Details

The Four Seals of the Dharma 3b

Teachers:

Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche

Collection:

Foundations of Buddhism

Location:

Gomde Germany-Austria

Translator:

Catherine Dalton

Length:

Medium Session (< 45 min)

Features:

Subtitles ,
Transcripts

Excerpt

Dharma practice requires constant effort in avoiding non-virtue, engaging in virtue, and training in meditation, which ultimately purifies the mind and leads to realization. The four causes for rebirth in Buddha Amitabha's pure realm—virtue, visualization, bodhicitta, and aspiration—offer a pathway for ultimate liberation from samsara and access to profound Dharma teachings in the pure realm.

Description

Rinpoche emphasizes the continuous nature of Dharma practice, which extends from waking to sleeping, and even into the dream state. It stresses the critical importance of avoiding the ten non-virtues, engaging in the ten virtues, and practicing the six perfections as essential for purifying the mind and enabling the practice of meditation, including Shamatha, Vipassana, and Vajrayana stages. The session explains the four causes for rebirth in Buddha Amitabha’s pure realm: engaging in virtuous deeds, meditating on the pure realm, cultivating love and bodhicitta, and making aspirations and dedications. Ultimately, it highlights that realization and accomplishment depend on purifying obscurations and sustaining the recognition of rigpa (wakefulness) with stability and continuity.

Related Course Info

The Four Seals of Dharma
Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche guides us through the essential points of the Four Seals of Dharma:
- All Conditioned Things are Impermanent.
- All Defiled Things are Suffering
- All Phenomena Are Empty and Devoid of Self
- Nirvana is Peace

Video

Audio

01:07:43

Autoscroll:

