is not other than emptiness, Emptiness is not other than form. And you can see that the view that is explained is subtler and subtler. And then you understand that this points to a need to get rid of all the apprehensions. If we do not know reality properly, then it is very difficult.
It remains very difficult for us to engage in Dharma practice. If we do not see that this I, this very precious, so called very precious I is not merely labeled or a mere denomination, then whatever prior practice study or whatever sādhana we do is very difficult. We can see that in our minds continuously, this very strong apprehension, particularly this ignorance, the self grasping ignorance is extremely strong and kind of pervades everywhere in our minds. So then these mind of ignorance which is also arisen due to causes and conditions and also these aggregates propelled by ignorance are if they are now, if they feel very concrete and solid right now, it is not due to circumstances that happened just in this very life but actually this is caused due to many, many different, many, many eons past. And actually if we look back, we can never find a beginning.
So obviously it is not something that’s very easy to change. In this way it is very crucial to familiarize oneself, cultivate a habit. So practicing the Dharma is not just about learning stuff. Actually it is a bit more like food. It is not the case with food that if you have one meal one day, then you don’t need to eat in your whole life ever again.
You have to continuously eat food. So as long as in our minds there are three poisonous delusions, then necessarily there will be unhappiness and problems. So as long as we are under the sway of the self grasping then wherever we are with whoever we might be, wherever we might take rebirth, it is sure, one hundred percent sure that there will be unhappiness and problems. We might wonder why and then the answer is that the mind of ignorance does not see the actual state of things. It is mistaken and it is a wrong consciousness.
So why do we say it is a confused mind and a wrong consciousness? We say so because it brings only fear, it brings only suffering and particularly these sensations or these painful experiences, only that. That’s why we can be completely sure that as long as there is self grasping ignorance, there will be suffering. And then we have to check whether it is possible to abandon it or not. And then to try to implement what is possible.
And then if we do not base ourselves on valid cognition, something we know to be true, then it’s very difficult to be fully convinced of this and that and to base on this conviction to engage in different actions. That’s why the Buddha said in the sutras that the mind’s nature is clear and luminous and that the defilements of the mind are adventitious. And then actually all the efforts we do with regard to the ten bhūmis, the five paths, everything we try to abandon, everything we try to increase, everything is based on the fact that defilements are adventitious. And because there are two categories, the things that we abandon and the things that we uphold, then the Buddha has taught the definite and the interpretative meaning. And then he taught according to this, the accumulation of merit and the accumulation of wisdom.
So you can see that all that he’s presented and taught is completely concordant with the mechanism of cause and effect. And then if we really strive to understand the different levels of coarser and subtlety of dependent origination, then we will find the auspiciousness of understanding emptiness. However much you can, however deep you can understand dependent origination to that extent you will find liberation. So then the more this wisdom is increased, the more you can see liberation, the existence of liberation. And from that, these love and kindness and bodhicitta arise naturally because you have seen the reason and the necessity for that.
So then we might ask what is then the necessity for oneself to engage in such practice? And the answer is because oneself, we do not want to suffer, we want to be happy. And by practicing in this way, we will be able to destroy all the cause and conditions for our own unhappiness. Understanding this we can see that the Buddha enlightenment or even the Buddha fields the Pure lands, all this does not exist outside of ourselves. And then also with regard to deities and Yidam, tutelary deities.
So I’m referring here to those deities such as Chenrezig, Mañjuśrī, Tārā, vajrapani, etcetera, all these deities that we strive to accomplish and that we practice. They’re not outside at all. Actually, it is when your Tathāgatagarbha, the Buddha nature that is in the nature of your own mental continuum. When this becomes manifest, then these deities and the Buddhas arise. So now I’m not going to continue further in this direction, otherwise we might go in strange.
