Details
How Does Buddhism Transform Us? 4b
Teachers:
Collection:
- Foundations of Buddhism
Location:
- Gomde Germany-Austria
Excerpt
Khenpo Karma Gyurmey integrates the course's teachings into a cohesive framework, emphasizing motivation, discipline, and meditation. It encourages participants to view challenges as growth opportunities and sustain a dedicated Dharma practice.
Description
Khenpo Karma Gyurmey concludes the course by integrating the teachings into a cohesive framework for ongoing practice. It emphasizes the interdependence of motivation, ethical discipline, and meditation in sustaining inner transformation. The session reflects on the impermanence of life as a motivator for deepening Dharma practice and cultivating compassion. Participants are encouraged to view challenges as opportunities for growth and to maintain dedication to the path of liberation. Practical advice is provided for creating a daily routine that supports mindfulness and spiritual growth.
Related Course Info
-
How Does Buddhism Transform Us?
Our esteemed scholar-practitioner, Khenpo Karma Gyurmey, describes how each of us fully possesses the potential for realization, but that we are obscured by afflictive emotions and cognitive obscurations.
This short course is an excellent introduction to the basic concepts of Buddhism. Khenpo presents an overview of the spiritual path, and how to apply the remedies to our problems.
Video
Audio
43:51
Okay, so here you have some... when the
Tibetan traditional text starts,
you have something at the beginning we
call the homage
and then sometimes there's a line we call
the pledge of composing the text
and the main text starts and there's
something in the dedication.
So it's the same here.
Respectfully, I prostrate myself to the Sugata who are endowed with the Dharmakāya as well as to their noble children and to all who are worthy of veneration. So basically, this is again coming from this Bodhicaryāvatāra at the very beginning and he just took that line and put it here because in Tibetan we don't have a copyright. So we can almost take everywhere, put everywhere. Because we believe that dharma is always free and whoever has a... they're saying that dharma belongs to... who have a diligent... nobody has a right for the dharma. But of course I'm talking from the Tibetan's point of view, yeah? In the West probably you have laws and everything so I'm not suggesting to do that here.
So here he's saying that I'm prostrating or giving homage to the Buddha. Sugata refers to the Buddha and the Dharma and the Sangha. So normally when you say the noble children it refers to the sanghas or Bodhisattvas.
So we pay homage in order to get the blessing as well as so that the texts that I'm composing may be beneficial to everyone. So it's kind of like starting with the proper motivation.
In the second line, okay maybe you have this Dharmakāya word and I guess again again you have to be patient for the new ones but for the old ones. Maybe in the our sādhanas you hear a lot of this. Dharmakāya, Saṃbhogakāya, Nirmāṇakāya, three kayās.
I will say a little bit short because it's a little bit confusing I think.
Okay, it's like this.
I think the word kāya is a Sanskrit word and I don't know exactly what will be the English translation. It's very difficult to translate. In Tibetan we translate it as a ku. So it literally means a form.
So different forms. Different... Maybe we can kind of say perspective forms.
Again I think form is not really... I feel still is something... But anyway. Maybe in English you know sometimes you use this dimension, yeah? Three dimension, two dimension. I think it's a little bit like that. Dimension, kāya.
So it really we are not talking about that there are three Buddha, one is called Dharmakāya, another is called Saṃbhogakāya. It's not really like three person and different name, yeah? Because if you look at the some form, you can look at this flower in the two dimension or the three dimension, yeah? Maybe same object but you can look it from the different dimension. Is there one dimension? Maybe not.
So this, okay, generally speaking when we talk about the three kāya, it's not that Buddha's problem, okay? It's our problem.
The thing is that it's not Buddha have this beautiful three kāyas he want to show us, no. The problem is that when somebody ask, what is Buddha?
This difficult answer. It really depends on the person who is asking, okay? I have to answer, yeah? Especially if you are paid to come here and teach, you have to say something.
So, if somebody ask me, okay, so just tell me what is Buddha?
I can answer in three different layers, okay? I can say that, well, yeah, Buddha is someone who was born 2,600 years ago in a place called Lumbini as a prince. And he renounce, practice, did some self-experiment meditations and he become enlightened when he was 35 years old in a place called Bodh Gaya in India. And then he was teaching around and at the end, age of 81, he was passed away in a place called Kushinagar.