We make prostrations and offer the mandala. Why? What's that for? It is to purify our own mind streams, to clean or clear away the stains within our own mind, to reduce our pride, to reduce our stinginess, to reduce all of the afflictive emotions that proliferate within our minds. Where does our stinginess come from? It comes from attachment. And so this is why we make prostrations, why we offer the mandala. There is a real reason for doing this. It's something that's meaningful. When we talk about practicing the Dharma, Buddhist practice, practice is something that we can and should do from the moment we wake up in the morning until the moment we go to sleep at night. That's when we practice. This is our opportunity to practice. It's not just that practice is something that we can do occasionally, visualizing a deity, reciting some mantra, and that's the only opportunity that we have for practice. It's not like that. From the moment we wake in the morning until the moment that we go to sleep at night, we can always be mindful and attentive and in this way practice the Dharma. We can do this and we must do this if we want to get the result of practice quickly. We have to. So how do we practice? I explained it very clearly. I think you understood it very clearly. When we say I don't have time to practice the Dharma, it's actually not true. It might be true that you don't have a lot of time to sit down and do a formal session. Maybe that's true. But honestly, we have opportunities to practice all the time and we spend a lot of time being distracted and lazy and careless. We do. Lots of time. If something is really important to us, we do have the time for it. We make the time for something. And so if we say that we don't have time for practice, it means that we don't really consider it that important. Because when we do feel something is important, people spend so much time on hobbies. People find time to do that. And if we focus more and give more time to our hobby than to our practice, it's not likely that we're going to get a lot of result out of our Dharma practice because we're not really devoting the time and energy to it. So practice is something that we have an opportunity to do all the time. And practice here means to avoid non-virtue and to take up the practice of virtue. So, sometimes there's a way of saying, like, what does it mean to practice the Dharma? Really short, very straightforwardly. It means engage in virtue and abandon evil deeds. That's Dharma practice. If you do that well, if you engage in that foundation for Dharma practice well, then your Shamatha will go well, your Vipassana will go well, you'll be able to very naturally and easily practice meditation. So that's so important for us, right? Sometimes we think, oh, I'm practicing Shamatha and Vipassana, I'm doing meditation practice, but it's not really going very well. Why? Why isn't it working out very well? The reason why it's not working is because you're not engaging in virtue and avoiding evil deeds. That is what prevents us from being able to practice meditation effectively. And when we don't avoid evil deeds and when we don't engage in virtue, our mind remains in a state where it's upset, where it's disturbed, where it's shaky. It's caught up in the afflictive emotions. And then, so that's the negative emotions are precisely what we call the poisons of the mind, the enemies that are present within our mind. And of course, when we're involved in those, we can't practice effectively. So that's something that all of us need to be really careful about. We have to practice virtue and we have to avoid evil deeds, negative deeds, all day long from the moment we wake up in the morning until the moment we go to sleep at night. And even in our dreams, if we really practice very well during the day, then we become capable even in the dream state of engaging in virtuous deeds and avoiding non-virtue. And when we do that, then again, what happens is that our practice of Samatha and Vipassana, our practice of the generation stage and the perfection stage unfolds naturally. It's like, for example, when a mirror is clean, then the image, the reflection that shines in the mirror or appears in the mirror is also clear. And if the mirror is not clean, then the reflection doesn't appear there clearly. But if the mirror is clean, you can say, don't show a reflection. But it's going to, right? You can't prevent the reflection from appearing clearly in a clean mirror. And so it's like that when we engage in virtue and abandon negative deeds, then just very naturally, without effort actually, we're able to practice genuinely and effectively. But we don't put a lot of attention to that sometimes. We don't put a lot of attention towards that. But it's something that it's important for us to be attentive towards. If the Lama doesn't teach that, if the Guru doesn't teach about avoiding non-virtue and practicing virtue, then that is his fault. He should actually, or she should. The teacher must give that instruction. And if the student doesn't understand it well, then the student has missed the point. And if we don't actually do it, then the student is not practicing correctly, if the student doesn't actually do that. This is the Buddha's teaching. This is the foundation for Buddhist practice. It's absolutely essential. These days I really think a lot about this, how important it is for all of us to abandon negative actions, negative deeds and to engage in virtue. Some people, maybe they like it when they hear that, maybe some people don't like it when they hear that. But it doesn't matter, because that's just true. And if a teacher doesn't teach it because they think, oh, Westerners are not going to like it if I talk about how you should engage in virtue and avoid non-virtue, so I'll just talk about the nice stuff. Then they're doing a disservice, they're fooling you all, if that's what they're talking about, and avoiding that. It doesn't matter whether you like to hear it or not, it's just a fact. If we want to practice effectively, we have to avoid non-virtue and we have to take up the practice of virtue. It's essential. The Buddha said it so clearly, he said, do not engage in any evil deeds. Cultivate virtue. Tame your mind. This is the Buddha's teaching. That's what the Buddha said. It's very clear. And we have to do that. That's really the heart. That's what all of the 84,000 Dharma teachings come down to. They start with this. We have to do this. And if we do that effectively, if we avoid negative actions and if we take up the practice of virtue, then again our Shama to practice and our Vipassana practice and our generation stage and perfection stage practice will go well. Also the practice of the nature of mind, of course, right? The practice of the generation stage and perfection stage. These days there's a trend to not really be so interested in learning the Dharma and not so interested in accumulating merit and avoiding negative deeds, not so interested in purification of negativity and accumulation of merit, but immediately saying, please point out the nature of mind to me. I want to come to recognize that. If you could just point it out and recognize it like that, just like that, without any kind of other action or preparation, that would be so easy. But it doesn't work like that. Why do you think we spend months and months and years and years gathering merit and purifying obscurations? Because it's necessary in order to be able to come to that recognition. So that's just the way it is, right? That's why we have to engage in those kind of practices. Just saying, just point it out, I want to recognize it. It's not going to happen. It doesn't work like that. So, this is just the way things are. It's just the nature of things. And it's really important. So please keep this in your heart. If we really want to practice the Dharma genuinely, then we have to gather virtue, engage in virtue and give up non-virtuous actions, evil actions. As for the way to listen to the Dharma teachings, Kempo has been explaining this very clearly. He talked about the three faults of the vessel, the six stains, the five ways of mistaken understanding or misunderstanding. And this is so important when we listen to the teachings. It's also really important that we dedicate the merit, whether we're listening to the Dharma or contemplating it or meditating, whether we are teaching, debating or composing. In all of those contexts, in any kind of Dharma activity or context, it's so important to dedicate whatever virtue we are engaged in to the benefit of all sentient beings. May it bring benefit to all beings. That's so important. Listening to the Dharma is a form of Dharma practice and so is contemplation. It's not like Dharma practice is something different than that or something other than that. It's not like Dharma practice is only something that you do when you sit up with your back straight and close your eyes, maybe recite a little something here or there. That's not what Dharma practice is. It's not just that. Dharma practice is to practice virtue, to engage in virtue and to avoid evil actions. That's what Dharma practice is. That's where it starts. Whether you like it or not, that's what Dharma practice is. That's just true. It's just a fact. And it's important for us to understand that. And of course, if you get into even more detail about how karmic causality works, then in fact it is the case that everything unpleasant and inauspicious that happens in the whole world comes about because of having engaged in evil deeds, negative actions, all of it. It all comes from that. And these are just natural laws. If you lie and steal and kill, then that harms yourself and it harms other people. That's just a fact. That's just natural law. It's not that somebody made that the case. And when people get along and there is ease and peace, when we do good things, that's what happens. That's what happens when we engage in virtue. We get along. We are peaceful. We are at ease. And this is again just natural law. It's not something that was made up. It's not something that was created to try and control people or something. It's just the way things are. It's just the nature of things. Fire is hot. It burns you. And water is wet. And wind moves. That's the definition of fire and water and wind. It's the definition. It's just the nature of things. And in that very same way, non-virtue leads to suffering, both for myself and for others. And virtue leads to happiness, both for myself and others. That's just the nature of things. It's a simple fact. So here we are talking about Sukhavati, the Dewachen, the realm of great bliss. And to talk about this, then we can contextualize within the context of the six realms. We talk about the lower realms, being reborn in the lower realms. Being reborn in the higher realms, the god realm is one. And then there are a variety of pure realms that we talk about in the Buddhist context. And in particular, these kind of pure realms, one among them is called in Sanskrit, Sukhavati, or in Tibetan, Dewachen, means great bliss, the realm of great bliss. And what happens if we're born there? If we take birth in this pure realm, we will not be reborn again within the three realms of samsara. We will not be reborn again among the six classes of beings. We will gradually move forward until we attain the state of awakening. And so this is something that is extremely important and precious, right? And how do we gain rebirth in this pure realm? How is it that we take rebirth there? It's not by just praying to be reborn there, or visualizing the deity a little bit, doing a little bit of meditation, spending a lot of money on offerings. That's not the way. That's not the way. That doesn't create, that doesn't bring about rebirth in this pure realm. But there are four causes that can bring us to take rebirth, that do bring us to take rebirth in the pure realm of great bliss. And so I will explain these to you in a very, in a way that's very easy to understand.
If we engage in the ten non-virtues, we will be reborn in the three lower realms. I mentioned this already. If we take up the practice of the ten virtues and abandon the ten non-virtues, then we will be reborn in the higher realms as a god, a demigod or a human being. If on top of that we engage in a little bit of practice of the authentic view, the genuine view, then we can attain a precious human birth. I mentioned this already as well. But just this does not lead to liberation. Only this does not lead to attaining the state of omniscience. Nor does it lead us to take rebirth in a pure realm. So what are the causes of being reborn in the pure realm? What is it that brings about rebirth in the pure realm of sukavati, the realm of great bliss? In order to take rebirth in this realm, we have to engage in the causes of rebirth there very profoundly. We have to do it a lot and we have to do it very authentically and genuinely. Just like if you want to go to a seven-star hotel, you need a lot of money. So like that, we have to take up the practice of these causes that bring about rebirth in the pure realm. And what is the cause? The first of these is called the cause. And that is to take up the practice of the ten virtues, avoid the ten non-virtues, take up the practice of the ten virtues, practice the six perfections. But do this without any hope for some reward. That's really important. Not hoping for some kind of reward, thinking, if I practice generosity, I'll become wealthy or maybe I won't be sick or I'll live long. Not even a hair's tip of that, none of that. No hope to get something out of it. But just being generous without any kind of hope for some karmic reward. To be generous in this way, to be disciplined, to be patient, to be diligent and remain in meditation, in particular remaining in meditation. But especially the sixth perfection, these were the first five, the sixth one here in this context we can say is to realize the meaning of emptiness and the absence of self and to train in practices connected with that. And so this is something that we need to do. We have to practice both in our meditation sessions as well as in post meditation. So we have these two contexts, right? And in post meditation during our daily activities, it's so important that we avoid non-virtue, that we take up the practice of virtue, that we practice the six perfections. We have to make ourselves capable of practicing the six perfections. And when we practice generosity, we should practice the perfection of generosity, meaning also practice generosity with the wisdom that is free from what we call the three spheres, the ideas of subject, object and action. So practicing generosity without those kind of conceptions. And the same with discipline and patience and diligence and meditation. It's the best cause for being reborn in the pure realm is to train in this way. On top of this, in our meditation sessions, we need to be able to again cultivate the wisdom of the six perfections, the sixth perfection in particular. So outside of our sessions we should practice the six perfections genuinely with the proper preliminaries, the main part of practice and the proper conclusion. Again without any hope for some kind of reward from our practice, some kind of reward that would come from this. And in particular then, we need to remain in meditative equipoise on the basic nature of things without any kind of conception related to subject, object and action with the wisdom, the wakefulness that is free from those type of conceptual elaborations. Our problem though is that we have a lot of thoughts. We think a lot in our mind. And in particular we have a lot of negative thoughts. We have a lot of pride and jealousy, a lot of competitiveness. We have so many negative thoughts present in our mind. And that then keeps us from being able to engage in the causes that would create the circumstances for rebirth in the pure realm. They're like