It might just become stories or talking about dreams and things like this for you. So, but when, if we want to practice the Dharma and like if we want to go to the Dharma center and we have this wish to practice the Dharma then it is important I think to know what is the Dharma. So the purpose of going to the Dharma center is to learn about the Dharma, right? So it’s not an ordinary community, it’s a special community, the dharma center. With regard to other types of communities, mostly they are aimed at gaining more money or better reputation or fame, etcetera.
But then, of course, we need these things. We need a family, we need a husband, a wife, we need work, we need food, we need clothing, we need reputation, of course. Then because of obviously we do not want to suffer, all these are means for us to avoid sufferings. So then we can talk of these suffering in terms of physical sensations and mental experiences or mental sensations. So of course they can be explained in a way that is much more detailed, but now let’s stick to these two broad categories.
So if we continuously make ourselves busy with work, usually is to get rid of this physical painful sensations. This really does not help so much to get rid of the mental painful sensations. So we all know this. We see some people who are extremely rich and who just remain very unhappy. So whatever we have, however precious this and that that we have is, this cannot really be useful to decrease our mental unhappiness.
But then when you come to the dharma center, you come to a place, you join a community that is striving to find methods to get rid of this mental unhappiness. So now I’m going to talk about empowerment. I’m going to tackle kind of a problematic topic. So we usually enjoy so much taking empowerment. There are many people who take empowerments because they’ve heard other people say empowerments are great.
There are many people who say the empowerment is something really nice and I’m going to take this and that. Actually those who investigate what is the dharma? Is it beneficial to me or not? Is it useful? These people are quite few.
I think that it is very important for us to have a very honest attitude from the outset. When we talk of empowerment, what is it empowering us to do? So this is a topic that is quite different from the general things that we learn. So why we always insist about the necessity of understanding emptiness, the necessity for understanding dependent origination, it is because it is very important to understand these, to take an initiation on empowerment. So actually an empowerment is what transforms your impure body, speech and mind into pure body, speech and mind.
So if by your lack of understanding of dependent origination, if you do not know how your own body is merely labeled or mere denomination, how do you expect to take the initiation? How would you even receive the initiation? And actually the main goal for empowerment is to attack the self grasping and the self-cherishing attitudes. So then of course, even if you go through the empowerment and you do not know how to meditate or how to think about it, if you receive it from a very qualified lama, then the blessings and the imprints that you receive, thanks to this process are quite amazing and wonderful. But then it’s not okay to feel, Well, the lama is going to bless me anyway whatever I do, so you just leave it and don’t do anything.
So then because we ourselves have accumulated many negativities, the lama is showing us the methods to get rid of them. So if we want to meditate or practice and we have received an empowerment and then we have a commitment to recite a sādhana, for example, we might feel that we don’t have so much faith or so much conviction with regard to the sādhana. This is also because from the very moment of taking the empowerment, it is important to think properly. So because you know that during the empowerment, you have to generate the mind of bodhicitta for the sake of all sentient beings, all mother sentient beings as infinite as space. And not only you generate the mind of bodhicitta, but you pledge that you will strive to engage in the practice and in the conduct and to always serve them and help them.
So you need to think about this. You cannot just say, Oh yes, of course, the lama told me this. I will do. Why not? So the lama taught how to meditate on bodhicitta, how to see all sentient beings as our mothers, remember their kindness, etcetera.
So then we should have some conviction that it is true that there is not one sentient beings that hasn’t been our mother. But then if we compare this to our daily conduct and the way we are, then the state of things is that when someone comes to us and says, for example, that we’re fat, we get upset and angry. And we try to look pretty and nice, all nice from the outside with complete disregard to how rotten we might be in the inside. And then if we ask then who is making us act like this? We can see that it is due to self grasping and self-cherishing attitude.
And because of these two self grasping and self-cherishing that we completely indulge in, we wrap ourselves up in pretty clothed and try to look all nice from the outside. And we feel quite content and pleased with that. Also this is complete self deceiving deception. And then we, as we get older, we get closer to death and when we’re about to die, we are deprived of a savior protector. And this is because we haven’t been able to open our profound wisdom and we have just let ourselves continuously be the slaves of the self-cherishing and self grasping.
