Lying and Dying Sydney — 02 Sydney Public Talk Lying and Dying

Lying and Dying Sydney (Lama Yeshe)

Lying and Dying Sydney — 02 Sydney Public Talk Lying and Dying

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Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.

About this talk. Lama Yeshe addresses how ego creates suffering and distorts our understanding of death, lying, and dying in this 43-minute public talk. He examines the ego’s tendency to generate dualistic thinking — the separation of self and other — which roots itself even in spiritual practice, turning medicine into poison when contaminated by pride and perfectionism. He contrasts destructive guilt (endless blame with no solution) with constructive guilt that motivates change, then reframes death and rebirth through Buddhist perspective: consciousness is a continuous stream that merely changes bodies across lifetimes, like moving to a new house. Fear of dying stems from ego and grasping; wisdom and understanding transform it into potential for peace. He closes with practical advice on cultivating daily compassion for all beings regardless of appearance, developing positive habits through repetition, and recognising that ego games are ultimately a joke when seen from the absolute perspective where all reality is fundamentally unified.

Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.

As ego develops, so the ego puts, you know, some kind of cream, you know, so that again polluted becomes, you know, all the confusion we saw still becomes, you know, pleasure we saw becomes a pain also. So simply, whatever religion or meditating or whatever you use, it just tries to go beyond even that idea and that philosophy, that concept. Or what I’m saying is, even if we use, even if we learn, you know, the method which leads to, you know, beyond the ego or problem or beyond the suffering, we consider that is the method. We learn, you know, but as ego is coming together, ah, it turns out enemy, in other words. It turns out, you know, the arm to destroy your pleasure.

It turns out weapon, you know, rather than medicine. This is not the characteristic of the religion or whatever it is. It is the culture, our own ego, our own ego, which has already polluted preconception, idea contained within itself. So that makes, that makes, you know, problem. That way, you know, each group’s, you know, conflict comes.

Because ego, the ego nature is always, Buddhist point of view—now I’m talking about Buddhist point of view—ego nature always something: I am versus you are the other. The instinctive nature. It doesn’t have philosophical ego. Ego doesn’t have philosophical, it doesn’t need it. It doesn’t need philosophical influence. It is natural. It’s instinctive nature. In its natural nature, when you are baby, then already ego comes. So the separation, you heard Buddhism dualistic. Dua means two. Dualistic means the separate. Dua means two, separate. Separate, you know? The conflict nature, that is the Buddhism call, terminology, dualistic thought. The ego is making the separation.

I mean, you can see in the world nowadays, you know, oh, they separate, you know, you may be each other, that nation, you know, this nation, this color, it’s kind of irritating. Even though we are here now, we are here, maybe some people think, well, I don’t have that kind of conflict, you know. It’s not true. It is so deep rooted, it’s not necessarily conscious level come. Unconscious level, you know, is there. It’s not yet manifested into conscious level. That doesn’t mean you are free from the racism, you know. So Buddhism, in order to comprehend, you know, such, you know, unconscious level of deep root of the ego, you know, and the dualistic thought, one have to go beyond normal. You know, normally, one may have to be, you know, one has to have the sort of meditative to go deeper, deeper, deeper, so one can see. One can see. One can develop.

Now, first of all, you can see certain, you know, our life, when you, you know, make a mistake, because of your ego, you think, oh, terrible, I made a mistake, you know? I’m the worst person in the world, how I done mistake. It’s ego. Totally ego, you know. Because, you know, big ego, you know, expecting I’m perfect. Anyway, ego nature is a mistake all the time, lifetime, you know, so you overestimate, you know, your ability. So all the symptoms, conflicts come from the ego, big-horn mind. Unreasonable, sort of putting an unreasonable projection on oneself and others. Would you believe that there is no such human being existent who is completely black and negative, you know, immoral? What do you think? There’s no such thing existed. One human being, that is total negativity. It hasn’t got any, you know, sort of good quality. Such things, not existing, scientifically, Buddhist point of view.

