Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. A quote from Ven Jampa Gendun’s first Dharma teacher — “If I thought future lives did not exist, I’d commit suicide” — anchors this nearly two-hour session on why rebirth belief transforms practice priorities rather than remaining mere doctrine. Opening with karma as the intentional quality behind action, the talk recaps earlier sessions on the death process and the five forces for dying practitioners, then shifts into substantial practical guidance on accompanying the dying: being a good listener rather than imposing religious formulas, reciting familiar mantras only when genuinely wanted, and offering small physical acts of care. Ven Jampa Gendun draws on personal palliative care experience throughout. After reciting Lama Yeshe’s vivid poem on impermanence and death, he argues that without some conviction in future lives, samsaric pleasures remain the default priority and practice lacks real urgency. Traditional logical proofs for rebirth are promised for the following week.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 2007 02 19 Three Principal Aspects of the Path 2007.mp3
UUID: 96dab3d7-4ff3-4cd8-a090-46f0f6eec703
Teacher: Ven Jampa Gendun
Collection: Three Principle Aspects of the Path 2006-2007 (Ven Jampa Gendun)
Date: 2007-02-19
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 100.9 minutes
Words: ~9,150
How is everybody? Okay. Hot? It’s cool in here, isn’t it? It’s a nice place to be.
I have to come here more often. So we begin by can you hear me okay? Begin by adjusting our motivation. Okay. The why behind and the purpose for our being here together.
You know, we we maybe come here with kind of an automatic pilot or just to get out of the heat or whatever the reason. And but it’s necessary that we check up and adjust our motivation to ensure that our time that we spend together brings about the type of results, the beneficial results that we all want. Quality of the result is very much dependent upon the quality of the cause that we create. And the cause is the intention behind the action. And we’re going to begin talking maybe next week or maybe the week after that we’re going to begin talking about karma.
Essentially karma is an instant of the general law of cause and effect, causality. And it’s a particular instance because it is concerned with intentional quality of an action in terms of acting as a cause, bringing about a particular experience. And because we want to experience happiness, we don’t want to experience suffering. It’s dependent upon the nature of our intention, the why behind the purpose for what it is that we do. Not so much what the external action might be, but what lies behind it.
You know, people can sit up very straight and just like a yogi in meditation posture, and it’s neither here nor there, depending upon the quality of their mind. What’s actually going on inside their mind is going to determine whether it’s beneficial or not. And all the various things that we do, the giving, making donations to charity and so forth, if it’s done reluctantly or hesitantly or some ulterior motive of one sort or another, then maybe it’s not so much benefit. I mean, it’s better than not getting, probably. But it would be best if we, in the course of putting our energy and time and our resources into what we’re doing, if we stopped, acted, stopped speeding, and adjusted our motivation.
So if we’re going to put the time and energy and our resources into something, why not make sure it’s going to be beneficial? And the way that we can ensure that it’s going to be beneficial is in terms of our motivation, trying to develop some positive motivation for our being here together. Essentially most, we’re trying to solve some of our problems, and we all have a different perspective on the nature of our problems, depending upon how we’ve worked with dealt with suffering over the course of our life, we’re going to have a different sort of notion about what the nature of our problem is and how to work with the solutions toward that. And, Hopefully we can use Buddhism as a resource for helping us amongst our whole tool bag that we have of working with our difficulties, and hopefully at a more profound level than perhaps we deal with our difficulties and our frustrations and disappointments, what it is that we don’t want in terms of the quality of the experience of our life. So we’re here to, in some way or another, to help to solve our problems, the problem of suffering.
You know, sometimes people, I think, when they first come across Buddhism, think, Oh, the Buddhists are so pessimistic, they’re so cynical, they’re always going on and on about suffering. Well, there’s some truth to that. I mean, the very first teaching that the Buddha gave after his enlightenment at Deer Park in Sarnath, near Varanasi in India, was the Four Noble Truths. He outlined his entire doctrine on these four principles. And the first of these principles was the truth of suffering.
And it’s not so much that he was a pessimistic person or cynical. I think he was probably a rather cheerful and happy going happy had a happy quite character about himself. That’s the way it appears to me. But he realized that happiness is not the problem. Suffering is.
Continual avoidance and denial and wishing that it somehow go away, but it always somehow returns in one form or another. And so if we if we never stop and take a look at our difficulties in a perhaps a more in-depth approach, then we’re never going to become sincere about working with the remedies in a more profound approach. And no matter what we may do, you know, we all know that we’ve all expended the blood, sweat, and tears over the course of our life. Really, what’s it done for us? Have we really solved the basic problems of disappointment, frustration, dissatisfaction in our lives?
Is it just so much a recycling of episodes in our lives, the same problems, the same difficulties seem to be continually reoccurring in one form or another? It’s just that it reoccurs different, like a stage setting with different costumes and different scenery. But the plot remains very much the same. So if we’re ever going to deal with our problems at a more fundamental level, we have to take a look at our problems at a more fundamental level. But, you know, hopefully we can not only see the necessity to deal to deal with our own problems, but maybe we if we’re fortunate enough, we can begin to see that we’re not alone with these difficulties.