Yeah? Is he? Okay. This is one way to answer.
Maybe it makes sense, right? Now you might ask again, where's Buddha now? Is he there? That's maybe different answer comes. Now, the second answer would be, okay, so tell me a little more about Buddha, yeah? Well, you know, Buddha is, he lives in the place where there's no suffering, where there's no hope, where there's no fear. And, he never gets old. He always looks like between 16 to 25.
And his hair never gets gray and he don't have to eat the food.
And he can teach 10 different places at the same time. Amazing, isn't it? And he don't need the mic, he don't need a translator. If there's people from 10 different countries, he can just speak one voice and everybody will hear what they want to hear. Amazing, isn't it? And all his students are,
he doesn't need to convince. He just have to show there and everybody will understand what he was trying to say. Maybe sometimes he just smiles, people will understand.
And you don't have to make the, what you call the, appointment to see the Buddha. Whenever you want, you can go and see and talk to him.
This is what we call the Saṃbhogakāya, second form of Buddha, which is called... So the first one is called Nirmāṇakāya that we can understand. And it makes sense that he was born, he was eating, he was sleeping and he died. Well, that makes sense. If I say he never died, then that will be a little bit strange thing.
The second Buddha dimension is only capable to the certain people we call them Bodhisattvas. So people who have purified certain kind of obscurations and only accessible for that kind of person, not for people like us. So there is a certain kind of accessibility issues there.
Only those people get the pass.
It looks exactly what we expect Buddha to be. He don't have to worry about time, he don't have to worry about the space. He is completely beyond time and space, but at the same time he functions perfectly.
It's not like a random.
Maybe I'm making a little bit too...
Maybe I'm translating too much, but I hope you will understand what I'm trying to say. Not literal, don't take it literal. So the first one is called Nirmāṇakāya. Every, normal people can understand, maybe some people have seen. If you can go now, you can see the places where he was born, everything is there. And second thing is, if you ask where was he, then the question is wrong, because since he is beyond time and space, he is everywhere. You cannot really ask where it is. I cannot point south, west, north, east, because then it will be almost like underestimating his power.
So now, the third one, the Dharmakāya. The... Here dharma refers to the ultimate reality.
So that, in that concept, if anyone asks me, where is Buddha, or what is Buddha, I might not answer, but I will kind of argue that actually the question you ask, where and what, is fundamentally not possible to answer, because when you say where, you are talking about time, and when you say what, you are talking about space. And Buddha is completely beyond time and space, and this is what we call the Dharmakāya. So you cannot ask where and what Buddha is.
I won't answer that.
I will argue that your question is wrong.
You can't ask where is Buddha or what is Buddha.
Does it make sense? And this is what we call the Dharmakāya.
And sometimes we also call the Nirmāṇakāya and the Saṃbhogakāya as Rūpakāya, because both of them have certain kind of form, and the Dharmakāya is called the formless kāya. It means, even though it's called kāya, but actually it's not a kāya, it's not a dimension. It's beyond the dimension.
So when you recite in your sādhana, I take refuge to the Dharmakāya, Saṃbhogakāya and Nirmāṇakāya, you have to have this kind of understanding that Buddha has different layers of definition, and these three are different definitions of Buddha.
So why there's three, yeah? Why there's not only one? Why they make it complicated? Again, it's not Buddha's problem, it's our problem. We ask for, isn't it?
Okay, of course we can say that let's come together, sit down and remain in Dharmakāya. I can say that, but then there's no path at all, right? It was very difficult. Of course, there will be very good pith instruction, but it doesn't really work that way. There's no communication system. So, what I will say is, okay, come, let's come pray to the Buddha. And where is Buddha? Buddha is there. Maybe now this Buddha looks a little bit convincing because this is Nirmāṇakāya. He looks more like human.
Maybe it's more digestible, so to speak. Sometimes Buddha's Saṃbhogakāya looks a little bit strange. You might think, is it Buddha? You will question, because he will be wearing lots of jewelry, and all the necklaces, golds, but it looks like he's ready for some big party.
