Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 54-minute teaching, Lama Zopa Rinpoche uses dreams as a gateway to understanding emptiness and the root of suffering. He opens with inauspicious dream signs—deities appearing sick or broken, walking toward darkness—and how understanding emptiness dispels them. He then develops the dream analogy: things appear absolutely real in dreams but don’t exist even conventionally upon waking. Similarly, all daytime phenomena appear to the mind as truly existing from their own side, yet are merely labeled by consciousness. Through this lens, saṃsāra operates as follows: ignorance arises when the mind believes what merely appears to be truly real; this belief triggers delusions and karma. The antidote is meditation on emptiness—training the mind to recognize all phenomena as hallucinations or merely labeled, not truly existing. He concludes by integrating this view into daily activity.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 36 2005 04 16 YAMANTAKA.mp3
UUID: 4876c625-1c9c-497b-bf68-0fd4900d00bf
Teacher: Lama Zopa Rinpoche 1
Collection: z Malaysia (Lama Zopa Rinpoche 1)
Date: 2005-04-16
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 53.8 minutes
Words: ~4,687
So by taking a dream. So what do you have to dream at Los Angeles Center? During the teachings last night? Or during the preparation or at home. Anyway, I’m joking.
So if one dreamt seeing deity or guru, the sangha, only even this holy object statue. But especially bright, not dusted or broken. Dusted or broken like that, even a statue. Or even when dreamed guru, but kind of skinny or sick or something like that, then there’s inauspicious event.
Even a dream to a statue, holy objects, but it does—a broken something. So is an auspicious sign. And such as reading scriptures, putting parasol or umbrella or something so forth in a way. Dressed, say, wearing new dresses, and so forth. Don’t do, say, climbing—able to climb on top of the mountain or going towards the light.
So those things are a sign that the obstacle to practice the deity—and that sign that you will achieve, you will have attainment. So dreaming, going towards the darkness, then wandering or going towards the darkness, that one’s body becomes ugly or something, you know, a naked body—naked or wearing a wrecked body or some wrecked—not body, so a wrecked cloth, wrecked dress, wrecked gown, you know, wrecked dress, then walking towards the southern side, going towards the southern side. Those are normally south is Yama, but where the Yama is abiding—south. So they were going towards the south is a sign of death.
Then the—but the riding over the camels or donkeys, then having—dreaming like that, having dreamt like that, being harmed by others. So for this, say—even one has those inauspicious dreams then should think by giving torma to the interferers, torma, the torma to the interferers, then all those inauspicious signs, say, obstacles, those inauspicious signs are dispelled. In other words, I think especially by meditating emptiness. So this—by thinking the what one—what one dreamt, you see, it’s due to their hallucination in mind. So in the dream, say, although things appeared as a real one in the sense existing from their own side, not merely labeled by the mind, but that’s easy to understand.
It’s not true. How it’s not true? That’s totally false. See, in the dream, things appeared, not merely labeled by mind. So all those are labeled by—labeled by one’s own mind.
So they actually it’s not true. It’s all totally false. This is first thing. What appeared in dream, a real one in the sense existing from the outside, you see. All these are totally nonexistent.
And besides that, whatever forms are, you see, the dream, all this, whatever, and then, you see, doesn’t exist even—doesn’t exist even—even in the—even doesn’t exist even in mere name. It doesn’t exist—they don’t exist even in mere name. So if they exist in the name—if the conventional exists, then when you wake up, you should have all those things. See, whatever you—what is it? So if you dreamt, you win the lottery, the dream, you see, billions of dollars.
Or, you see, in the dream, you got married and had ten children or—or fifty—fifty children. And then when you woke up, should have fifty children, you see, but—but when you woke up, you’re not married to, you know, that—to that person, you see. Didn’t have any of those—didn’t have any of the children. Anyway, what you saw in the dream. So—so that’s—that shows what you think, what you saw in the dream.
Not only—not only inherently doesn’t exist. They don’t exist even by name. Even conventionally, it doesn’t exist. So—so—so the—by the daytime, the eye, action, object, forms, sound, smell, tangible object, these that you—that these things—these things that which has the valid base, which has, you know, valid base, then these labels exist. Something which has a valid base, then all these labels—forms, smell, taste, tangible objects.
Whatever, see, it happened in the daytime—I, action, object—to see, anything that which is a valid base, all these labels, it exists. But all these labels, it exists, all these phenomena exist, but it exists in mere name, meaning imputed by mind. So there’s big huge differences in the daytime. These things—forms, smell, taste, doer, the self, and the action object—which has a valid base. But the dream, what we saw in the dream, all those things do not exist even conventionally because they don’t have valid base.