Have amongst ourselves different genders and there’s different body shapes and sizes and colors of hair and educational backgrounds and maybe economic backgrounds. In a way are, to a large extent, superficial. We’re all very much the same at a deeper level. There’s not much differences amongst us in terms of though we all want to be happy, still we’re not really happy. And though none of us want to suffer, in fact, in some way or another we’re continually suffering almost every day of our lives in some form or another in some way or another.
And maybe in the course of dealing with our difficulties and our problems at a more fundamental level, we can develop some skill, you know, only be able to help ourselves, but be able to work with others to help them to do the same. And maybe that’s the finest way that we could lead our lives. You know, there’s this outside this door, in the next room, there’s a plaque with a quotation by the Dalai Lama, in which he says that the degree of our happiness is very much dependent upon the degree of our compassion. And think this compassion, I think perhaps Dalai Lama would agree that we have to begin with compassion for ourselves and begin to take our own problems seriously and sincerely want ourselves no longer to suffer, to become better, but directing this compassion equally toward others and to expend some of our time and energy, some of our resources in helping them to experience the same. They’re just like ourselves.
Nobody wants to suffer. Everybody wants to be happy. No different whatsoever. So this becomes like a way of life to a lesser or degree. And we make it a priority in our life.
Everybody has their priorities. You have to deal with the practicalities of work and your family, having fun, economics and what life demands upon ourselves. But amongst all of those priorities is the priority of dealing with our problems at a deeper level and the development of compassion in helping others to do the same. And I think that that’s the way to lead a good life, balanced life. I think things will go well, not only in this life, but you can be assured that things will be prepared for the future.
You know, we’ve been talking a great deal about death. And at the end of every death, there’s another rebirth. And by creating the causes in terms of working with our problems is it it echoing, George? Is it? Maybe it’s just Maybe just turn it down slightly.
The channel three? Yeah. Thanks. So the way that we make this kind of commitment in terms of priorities is what we call going for refuge. And the idea of going for refuge isn’t particularly Eastern or Buddhist.
We’ve all been going for refuge our entire lives in one form or another, whether we called it that or not, whether we think of it that way or not. You know, what is it that is to bring us our happiness? What is it that’s going to solve our problems? And so we have to check up to see whether our particular refuge is delivering the goods, whether it’s some kind of payoff. In terms of Buddhist refuge, you know, we can talk about the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, these might remain rather abstract.
We have to maybe look at something which is more real to ourselves, is more immediate and relevant to ourselves. All have some wisdom, however faint and obscure that wisdom might be. But we can trust that wisdom. We can take refuge in that wisdom. We all have some compassion and love, however limited and however exclusive our love and compassion might be expressed.
But nonetheless, we can trust in our love, in our compassion. We all have some personal power, however weak, however unrefined our power may be, nonetheless it’s still there. We can take refuge in that, something inside of ourselves. And we can begin to express this in working relating with others in terms of our skillful means. And we all have some skillful means.
However imprecise. I think, I think about nine or something like that. Yeah? Okay. We all have some fearlessness, however fleeting, however easily intimidated our fearlessness might be.
You know, when I talk about these qualities of wisdom, love and compassion, and personal power, and their skillful and fearless expression in our everyday life, I’m talking about the seeds of a Buddha. And this the Buddha is simply in the the the best possible story, the best possible outcome that we could make of our lives, the best best way that we can make use of our lives. So we all have this potential within ourselves, and we can take refuge in that, and we can trust in that more and more. And this becomes becomes a way of life. This this is, like, a real commitment.
You know? And this is in our everyday life, it’s, where our refuge really happens. But maybe we have to hear it now in this circumstance, in this situation, stop and think about that, and we kind of formalize it and voice it in a very formal manner. But nonetheless, it’s something that is a way of life, a commitment to a way of life, which has has meaning and value for yourself, is worth your life’s energies and time and resources. It’s a priority.
It’s important. I go for refuge until I’m awakened to the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. Through my practice of generosity and the other perfections, may I become a Buddha for the sake of all sentient beings. I go for refuge until I am awakened.
Through my practice of generosity and the other perfections, may I become a Buddha for the sake of all sentient beings. I go for refuge until I am awakened to the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. Through my practice of generosity and the other perfections, may I become a Buddha for the sake of all sentient beings. May all sentient beings have happiness and the causes of happiness. May all sentient beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.
May all sentient beings be inseparable from the joy that is without sorrow. May all sentient beings abide in equanimity, free from attachment to some and aversion toward others. Reverently, I prostrate with my body, speech, and mind. I present clouds of every type of offering, those actually arranged and imagined, and rejoice in all the virtues of superiors and ordinary beings. I disclose all my negative actions accumulated during beginningless time, and rejoice in the virtues of superior and ordinary beings.