But our ego mind, sometimes, I’m totally bad, I’m totally worthless one. All those things are ego games. It is absolutely, you know, unrealistic, making, you know, such, you know, underestimated value or such overestimated value, not so even to do with the human reality. Even the worst person, like, let’s say, we maybe, I don’t know, let’s say Hitler is considered worldly, you know, he’s famous, you know. Buddhist point of view, even Hitler, he has incredible potential power, you know? We believe, you know, he’s not obvious one. Someday, he will also become, you know, as a Śākyamūni Buddha. So for that reason, to be guilty, you know, guilty, guilty, guilty without solution is terrible. It comes from ego. But there’s some kind of also positive guilty, which constructively gives solution. Maybe we don’t take that as guilty, you know. But, you know, the guilty, guilty without any solution is a terrible ego game.

And also sometimes people think that, you know, maybe Buddhism or maybe, well, Buddhist people, some Buddhist people or some Christian people or some Hindu people, you know, they think that in order to, you know, in order to you gaining liberation, you become good, you must suffer. You must be suffering. You should be very hard one, you know? You need something like that. Buddha didn’t talk, you know. In order to you become, you know, enlightened, you must become, you must go into hell, you know, would never say. Never even say. That wrong thinking, the wrong thinking is the problem, you know. We should not think that in order to gain something, you know, happiness, you must suffer. That’s the wrong attitude. Wrong attitude.

Anyway, you know, what makes you suffer, what makes you pleasure, it is still your interpretation, isn’t it? It’s still your interpretation. Oh, for example, maybe eating asparagus in Australia is pleasure, you know? And eating asparagus on the top of the Himalayan mountain is miserable, you know. So all this reality factor, how you interpret it? How you interpret it? So that way, you know, this way of understanding, one gets confidence, confidence that, you know, I have ability, I have, you know, ability to stop my problem. So when you have that kind of encouragement, you begin, you begin to act. You begin to act, you know. Maybe you heard here, maybe sometimes you go this way, you know. Maybe you heard here, sometimes you can go this way, you know? You want to, you begin to move something. What is the same thing that goes? You’re doing something, acting something in order to solve problems.

However, the Buddhist, the attitude, the human, the nature, the human, you know, the reality, the totality, human quality, you know, the human quality is used to be always the purity itself, purity rather than impure. Not like, in other words, its quality is still enveloped with the ego mind, isn’t it? But it is not like, you know, mixing coffee and the, coffee and the, putting together. You communicate it or no? If you put coffee and the, coffee and the milk and the tea together, what happens? Yeah. Maybe yak tea or something like that, isn’t it? Something like that. I’m not sure. But no, no. The ego, you know, or the contamination of the ego mind, or desire or hatred or any of, you think about the negativity, you know, or guilty feeling or whatever, these clouded thinking, it is not characteristic of your own nature. It is like momentarily coming, going, like the cloud of the Sydney sky, you know, Sydney cloud coming, going. One has to understand that way.

In other words, your ego problem or your ego is not the central characteristic of you. Your unclear desire, unclear desire is not the characteristic of you. Not sure. What is it? Draw. In other words, draw a clear line between the negative and human being. If human being is inseparable, you know, inseparable and it becomes negativity, then Buddhism says no solution. Buddha said no solution. But, you know, the unique character, unique character is a, you know, different characteristic than ego, so therefore it is sort of separated. It’s like cloud is, you know, the characteristic of cloud, the pollution is not the space characteristic. The space characteristic is not the polluted characteristic. Now, one have to understand, we do have ego problem, but that ego problem is not the problem of your character.