pollution, right? Pollution that gets in the way of our being able to take rebirth there. And that's why the practice of the seven branches is so important. I've been talking about this already before. It's something that's really important and helpful for us. So again the cause of being reborn in the pure realm is to avoid the ten non-virtues, take up the practice of the ten virtues, practice the six perfections without any hope for some reward, without any conception of subject, object or action. This is the excellent cause for rebirth in the pure realm. And then what? If we actually do all of that perfectly and without any faults or flaws, the ultimate result will come about. We will progress through the five grounds, the ten bodhisattva, the five paths, the ten grounds, the ten bodhisattva bhumis. And it will actually result in perfect awakening if we really fully train in that way, the way that was just described. It will result gradually progressing through the ten bodhisattva stages and arriving in the state of perfect awakening. If not, if we don't fully achieve that result in this life, then through actually gathering a vast amount of merit and purifying a vast amount of obscuration through our practice, we can create the circumstances again for rebirth in the pure realm of Sukhavati. And one of the important conditions for this is what we call the support, which is to bring to mind again and again and again, meditate upon again and again and again what that pure realm is like. So this is where we want to be reborn, this pure realm that we wish to be reborn in. And so in order to do this, we bring to mind repeatedly a clear vision of what that place is like, envision it again and again and again. And so again, we must engage in the cause, which is, I have been talking already about this, right? The cause which is engaging in virtue, avoiding non-virtue, the practice of the six perfections, the practice of the seven branches and so on. And then there is the support, which is to envision, to bring to mind again and again what that pure realm is like. But in order to be able to do those things very genuinely and authentically, we need the supportive condition, the assisting condition, which is love and compassion and bodhicitta. Because if we have love and compassion and bodhicitta, then we will very naturally avoid non-virtue and we will very naturally take up the practice of virtue. And we will naturally practice the six perfections that happens naturally when we are motivated by love and compassion and bodhicitta. And so it's like if you want to plant some seeds in a field, the field itself has to be ploughed, it has to be made soft, but that's not enough. We also need the assistant, the assisting circumstance which is water and fertilizer. Without that you can't grow seeds in a field. And so this is the same for us with love and compassion and bodhicitta. In order to be able to gather virtue genuinely as much as possible and without any type of selfish motivation mixed in with our virtue, in order to be able to do that authentically we need love and compassion and bodhicitta. That's what allows us to gather virtue without these kind of stains. And so this love and compassion and bodhicitta is what causes us to be capable of engaging in virtue, engaging in the ten virtues, avoiding the ten non-virtues, taking up authentically and correctly the practice of the six perfections, and practicing the seven branches authentically and so on. So it's so important that we have this kind of condition or assistant. And the best assisting condition here is bodhicitta. So again the cause is avoiding non-virtues and engaging in virtue. The support is meditating upon the pure realm, recollecting what it is like. And then the assistant is love and compassion and bodhicitta.
So those were three of the four causes and I explained those clearly. Did you understand it clearly? It's logic, very logical.
Karma is unfailing, karmic causality is unfailing, it's not deceptive.
If we really gather the two accumulations genuinely, then we will purify the two obscurations. And if we purify the two obscurations, we will give rise to the two wisdoms. And if we give rise to the two wisdoms, then we will attain the two kayas.
In short, if we purify obscuration, realization dawns naturally. And so that means that if we engage in the ten virtues, avoid the ten non-virtues, then the realization of shamatha, vipassana and the generation and the perfection stages will naturally dawn. If we purify obscurations, realization dawns naturally. So among these four causes for rebirth in the pure realm of sukavati, the fourth one is the condition. And the condition is dedications, aspirations. So the support is to bring to mind the pure realm. The cause is gathering merit and purifying obscurations. The assistant is loving, compassionate bodhicitta. And the condition is to dedicate and make aspirations. And this, because the mind is so powerful and so important, then it's good for us to set up a shrine and make offerings on that shrine and do some prostrations in front of it and bring to mind, remember the pure realm of Buddha Amitabha, bring that to mind. Then do the seven branch practice, starting with refuge bodhicitta and then the practice of the seven branches very genuinely and authentically. And then we can recite some prayers. There's a lot of prayers for rebirth in Buddha Amitabha's pure realm. There's at least the short one, the short one, we should recite one of them, at least the short one which is Emma Ho, the amazing pure realm, or the amazing Buddha Amitabha to his right is Avalokitesvara, to his left is Vajrapani and so on. So this is how the prayer starts. There's a very brief prayer that begins this way. And we recite this prayer and make the aspiration to be reborn in this pure realm. And when we're reborn there, birth in a pure realm is miraculous birth. There's actually four ways or four methods of taking birth. And the one that is applicable here in this context is miraculous birth. So when we talk about Buddha Amitabha, when we take rebirth in his pure realm, we hear the teachings from him, we receive Dharma teachings from him, put it into practice and attain accomplishment this way. There are many others who are emanations of Buddha Amitabha, such as Avalokitesvara who has his own pure realm called the Potala, such as Tara who has her pure realm, the arrangement of the turquoise leaves, the pure realm of Guru Padmasambhava which is the copper-colored mountain. All of these actually, Avalokitesvara, Tara and Guru Padmasambhava are all emanations of Buddha Amitabha and each has their own pure realm. When we take rebirth in the pure realm, like in Buddha Amitabha's pure realm, then we receive the Dharma teachings and through putting those teachings into practice, attain the state of perfect awakening. This is explained in many sutras. It's taught by the Buddha himself in the sutras. And so these are the causes for taking rebirth. I've explained clearly the four causes for taking rebirth in Buddha Amitabha's pure realm. So if we want to take rebirth there, then we have to actually put those into practice. We have to apply them genuinely. And when we make the kind of prayer, again there are many aspirations and prayers for rebirth in Buddha Amitabha's pure realm and it's good for us to recite them. And making this kind of prayer and aspiration or dedication is something that's extremely important. The difference between dedication and aspiration, to make a dedication we have to first engage in virtue. So virtue, it can be a little bit of virtue or a medium amount of virtue or a lot of virtue, but then we dedicate the virtue that we have engaged in and that has been accumulated. We make that kind of dedication and then we make the aspiration, right? May I and all others without a single intervening birth immediately upon leaving this life take rebirth in Buddha Amitabha's pure realm. And may the Buddhas, all of the Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas, grant their blessings that this prayer and aspiration may be accomplished. That's what we pray here. And so these are the causes for bringing about the circumstance of rebirth in Buddha Amitabha's pure realm. I've explained this clearly, so we'll leave it here for today. I'll give the reading transmission for the practice of Vajrakalaya. Then I thought it's nice if we can do the Vajrakalaya practice together.
Why?
Translator: It's so nice.I felt like that too.
The fourth of the four seals of the Dharma is that Nirvana is peace, the peaceful liberation which is a lasting happiness and freedom because it is freedom from the disturbing waves of the negative emotions. And this is what we can attain through Dharma practice, is what we are capable of attaining through practicing the Dharma. And this point again can be established as a statement from the Buddha, also using logic and reasoning and also in terms of the pith instructions, right? The statement the Buddha said, Nirvana is peace. And the reason behind it is what I just explained, that it is a peace which is free from the disturbing waves of the afflictive emotions. It's a lasting peace because of being free from the disturbing waves of the negative emotions. The way to put that into practice is actually to train in emptiness and the absence of self, use that as the foundation for our practice. And then we can actually achieve a lasting happiness which is freedom, liberation, freedom from what? The afflictive emotions, both the coarse and subtle afflictive emotions, we can become completely free from the negative emotions, from karma, from delusion. And freedom, that liberation is peace. We can talk about peace, great peace, unsurpassed peace. There are different ways in which we can elaborate on the peace of Nirvana. But what it is, is a peace which is freedom from the disturbing waves of the afflictive emotions. So now we've completed the three days of Dharma teaching on the four seals of the Dharma or the four seals of the genuine view.
Any doubt?
So now you know how to practice the Dharma. Avoid the ten non-virtues. Because if you avoid the ten non-virtues, you won't take birth in the three lower realms. That's for sure. If you abandon the ten non-virtues, you 100% close the gateway to rebirth in the three lower realms. You will not be born there if you avoid the ten non-virtues. If you engage in the practice of the ten virtues, you could be reborn as a god, a demigod or a human, even have a good human birth. If on top of that you practice shamatha and vipassana and engage in these practices of meditation, then you can be reborn at the pinnacle of samsara. However, there is still the possibility of falling back into samsara. That's the bad part of going just to the summit of samsara. And that's why we have to get out. We have to get out of the three realms of samsara. We have to completely go beyond this. And in order to do that, we have to overcome the root of samsara, which is ignorance, delusion and ignorance, dualistic ignorance. And the only way to do that is to recognize wakefulness, to recognize non-dual wakefulness, rigpa, and to be able to sustain the continuity of that recognition and gain stability within that recognition. Because until we do that, the appearances of dualistic fixation will not fall away. Our confused experience will not vanish. We will remain stuck within the three realms of samsara, stuck within rebirth again and again among the six classes of beings. We will be stuck in samsara's prison, stuck in the prison of samsara, bound. And if we want to get free from that prison, there is one way to do that. And that is to recognize rigpa, recognize wakefulness. But it's not enough just to recognize it. We have to allow for the continuity of that recognition to remain. We have to sustain the continuity of that recognition. That's not enough either. We have to gain stability in that recognition. And in order to be able to gain stability within that recognition, the foundation for being able to do that is to gather virtue and avoid non-virtue, avoid evil actions. That is what makes it possible for us to realize, to recognize what we must recognize and realize, which is rigpa, wakefulness itself. Again, it's not enough just to recognize it. We have to be able to sustain that recognition. And in order to be able to sustain that recognition, we have to avoid laziness and distraction and carelessness. And then we need to remain in an isolated place to be able to do that. Staying in an isolated place, a solitary place, it's important for that reason. If you really investigate and think about it, then it makes sense actually. A place that's solitary is a place where there's not a lot of distraction and there's not a lot of busyness. And when we go to such a place, because there's not a lot of other things going on, our mind becomes more clear. And that is very helpful and beneficial for practicing in a way that avoids getting caught up in distractions and avoids taking wrong tracks on our practice path. And that's why it's so beneficial actually to remain in a solitary place. If possible, it's excellent to remain in a solitary place that is a holy place, a place that has been blessed by the presence of great accomplished masters of the past. And so that's one kind of solitary place, a holy place. It's a really excellent place for practice. But if not that, then just a place where the earth is clean, the air is clean, a clean, solitary, isolated place for practice. If we practice in a place where a lot of negative actions have happened in the past, there's a karmic obscuration connected to that place and it can be difficult to practice there. So the best would be to practice in a place where great masters of the past already practiced. If we have the opportunity to practice in a place like that, it's really an excellent place for practice. So please keep this in your heart. And here over these past days I've shared with you a few, quite a lot actually, really important points, really key points of practice. And if you keep these in your heart, when you then read the scriptures of the Buddhas, when you read these scriptures and these texts, if you keep in mind these key points that I've shared with you here, it will help you to understand more clearly, to understand better the Buddhist scriptures that you read in the future.
Whether it is the general vehicle of the Sravakas and Pratyeka Buddhas, or the vehicle of the Mahayana or Vajrayana, I've shared with you a lot of really key points about the practice of these three vehicles of Buddhism. And so if with these key points in mind you read Buddhist scriptures, I think it will be really helpful for you in terms of being able to understand better what you read.
Make sense?
I think this probably was helpful for those of you who are new practitioners, and I think this was probably helpful for those of you who have been practicing for a long time.
Having to practice while still having doubts is a little hard.
So we have to get rid of our doubts.
And in order to be able to do this, we have to rely upon the wisdom that comes about through listening to the teachings and thinking about it.
When you're walking around in the dark, you have no idea where you're going.
Listening and contemplating is the lamp that dispels the darkness. If you have that, you can see where you're going.
Whether you go or not, that's up to you.
But when you go, now it's clear where you're going, right? Where you will arrive at, where you will arrive if you go.
The most important thing is at least not to be reborn in the three lower realms. At least this.
The suffering of the three lower realms. We can see this among human beings even. There are some human beings who suffer terribly, heat and cold, just like the suffering in the hell realms. Or they suffer hunger and thirst, or they suffer the suffering of dullness and stupidity, right? Human beings within the human realm, we see this too.
Okay!