Please remain until the end of cyclic existence and turn the wheel of Dharma for migrating beings. I dedicate all virtues of my own and that of others to the great awakening. I’m getting some new glasses tomorrow. Really? Okay.
Let’s meditate. So if you take a take a comfortable, firm posture. So we’ll begin with mindfulness of the breath as we normally do, and then I’ll lead you a meditation through meditation in which, you know, try and use the faculty of imagination. Everything begins in imagination, and we can begin to imagine imagine ourselves in a different way. We can create the space within our mind which allows these qualities which to find some expression.
So we’re going to imaginatively put ourselves into a role, and we’re going to play a role in which we create an imaginative situation expressing these various qualities. So taking a comfortable firm posture, I’m going to begin with by relaxing the body, starting at the crown of your head, your scalp, forehead, forehead, feeling the the wrinkles in your brow beginning to smooth out. And the pressure in and around your eyes beginning to diminish. Facial muscles beginning to soften, relax, your jaws relax. The muscles in the back of the neck, perhaps turning your head to the side gently a few times.
Just loosening, softening, relaxing. And the muscles in the throat. The upper back and shoulders, perhaps rotating your shoulders a few times and letting them drop comfortably to the sides, feeling the burden that we carry on our shoulders beginning to move down through your body out into the ground Like a weight taken off your shoulders. Relaxing your hands Allow them to go limp, soft. Lower arms.
The upper arms. Your chest is at ease. Releasing the tension that we hold in our stomach muscles. Allow your belly to go soft. And holding your trunk erect, relax your lower back muscles.
Relaxing throughout the pelvic area. Buttocks. Your upper legs, thighs. Lower legs. And your feet.
And become aware of your your body in general, noticing any tightnesses, any tensions in your body. Focus on those areas and consciously relax often feeling the tightness loosen the tension dissipate, diminish, disappear. Your body becoming comfortable, at ease. It feels good to be in your body. And then bring your mind to the breath.
Just the easy gentle in and out flow of the natural breath. And if it’s helpful, the techniques of counting and noting the breaths. Now we’re going to meditate and allowing various qualities to be expressed within our imagination. We begin by thinking of a female that you admire, that you look up to, that you respect a great deal. Female who you admire, that you respect, that you look up to.
And what is it about her that you admire so much? What characteristic, what quality about her do you respect so much? Now we want to play a role. We want to imagine that we ourselves have that exact same quality to the exact same degree as this person. So create an imaginative situation where you completely live out and express the same quality to the same degree.
Feel that you have it. Now think of a male who you admire, that you respect, look up to. What is it about him? What quality? What characteristic does he possess that you admire and respect so much?
And create an imagined situation where you yourself have the same exact quality to the same degree. Feel it as as if you had it and express it in an imaginative situation. Be that quality. Now think of a quality that you now possess, something about yourself that you like, that you respect about yourself. And then we want to imagine that this same quality is many, many times more developed, completely, fully developed, and create an imaginative situation where this quality that you like about yourself, that you admire and respect about yourself.
Just completely fully developed and express it. Be that fully developed quality. And then lastly, think of something that you don’t like about yourself, some quality or characteristic. And now imagine that you have the positive counterpart, the complete opposite quality, and create an imagined situation where you express the counterpart, the complete opposite of this undesired quality. And then bring your mind back to the breath.
And then get in touch with your body, sensations, feelings within the body. And then slowly, in an easy, gentle, relaxed manner, become aware of what’s going on about you. Just take your time. There’s no hurry. I was thinking today that maybe I’m killing you with death.
I don’t know. And we’ve been talking a lot about death. First, we talked about the nine nine-round death meditation, trying to become more mindful of the fact that death is definite, definite, that the time of death is indefinite, and what is going to be a benefit to ourselves at the time of our death. And then we talked about the actual death process. We went through the eight stages dissolution and how this the stages in which the mind, this combination of subtle most wind energy and subtlest mind begins to slip away from the body, from the coarser levels of materiality.
And we’re going to look at the the then we looked at the five forces. You know, it’s we talked about how how an advanced yogi makes use of this this the death process in order to as a window of opportunity to realize emptiness, to remove ignorance, and achieve. Buddhahood. But then we talked about perhaps what is most relevant, more relevant to ourselves or relevant to myself. The five forces, something that we or that an average practitioner or not even an average practitioner, less than average practitioner like myself can make use of at the when we we realize that death is near.
The force of positive seed, you know, beginning to emphasizing the accumulation of of positive potential of merit, and then beginning to let go, give things away, provide for our families and so forth, and make offerings, donations, kinda emptying out process that so there’s nothing that we’re going to cling to at the moment of our death. Letting go. Then the the force of aspiring prayer, you know, making heartfelt prayers to the Buddhadharma and Sangha, to our teachers, to whatever it is that you find meaningful, that you believe in, and that you’ll never be separated in the course of this dying process, you know, both at the time of death and the intermediate state and rebirth from what of most important to yourself in terms of spirituality, in terms of the awakened heart and the awakened mind. And then we talked about the the force of repudiation in the beginning. How important it is that the the quality of the mind of the dying consciousness.