And we are affected by the diseases of attachment, anger, ignorance, and not only we have this cancer of the delusions. So these things that you feel are pleasant to the mind and you have a liking for them, they are very insignificant. It’s not useful to get attached to them. So when you look again on the explanation of dependent origination, then you can see and you look from this standpoint, you look at those sentient beings haven’t been our mothers remembering their kindness, wanting to repay their kindness, etcetera. You can see that this really concurs with reality and it’s an honest point of view on reality.
See all the parents how they care and love their own children. Their kindness is amazing. They keep them very dear to their heart day and night taking care of them. So then at the beginning I think it’s very important to think and remember the kindness of our parents. Some people who have so much self grasping they feel, So what?
She’s given birth to me? I never asked her to do so. There’s a Tibetan saying that says this like you don’t even say thank you for those who work in your house or to carry the stones and the earth. Anyways, this saying shows that it is showing when we have no gratefulness. It’s not just up to the parents only to be kind and wholesome.
Sorry, all we have does not come only from our parents. For example, if a couple has nine children, all these different children will be different in terms of habits and dispositions and their character, etcetera. But then of course the sperm and ovum of the parents are the same. So then of course it is the consciousness that joins the sperm and ovum to become a person and all sentient beings have different streams of consciousnesses. And they have different imprints on this consciousness and they have different karma on this consciousness.
So that’s why they appear differently. So then it is good to recognize and to be grateful towards this great kindness that was given by our parents. But we can witness also in the West situations where the children have no gratefulness for their parents. Then of course there are some parents who just give their child nine months and then give birth and just get rid of them or give them to other people. So then of course in these kind of situations, it is also difficult to think of gratefulness of the mother.
But I think that it feels to me that maybe in some circumstances, this thinking of the great kindness of our mother and our parents is a bit difficult to affect our minds easily. So for example, some people might feel they haven’t done much for me. I haven’t done much for them. So we’re equal, we’re even. But then there are even more important reasons to have a high regard towards others.
So then most of the time or continuously in our day to day life, we feel I don’t need anyone really. I don’t need to rely on anyone. I don’t depend on anyone. I don’t have to expect anything from anyone. I can manage everything by myself and this is because of very strong grasping or apprehension.
This attitude is completely mistaken. This is actually something that will make our lives very difficult. Because it does not concur with reality. Because if we can study well, if we have a good education or if we have nice clothing, nice house, nice food, good reputation, etc, everything nice that we enjoy only arises thanks to others. So everything in this world, everything relates or depends on other factors.
Even if you want to stay on your own, live on your own, then you need food, you need clothing, how do you think you will get them? They come from others. So you might feel, well, I’ve been working hard to get all this stuff, but this hard work that you’ve been doing, it’s only done in relationship with others. In the same way that if you want to clap your hands, need two hands. If you want to survive, you need others.
Then you can realize how precious other people, other beings are. So of course you can realize this and think in this way, it might not affect or benefit others directly. But then it’s one hundred percent sure that yourself will be benefited. For example, when we practice the Dharma in the end, we say we have to make dedications. So one might feel then I have practiced the Dharma quite well.
Now I’m going to do the dedication. But if you have strong self-cherishing or self grasping, you might feel, well this merit that I have accumulated, it won’t be enjoyed by myself. I won’t have any left for myself if I dedicate it to others. So, and I need to keep some for myself. So it’s not impossible that you might feel this way.
So but when you do this dedication to others is just like tiny handful of rice. It looks tiny but when you cook it in a big pot, it can become quite huge, right? So in the same way when you dedicate your merit to others, the potential becomes great. And then the best thing about is that as a side effect it also harms your self grasping. And if you start harming your own self grasping then you become much more broad minded and relaxed and you start opening the door of your own wisdom.