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We make prostrations and offer the mandala. Why? What's that for? It is to purify our own mind streams, to clean or clear away the stains within our own mind, to reduce our pride, to reduce our stinginess, to reduce all of the afflictive emotions that proliferate within our minds. Where does our stinginess come from? It comes from attachment. And so this is why we make prostrations, why we offer the mandala. There is a real reason for doing this. It's something that's meaningful. When we talk about practicing the Dharma, Buddhist practice, practice is something that we can and should do from the moment we wake up in the morning until the moment we go to sleep at night. That's when we practice. This is our opportunity to practice. It's not just that practice is something that we can do occasionally, visualizing a deity, reciting some mantra, and that's the only opportunity that we have for practice. It's not like that. From the moment we wake in the morning until the moment that we go to sleep at night, we can always be mindful and attentive and in this way practice the Dharma. We can do this and we must do this if we want to get the result of practice quickly. We have to. So how do we practice? I explained it very clearly. I think you understood it very clearly. When we say I don't have time to practice the Dharma, it's actually not true. It might be true that you don't have a lot of time to sit down and do a formal session. Maybe that's true. But honestly, we have opportunities to practice all the time and we spend a lot of time being distracted and lazy and careless. We do. Lots of time. If something is really important to us, we do have the time for it. We make the time for something. And so if we say that we don't have time for practice, it means that we don't really consider it that important. Because when we do feel something is important, people spend so much time on hobbies. People find time to do that. And if we focus more and give more time to our hobby than to our practice, it's not likely that we're going to get a lot of result out of our Dharma practice because we're not really devoting the time and energy to it. So practice is something that we have an opportunity to do all the time. And practice here means to avoid non-virtue and to take up the practice of virtue. So, sometimes there's a way of saying, like, what does it mean to practice the Dharma? Really short, very straightforwardly. It means engage in virtue and abandon evil deeds. That's Dharma practice. If you do that well, if you engage in that foundation for Dharma practice well, then your Shamatha will go well, your Vipassana will go well, you'll be able to very naturally and easily practice meditation. So that's so important for us, right? Sometimes we think, oh, I'm practicing Shamatha and Vipassana, I'm doing meditation practice, but it's not really going very well. Why? Why isn't it working out very well? The reason why it's not working is because you're not engaging in virtue and avoiding evil deeds. That is what prevents us from being able to practice meditation effectively. And when we don't avoid evil deeds and when we don't engage in virtue, our mind remains in a state where it's upset, where it's disturbed, where it's shaky. It's caught up in the afflictive emotions. And then, so that's the negative emotions are precisely what we call the poisons of the mind, the enemies that are present within our mind. And of course, when we're involved in those, we can't practice effectively. So that's something that all of us need to be really careful about. We have to practice virtue and we have to avoid evil deeds, negative deeds, all day long from the moment we wake up in the morning until the moment we go to sleep at night. And even in our dreams, if we really practice very well during the day, then we become capable even in the dream state of engaging in virtuous deeds and avoiding non-virtue. And when we do that, then again, what happens is that our practice of Samatha and Vipassana, our practice of the generation stage and the perfection stage unfolds naturally. It's like, for example, when a mirror is clean, then the image, the reflection that shines in the mirror or appears in the mirror is also clear. And if the mirror is not clean, then the reflection doesn't appear there clearly. But if the mirror is clean, you can say, don't show a reflection. But it's going to, right? You can't prevent the reflection from appearing clearly in a clean mirror. And so it's like that when we engage in virtue and abandon negative deeds, then just very naturally, without effort actually, we're able to practice genuinely and effectively. But we don't put a lot of attention to that sometimes. We don't put a lot of attention towards that. But it's something that it's important for us to be attentive towards. If the Lama doesn't teach that, if the Guru doesn't teach about avoiding non-virtue and practicing virtue, then that is his fault. He should actually, or she should. The teacher must give that instruction. And if the student doesn't understand it well, then the student has missed the point. And if we don't actually do it, then the student is not practicing correctly, if the student doesn't actually do that. This is the Buddha's teaching. This is the foundation for Buddhist practice. It's absolutely essential. These days I really think a lot about this, how important it is for all of us to abandon negative actions, negative deeds and to engage in virtue. Some people, maybe they like it when they hear that, maybe some people don't like it when they hear that. But it doesn't matter, because that's just true. And if a teacher doesn't teach it because they think, oh, Westerners are not going to like it if I talk about how you should engage in virtue and avoid non-virtue, so I'll just talk about the nice stuff. Then they're doing a disservice, they're fooling you all, if that's what they're talking about, and avoiding that. It doesn't matter whether you like to hear it or not, it's just a fact. If we want to practice effectively, we have to avoid non-virtue and we have to take up the practice of virtue. It's essential. The Buddha said it so clearly, he said, do not engage in any evil deeds. Cultivate virtue. Tame your mind. This is the Buddha's teaching. That's what the Buddha said. It's very clear. And we have to do that. That's really the heart. That's what all of the 84,000 Dharma teachings come down to. They start with this. We have to do this. And if we do that effectively, if we avoid negative actions and if we take up the practice of virtue, then again our Shama to practice and our Vipassana practice and our generation stage and perfection stage practice will go well. Also the practice of the nature of mind, of course, right? The practice of the generation stage and perfection stage. These days there's a trend to not really be so interested in learning the Dharma and not so interested in accumulating merit and avoiding negative deeds, not so interested in purification of negativity and accumulation of merit, but immediately saying, please point out the nature of mind to me. I want to come to recognize that. If you could just point it out and recognize it like that, just like that, without any kind of other action or preparation, that would be so easy. But it doesn't work like that. Why do you think we spend months and months and years and years gathering merit and purifying obscurations? Because it's necessary in order to be able to come to that recognition. So that's just the way it is, right? That's why we have to engage in those kind of practices. Just saying, just point it out, I want to recognize it. It's not going to happen. It doesn't work like that. So, this is just the way things are. It's just the nature of things. And it's really important. So please keep this in your heart. If we really want to practice the Dharma genuinely, then we have to gather virtue, engage in virtue and give up non-virtuous actions, evil actions. As for the way to listen to the Dharma teachings, Kempo has been explaining this very clearly. He talked about the three faults of the vessel, the six stains, the five ways of mistaken understanding or misunderstanding. And this is so important when we listen to the teachings. It's also really important that we dedicate the merit, whether we're listening to the Dharma or contemplating it or meditating, whether we are teaching, debating or composing. In all of those contexts, in any kind of Dharma activity or context, it's so important to dedicate whatever virtue we are engaged in to the benefit of all sentient beings. May it bring benefit to all beings. That's so important. Listening to the Dharma is a form of Dharma practice and so is contemplation. It's not like Dharma practice is something different than that or something other than that. It's not like Dharma practice is only something that you do when you sit up with your back straight and close your eyes, maybe recite a little something here or there. That's not what Dharma practice is. It's not just that. Dharma practice is to practice virtue, to engage in virtue and to avoid evil actions. That's what Dharma practice is. That's where it starts. Whether you like it or not, that's what Dharma practice is. That's just true. It's just a fact. And it's important for us to understand that. And of course, if you get into even more detail about how karmic causality works, then in fact it is the case that everything unpleasant and inauspicious that happens in the whole world comes about because of having engaged in evil deeds, negative actions, all of it. It all comes from that. And these are just natural laws. If you lie and steal and kill, then that harms yourself and it harms other people. That's just a fact. That's just natural law. It's not that somebody made that the case. And when people get along and there is ease and peace, when we do good things, that's what happens. That's what happens when we engage in virtue. We get along. We are peaceful. We are at ease. And this is again just natural law. It's not something that was made up. It's not something that was created to try and control people or something. It's just the way things are. It's just the nature of things. Fire is hot. It burns you. And water is wet. And wind moves. That's the definition of fire and water and wind. It's the definition. It's just the nature of things. And in that very same way, non-virtue leads to suffering, both for myself and for others. And virtue leads to happiness, both for myself and others. That's just the nature of things. It's a simple fact. So here we are talking about Sukhavati, the Dewachen, the realm of great bliss. And to talk about this, then we can contextualize within the context of the six realms. We talk about the lower realms, being reborn in the lower realms. Being reborn in the higher realms, the god realm is one. And then there are a variety of pure realms that we talk about in the Buddhist context. And in particular, these kind of pure realms, one among them is called in Sanskrit, Sukhavati, or in Tibetan, Dewachen, means great bliss, the realm of great bliss. And what happens if we're born there? If we take birth in this pure realm, we will not be reborn again within the three realms of samsara. We will not be reborn again among the six classes of beings. We will gradually move forward until we attain the state of awakening. And so this is something that is extremely important and precious, right? And how do we gain rebirth in this pure realm? How is it that we take rebirth there? It's not by just praying to be reborn there, or visualizing the deity a little bit, doing a little bit of meditation, spending a lot of money on offerings. That's not the way. That's not the way. That doesn't create, that doesn't bring about rebirth in this pure realm. But there are four causes that can bring us to take rebirth, that do bring us to take rebirth in the pure realm of great bliss. And so I will explain these to you in a very, in a way that's very easy to understand.
If we engage in the ten non-virtues, we will be reborn in the three lower realms. I mentioned this already. If we take up the practice of the ten virtues and abandon the ten non-virtues, then we will be reborn in the higher realms as a god, a demigod or a human being. If on top of that we engage in a little bit of practice of the authentic view, the genuine view, then we can attain a precious human birth. I mentioned this already as well. But just this does not lead to liberation. Only this does not lead to attaining the state of omniscience. Nor does it lead us to take rebirth in a pure realm. So what are the causes of being reborn in the pure realm? What is it that brings about rebirth in the pure realm of sukavati, the realm of great bliss? In order to take rebirth in this realm, we have to engage in the causes of rebirth there very profoundly. We have to do it a lot and we have to do it very authentically and genuinely. Just like if you want to go to a seven-star hotel, you need a lot of money. So like that, we have to take up the practice of these causes that bring about rebirth in the pure realm. And what is the cause? The first of these is called the cause. And that is to take up the practice of the ten virtues, avoid the ten non-virtues, take up the practice of the ten virtues, practice the six perfections. But do this without any hope for some reward. That's really important. Not hoping for some kind of reward, thinking, if I practice generosity, I'll become wealthy or maybe I won't be sick or I'll live long. Not even a hair's tip of that, none of that. No hope to get something out of it. But just being generous without any kind of hope for some karmic reward. To be generous in this way, to be disciplined, to be patient, to be diligent and remain in meditation, in particular remaining in meditation. But especially the sixth perfection, these were the first five, the sixth one here in this context we can say is to realize the meaning of emptiness and the absence of self and to train in practices connected with that. And so this is something that we need to do. We have to practice both in our meditation sessions as well as in post meditation. So we have these two contexts, right? And in post meditation during our daily activities, it's so important that we avoid non-virtue, that we take up the practice of virtue, that we practice the six perfections. We have to make ourselves capable of practicing the six perfections. And when we practice generosity, we should practice the perfection of generosity, meaning also practice generosity with the wisdom that is free from what we call the three spheres, the ideas of subject, object and action. So practicing generosity without those kind of conceptions. And the same with discipline and patience and diligence and meditation. It's the best cause for being reborn in the pure realm is to train in this way. On top of this, in our meditation sessions, we need to be able to again cultivate the wisdom of the six perfections, the sixth perfection in particular. So outside of our sessions we should practice the six perfections genuinely with the proper preliminaries, the main part of practice and the proper conclusion. Again without any hope for some kind of reward from our practice, some kind of reward that would come from this. And in particular then, we need to remain in meditative equipoise on the basic nature of things without any kind of conception related to subject, object and action with the wisdom, the wakefulness that is free from those type of conceptual elaborations. Our problem though is that we have a lot of thoughts. We think a lot in our mind. And in particular we have a lot of negative thoughts. We have a lot of pride and jealousy, a lot of competitiveness. We have so many negative thoughts present in our mind. And that then keeps us from being able to engage in the causes that would create the circumstances for rebirth in the pure realm. They're like pollution, right? Pollution that gets in the way of our being able to take rebirth there. And that's why the practice of the seven branches is so important. I've been talking about this already before. It's something that's really important and helpful for us. So again the cause of being reborn in the pure realm is to avoid the ten non-virtues, take up the practice of the ten virtues, practice the six perfections without any hope for some reward, without any conception of subject, object or action. This is the excellent cause for rebirth in the pure realm. And then what? If we actually do all of that perfectly and without any faults or flaws, the ultimate result will come about. We will progress through the five