And that, you know, the fact that the the mental karma, which arises in the course of the dying process, you know, whether the various thoughts and various emotions, the virtuous and non virtuous, skillful and unskillful, negative, positive, will very much determine the projecting karma which will ripen, which will be activated at the moment of our death and very much influence or determine the the quality of our rebirth. So in repudiating, you know, trying to determine, I’m not going to allow negative states to arise in the course of the process of dying, you know, making this kind of determination, setting this this directionality of the mind for yourself. But also in the course of of throughout our life, but also especially when death is drawing near to practice the the methods methods of purification, you know, applying the four powers, whereby to purify then the negative actions that we’ve created in the course of our life. Then we talked about the the force of determination, you know, determining to to never be separated from the the awakened heart or just simply, you know, when what it is that you value most, compassion and wisdom, most simply.
And then the force of familiarization, you know, setting up some kind of a plan for yourself, how you’re going to actually die. So it’s a you don’t die die in a confused and bewildered state, you know, taking assuming a posture which might help you to compose yourself in in the course of death, you know, like as in the in the case of Śākyamūni Buddha, in his passing where he lied on his right side with his right palm against supporting his right cheek, locking his right nostril, left hand along the side of his body and practicing in some something which will help you to to maintain a positive state of mind. And and one of the traditional methods and, of course, it’s something that we should have been practiced prior to this time. Otherwise, you know, you wouldn’t want to try anything that that would simply bewilder you all the more. But the the practice of taking and giving, you know, with your dying breath, taking upon oneself the sufferings of others and giving away your happiness to to them.
And when the breath as the breath begins to to become more and more subtle and finally diminishes and ceases, determining to to practice wisdom in the sense of trying to maintain some degree of mindfulness that everything that’s going to appear to you in the course of this process is simply a projection of your own mind. It doesn’t exist out there truly independent independent of your own mind. And familiarizing yourself with this with these five powers. We’re going to look at the proof of rebirth, that, you know, the this isn’t it’s not it’s not over. It’s not the it’s not the end as many people might like it or wish it or or but in fact, you know, that death in a way is like a a radical change of lifestyle.
And we more or less go through radical changes of lifestyle even over the course of our life, these small deaths, when our our life is turned upside down when in some way or another with with when those things which we found security and which we found which we valued most are taken away from us or lost in some way. You know, when when when everything that we we we that we took refuge in is somehow no longer there. And something has come to an end, and the the beginning has yet to start. There is a gap. And there’s, you know, how do we how do we face those gaps in our life?
Those little deaths which occur over the course of our life. You know, the the way that we face the death at the the big death at the end of our life is like a summation of all the little death, the way that we face the little deaths over the course of our life. But I thought before we actually talk about some of the proof, the way in which it’s traditionally presented in terms of the logic or the reasoning, which tends to support the existence of past and future lives. We might talk a little bit about what we can do for others at the time of of death. This is a big subject, and I I don’t know very much about it.
And so would you I just present some ideas. And by all means, if you if you’re interested, then there’s a lot of literature which which you should look into. You know, we are going to face death very much as we face our life in terms of these little deaths which occur over the course of our life. They’re like links with with the with the bigger death at the end of our life. So normally, in the course of change, you know, if you think about how you’ve dealt with the big changes that you’ve experienced over the course of your life and how you dealt with them, and it will give you some indication of how you’re going to deal with the big change at the end of this life.
You know, most of the time, we we feel out of control, we feel powerless I think. There’s a sense of confusion, distraction. We feel kinda lost. So there’s a there in general, I think there’s fear of change. There’s a fear of letting go, you know, that which we’re familiar with, that which we’ve known.
Whenever we run across the unfamiliar and the unknown, we become afraid. That’s pretty natural. That’s almost instinctive for ourselves. And we we grasp it what has been, what we had before, the familiar. There’s a you know, what’s what’s what’s gone before.
So, yeah, in in accepting change and impermanence, accepting change and impermanence, we accept death. You know, learning learning how how how how discontinuity is is simply a part of a greater pattern. And that we we get caught up in the trees, don’t we? And that we don’t see the forest of our life in our lives. We we don’t have a cosmic perspective.
We lose our our vision of what is possible. So, you know, in in helping others to die, we have to help them in some way to let go, to help them to move on, to that they are not dying empty handed, that we have to help them not to die with any regrets. And we we have to help them to feel that somehow their life had meaning, that it was worthwhile, that that it’s okay to move on, to give them that kind of reassurance. You know, rather than arming ourselves with all our theoretic knowledge, you know, with all our with all the methods and the the techniques that maybe we picked up somewhere along the line. You know, dad, you know, all things the death is definite.