So that’s the differences. There’s huge differences. So, however, here, at the moment here, is using as dream to get the idea of true existence. Things appear—things appearing a real one in the sense existing from their own side that one allows the mind to believe that they’re real. So I said, so it is not—so that’s totally—do not—it’s not true.
Is it totally empty? They’re nonexistent. So exactly like that. So exactly like that. All the phenomena, all the phenomena from hell up to enlightenment and enlightenment, hell, liberation, saṃsāra, happiness, problems, saṃsāra, nirvana, virtue, non-virtue, the happiness, problem.
So all these—all these they appear to our original mind real one—real one from there, in a sense, existing from its own side. But all these—all these—and then appear like that, and then we let our mind to believe all these are true, the way it’s appeared. So you see, when we let our mind to believe that as they appear—as they appear, things appear existing from their own side and we let our mind—we let our mind hold on to it that they’re true. So here—so here, this become the basis to rise, you see, delusions, the ignorance and attachment, ignorance and the karma, and then—and then attachment, anger, all this other—so forth, you see, the disturbing—obscuring—disturbing thoughts, all this rises.
And motivated karma, this delusion rises and motivated karma, and then that leaves imprint on the mental continuum, and that imprint seed throws or results—future saṃsāra, future birth, all those sufferings. So like the lower realm or the—the god realm, those, say, sometimes with all those sufferings. So like that—so like this. So while—while we’re experiencing the result of past karma, there is the twelve dependent—twelve dependent arising limb—twelve dependent arising limb while we’re experiencing the results from past. And while we are going through the sufferings, then at the same time, every day—every day, every hour, then minute—you see, with this—by creating, I say, we let our mind to hold on to these—all these phenomena appear as—appearing a real one in the sense existing from their own side.
So that they’re true, then we create ignorance. Yeah. So then—they say, then all those other delusion arises. So whatever the karma. So—so leaves the imprint seed of the mental continuum and the—so then from there, future life saṃsāra comes.
So—so in this life, one day, so many. We—we have started—we have started twelve dependent arising links. We—so many in one day. So many in one day. So many in one hour.
Mean, future—you see, resulting future saṃsāra. You see, all those suffering. So you see, so then—then in the—while we’re experiencing the result of the twelve dependent arising limb that we started so many in this life, so while we’re experiencing those—the suffering results, then again, you see, we—that in that life, we can again start. You see so many twelve links, you know, depending on—relationship. Even one day, so many, one hour, a minute, so many will start.
So now—now here you can see—so now here you can see—so you can see now very clearly what Lama Tsongkhapa explained, the genuine compassion to other sentient beings. How to generate compassion to other sentient beings. Three Principal Aspects of the Path. The—bound and then makes the suffering. See?
So—so the bound—bound, totally bound, the whole body by the chain of karma. So you can see from—by meditating this way, the twelve links—as well, experiencing result of previous karma—twelve links started in the past from. So even today, you see, we initiated twelve links so many times and even in one hour. Then, let’s say, during—while—while we’re experiencing the result—the result—suffering—from the delusion, karma, the suffering, ignorance—each in each of those lives, we again, we create the—we start—we initiate the twelve links so many times in the one day, so many with an hour, with a minute, so many.
So you can see how we are complete—so you can see that how we are completely chained. How saṃsāra is completely, the body completely chained. See? Wrapped up with chain. There’s no freedom at all.
The sentient beings have no freedom. No freedom at all. You see, completely wrapped up, you see. But the chains of delusion, karma. The chain or the barbed wire, you know, the whole body is completely wrapped up with barbed wire.
You see like that? Then and not only that. Say not only that. Complete—trapped in the iron—iron cage. That’s the ignorance—concept of ignorance, the self-grasping of the person.
Self-grasping would be—I think it’s—they truly—they—self-grasping—let’s say, the ignorance or grasping truly. This ignorance—so, say, completely and totally hallucinate, total—trapped in this—trapped in this total hallucination to the extent it is projected by this—being completely over-controlled by this self-grasping, this ignorance. So complete—complete trapped in the—in the iron cage. Not only all the limbs are completely chained with the barbed wire. They come out, you see.
There’s trapped in the iron cage of this, the self-grasping, the ignorance, you see. So on top of that, you see, so no freedom at all. Like, they—like, they’re totally living in the hallucinations. I was completely trapped in the hallucination and totally under the control of this self-grasping, this ignorance. And then not only that, ignorance and the ignorance and the karma.