And also, sometimes, when you look at the Guru Rinpoche, I don't know, okay, small over there, and then the Shakyamuni Buddha. Now, the Guru Rinpoche is kind of like a Saṃbhogakāya form, and Shakyamuni Buddha is Nirmāṇakāya form. If you put together, it almost looks like a Guru Rinpoche comes as a repellent to the Shakyamuni Buddha. So he does all the things that Shakyamuni Buddha said, you should not do it.
Okay? Now, Shakyamuni said that, well, you know, you should cut your hair. Really. You should not even touch the gold. And you should wear this certain kind of color and a certain kind of material. This is my teaching. And what Guru Rinpoche is saying, he is wearing all the gold, not even forget about touching it, but he is actually wearing all the gold. And India is quite a hot place. But he is wearing all these, I don't know how many clothes that he is wearing. You can say this is one of the most expensive dress in the jeba letters that he is in. That's a little bit difficult to digest, I think.
See?
So, again, Saṃbhogakāya, Nirmāṇakāya is communication, communicating through the verbal communication system. Okay? And Guru Rinpoche is trying to communicate through the so-called visual communication system. That's why it almost looks like Guru Rinpoche has come as a rebalance to Shakyamuni Buddha and said, I did everything that you said, you should not do it.
So as long as you don't understand this symbolic communication system, it's a little bit difficult to believe how Guru Rinpoche and Shakyamuni agreed to each other. It seems like they must be debating every time.
So, as I think many of you are practicing sādhana and trikāya is everywhere, I thought it's a little bit important to know the differences.
So after, there's a contents here. So in this, there are four topics to be explained. The person who is the support for engaging in the path, the intent with which one engages, the way of engaging, the training and the result of having thus engaged. So you have a little bit explanation of what kind of person and what kind of qualities that you should possess in order to practice
and what kind of intention that you should have and what is the way to engage and result. So it's easy.
Generally speaking in Buddhism, we say that, you know, it's like a like a cooking, you know practicing Dharma is like cooking. So when you want to cook, since everything is dependent, you need a cause, you need a condition, you need a support, and then you need a skill, and then there will be a nice, delicious food as a result. And similarly, when you practice, there's a cause, there's a support, there's a condition, there's a result.
And in the text, it is said that the cause is the potential that I was kind of explaining a little bit before. And just the nature of our mind, the potential that we have, we also call Buddha nature, is a cause for the liberation or enlightenment. So as long as you have mind, you have that. Sometimes we recognize that, sometimes we don't.
But many good yogis actually who have recognized, they say that the nature of our mind, the potential, is very difficult to... We don't recognize that, not because it's very difficult to recognize, because it's too easy.
It's so easy that we don't believe that actually it is the nature of our mind.
So the support is a precious human life. It will come later. Cause is our Buddha nature. Support is precious human life. It means the one who has intact senses, who can function properly.
And the condition is a spiritual guru. So he is the one who finds out our problems, our weakness, our qualities, and he reminds us when we go astray. So the condition is the spiritual friend.
Now, the method. There are different methods, but the actual method is pith instructions that comes from the spiritual master. So of course, normally if you practice six pāramitās, this is also a method, but the pith instruction from our spiritual master is a very important method in order to recognize that potential.
Maybe yesterday we were talking about this guru and the student, the business of the blessing and the devotion, and the...
how our communication is kind of cut between because of not being able to trust each other and just waiting who will do the first move.
And a...
when you engage in this guru and student's things,
if you don't like the path, there's one thing you can do. Get used to it.
And then maybe yesterday we were talking about is there a universal password? Unfortunately, no. Because each guru has their own pith instruction and it's a very individual thing, unfortunately. But you can try, guess there's some guess password that you can do. It's surrendering to the path. Surrender. If you surrender, then you're kind of close. Not exactly, but going quite close. And of course, having a confidence into the spiritual path and the spiritual friend is very, very important.
Then the result, of course, is the liberation. So cause, Buddha nature, support, precious human life, condition, spiritual friend,
the method is pith instruction, and the result is liberation. So this is the five cause, support, and so forth. So here some of them you will see from this text.