The time of death is indefinite. And at the end, the only thing which is going to be able to benefit you at the time of your death is how you developed your mind. Or or or or saying something like, oh, first, you’re going to experience denial, and then you’re going to experience some kind of anger, and then you’re going to begin to bargain, and then you’re going to become depressed. But eventually, you accept what’s happening to you. You know, these kind of the formulas that we’ve all learned.
Right? You know? In one way or another, some some kind of intellectual understanding that we’ve come to. You know? And rather than doing that, we have to begin to relate with the actuality of what this person is feeling, what they’re actually experiencing beneath the superficial aspects.
You know, we have to I mean, this is really most important, to create some kind of opening. And then what I with the knowledge that we have, we’ll naturally come. You know, we we we will it it will come at the right moment. We will say and do the right things if we’re in tune with what is actually going on rather than thinking with our heads, you know, if we’re more tune with our hearts, because this is a very hard moment to connect fundamentally skillfully with this person, you know, when in, like, hanging out with this person and reminiscing, you know, about their times together, their their their their story, the good parts and the bad parts. You know, create a a loving atmosphere.
And then be a good list listener. Above all, be a good listener. And allow the person to talk and to express, you know, what it is that they’re feeling. Emotions, you know, sharing in their pain, sharing in their fears, you know, empathizing. And that we this we all have this commonality of of suffering and fear, and it helps you connect.
You know, you know, finding ways that you can that you can comfort this person, you know, in little ways, you know, adjusting their pillow, you know, massaging their feet, you know, the the wiping their forehead, holding their hand. You know? But but I think it’s important, but not to impose your kindness upon them. I’d like to emphasize that. That was I worked a little bit with some in palliative care last year, working with some dying people.
And you see and it’s quite easy. Dying people are vulnerable. They’re in a vulnerable situation. And you have to it’s easy to impose what you think they might like, what would be useful, and so forth, rather than trying to be receptive to what they actually want for themselves. You know, it’s you have your own agenda, and you have to be aware of that.
And you have so you have to be receptive. You have to do what it is. You have to look for this little signs and little subtleties. A lot of them can’t say no. Maybe they never learned how to say no over the course of their life, but especially at the time of their death.
They’re weak and they’re frail, and they don’t want to make a lot of trouble. And they want to they they appreciate your kindness, and they don’t want to hurt your feelings. So you have to be extremely sensitive to what it is that they need, what it is that they want for themselves. You know, dying people have a tendency to isolate themselves. Dying people aren’t very aren’t beautiful, and they’re not they’re they’re they are they are they’re not useful.
Our society places a tremendous value on beauty and usefulness, on be able being able to perform well. And here, they can do nothing, and they’re no longer beautiful. They might have been beautiful once, but they’re no longer beautiful. And they’re no longer of any use. They might have been, you know, powerful executives at some time or great movers in the world, but they no longer have that power.
They’re frail and weak. So the dying person is going to look for signs of unlovingness. But it’s natural. You’re nervous. You don’t know what to say.
You don’t know what to do. Or you let it go by. You know, you feel something, but that you would like to say, but maybe you talk about the weather or politics. You know? And a lot goes by unsaid, undone.
So we have to so in whatever ways I mean, if this person is familiar to you, in this whatever you know, if it’s a close someone you’ve had a relation with, you know, some way or another. Whatever way you show their your love to them in the course of your relationship, you know, show more. Do that more. Show them that they’re lovable, that they’re still cherished. And then we we have to assist them in whatever way you can to bring their minds to a positive state.
That’s the best that’s the most valuable thing that you can do for them. This is important. It it if they practice a particular religion, they remind them of some of the life transcending principles of their religion. But again, to emphasize and important, we should not or do not impose your own preconceptions on them about what it is that they should or shouldn’t do. You have to be open.
You have to be sensitive to their need to then their wants, you know, what has meaning and what has benefit to them. You don’t you know, even if they were Christian, even if they were Buddhist, doesn’t mean that this is what they want and need at that time, your assumptions about So we have to help them to work through their fears of pain and their fears of separation, fears of of we don’t know. Unknown. We don’t know, Really. And knowing that at the time, you know, that you share in these same fears, you know, and that someday that you yourself might be lying there just like this person is now.
And hopefully, you’ll be looking up into eyes which express peace, which express understanding and caring. That’s what you can do for them. So in the case of maybe if they are a Buddhist, you know, maybe they have carrying on some kind of stronger practice, you can influence the direction of their mind, you know, leading them to their mind toward a more positive, virtuous state. You know? And this can be tremendously beneficial.
So, for example, if this person has been engaged in the practice of Dharma, if you if you were to know of their practices and and you’re sensitive and this is what they wish, then reciting their practices to them can can can bring their mind to a positive state. Just even simply reciting, and if this is what they want, and it’s good to check up. It’s it’s difficult. It’s difficult for them to say no. So you have to be really sure.