There’s no—what is the right thing to practice, what’s the wrong thing to be abandoned—vice and virtue, you see. So dark. There’s no light. Totally dark.
And then it’s taken away, not to one place. So the wave of desire, wrong view, then craving. And in order—there may be perhaps there may be different ways of or different text, maybe different ways of—kind. These four waves, they take away—you see, there’s no—how to say? The strong waves of these delusions, these four delusions.
You see, violent—violent waves of these four delusions carry one away. So while it’s totally dark, the ignorance not knowing Dharma, not knowing karma, you see. So that—so this is how sentient beings suffer. So I say, I was talking about the dream, then it went into something else. I was talking about dream, then again, it went somewhere else.
Some other countries. So anyway, so I—so conclusion. So you see—you see the—the very root, the very root. For example, once a family members or friend or enemy, but long time ago didn’t meet. So many years ago didn’t meet.
Then one day—one day, among the people, either alone or with—among the people, you meet somewhere. But—but you—so long ago, so many years ago, but you can’t—you see, you—you do not recognize. You do not recognize. So that time, you do not recognize. You—you see—you see father, you see mother, you see—I mean, what—what is it?
Brother or sister or whatever? Friend or enemy. You—you say you see, but you don’t see that this is enemy, that this is friend, this is father, this is brother, this is sister. As—as—as a father, as a brother, sister. You don’t see that way.
So you see that—you—you see that—so you see, it’s—bringing—you don’t recognize. Then slowly talking, then you’re able to—then slowly talking from the voice, the way it behaves, the way the person behaves, from the voice. Then suddenly comes the imagination, suddenly comes memory. Oh, this is my father. This is my sister or brother or friend.
See, whatever—whatever it was long time ago, label that you have put before. A long time ago. So now this time, I say—time ago. So you see, here, at the beginning—so you—so you see that person’s—you see the body. You see the body.
So you don’t recognize that—that—you don’t recognize that this is my friend or this is my brother or sister or this and that. You don’t recognize until your mind is labeled. You know, until, say, behavior or the voice something or—or talking stories in the past. Then—then you see—then re—reason—reason—because I have seen the—I have seen the person’s body. The—we’re behaving, all the voice.
So, however, by seeing the aggregates—by seeing that—by seeing the aggregates, you see, by seeing that aggregates and which doing certain behavior, you see, like that. Then you see, then you see—see—thought—mind will sing that base, then make up the label. Then that makes—make up the label. Oh, this is my brother. Oh, this is my sister.
This—oh, this is my friend that, you know, many years ago, I did this and that. You know? I lived together and this and that. Oh, enemy. So you see.
So they recollect the aggregates. You see? Then that mind which is recollect, I guess, makes up the label this and that. Makes up a label this and that. And one—and then as a—one make up—one’s mind to make up the label and believe it is—believe in that.
So it’s here—so it’s here merely imputed—merely imputed is here, father or mother or brother or whatever, friend or—even one’s mind seeing that—recollecting the aggregates, you see, with a certain figure or behavior. So that mind merely imputed this and that. So see. That mind just a matter of the label or that mind merely imputed the—merely made up the label—merely imputed the label, this and that. So first, make this clear.
Then we talk about the hallucination. Then it’s—make clear. First, we—well, first, we think the reality. How things came in existence. So alright.
The mind seems—like it’s with just certain activity, behavior, body, certain shape, you see. Recording that—that mind, you see, meaning which isn’t that. So—so right—so right after that second, right after—right after the mere imputation, right after the mere imputation, the next second—then immediate projection from negative imprint left in the mental continuum by the past ignorance, project the true—true existence. Decorate true existence.
Like we decorate the, you know, paint the—fingers or the pictures on the wall or putting the, you know, the—the paper, which is designed, put on the wall or carpet on the, say, on the floor. So the—like we paint on the house, you see, put on the cover. So that it—it—you see, merely imputed—up—right up—right up to the mere imputation, the negative imprint projects, decorating true existence on the mere imputation. So—so—so you see, the—I mean, after first, mere imputation, the next second, and the projecting this hallucination to the extent, decorating the true—true existence. So this on the, you see, on the mere level of phenomenon, on the mere imputation, you see.
So—so because of—because of that, the friend, enemy, or whatever, brother—says that—that one’s mind is right now. One’s mind just—just—just—just one second before your mind—mind imputed. One second before your mind imputed. So it didn’t—it should appear back merely labeled by mind because that’s what it is. But instead of merely—instead of appearing back merely imputed by the mind, it appeared back not merely imputed by mind—not merely imputed by mind.