So then if you can manage to start opening this wisdom of selflessness in yourself, then naturally compassion, love and bodhicitta will arise and they will be such a compassion and love and bodhicitta that they are associated with wisdom and they will be then concordant with the actual state of things. And this is most precious. So I feel that to practice the Dharma, is important to understand the point. If you do not get the point of practicing the Dharma, then you might just go to the center, the Dharma center, maybe you do a torma offering. If you want to do a torma offering, have to know what the Three Jewels are.
Otherwise, if you do not know that you bring your plate of fruits and biscuits and you sit there straight and you use your ḍamaru and make lots of noise with your bell and whatever you’re using. So, but how is that useful? And if you do not know how to bless the offerings and if you do not know how to purify the offerings in emptiness, then you just sit there saying, or from the heart of the deity light rays are emitted, but what’s the point? If you do know emptiness well, then you will be in possession of the conditions necessary to generate yourself as the deity. Particularly what is to be identified and recognized is the Tathāgatagarbha, the Buddha nature.
If you recognize that, then it is from this Tathāgatagarbha that the deity arises. If the deity doesn’t arise from the manifestation of the Tathāgatagarbha, then how would it arise? Actually, this is how it is explained in the Vajrayāna, the tantric vehicle. And this of course requires lots of thinking. So then you have to start with understanding refuge properly.
And you have to start wondering what is the outer refuge, what is the inner refuge, what is the secret refuge or the suchness refuge, what is the result? What is the causal refuge first and what is the resultant refuge? And you have to understand how this is referring to a transformation of your own body, speech and mind. So in fact, what happens is that we have to transform into the deity, which is into an uncontaminated body. Right now we are ordinary sentient beings and contaminated beings.
And then of course the offering of has to be an uncontaminated offering. In order to generate the field of torma offering and the offering itself, you yourself has to arise as an uncontaminated deity. So in order to, if you cannot generate this body that is completely uncontaminated and defiled, particularly if you cannot make the Tathagatagarbha manifest this innate clear light mind, then there is no way all these uncontaminated things will arise. So in order to access this extremely precious mind, you need to get rid of the defilements. And to get rid of those defilements, you cannot buy your way out of it.
You cannot just merely receive blessings from the lama. You cannot destroy it by hanging something around your neck? You cannot also get rid of them by drinking something? It also doesn’t get destroyed by putting tormas and ritual implements on your head. It needs to be destroyed in accordance with the mechanism of concordant cause and results.
As the Buddha say that all phenomena arise due to their respective causes and that the Tathāgata himself taught these causes. We should wonder what are these causes? When the Buddha taught what is to be engaged in, what is to be discarded, he taught that this and that are the causes of suffering and they bring negative results. And these negative results are in the entity of unpleasant feelings, unpleasant experiences. And he showed that this and that what is to be engaged in are positive causes versus causes that bring positive results.
And these results that are positive are said to be so because they bring up happy, pleasant experiences. So when we do these kinds of practices such as a torma offering, then we should wonder what is our wish to do so? What motivating us to do so is because we wish for the attainment of liberation and omniscience. So for this one is to investigate the different levels of subtlety of dependent origination, the different levels as there are many levels of subtlety of the different views, there are different schools, different dispositions and different mental capacities of practitioners even among Buddhism. So there are many different presentations.
We can witness in the world that whatever we can see in the world such as planes in the sky, cars, whatever functions, whatever works in the world only does so in the midst of this mechanism of cause and effect. So for our practice also we need to understand what are the concordant causes. So then for example, when we talk of high geshes or big monasteries, then why is it we say they are endowed with such great qualities? It is because they have studied so many methods that are only aimed at destroying self grasping and self-cherishing. And among those many methods, of course, the most important is the view.