Now maybe your time, I’ll be maybe concerning, you know, human death. Concerning human death, the Buddhist view, the human death can be eternal blissful experience. But now, our ego is the thing interrupted to see real, to see the object. Therefore, we are going like this, you know, in the dark, like—darkness gives you uncertainty. You always, you know, tend to get to failure. So what I’m saying is, Buddhist point of view, if you understand the real, you know, death experience, not necessarily that death, you know, becomes a horrible experience, it becomes a blissful experience. It’s possible. However, anyway, Buddhist point of view, fear, the fear comes from no wisdom, you know? Darkness, you always get something. Maybe somebody come. Maybe someone coming, you know, by the way here. Why? You understand? Because the tendency, the darkness in nature, inside or outside environment, it produces superstition. It produces fear. So if you have wisdom knowing, you know, that experience, how to deal, no fear, no fear. And not necessarily, you know, reject it, you know, to people reject it.

Anyway, is, you know, the nature of rebirth, the dying nature. So, the most, you know, English people have much fear, much fear for dying. The basis is the ego and the grasping, grasping mind. This is a good way to also to say, by the way, that Buddhism, we come in this earth, such as this body, the reason is our ego, grasp. We’re going to this kind of boredom maybe next rebirth, because we continuously grasp, grasp. And also, attitude, attitude, our life, what is the attitude? Is that the nucleus, the nature of the human is the consciousness. This conscious stream continues from the life to life, you know, that way, I think that way, understanding is a very important one way in order to not be afraid. Because if you think life is a package, oh, I never experienced death. So that experience is the first time I’ve been experiencing it, you know? But Buddhist attitude, we have been so many times dead. So many times we take this, you know, this kind of cloth, you know, this kind of house, you know? The death is like, like you change your home, you know? The change this atmosphere of body and it take new life. The consciousness is going nonstop. So that makes actually more relaxed.

The tendency, I think, perhaps in this, you know, Western people, sometimes I feel, I don’t know, maybe I’m polluted, you know, but I feel maybe they think that way, life is so this way, you know, I started, I finished. I have to do everything. All trip or all pleasure I have to do this life, realized in this lifetime. Also ambition, you know, ambition that, you know, to be successful, to be, you know, material and reputation, pursuing and gaining, which is such rubbish. Have been king hundred times. You have been queen hundred times. I have been queen hundred times. And I have been, you know, civilization richer than America. Yes, Buddhism attitude. I have been, but still now I have to deal with my ego. Even though I have been, you know, my previous, you know, many, many, you know, higher, you know, civilized ego, I’ve been round, round, round, still. That’s all. So therefore, the mind and the matter have different characteristics.

Anyway, with this point of view, all this, you know, the matter, matter energy is the, comes from the nucleus of the consciousness or mind. However, absolute, absolute level, remember when I talk about the relative, up to now, relative change is the game, this thing. Absolute, the life and the death, the reality is the same thing. Absolute comes the reality, the non-duality of death is the non-duality of rebirth. And the absolute, you know, my reality is your reality. Whose point of view? You are different than me, you know, we make distinction, it’s dualistic mind making distinction, and so we dualistically exist. But if we use each other’s absolute mind, we have universal, one reality with oneness. Even nowadays, sometimes scientists say also there is one universal reality that is manifested as something different and then disappears back into there. Something, even, you know, science, they say. However, we have similar as, you know, interpretation of physics, you know, or those kind of science experience.

So when you discover the experience of the totality, the ego in making this puzzle, you know, making so busy, this thing is unimportant, unimportant. Every, you see the ego game, you laugh. You feel this is the whole joke, you know? Joke, you joke, you know. You know, full of jokes, you know. Oh, so then beginning, you’re easy going. Easy going. If you think this world is real, you become serious. But you don’t think. Useless. Useless. It’s just only your ego, you know, sort of build up. It is so serious. It’s serious reality.

Anyway, I think I’m not going to talk so much. I think I hope all of us understand life, you know, the nature of life, and we respect each other by understanding of the human nature. And then when we respect, you know, oneself and we respect others, and also, you know, understand of the death experience, and you can go beyond, you know, pray, hope so, and we pray each other, isn’t it? Anyway, better instead of I’m talking nonsense, you know, maybe you have some question, you know, if you question, answer. Thank you. Somebody organize. I cannot overnight.