grounds, the ten bodhisattva, the five paths, the ten grounds, the ten bodhisattva bhumis. And it will actually result in perfect awakening if we really fully train in that way, the way that was just described. It will result gradually progressing through the ten bodhisattva stages and arriving in the state of perfect awakening. If not, if we don't fully achieve that result in this life, then through actually gathering a vast amount of merit and purifying a vast amount of obscuration through our practice, we can create the circumstances again for rebirth in the pure realm of Sukhavati. And one of the important conditions for this is what we call the support, which is to bring to mind again and again and again, meditate upon again and again and again what that pure realm is like. So this is where we want to be reborn, this pure realm that we wish to be reborn in. And so in order to do this, we bring to mind repeatedly a clear vision of what that place is like, envision it again and again and again. And so again, we must engage in the cause, which is, I have been talking already about this, right? The cause which is engaging in virtue, avoiding non-virtue, the practice of the six perfections, the practice of the seven branches and so on. And then there is the support, which is to envision, to bring to mind again and again what that pure realm is like. But in order to be able to do those things very genuinely and authentically, we need the supportive condition, the assisting condition, which is love and compassion and bodhicitta. Because if we have love and compassion and bodhicitta, then we will very naturally avoid non-virtue and we will very naturally take up the practice of virtue. And we will naturally practice the six perfections that happens naturally when we are motivated by love and compassion and bodhicitta. And so it's like if you want to plant some seeds in a field, the field itself has to be ploughed, it has to be made soft, but that's not enough. We also need the assistant, the assisting circumstance which is water and fertilizer. Without that you can't grow seeds in a field. And so this is the same for us with love and compassion and bodhicitta. In order to be able to gather virtue genuinely as much as possible and without any type of selfish motivation mixed in with our virtue, in order to be able to do that authentically we need love and compassion and bodhicitta. That's what allows us to gather virtue without these kind of stains. And so this love and compassion and bodhicitta is what causes us to be capable of engaging in virtue, engaging in the ten virtues, avoiding the ten non-virtues, taking up authentically and correctly the practice of the six perfections, and practicing the seven branches authentically and so on. So it's so important that we have this kind of condition or assistant. And the best assisting condition here is bodhicitta. So again the cause is avoiding non-virtues and engaging in virtue. The support is meditating upon the pure realm, recollecting what it is like. And then the assistant is love and compassion and bodhicitta.
So those were three of the four causes and I explained those clearly. Did you understand it clearly? It's logic, very logical.
Karma is unfailing, karmic causality is unfailing, it's not deceptive.
If we really gather the two accumulations genuinely, then we will purify the two obscurations. And if we purify the two obscurations, we will give rise to the two wisdoms. And if we give rise to the two wisdoms, then we will attain the two kayas.
In short, if we purify obscuration, realization dawns naturally. And so that means that if we engage in the ten virtues, avoid the ten non-virtues, then the realization of shamatha, vipassana and the generation and the perfection stages will naturally dawn. If we purify obscurations, realization dawns naturally. So among these four causes for rebirth in the pure realm of sukavati, the fourth one is the condition. And the condition is dedications, aspirations. So the support is to bring to mind the pure realm. The cause is gathering merit and purifying obscurations. The assistant is loving, compassionate bodhicitta. And the condition is to dedicate and make aspirations. And this, because the mind is so powerful and so important, then it's good for us to set up a shrine and make offerings on that shrine and do some prostrations in front of it and bring to mind, remember the pure realm of Buddha Amitabha, bring that to mind. Then do the seven branch practice, starting with refuge bodhicitta and then the practice of the seven branches very genuinely and authentically. And then we can recite some prayers. There's a lot of prayers for rebirth in Buddha Amitabha's pure realm. There's at least the short one, the short one, we should recite one of them, at least the short one which is Emma Ho, the amazing pure realm, or the amazing Buddha Amitabha to his right is Avalokitesvara, to his left is Vajrapani and so on. So this is how the prayer starts. There's a very brief prayer that begins this way. And we recite this prayer and make the aspiration to be reborn in this pure realm. And when we're reborn there, birth in a pure realm is miraculous birth. There's actually four ways or four methods of taking birth. And the one that is applicable here in this context is miraculous birth. So when we talk about Buddha Amitabha, when we take rebirth in his pure realm, we hear the teachings from him, we receive Dharma teachings from him, put it into practice and attain accomplishment this way. There are many others who are emanations of Buddha Amitabha, such as Avalokitesvara who has his own pure realm called the Potala, such as Tara who has her pure realm, the arrangement of the turquoise leaves, the pure realm of Guru Padmasambhava which is the copper-colored mountain. All of these actually, Avalokitesvara, Tara and Guru Padmasambhava are all emanations of Buddha Amitabha and each has their own pure realm. When we take rebirth in the pure realm, like in Buddha Amitabha's pure realm, then we receive the Dharma teachings and through putting those teachings into practice, attain the state of perfect awakening. This is explained in many sutras. It's taught by the Buddha himself in the sutras. And so these are the causes for taking rebirth. I've explained clearly the four causes for taking rebirth in Buddha Amitabha's pure realm. So if we want to take rebirth there, then we have to actually put those into practice. We have to apply them genuinely. And when we make the kind of prayer, again there are many aspirations and prayers for rebirth in Buddha Amitabha's pure realm and it's good for us to recite them. And making this kind of prayer and aspiration or dedication is something that's extremely important. The difference between dedication and aspiration, to make a dedication we have to first engage in virtue. So virtue, it can be a little bit of virtue or a medium amount of virtue or a lot of virtue, but then we dedicate the virtue that we have engaged in and that has been accumulated. We make that kind of dedication and then we make the aspiration, right? May I and all others without a single intervening birth immediately upon leaving this life take rebirth in Buddha Amitabha's pure realm. And may the Buddhas, all of the Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas, grant their blessings that this prayer and aspiration may be accomplished. That's what we pray here. And so these are the causes for bringing about the circumstance of rebirth in Buddha Amitabha's pure realm. I've explained this clearly, so we'll leave it here for today. I'll give the reading transmission for the practice of Vajrakalaya. Then I thought it's nice if we can do the Vajrakalaya practice together.
Why? Translator: It's so nice.I felt like that too.
The fourth of the four seals of the Dharma is that Nirvana is peace, the peaceful liberation which is a lasting happiness and freedom because it is freedom from the disturbing waves of the negative emotions. And this is what we can attain through Dharma practice, is what we are capable of attaining through practicing the Dharma. And this point again can be established as a statement from the Buddha, also using logic and reasoning and also in terms of the pith instructions, right? The statement the Buddha said, Nirvana is peace. And the reason behind it is what I just explained, that it is a peace which is free from the disturbing waves of the afflictive emotions. It's a lasting peace because of being free from the disturbing waves of the negative emotions. The way to put that into practice is actually to train in emptiness and the absence of self, use that as the foundation for our practice. And then we can actually achieve a lasting happiness which is freedom, liberation, freedom from what? The afflictive emotions, both the coarse and subtle afflictive emotions, we can become completely free from the negative emotions, from karma, from delusion. And freedom, that liberation is peace. We can talk about peace, great peace, unsurpassed peace. There are different ways in which we can elaborate on the peace of Nirvana. But what it is, is a peace which is freedom from the disturbing waves of the afflictive emotions. So now we've completed the three days of Dharma teaching on the four seals of the Dharma or the four seals of the genuine view.
Any doubt?
So now you know how to practice the Dharma.
Avoid the ten non-virtues. Because if you avoid the ten non-virtues, you won't take birth in the three lower realms. That's for sure. If you abandon the ten non-virtues, you 100% close the gateway to rebirth in the three lower realms. You will not be born there if you avoid the ten non-virtues. If you engage in the practice of the ten virtues, you could be reborn as a god, a demigod or a human, even have a good human birth. If on top of that you practice shamatha and vipassana and engage in these practices of meditation, then you can be reborn at the pinnacle of samsara. However, there is still the possibility of falling back into samsara. That's the bad part of going just to the summit of samsara. And that's why we have to get out. We have to get out of the three realms of samsara. We have to completely go beyond this. And in order to do that, we have to overcome the root of samsara, which is ignorance, delusion and ignorance, dualistic ignorance. And the only way to do that is to recognize wakefulness, to recognize non-dual wakefulness, rigpa, and to be able to sustain the continuity of that recognition and gain stability within that recognition. Because until we do that, the appearances of dualistic fixation will not fall away. Our confused experience will not vanish. We will remain stuck within the three realms of samsara, stuck within rebirth again and again among the six classes of beings. We will be stuck in samsara's prison, stuck in the prison of samsara, bound. And if we want to get free from that prison, there is one way to do that. And that is to recognize rigpa, recognize wakefulness. But it's not enough just to recognize it. We have to allow for the continuity of that recognition to remain. We have to sustain the continuity of that recognition. That's not enough either. We have to gain stability in that recognition. And in order to be able to gain stability within that recognition, the foundation for being able to do that is to gather virtue and avoid non-virtue, avoid evil actions. That is what makes it possible for us to realize, to recognize what we must recognize and realize, which is rigpa, wakefulness itself. Again, it's not enough just to recognize it. We have to be able to sustain that recognition. And in order to be able to sustain that recognition, we have to avoid laziness and distraction and carelessness. And then we need to remain in an isolated place to be able to do that. Staying in an isolated place, a solitary place, it's important for that reason. If you really investigate and think about it, then it makes sense actually. A place that's solitary is a place where there's not a lot of distraction and there's not a lot of busyness. And when we go to such a place, because there's not a lot of other things going on, our mind becomes more clear. And that is very helpful and beneficial for practicing in a way that avoids getting caught up in distractions and avoids taking wrong tracks on our practice path. And that's why it's so beneficial actually to remain in a solitary place. If possible, it's excellent to remain in a solitary place that is a holy place, a place that has been blessed by the presence of great accomplished masters of the past. And so that's one kind of solitary place, a holy place. It's a really excellent place for practice. But if not that, then just a place where the earth is clean, the air is clean, a clean, solitary, isolated place for practice. If we practice in a place where a lot of negative actions have happened in the past, there's a karmic obscuration connected to that place and it can be difficult to practice there. So the best would be to practice in a place where great masters of the past already practiced. If we have the opportunity to practice in a place like that, it's really an excellent place for practice. So please keep this in your heart. And here over these past days I've shared with you a few, quite a lot actually, really important points, really key points of practice. And if you keep these in your heart, when you then read the scriptures of the Buddhas, when you read these scriptures and these texts, if you keep in mind these key points that I've shared with you here, it will help you to understand more clearly, to understand better the Buddhist scriptures that you read in the future.
Whether it is the general vehicle of the Sravakas and Pratyeka Buddhas, or the vehicle of the Mahayana or Vajrayana, I've shared with you a lot of really key points about the practice of these three vehicles of Buddhism. And so if with these key points in mind you read Buddhist scriptures, I think it will be really helpful for you in terms of being able to understand better what you read.
Make sense?
I think this probably was helpful for those of you who are new practitioners, and I think this was probably helpful for those of you who have been practicing for a long time.
Having to practice while still having doubts is a little hard.
So we have to get rid of our doubts.
And in order to be able to do this, we have to rely upon the wisdom that comes about through listening to the teachings and thinking about it.
When you're walking around in the dark, you have no idea where you're going.
Listening and contemplating is the lamp that dispels the darkness. If you have that, you can see where you're going.
Whether you go or not, that's up to you.
But when you go, now it's clear where you're going, right? Where you will arrive at, where you will arrive if you go.
The most important thing is at least not to be reborn in the three lower realms. At least this.
The suffering of the three lower realms. We can see this among human beings even. There are some human beings who suffer terribly, heat and cold, just like the suffering in the hell realms. Or they suffer hunger and thirst, or they suffer the suffering of dullness and stupidity, right? Human beings within the human realm, we see this too.
In Vajrayana practice, the root of blessings is the Guru. The root of accomplishment is the Yidam-deity. and the root of awakened activity is the Dharma-protectors and the Dakkinis. We say these are the Three Roots. and in general when it comes to giving rise to wakefulness, wisdom
to give rise to wisdom we need as a person
4_seals_1a_en_only.mp4 to rely upon another person, that's where we get wisdom from. Right, we need to rely upon a teacher, who is a person. Of course it is possible that some people have a vision of the Yidam-deity and through that vision then they are able to somehow receive teachings but generally, as a person, as a human being, we have to rely upon a teacher, who is a person. And so in this way we say that the root of blessings for our practice is the Guru, and the blessing that we receive, is the blessing of givng rise to experience and realization, and so in thsi way then, the root of blessings is the Guru, the root of accomplishment is the Yiddam-deity, and the root of awakened activity, awakened activity here refers to activities for the benefit of oneselve and the benefit of others, right. and the root that brings that about is actually the Dharma-protectors. So here the practice that we will be doing today, right now, is the pracctice of Vajrakiilaya. Vajrakilaya is a deaity through which many practitioners have gained accomplishment. when they have practiced in this way. So, this is the practice that we will be doing here.