And there’s so many different levels of the view, so many different presentations and they are so highly regarded because they have studied in-depth these different levels of the view. So then when we start ascertaining a dependent origination with valid cognition, we can find different levels or different steps. And in this way, we can find many different explanations or like different tenets. Relatively we can say there are many different valid tenets or schools of thought. So if you want to go further, go deeper in our understanding of the view, in the meaning of the view, then we have to understand how all phenomena are void and how they are merely labeled mere denomination.
And we should understand it through the presentation of the Prāsaṇgika School of Thought or Consequentialist School of Thought as propounded by the Master Nāgārjuna, a founder prophesied by the Buddha who was prophesied by the Buddha himself. And so this understanding or this investigation should be twofold. And there is from one side the great vast conduct and on the other side, the profound view. But these not something easy. Then if you feel always too difficult, it’s so much time, so much effort, I might just leave it aside, then you end up, it’s a great loss for yourself.
Because our actual enemy, the ones who always bring upon us so many problems are the self grasping and the self-cherishing. If you can destroy these two, then all our surroundings become the undefiled and uncontaminated pure land or the beings in there are only the uncontaminated gods and goddesses and everything is in the nature of uncontamination. So not only you will find the peerless happiness, stable happiness for yourself, but you will be able to effortlessly and spontaneously help by manifesting so many different aspects to help sentient beings, our mother sentient beings as vast space. So that’s why it’s very important to generate faith based on understanding. So then if you have such a faith, then it will be unwavering.
It will not be subject to change and your faith and conviction with regards to the Three Jewels will grow more and more and your compassion towards sentient beings will increase more and more. You will be a person that is more honest, kinder and more open minded, more relaxed. So then if you practice in this way, whatever hardship or difficult conditions you might encounter, everything becomes something useful to fuel your practice of bodhicitta. You will be able to practice patience. Actually, you will be able to not only practice the six perfections, but to be able to successfully master them.
And in this way, your practice is very successful. So what is the problem with not having a faith that is based on understanding? So then what happens that you feel, oh, it’s a new trend to practice the Dharma, it’s fashionable. So you go there wearing mini skirts, completely unashamed. And when you’re in a good mood, then you recite your prayers and things and you feel happy about yourself and when you’re in a bad mood then you feel angry and throw your books away.
This is self deception. So it’s good from the beginning to really strive and try to generate an understanding. And then because if you do not manage to generate true faith and belief, your mind becomes quite negative. So it is good to generate faith based on understanding and very crucial to always mix one’s own mind with the dharma. Otherwise, if we just leave it, leave the dharma as something to learn about or just to study or just to know about, then the Dharma will become like a poison for your mind.
Your mind will be poisoned. So you have to understand, get the point of Dharma practice. And if you do, and then from there, if you do put strong efforts, it is sure, one hundred percent sure that you will generate realizations. Time is over, time’s up. So there’s session tomorrow, right?
So then tomorrow I’ll talk maybe more about meditation and maybe about some strange topics, maybe the benefits of accumulating merit and things like this. Then I want to kind of inform you that I have very small qualities. What I do have is that I have met a precious spiritual master, a precious guru who is an actual Buddha and I feel this is due to a great merit from the past. What I also do have is a pure intention. I have a motivation completely stainless.
I have absolutely no purpose or no, there’s no point for me to try to engage in the eight worldly dharmas. So I feel it is extremely beneficial and extremely positive to be able to talk among sentient beings, living beings about the dharma. So I want to thank you for this opportunity. So also particularly to the center, I would like to thank those people working for the center because I know there are always many hardships in the dharma centers. And then you have to go out of your way to rent a place for us to stay and cook food on purposes for us.
So it’s quite troublesome. So I want to apologize for that. And because you are very busy, your lives are very busy. You don’t have so much time, but you still made time to come here for the talk. So I want to thank you for this.
If you feel that some things I’ve said, if they are beneficial, then maybe you can think about taking them to mind from time to time. Probably it will be helpful for you. If you feel they were not beneficial, just let it be. Now let’s do dedication prayers. Firstly we’ll do the Thanksgiving mandala, just briefly.
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