Okay, so I think I will stop here. Maybe if you have some questions,
please feel free to be stupid.
They say that if you ask questions, you will be stupid once, yeah? But if you don't...
I think I might be a little bit confused to you new guys, so I'm sorry about that.
Yes. They said that all living beings are have Buddha nature, but until which kind of structure we can put this Buddha nature, like what is this smallest, like these micro things that you have in our body also have Buddha nature?
Well, from the Buddhist philosophy or Buddhist psychology point of view, we always talk about the so-called mind and matter, right? But I think we also talk about life, but I think the definition of life from the scientific point of view and Buddhist is a little bit different, so it makes me a little bit confused. So from the Buddhist point of view, as long as you have a mind, it doesn't really matter whether you are a micro-bacteria or you are a dinosaur, you have a Buddha nature, exactly the same kind of potential.
So that means a micro-bacteria has mind? I'm not sure, but if it has a mind, then have Buddha nature. Again, I'm a little bit confused from the scientific point of view, which is sentient beings or which is not, yeah? When you talk about this very small, small bacteria, I always get very confused. And also the definition of life is quite different from the Buddhist, how we use and I think from the scientific point of view. But normally we say if you have a life, then you have a Buddha nature, but that's a little bit confusing for the, I think, Western world, because the word, tse, or the so that we use in Tibetan is not like how you use in the West.
Is it the same when you say every being wants and goes towards happiness, and goes from one to another while suffering? Is it the same that because of that they have Buddha nature? Yes, yes. And also I think the theory is because they also go in the direction of self -suffering. Yes, yes, yes. So in the text, there is a text called Uttaratantraśāstra and it explains the whole detail about the Buddha. There are many texts, but this is the one main text that we study. And in text, they give you certain kind of symptoms and signs that you have a Buddha nature. I think, generally speaking, one of the most convincing is that as long as you have mind, you have this natural potential, wanting to be free, wanting to be happy. Yes. And that shows that that is the sign that you have Buddha nature.
I think if you want to be happy, it is very important
what is the definition of happiness, because otherwise it becomes endless.
You have to make sure that what I'm really looking for, otherwise like you want happiness but you don't know, you're just guessing and then happiness always changes. It's like if you really want to do a marathon, of course you have to make sure that there's a finish line, right? Otherwise, you're walking whole thinking that there will be finish line and putting all your time and energy and exhausted, there's no point. So whether you just relax, walk slowly, or make sure that there's a finish line, check first.
I think many times we're still not clear what is happiness.
And sometimes even we have so different happiness and it gets really difficult. How do you find? For me, I think for me,
just a...
for me happiness would be not a big thing, but this I and want would be the big thing. So once I'm free from I and want, I'm quite confident that happiness will be there, but I don't know what is the exact definition right now.
Because sometimes when I close my eyes and try to forget all the hopes and fears, it feels quite close to the happiness for a few seconds here.
And if that's enlightenment, I think it's quite nice. That was my version of enlightenment.
And... I was telling this story, I'm not sure if I said it here or not.
For the Tibetans,
hardcore Buddhist, fanatic, they will do the prostration, you know, prostration. From place called the lower part of Kham to the place called Lhasa, I don't know how much kilometer is there, it takes even sometimes a year, from morning till night, with lots of energy. And... And they say there's a New Zealander, a person from New Zealand, a mountaineer enthusiast. He will spend thousands of dollars, go to Nepal and climb the Mount Everest, with all these gears set up.
Now, if this, okay, the New Zealand indigenous mountaineer is coming from here, and Tibetan is coming from here, doing prostration, they will meet each other. They look very funny to each other because he will be putting things, he will have this, I don't know what you call it, tumor on here, because when you do the prostration for several years, there will be a tumor on here.
And then maybe this mountaineer will be having all this gear up, everything boots, you know, oxygens. Imagine that they meet each other and try to talk. What is happiness?
Now, of course, you know, we are polite to each other, especially when you meet a different culture. And then maybe Tibetan might be saying, what are you doing? I'm going to climb the Mount Everest, the highest mount in the world. I'm going to conquer the Mount Everest, you know. I've been waiting this for 30 years. Finally I'm here. He will say proudly with lots of energy and proudness. Now, from this Tibetan, he might not say bad words, but he might be smiling.