My spiritual experience. My, you know, my journey, the spiritual experience is if I tell you, you end up with a miserable, you know, and superstition. Because I have much experience of superstition. You know what I mean? My journey, my part of, you know, my spiritual journey, since, up to now, I have much superstition. So if I tell you all this, my garbage superstition will explain to you. You’re going, you’re going to get lost. But I think maybe I can say, I still think inside my deep heart, I still think, you know, if I want, if I act, I think I can solve my problem. I mean, that’s all I think. I’m sure you think too. You know what I mean, you know? I think so. Well, that’s enough.

Well, for example, maybe interesting, when I was, you know, a child, for example, when I was a child, I was born as, you know, my parents were farmers in Tibet. And I was born, and I think I remember three, four years old. I always want to go monastery. I always beg, beg, beg, beg my parents, please let me go monastery, let me become monk. And my father wanted, you know, my father thinking I should be sort of a land holder, you know what I mean, farmer holder, to be, you know, hold a respected position. Always begging, begging family, he sort of he recognized, he tell me, you know, to my mother, say, oh, he always ask me, he must be, you know, he must be, he means he wants, you know. Now I think we have to get permission, so I get permission. Went to, six years old, I went to monastery, and then I started continuously, I received teachings continuously until age twenty-five. Age twenty-five, suddenly something came, you know, I thought, up to now I’m monk, you know, and I don’t want any more violence, you know, for the rest of my life. I just go some, at that time, I never know, actually, we never educated in a geographical sense, you know, you know what I mean, you know? We don’t, I don’t know, even I haven’t been in India, you know? But instantly, my nature, I feel someplace I can go where there is no more violence. Really? So that’s why I come. And I continuously, doing the, you know, refugee camp work, I started continuously. I cannot say so much good experience for you. Unfortunately. Alright. Thank you.

Well, I try as much as I could. Thank you. So one way is really, you know, in your heart as much as possible to sort of cultivate the, you know, the compassion, really, really, you know, sort of beyond physical, you know, appearance. That doesn’t matter, human being, human being, who is ugly or beautiful or handsome or whatever. Why? Is really, you know, everything has, you know, the equal, universal, same reality, and to develop as me, you know, as yourself. So each day, if you sort of, you know, will remind it, you know, open the heart for all human beings. I think very powerful, you know, very powerful. This is kind of a powerful daily practice, quite peaceful. Then just you try to, you know, squeeze yourself, you know, meditating, like, you know, the cars going, people, annoyed, irritated, you know, why did they make noise, they didn’t interrupt you. You understand? So really, twentieth century, actually, you know, not enough just sort of try to meditate, be quiet, you know, seclude yourself. It’s not enough. The way to really open is to comprehend all the, you know, the realistic reality of human being, you know, you understand. And as much as possible, every day, you know, you try to remember that and dedicate as much as possible for others as much as could. I mean, that way, I think, is very profound according to this society environment.

You control at least one day, you know, angry, and one day you control angry. Then you say evening, oh, you’re not too bad. Today, you are good enough, you know. I hope tomorrow you do a good job, you know. You understand. So that tomorrow, again, you sort of, you know, deal that way. So each day, better, better. Because the beauty of human being is once you change that information in the mind, habit, you know, this habit you repeat it, let’s be going, easy going. That is the human being beautiful, you know? First beginning a little bit, you know, awkward. But then if you put repeatedly, very easy. As well, like, for example, negative, you know. Negative is easy, you know, we repeat it, isn’t it? The same thing, positive attitude, first beginning sort of new, sort of thought, isn’t it? Then, you know, repeatedly becomes easy. Yeah. That way you should understand. You know, from the miserable, angry person to suddenly an eternal peace point. No, no, no, no. Right? Okay.

So the habit to develop, that’s one idea of Buddhism, every day should meditate, isn’t it? You heard, isn’t it? Oh, that’s all. It means Buddhism, you know, meditation is not something trivial. You can do, you know, sort of trivial.