I don’t not to impose your will upon them, your preconceptions, but reciting the various mantras, for example, which they’re familiar with, well you know, which they associate with something extremely positive with transcendent values, which mean which was something which is very meaningful, will help their mind, will bring their mind to a virtuous state. You know, as long as the dying person can still hear you, you know, the you you know, you can you can remind them of their various practices, reading various prayers and so forth that they recited every day. So kind of gently guiding the dying person’s mind back to the practices that they cultivated during the during their life so their mind doesn’t get lost and distracted. That’s their mind doesn’t become involved in a negative object, which would induce some kind of negative state, an attitude of mind, trying to keep bringing their mind back to what they what it is whatever it is that will help them to to feel positive. So but on the other hand, having said that and these are just some, I think, some I mean, you all know this.
Just to remind you of these things. It’s important to avoid disturbing the the peace of mind of the dying person. You know, you know, some you know, you know, like people gathering around the deathbed. And, you know, even with the best of intentions, they’re crying. And and and this can perhaps cause the person to to generate attachments or even anger.
Or maybe they’re just chatting away, you know, talking, but they’re they’re maybe upset in some way. So when the dying person hears these disturbing talk, this chatter, negative thoughts can come, attachments, anger. So it’s you know, this is very distracting and very disturbing for the dying person. And then maybe there’s nothing they can do about it. Maybe they’re not in it.
They don’t have the actual physical strength or the will to be able to to to intervene. So, you know, being sensitive, allowing you know, if you can’t help, at least don’t harm the situation. So in in general, general, I you know, we can’t do so much. An average person can’t do so much at the time of death that, you know, we we are helpless in terms of this person’s karma. And when they are so close to death, there is there isn’t so much we can do for them.
But seeing to it that their external conditions I’m talking about the immediate situation and creating an immediate environment that’s peaceful, yeah, and trying to guide their mind in whatever way to in some kind of positive direction. This can influence influence the way their death process proceeds. And we talked about this additional mental karma which ripens, which determines the act the projecting karma, which one of them will be activated. So it is it’s it’s very very useful, and it can be very positive in benefiting a person as they die. And we can do this.
There’s there’s a long poem by the Lama Lama Yeshe. Do you wanna hear a long poem by Lama Yeshe? No. I know most of you know who Lama Yeshe is. Yeah.
Maybe some of you don’t. It’s the on these these on the right hand on your right hand side, there’s three vertical pictures, small pictures. The middle one is Lama Yeshe. He had a very creative way of using English language. Water rushing down a steep mountainside, a natural force.
There is life, but the force of dying is there, driving. Many people think I’m crazy when I talk about death. They think I don’t understand life. If you think about death and suffering, you make yourself miserable. They think I’m obsessed.
Dying is horrible. Why do you dwell on it? Ridiculous. They do not understand life. We exist in a dance between life and death, a masked drama with one actor changing character, one face, then another, and another moving, changing.
From the first instant of life, impermanence is with us. From the moment of conception begins. In the second moment of life, a change has already occurred. In the first moment, it’s disappeared. That is impermanence and death.
I exist. I exist is a misconception, a permanent conception. Every energy is moving, changing, coming and going, coming and growing, old, older, and dying, dying, dying. When we see a dead body, we never visualize our own corpse there. Ah, it’s dead.
Horrible. I’m leaving now. We never think, that’s me. There is fear, not understanding. That terrible corpse is within you now.
All sense world phenomena exist like a cloud. If there is meeting or beginning or contact, there is naturally change, separation, and disappearance. Man and woman, friend, mother, family, father, atoms, fire, and water, things, if there is meeting, separation must follow automatically, and there will be clinging fear and suffering. Every imaginable supra samsaric experience, every contact, every enjoyment will disappear. It’s natural.
But we are But are so insecure. We find a friend and worry, and he will disappear. We find pleasure and worry that it will end. We are afraid to lose our home and money, our loved ones, and our body. We all fear separation and disappearance.
This is universal fear, but it is useless, creating only confusion. It is not a solution. It is a delusion. Recently, some people went on expedition to Mount Everest. They were success they were successful and reached the summit.
But on the way down, one man died. They tried to revive him. But it was impossible. Why did they go? Milarepa said, When worldly people see me, they think I’m completely crazy.
And when I see worldly people, I think they are completely crazy. To choose Coca Cola when we could have champagne is very stupid, isn’t it? Our materialistic lives are devoted to temporal pleasures, and we think this is the best we can do. But when death comes, we end up with nothing, and we die in misery. There is not much difference between our way of life and a dog’s life, except the potential.
Never ends because we don’t remember death. Not today. No, not today. Today. Life is only a breath coming in and going out.
If the breath goes out and does not come in again, life is finished. That is death. Until death, we are going to think, no, not today. Life is running. Death is definite.
And we never know when it will come. Life passes like lightning. It is there, then it disappears. But something in us believes death will slowly, our permanent conception because we do not remember death. Wisdom memory is the atomic energy that destroys division, but we forget.
We never think death is definite, and we never know when it will come. Since birth, we have been collecting. We collect friends. We collect possessions, family, lovers, property. This one and that one, this and that.