17:25

Autoscroll:

We make prostrations and offer the mandala. Why? What's that for? It is to purify our own mind streams, to clean or clear away the stains within our own mind, to reduce our pride, to reduce our stinginess, to reduce all of the afflictive emotions that proliferate within our minds. Where does our stinginess come from? It comes from attachment. And so this is why we make prostrations, why we offer the mandala. There is a real reason for doing this. It's something that's meaningful. When we talk about practicing the Dharma, Buddhist practice, practice is something that we can and should do from the moment we wake up in the morning until the moment we go to sleep at night. That's when we practice. This is our opportunity to practice. It's not just that practice is something that we can do occasionally, visualizing a deity, reciting some mantra, and that's the only opportunity that we have for practice. It's not like that. From the moment we wake in the morning until the moment that we go to sleep at night, we can always be mindful and attentive and in this way practice the Dharma. We can do this and we must do this if we want to get the result of practice quickly. We have to. So how do we practice? I explained it very clearly. I think you understood it very clearly. When we say I don't have time to practice the Dharma, it's actually not true. It might be true that you don't have a lot of time to sit down and do a formal session. Maybe that's true. But honestly, we have opportunities to practice all the time and we spend a lot of time being distracted and lazy and careless. We do. Lots of time. If something is really important to us, we do have the time for it. We make the time for something. And so if we say that we don't have time for practice, it means that we don't really consider it that important. Because when we do feel something is important, people spend so much time on hobbies. People find time to do that. And if we focus more and give more time to our hobby than to our practice, it's not likely that we're going to get a lot of result out of our Dharma practice because we're not really devoting the time and energy to it. So practice is something that we have an opportunity to do all the time. And practice here means to avoid non-virtue and to take up the practice of virtue. So, sometimes there's a way of saying, like, what does it mean to practice the Dharma? Really short, very straightforwardly. It means engage in virtue and abandon evil deeds. That's Dharma practice. If you do that well, if you engage in that foundation for Dharma practice well, then your Shamatha will go well, your Vipassana will go well, you'll be able to very naturally and easily practice meditation. So that's so important for us, right? Sometimes we think, oh, I'm practicing Shamatha and Vipassana, I'm doing meditation practice, but it's not really going very well. Why? Why isn't it working out very well? The reason why it's not working is because you're not engaging in virtue and avoiding evil deeds. That is what prevents us from being able to practice meditation effectively. And when we don't avoid evil deeds and when we don't engage in virtue, our mind remains in a state where it's upset, where it's disturbed, where it's shaky. It's caught up in the afflictive emotions. And then, so that's the negative emotions are precisely what we call the poisons of the mind, the enemies that are present within our mind. And of course, when we're involved in those, we can't practice effectively. So that's something that all of us need to be really careful about. We have to practice virtue and we have to avoid evil deeds, negative deeds, all day long from the moment we wake up in the morning until the moment we go to sleep at night. And even in our dreams, if we really practice very well during the day, then we become capable even in the dream state of engaging in virtuous deeds and avoiding non-virtue. And when we do that, then again, what happens is that our practice of Samatha and Vipassana, our practice of the generation stage and the perfection stage unfolds naturally. It's like, for example, when a mirror is clean, then the image, the reflection that shines in the mirror or appears in the mirror is also clear. And if the mirror is not clean, then the reflection doesn't appear there clearly. But if the mirror is clean, you can say, don't show a reflection. But it's going to, right? You can't prevent the reflection from appearing clearly in a clean mirror. And so it's like that when we engage in virtue and abandon negative deeds, then just very naturally, without effort actually, we're able to practice genuinely and effectively. But we don't put a lot of attention to that sometimes. We don't put a lot of attention towards that. But it's something that it's important for us to be attentive towards. If the Lama doesn't teach that, if the Guru doesn't teach about avoiding non-virtue and practicing virtue, then that is his fault. He should actually, or she should. The teacher must give that instruction. And if the student doesn't understand it well, then the student has missed the point. And if we don't actually do it, then the student is not practicing correctly, if the student doesn't actually do that. This is the Buddha's teaching. This is the foundation for Buddhist practice. It's absolutely essential. These days I really think a lot about this, how important it is for all of us to abandon negative actions, negative deeds and to engage in virtue. Some people, maybe they like it when they hear that, maybe some people don't like it when they hear that. But it doesn't matter, because that's just true. And if a teacher doesn't teach it because they think, oh, Westerners are not going to like it if I talk about how you should engage in virtue and avoid non-virtue, so I'll just talk about the nice stuff. Then they're doing a disservice, they're fooling you all, if that's what they're talking about, and avoiding that. It doesn't matter whether you like to hear it or not, it's just a fact. If we want to practice effectively, we have to avoid non-virtue and we have to take up the practice of virtue. It's essential. The Buddha said it so clearly, he said, do not engage in any evil deeds. Cultivate virtue. Tame your mind. This is the Buddha's teaching. That's what the Buddha said. It's very clear. And we have to do that. That's really the heart. That's what all of the 84,000 Dharma teachings come down to. They start with this. We have to do this. And if we do that effectively, if we avoid negative actions and if we take up the practice of virtue, then again our Shama to practice and our Vipassana practice and our generation stage and perfection stage practice will go well. Also the practice of the nature of mind, of course, right? The practice of the generation stage and perfection stage. These days there's a trend to not really be so interested in learning the Dharma and not so interested in accumulating merit and avoiding negative deeds, not so interested in purification of negativity and accumulation of merit, but immediately saying, please point out the nature of mind to me. I want to come to recognize that. If you could just point it out and recognize it like that, just like that, without any kind of other action or preparation, that would be so easy. But it doesn't work like that. Why do you think we spend months and months and years and years gathering merit and purifying obscurations? Because it's necessary in order to be able to come to that recognition. So that's just the way it is, right? That's why we have to engage in those kind of practices. Just saying, just point it out, I want to recognize it. It's not going to happen. It doesn't work like that. So, this is just the way things are. It's just the nature of things. And it's really important. So please keep this in your heart. If we really want to practice the Dharma genuinely, then we have to gather virtue, engage in virtue and give up non-virtuous actions, evil actions. As for the way to listen to the Dharma teachings, Kempo has been explaining this very clearly. He talked about the three faults of the vessel, the six stains, the five ways of mistaken understanding or misunderstanding. And this is so important when we listen to the teachings. It's also really important that we dedicate the merit, whether we're listening to the Dharma or contemplating it or meditating, whether we are teaching, debating or composing. In all of those contexts, in any kind of Dharma activity or context, it's so important to dedicate whatever virtue we are engaged in to the benefit of all sentient beings. May it bring benefit to all beings. That's so important. Listening to the Dharma is a form of Dharma practice and so is contemplation. It's not like Dharma practice is something different than that or something other than that. It's not like Dharma practice is only something that you do when you sit up with your back straight and close your eyes, maybe recite a little something here or there. That's not what Dharma practice is. It's not just that. Dharma practice is to practice virtue, to engage in virtue and to avoid evil actions. That's what Dharma practice is. That's where it starts. Whether you like it or not, that's what Dharma practice is. That's just true. It's just a fact. And it's important for us to understand that. And of course, if you get into even more detail about how karmic causality works, then in fact it is the case that everything unpleasant and inauspicious that happens in the whole world comes about because of having engaged in evil deeds, negative actions, all of it. It all comes from that. And these are just natural laws. If you lie and steal and kill, then that harms yourself and it harms other people. That's just a fact. That's just natural law. It's not that somebody made that the case. And when people get along and there is ease and peace, when we do good things, that's what happens. That's what happens when we engage in virtue. We get along. We are peaceful. We are at ease. And this is again just natural law. It's not something that was made up. It's not something that was created to try and control people or something. It's just the way things are. It's just the nature of things. Fire is hot. It burns you. And water is wet. And wind moves. That's the definition of fire and water and wind. It's the definition. It's just the nature of things. And in that very same way, non-virtue leads to suffering, both for myself and for others. And virtue leads to happiness, both for myself and others. That's just the nature of things. It's a simple fact. So here we are talking about Sukhavati, the Dewachen, the realm of great bliss. And to talk about this, then we can contextualize within the context of the six realms. We talk about the lower realms, being reborn in the lower realms. Being reborn in the higher realms, the god realm is one. And then there are a variety of pure realms that we talk about in the Buddhist context. And in particular, these kind of pure realms, one among them is called in Sanskrit, Sukhavati, or in Tibetan, Dewachen, means great bliss, the realm of great bliss. And what happens if we're born there? If we take birth in this pure realm, we will not be reborn again within the three realms of samsara. We will not be reborn again among the six classes of beings. We will gradually move forward until we attain the state of awakening. And so this is something that is extremely important and precious, right? And how do we gain rebirth in this pure realm? How is it that we take rebirth there? It's not by just praying to be reborn there, or visualizing the deity a little bit, doing a little bit of meditation, spending a lot of money on offerings. That's not the way. That's not the way. That doesn't create, that doesn't bring about rebirth in this pure realm. But there are four causes that can bring us to take rebirth, that do bring us to take rebirth in the pure realm of great bliss. And so I will explain these to you in a very, in a way that's very easy to understand.