So that’s extremely subtle object to be refuted—object. According to Prāsaṇgika Madhyamaka school, the Prāsaṇgika school’s object to be refuted. So—so when we realize this—when we realize not—me—this not merely labeled by mind, you see. That is empty or that is totally empty, nonexistent, or the—or the—ex—the brother, sister, friend, whatever—that one’s mind meeting with just—just one second. Appearing and believing, you see—it exists slightly, it exists something additional, slightly more than what is merely labeled by mind.
Appeared and believed. So that one. So you recognize—recognize this—what is object to be refuted, you know, that—that which is false, that which is—that which is false. Then—then the, say, during—during analysis—however—however, the—however, by recognizing—by recognizing this is—that this is object to be refuted, that this hallucination. Then one—see, it doesn’t—as it—it cannot stay as it is. So you see in the—in the view of the—in the view of your mind, you see—you see just there.
See. You—you see it is empty. After—after seeing this is false, then you see that’s empty. That’s totally nonexistent—empty. So the—that something slight—the—say that phenomena, something existing slightly more than what is merely imputed by mind.
Additional than what is merely imputed by mind or something slightly more than that. Then realizing that—that is total—that—that is totally nonexistent, empty. So that’s the person’s—emptiness view. Realizing person’s—emptiness view—emptiness. That—I say, in—in reality, you see, that’s only—in reality.
Even though those four schools of Buddhist philosophy, they have their own interpretation of emptiness, but in reality, there’s only one emptiness because the root of saṃsāra is only one. There’s not many different types of root of saṃsāra. There’s only one specific one. So similar. The mind seeing the aggregates, attributed—aggregates, mind seeing the aggregates, then that same mind made the label, merely imputed I.
Then, right after that—right after the second, then the negative imprint left by the mental continuum by past—project the hallucination—true existence, projects true existence on that. So that’s the next second after the mere imputation. Then third, the next second, third second, then the same—they continue—to that mind which immediately—immediately I. The next second—that—so that next second, it appears back.
I—see—not merely labeled by mind, existing from its own side. So appear. Then the—that same mind which be—just before merely—imputation of I. Then that could be—that—that mind continued—continued—that mind which before merely imputed the I. So that—that mind then, you see, believes, apprehends, apprehends on that true existence of the I.
Apprehend that is true. So in other words, one let—let one’s mind to hold on to that. The truly existent I appears existing from its own side—to see. That is true. So the minute, the second when you let your mind hold on to that is true, then that time—that time you created the—you—you created the ignorance.
Root of saṃsāra, the origin of the twelve dependent arising limb, the first one—ignorance. So—so here, ignorance—ignorance do not exist, doesn’t exist from its own side. Ignorance is created by one’s mind. So here, the minute when we—the second when we let our mind hold on to that is true, then that time we create the root of saṃsāra, similar to the aggregates. So—so—so same—any phenomena.
So they appear to an extent, and that happens until we achieve enlightenment, except in the—when we are—when we are in meditative equipoise. So—so the everyday life, when things appear—to an extent, whenever—I say—then we—say, we let our mind hold on that is true. So—so that’s the—that’s the root of our problems. That’s the—that—that is the fundamental suffering. That—I said, all the problem come—all the—all our problem—whole world problem, all our problem came from that.
That—that wrong concept. That’s superstition. The—the king—king of delusions—king of delusions. King of delusion.
King of superstition. So—so that—so that—that hinders—that—so cause of suffering. The delusion causes suffering. So—so hinders to achieve liberation. Hinders to achieve enlightenment, you see, fully awakened mind.
So now here—so therefore, now here—so now here, meditation—meditation on emptiness. Meditation on emptiness in daily life. What is—sitting meditation or meditation, say, while you’re working, while you’re talking, while you’re busy. So here, the very essence, the very essential, the very essence of meditation is to think opposite. You know?
So if you let—if you let your mind, you believe, to hold on as they appear, you see, that, I say, basis of problems of life—of life—as the—sometimes suffering. See, that which doesn’t allow us to achieve liberation and enlightenment. So now here, to think, instead of—instead of letting our mind to hold on to him, that is true. But, see, the—which appears to—as—which appears to us truly existent—existing from their own side. So now here, we let our mind to think, to look at the hallucination.
It’s total opposite. Look at him—look—we let our mind to look at him, think of him not true, false. So that is—that is the key thing. That is the key meditation, the most important meditation. So that if you do that, let’s say, then correct meditation on emptiness.