We cling to each one, and there is fear. And when we die, not one of these things will help. Instead of helping, our collection destroys us. Because we do not remember death, it will come definitely. And the time is never certain.
And today, I’m alive. I’m alright. Not today. Why not? Your father died today.
Okay. It was time for him to die. Everybody has to die. Now that he is dead, it’s my turn. Do you understand?
I must do something right now like this. If I know that within ten days someone is going to cut off my nose, but I don’t know who and I don’t know when, I’m going to be so careful. I’m going to protect my nose as much as possible and not waste time putting on makeup to make it beautiful. We have this choice to die as a natural thing, but it’s possible to die joyfully like going home. So we’re going to talk about some of the reasoning which tends to support the notion of rebirth.
Whether the dying person has made use of the opportunity of the clear light of death in the case of a tantric practitioner, or whether the practitioner has made use of the five forces, the force of positive seed and so forth, as we’ve been talking about, or whether the the individual has simply died like most of us, like the average person dies, you know, completely without awareness and and completely confused and bewildered. The moment of clear light is the moment of death. And then we went through these eight stages of dissolution. The last moment is the moment of the clear light of death. That’s the last moment of this life.
The next moment begins the re rebirth process. So immediately following the clear light of death, the link between the the very subtle you know, we talked about this. What it is what is it, in fact, in terms of the physiology or that that continues on to future rebirth? It is this unity, combination of extremely subtle wind energy and extremely subtle mind which continues onward. At the moment the moment after the clear light of death, the connection between this unit and the coarser levels of materiality, which constitute our coarse body and subtle body, is broken.
That’s death. So then begins the rebirth process that this unit, this combination by the force of this projecting karma is, as it were, thrown. And just like a leaf in the wind, the wind of karma sweeps it along, and it’s going to find another rebirth site. And then the reverse process of the eight dissolutions begins to take place. Rather than a disassociation, it begins to associate itself with the coarser levels of materiality, a grosser body.
This would constitute rebirth. So in exploring the question of rebirth, hopefully we can at least I think the Dalai Lama said no one has seen the nonexistence of rebirth. We have to at least come to the idea of rebirth as a skeptic. We don’t know. I think minimally.
So that we can we can begin to probably you know, we’ve tried to we’ve tried to see some of the some of the physiology that the mechanism, which the actual which what it is that goes on to a future rebirth, and now we’re here, we’re going to begin to look at some of the reasoning or the logic reasoning or the logic or the traditional proofs as was presented by the past Indian masters establishing the existence of past and future lives. And here, just take thinking a rebirth. So it’s useful because it makes a difference. And if future lives, in fact, do exist, it should have an effect on how we live our present life and the priorities of our present life. You know, in our in our three principal aspects of the path text, this little text that we’re studying, Tsongkhapa mentions life does not last long.
Seeing this would change the priorities of this life. And I think if I remember one of one of my teachers, of my my my very first teacher in Dharamsala, India, Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey, he he said, if I thought future lives did not exist, I’d commit suicide. And this really bewildered me. I thought, wow. I couldn’t understand that.
Now, you know, he’s saying I can only suppose what he’s saying. I don’t know for sure. That he is he has had profound understanding of the dissatisfactory nature of samsaric existence, of ignorance driven existence, of ordinary existence as we now experience it. You know, a tie a way of life which is lived under the control of karma and afflictive emotions, that such a life by its very nature is dissatisfactory. It’s hardly worth living.
Even even the Western philosopher Camus expressed that. He said the only serious question open to philosophers is whether to commit suicide or not. Then somehow he had many of the existentialists had some insight into the the the that it’s this satisfactory nature of the of what it means to be an ordinary human being. I’m not saying this is life. When we say this, we’re not talking about life in general.
We’re talking about a particular approach to life, an approach to life which being which is ungoverned or under the influence of karma and afflictive emotion, that type of life, which most of all of us experience, that life by its very nature, you know, is dissatisfactory. If one has a deep, you know, some kind of profound understanding of that, one is, you know, is disillusioned by life altogether, disenchanted, and wants wants doesn’t want that way of life any longer, wants to put a stop to such a way of life, to that the continual experience of suffering, essentially. If there is no future life, then then the way out is easy. If there is future life, then it is not so easy. And then there’s a lot of work to and you begin to realize there’s a lot of work to be done.
But moreover, if there is a future life, we we should, as a priority, begin to expend some of our time, some of our energy in creating the conditions whereby we can be assured that we will be able to carry on our practice again in the future. That in a way that we can go from life to life to life to life life life continuously. And this should be like as a as a practitioner, the minimal level of our aspiration to you know, we aren’t going to I don’t know about you, but I can speak almost definitely about myself. I’m not going to finish this path in this lifetime. I’m not even going to get probably get on the path in this lifetime.