If we engage in the ten non-virtues, we will be reborn in the three lower realms. I mentioned this already. If we take up the practice of the ten virtues and abandon the ten non-virtues, then we will be reborn in the higher realms as a god, a demigod or a human being. If on top of that we engage in a little bit of practice of the authentic view, the genuine view, then we can attain a precious human birth. I mentioned this already as well. But just this does not lead to liberation. Only this does not lead to attaining the state of omniscience. Nor does it lead us to take rebirth in a pure realm. So what are the causes of being reborn in the pure realm? What is it that brings about rebirth in the pure realm of sukavati, the realm of great bliss? In order to take rebirth in this realm, we have to engage in the causes of rebirth there very profoundly. We have to do it a lot and we have to do it very authentically and genuinely. Just like if you want to go to a seven-star hotel, you need a lot of money. So like that, we have to take up the practice of these causes that bring about rebirth in the pure realm. And what is the cause? The first of these is called the cause. And that is to take up the practice of the ten virtues, avoid the ten non-virtues, take up the practice of the ten virtues, practice the six perfections. But do this without any hope for some reward. That's really important. Not hoping for some kind of reward, thinking, if I practice generosity, I'll become wealthy or maybe I won't be sick or I'll live long. Not even a hair's tip of that, none of that. No hope to get something out of it. But just being generous without any kind of hope for some karmic reward. To be generous in this way, to be disciplined, to be patient, to be diligent and remain in meditation, in particular remaining in meditation. But especially the sixth perfection, these were the first five, the sixth one here in this context we can say is to realize the meaning of emptiness and the absence of self and to train in practices connected with that. And so this is something that we need to do. We have to practice both in our meditation sessions as well as in post meditation. So we have these two contexts, right? And in post meditation during our daily activities, it's so important that we avoid non-virtue, that we take up the practice of virtue, that we practice the six perfections. We have to make ourselves capable of practicing the six perfections. And when we practice generosity, we should practice the perfection of generosity, meaning also practice generosity with the wisdom that is free from what we call the three spheres, the ideas of subject, object and action. So practicing generosity without those kind of conceptions. And the same with discipline and patience and diligence and meditation. It's the best cause for being reborn in the pure realm is to train in this way. On top of this, in our meditation sessions, we need to be able to again cultivate the wisdom of the six perfections, the sixth perfection in particular. So outside of our sessions we should practice the six perfections genuinely with the proper preliminaries, the main part of practice and the proper conclusion. Again without any hope for some kind of reward from our practice, some kind of reward that would come from this. And in particular then, we need to remain in meditative equipoise on the basic nature of things without any kind of conception related to subject, object and action with the wisdom, the wakefulness that is free from those type of conceptual elaborations. Our problem though is that we have a lot of thoughts. We think a lot in our mind. And in particular we have a lot of negative thoughts. We have a lot of pride and jealousy, a lot of competitiveness. We have so many negative thoughts present in our mind. And that then keeps us from being able to engage in the causes that would create the circumstances for rebirth in the pure realm. They're like pollution, right? Pollution that gets in the way of our being able to take rebirth there. And that's why the practice of the seven branches is so important. I've been talking about this already before. It's something that's really important and helpful for us. So again the cause of being reborn in the pure realm is to avoid the ten non-virtues, take up the practice of the ten virtues, practice the six perfections without any hope for some reward, without any conception of subject, object or action. This is the excellent cause for rebirth in the pure realm. And then what? If we actually do all of that perfectly and without any faults or flaws, the ultimate result will come about. We will progress through the five grounds, the ten bodhisattva, the five paths, the ten grounds, the ten bodhisattva bhumis. And it will actually result in perfect awakening if we really fully train in that way, the way that was just described. It will result gradually progressing through the ten bodhisattva stages and arriving in the state of perfect awakening. If not, if we don't fully achieve that result in this life, then through actually gathering a vast amount of merit and purifying a vast amount of obscuration through our practice, we can create the circumstances again for rebirth in the pure realm of Sukhavati. And one of the important conditions for this is what we call the support, which is to bring to mind again and again and again, meditate upon again and again and again what that pure realm is like. So this is where we want to be reborn, this pure realm that we wish to be reborn in. And so in order to do this, we bring to mind repeatedly a clear vision of what that place is like, envision it again and again and again. And so again, we must engage in the cause, which is, I have been talking already about this, right? The cause which is engaging in virtue, avoiding non-virtue, the practice of the six perfections, the practice of the seven branches and so on. And then there is the support, which is to envision, to bring to mind again and again what that pure realm is like. But in order to be able to do those things very genuinely and authentically, we need the supportive condition, the assisting condition, which is love and compassion and bodhicitta. Because if we have love and compassion and bodhicitta, then we will very naturally avoid non-virtue and we will very naturally take up the practice of virtue. And we will naturally practice the six perfections that happens naturally when we are motivated by love and compassion and bodhicitta. And so it's like if you want to plant some seeds in a field, the field itself has to be ploughed, it has to be made soft, but that's not enough. We also need the assistant, the assisting circumstance which is water and fertilizer. Without that you can't grow seeds in a field. And so this is the same for us with love and compassion and bodhicitta. In order to be able to gather virtue genuinely as much as possible and without any type of selfish motivation mixed in with our virtue, in order to be able to do that authentically we need love and compassion and bodhicitta. That's what allows us to gather virtue without these kind of stains. And so this love and compassion and bodhicitta is what causes us to be capable of engaging in virtue, engaging in the ten virtues, avoiding the ten non-virtues, taking up authentically and correctly the practice of the six perfections, and practicing the seven branches authentically and so on. So it's so important that we have this kind of condition or assistant. And the best assisting condition here is bodhicitta. So again the cause is avoiding non-virtues and engaging in virtue. The support is meditating upon the pure realm, recollecting what it is like. And then the assistant is love and compassion and bodhicitta.
So those were three of the four causes and I explained those clearly. Did you understand it clearly? It's logic, very logical.
Karma is unfailing, karmic causality is unfailing, it's not deceptive.
If we really gather the two accumulations genuinely, then we will purify the two obscurations. And if we purify the two obscurations, we will give rise to the two wisdoms. And if we give rise to the two wisdoms, then we will attain the two kayas.
In short, if we purify obscuration, realization dawns naturally. And so that means that if we engage in the ten virtues, avoid the ten non-virtues, then the realization of shamatha, vipassana and the generation and the perfection stages will naturally dawn. If we purify obscurations, realization dawns naturally. So among these four causes for rebirth in the pure realm of sukavati, the fourth one is the condition. And the condition is dedications, aspirations. So the support is to bring to mind the pure realm. The cause is gathering merit and purifying obscurations. The assistant is loving, compassionate bodhicitta. And the condition is to dedicate and make aspirations. And this, because the mind is so powerful and so important, then it's good for us to set up a shrine and make offerings on that shrine and do some prostrations in front of it and bring to mind, remember the pure realm of Buddha Amitabha, bring that to mind. Then do the seven branch practice, starting with refuge bodhicitta and then the practice of the seven branches very genuinely and authentically. And then we can recite some prayers. There's a lot of prayers for rebirth in Buddha Amitabha's pure realm. There's at least the short one, the short one, we should recite one of them, at least the short one which is Emma Ho, the amazing pure realm, or the amazing Buddha Amitabha to his right is Avalokitesvara, to his left is Vajrapani and so on. So this is how the prayer starts. There's a very brief prayer that begins this way. And we recite this prayer and make the aspiration to be reborn in this pure realm. And when we're reborn there, birth in a pure realm is miraculous birth. There's actually four ways or four methods of taking birth. And the one that is applicable here in this context is miraculous birth. So when we talk about Buddha Amitabha, when we take rebirth in his pure realm, we hear the teachings from him, we receive Dharma teachings from him, put it into practice and attain accomplishment this way. There are many others who are emanations of Buddha Amitabha, such as Avalokitesvara who has his own pure