There’s no danger of falling into errors and all these other things. So—so if you let our mind to think of the—to—to instead of holding on to the truth, we let our mind to think this false. That—that—this is false—that which is false. Looking—looking at the false, that which are false. Looking at the hallucination, that which is hallucination.
So just think—to see—I think opposite to—say, think according to reality, not the way it appears. It’s always false. Mind is harmonized to the reality, not harmonized to the belief, the appearance, which is the, you—total hallucination—is not there, which doesn’t—which do not exist. So everyday life, I mean, receiving meditation or everyday life, you see, to—we let our mind to look at I, action, object, or the—the whole world—world—your—your—your own world—from some—all these people around one. So—so, however, what—what is—what is is, you know, exciting life?
What is happy life, miserable life, life filled with problems, having cancer or relationship problems, or having a successful—having matured—success in a successful life. However, you see, the training that, you know, we let our mind to—say rather as letting it—letting the mind to hold on to this truth, we let our mind to say, to look at them, to think—to think of the our self, our—and the external object, the phenomena. You see, the appearing existing from their own side, something real, real one appearing from there. And, you know, the—I see, by recognizing—by recognizing the—these—all these are false. All these—the way appear.
Everything is real from the sun. By recognizing—by recognizing the—the whole thing, you see, appearing something real from there—see. Hallucination, then you see, with this awareness, then let the mind to think—all this empty. You know? See, the very—that—go—go through is very natural phenomena.
You see, emptiness. They think their nature—emptiness. So however, that—that understanding comes when we let our mind to look at them as—to look at them hallucination. That is a hallucination. You see, the two truths and the phenomena that appear.
So, say—so here—so here, it become—it become unbelievable protection in the life, say, then that helps—that helps to not rise attachment, anger, jealous mind, pride, all these things, all these delusions. It helps to not rise because there’s no basis. You see? Because you—you look at everything as hallucination—that which is hallucination. So here—so here, continuously, antidote to saṃsāra and root of saṃsāra is remedy. Maintaining to this meditation is only—and become a remedy to—do like medicines to cut the root of saṃsāra.
And this then all other delusion do not arise. It’s a reasonable—basis—because you don’t believe the truth. You don’t believe—there’s no belief—true existence of phenomena. These things, things appearing truly existent—is true. It is—that they’re true. There’s no—you don’t allow that mind to believe. So there’s no basis. But if you believe that things appear truly like this, you believe that’s true, then, of course, then you see the—then delusion, other delusion, all those—all those rest of the superstition—superstition—superstition thought rises.
So here, maintaining—looking at—letting the mind to—to—to—to look at all these things as hallucination is the hallucination and now, or merely imputed. Another one is merely imputed by mind is subtle meditation. So this is also—see—see. This way, then—see. It’s a common reality for the phenomenon.
So if you—if you think opposite to—if—if the way you apprehend object, you know, if it’s—if it’s contradictory to the wisdom, the way the wisdom—see—realizes or see the—the objects, then there’ll be, you see, that—that—that mental factor will be ignorance. That which the way—the way the view object is against to the wisdom, the way the wisdom see the object. So that’s—so that—so that is the, say, the minute we need—we think different—different—look—opposed to the—to the—to—towards the phenomenon itself and action of the—you see, hallucination or the merely labeled by mind. So then it becomes—yeah. I see.
It becomes liberation and—and—and this—say, while—while one’s life is busy talking to people or writing or whatever one is doing, cooking or cleaning, driving, whatever what is doing, you see. But if you have—you see—that—that you know, remembering—even not all the time, but remember again and again the way you think of the—where you look at the phenomenon. So this maintain awareness. Maintain awareness while you’re busy. You see how one can integrate—integrate the view.
Here—here, how to integrate the busy life and the right view. So then it’s a matter of bodhichitta and that too. Yeah. So anyway, how you are—my meditation on emptiness, looking at all the phenomena, as I mentioned before, enlightenment, saṃsāra, nirvana, happiness, problems, virtue, non-virtue, everything—I, action, objects, everything.
Looking at—I say, all these—what appears something real from there, but looking at it is a hallucination or all these merely labeled by mind. However, when it comes to conclusion that all these are empty, so maintaining emptiness is the most powerful—for the—the meditation on emptiness is the peerless protection, best protection. So this meditation on emptiness also dispels the inauspicious—all those dreams—whatever one had. Sort of that. So one to get go, then can maintain our own emptiness.
We can—we can try that.