So I want to try to create at least the minimal conditions where I can I created the situation wherever I can carry on my practice in the future? If I’m sure that future lives exist or if I have a tendency toward that, I’m going to put some time and energy into creating those conditions. If I’m not sure whether future past and future lives exist and future life exist, it really is not a very high imperative. It’s not much of a priority in my life. I wanna get on more with the things of this life.
I wanna find the happiness of this life. We’ll be completely lost and drawn into, you know, all the samsaric pleasures of this life. So it does make a difference. You know, some there are some, you know, teachers and authors who say, well, you know, one could practice Buddhism without a belief in future lives. That’s true.
I I think you can. But your your your practice will be that much more diminished in terms of in terms of the motivation, in terms of of what what you’re able to put into it. You won’t it won’t be a real necessity. There won’t be an imperative. You’ll still be you won’t overcome the tendency simply to become enchanted and lost in finding what it is that you want in terms of the pleasures and happiness of this life.
This will be your imperative. This will be your priority in one way or another. Now I’m not saying that’s wrong. You know? I’m not I’m not much of a practitioner.
But we can at least try to lead a balanced life. You know? We we have, you know, having your family, having a nice home, nice car, comfortable clothes, you know, comfortable house, nice clothes, all the goodies, you know, nice relationships. That’s in life that the Dalai Lama emphasizes. The meaning of life is to be happy, so we try to be happy.
But within this context, creating some balance in what it is that you’re putting all your time and energy, your your life and life energies into to to make to creating these minimal conditions so that you’ve taken care of your future lives. And just as we you know, people put put money in a superannuation fund now, even though, you know, they work for it, they don’t get through it’s not you know, I’m going to be at quite a different maybe maybe I won’t, but you will be. You’re younger than I am. You know, when you when you’re when you’re in when you’re in your twenties, you’re putting away money. You’re depriving yourself of certain possible pleasures now in for the in for in order to take care of yourself in the foreseeable future when you’re sixty five or something.
That sounds that sounds legitimate, logical. So, you know, but if we can simply extend that time frame, we we we put aside we invest we make some kind of investment in terms of our life and life energies at present to ensure that we’re taken care of not just after sixty five, but after this life. So it does make a difference. It does change your thinking and your imperatives and your priorities. The problem is that the vast majority of people who reject the notion of rebirth have never really considered it, even superficially.
They just unthinkingly accept a materialist explanation of the nature of life, never really having considered the matter deeply. Therefore but also the same can be true for people who unthinkingly accept rebirth or reincarnation or whatever we want to call it. They’ve never really looked at the matter at deeply. They simply maybe have a desire for continuity, more life after this one, the prospect of more life as against complete annihilation. But either way, never having looked into the matter very deeply, rejecting the notion of rebirth or accepting the notion of rebirth has very little effect on how they actually live their lives.
And that’s the purpose of looking into it. So it does have an effect. So it does make a difference. So we can approach the notion of rebirth or reincarnation, whatever we want to call it, in various ways, from various perspectives. We can approach it in different avenues.
There are people by recollecting our past lives, naturally, spontaneously, there are said to be methods of training whereby people are able to recollect their past lives. There are those who have remembered past lives in the course of hypnotic regression. There are said to be credible reports or testimonies of people who remember their past lives. And then there is the possibility of looking at past lives in terms of some of the logic, the reasoning which supports it. So, you know, there there are lots of books on, you know, of people who supposedly remember their past lives and have written about their past lives and articles written on people who have children who have talked about, you know, I used to live in such and such a place, and if you look inside this house, there’s such and such, they go there and they verify this child, the remembrances of this child and so forth, things that the child could not have known otherwise.
Anyway, there’s lots of research for like They do a lot of research at the University of Virginia into people’s remembrance of past lives and so forth. Anyway, so there’s a lot of literature that you can read up which tend to support the notion of past and future lives. But here we’re just going to look at the reasoning which tends to support it. Try trying to show that, you know, it it does there is a demonstrate that it has a logical foundation. Okay?
But we’re we’re gonna we’re gonna start that next week. Okay? So I’m gonna sit down there, and we’ll have a discussion. Women, energy what I assumed you were describing was a particular instance of what it is that goes and how it goes. Do you know what I mean?
So I’ve got, but, you know, the mover and the thief, what were they? Could you get could you explain that a bit Yes. Yes. Yes. And and and explain a bit more how how you feel that, like, or how you know it.
Because that’s the point that I find where if I hadn’t read Stephen Batchelor, I wouldn’t have kept coming. So, of course, I’m curious about the thing that goes from here to there and how it goes. And for him, as I understand it, and he was talking about that that’s not really important for him. And then you said your belief is that if it’s not important, you’re likely to your practice would be if your practice is not based on the rebirth am I going on too long? This is too many reasons.
The rebirth belief, then it’s likely to be and I heard I heard something there that I didn’t feel when I read. I felt it’s the same, what you’re saying or what you were saying. So what’s the force and what’s the thing as as you as you as experience it now as you’re talking about it? I don’t know. I