realm called the Potala, such as Tara who has her pure realm, the arrangement of the turquoise leaves, the pure realm of Guru Padmasambhava which is the copper-colored mountain. All of these actually, Avalokitesvara, Tara and Guru Padmasambhava are all emanations of Buddha Amitabha and each has their own pure realm. When we take rebirth in the pure realm, like in Buddha Amitabha's pure realm, then we receive the Dharma teachings and through putting those teachings into practice, attain the state of perfect awakening. This is explained in many sutras. It's taught by the Buddha himself in the sutras. And so these are the causes for taking rebirth. I've explained clearly the four causes for taking rebirth in Buddha Amitabha's pure realm. So if we want to take rebirth there, then we have to actually put those into practice. We have to apply them genuinely. And when we make the kind of prayer, again there are many aspirations and prayers for rebirth in Buddha Amitabha's pure realm and it's good for us to recite them. And making this kind of prayer and aspiration or dedication is something that's extremely important. The difference between dedication and aspiration, to make a dedication we have to first engage in virtue. So virtue, it can be a little bit of virtue or a medium amount of virtue or a lot of virtue, but then we dedicate the virtue that we have engaged in and that has been accumulated. We make that kind of dedication and then we make the aspiration, right? May I and all others without a single intervening birth immediately upon leaving this life take rebirth in Buddha Amitabha's pure realm. And may the Buddhas, all of the Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas, grant their blessings that this prayer and aspiration may be accomplished. That's what we pray here. And so these are the causes for bringing about the circumstance of rebirth in Buddha Amitabha's pure realm. I've explained this clearly, so we'll leave it here for today. I'll give the reading transmission for the practice of Vajrakalaya. Then I thought it's nice if we can do the Vajrakalaya practice together.
Why? Translator: It's so nice.I felt like that too.
The fourth of the four seals of the Dharma is that Nirvana is peace, the peaceful liberation which is a lasting happiness and freedom because it is freedom from the disturbing waves of the negative emotions. And this is what we can attain through Dharma practice, is what we are capable of attaining through practicing the Dharma. And this point again can be established as a statement from the Buddha, also using logic and reasoning and also in terms of the pith instructions, right? The statement the Buddha said, Nirvana is peace. And the reason behind it is what I just explained, that it is a peace which is free from the disturbing waves of the afflictive emotions. It's a lasting peace because of being free from the disturbing waves of the negative emotions. The way to put that into practice is actually to train in emptiness and the absence of self, use that as the foundation for our practice. And then we can actually achieve a lasting happiness which is freedom, liberation, freedom from what? The afflictive emotions, both the coarse and subtle afflictive emotions, we can become completely free from the negative emotions, from karma, from delusion. And freedom, that liberation is peace. We can talk about peace, great peace, unsurpassed peace. There are different ways in which we can elaborate on the peace of Nirvana. But what it is, is a peace which is freedom from the disturbing waves of the afflictive emotions. So now we've completed the three days of Dharma teaching on the four seals of the Dharma or the four seals of the genuine view.
Any doubt?
So now you know how to practice the Dharma.
Avoid the ten non-virtues. Because if you avoid the ten non-virtues, you won't take birth in the three lower realms. That's for sure. If you abandon the ten non-virtues, you 100% close the gateway to rebirth in the three lower realms. You will not be born there if you avoid the ten non-virtues. If you engage in the practice of the ten virtues, you could be reborn as a god, a demigod or a human, even have a good human birth. If on top of that you practice shamatha and vipassana and engage in these practices of meditation, then you can be reborn at the pinnacle of samsara. However, there is still the possibility of falling back into samsara. That's the bad part of going just to the summit of samsara. And that's why we have to get out. We have to get out of the three realms of samsara. We have to completely go beyond this. And in order to do that, we have to overcome the root of samsara, which is ignorance, delusion and ignorance, dualistic ignorance. And the only way to do that is to recognize wakefulness, to recognize non-dual wakefulness, rigpa, and to be able to sustain the continuity of that recognition and gain stability within that recognition. Because until we do that, the appearances of dualistic fixation will not fall away. Our confused experience will not vanish. We will remain stuck within the three realms of samsara, stuck within rebirth again and again among the six classes of beings. We will be stuck in samsara's prison, stuck in the prison of samsara, bound. And if we want to get free from that prison, there is one way to do that. And that is to recognize rigpa, recognize wakefulness. But it's not enough just to recognize it. We have to allow for the continuity of that recognition to remain. We have to sustain the continuity of that recognition. That's not enough either. We have to gain stability in that recognition. And in order to be able to gain stability within that recognition, the foundation for being able to do that is to gather virtue and avoid non-virtue, avoid evil actions. That is what makes it possible for us to realize, to recognize what we must recognize and realize, which is rigpa, wakefulness itself. Again, it's not enough just to recognize it. We have to be able to sustain that recognition. And in order to be able to sustain that recognition, we have to avoid laziness and distraction and carelessness. And then we need to remain in an isolated place to be able to do that. Staying in an isolated place, a solitary place, it's important for that reason. If you really investigate and think about it, then it makes sense actually. A place that's solitary is a place where there's not a lot of distraction and there's not a lot of busyness. And when we go to such a place, because there's not a lot of other things going on, our mind becomes more clear. And that is very helpful and beneficial for practicing in a way that avoids getting caught up in distractions and avoids taking wrong tracks on our practice path. And that's why it's so beneficial actually to remain in a solitary place. If possible, it's excellent to remain in a solitary place that is a holy place, a place that has been blessed by the presence of great accomplished masters of the past. And so that's one kind of solitary place, a holy place. It's a really excellent place for practice. But if not that, then just a place where the earth is clean, the air is clean, a clean, solitary, isolated place for practice. If we practice in a place where a lot of negative actions have happened in the past, there's a karmic obscuration connected to that place and it can be difficult to practice there. So the best would be to practice in a place where great masters of the past already practiced. If we have the opportunity to practice in a place like that, it's really an excellent place for practice. So please keep this in your heart. And here over these past days I've shared with you a few, quite a lot actually, really important points, really key points of practice. And if you keep these in your heart, when you then read the scriptures of the Buddhas, when you read these scriptures and these texts, if you keep in mind these key points that I've shared with you here, it will help you to understand more clearly, to understand better the Buddhist scriptures that you read in the future.
Whether it is the general vehicle of the Sravakas and Pratyeka Buddhas, or the vehicle of the Mahayana or Vajrayana, I've shared with you a lot of really key points about the practice of these three vehicles of Buddhism. And so if with these key points in mind you read Buddhist scriptures, I think it will be really helpful for you in terms of being able to understand better what you read.
Make sense?
I think this probably was helpful for those of you who are new practitioners, and I think this was probably helpful for those of you who have been practicing for a long time.
Having to practice while still having doubts is a little hard.
So we have to get rid of our doubts.
And in order to be able to do this, we have to rely upon the wisdom that comes about through listening to the teachings and thinking about it.
When you're walking around in the dark, you have no idea where you're going.
Listening and contemplating is the lamp that dispels the darkness. If you have that, you can see where you're going.
Whether you go or not, that's up to you.
But when you go, now it's clear where you're going, right? Where you will arrive at, where you will arrive if you go.
The most important thing is at least not to be reborn in the three lower realms. At least this.
The suffering of the three lower realms. We can see this among human beings even. There are some human beings who suffer terribly, heat and cold, just like the suffering in the hell realms. Or they suffer hunger and thirst, or they suffer the suffering of dullness and stupidity, right? Human beings within the human realm, we see this too.
In Vajrayana practice, the root of blessings is the Guru. The root of accomplishment is the Yidam-deity. and the root of awakened activity is the Dharma-protectors and the Dakkinis. We say these are the Three Roots. and in general when it comes to giving rise to wakefulness, wisdom
to give rise to wisdom we need as a person
4_seals_1a_en_only.mp4 to rely upon another person, that's where we get wisdom from. Right, we need to rely upon a teacher, who is a person. Of course it is possible that some people have a vision of the Yidam-deity and through that vision then they are able to somehow receive teachings but generally, as a person, as a human being, we have to rely upon a teacher, who is a person. And so in this way we say that the root of blessings for our practice is the Guru, and the blessing that we receive, is the blessing of givng rise to experience and realization, and so in thsi way then, the root of blessings is the Guru, the root of accomplishment is the Yiddam-deity, and the root of awakened activity, awakened activity here refers to activities for the benefit of oneselve and the benefit of others, right. and the root that brings that about is actually the Dharma-protectors. So here the practice that we will be doing today, right now, is the pracctice of Vajrakiilaya. Vajrakilaya is a deaity through which many practitioners have gained accomplishment. when they have practiced in this way. So, this is the practice that we will be doing here.

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