Stupid Westerners.
This is the one of the most expensive, stupid self-torture that you can do. Okay? And of course, now, this, we'll look at this person. Well, you know, I was doing prostration for three years, and I'm here, and I'm. Stupid Tibetan tsampa eaters. Yeah. And of course, both are getting happy, but so different. And of course, both are human beings, yeah. It's not like one of them came from the different planet.
So what is happiness? It depends who you really are.
That's why, from the Buddhist point of view, as long as you don't understand your potential, you won't really see the happiness clearly.
Because your happiness is defined by your potential.
Although in Nepal, we have many mountains, but we have no idea, no interest at all, climbing a mountain. We think this is the most stupid thing you can do.
We have no, how to say, this proudness of overtaking the rock.
Conquering the rock, yeah. We don't feel proud. We feel it's kind of irresponsible, father or children or citizen, if you do that. But of course, I'm not saying it is. I'm just saying that that's how we think. It's our perspective, right? And maybe you will say the same thing to the host doing 100,000 prostrations. It's just the stupid thing you can do.
So what I was trying to say is that happiness is happiness, but it's important to understand that
before you pursue to the happiness, you should make sure, maybe not 100%, but at least 60, 70% this is my kind of what you call the model of happiness. At least you should have something like that. And this is actually what we call the view in Buddhism, yeah? Having a right view. It's knowing very clearly where you really want to go.
Yeah? Any other questions?
If this, this could be considered act of compassion, the last act of compassion, why from the Buddhist point of view to donate your organs when your time is not considered so good?
I think, well, you know, you mean like you give your eye and for somebody else? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I think if you look it from the sūtras point of view and then you have this many, many stories where they were giving their eyes, Bodhisattva’s eyes or limbs, yeah? So it's common.
But of course, you know, you should not do it emotionally. You should do it with the wisdom. That's important.
That's perfect. You are dead already. Because they think when you have like a brain dead, and then, OK, then they take a wish to donate then But I think this modern organ donation is a very new thing, yeah? And I really don't think it exists in... Although through the power of... what do you call the... through the power of the two. When you got certain kind of realization and then you will get certain kind of power. So there is a story that someone take eye and put it in someone else's eye. But I don't think in India 2,400 years ago there is such a technologically advanced. But you have this story, but not because of the technological, but because of the power they have. Because when you have a certain kind of power, then you don't really have to depend on the time and space. And then you can almost do everything you want. But now Tibet, and these days, I think even donating organ is very new thing.
We don't have that, yeah? When I was in my village and I told some of my mom and they said that, you know, if you go to Kathmandu, actually you can change your teeth. They won't believe me. Really. This is impossible to changing your teeth. So, but now I think when this little bit of hesitation is coming from little bit of Vajrayāna's influences, and this little bit different story.
And from the Sūtrayāna you have this thing. And then as long as we are talking about the practically donating organ is very new thing for us. And I think many Tibetans still they don't believe when you say that you can exchange the eye or, you know, this kind of thing. They says this is not real.
But personally speaking, I think there's nothing wrong with it, yeah? If it is helpful and...
So... Of course, of course, yeah?
When you make the Bodhisattva's aspiration, they will say that...
they will make this kind of aspirations that whatever is possible to help even one small, small fraction, may I become that and that.
Page number 18, yeah? künsang dorjé chang chen men ché né drinchen tsawai lama yenché kyi drowai dön du mönlam gang tapa dedak thamché deng dir drupar shok May all the aspirations for the benefit of beings from Samantabhadra and Great Vajradhāra down until our kind root guru be accomplished this very day. sönam diyi thamché sikpa nyi thopné nyepai dranam phamjé né kyega nachi balap trukpa yi sipai tsolé drowa drölwar shok By this merit, may I attend omniscience. Having defeated the enemy misdeeds, may I free all beings from the ocean of existence with its stormy waves of birth, old age, sickness, and death.
jangchup semchok rinpoché ma kyepa nam kyé gyurchik kyepa nyampa mepa yang gongné gongdu phelwar shok May the supreme and precious mind of enlightenment awaken in those where it has not arisen, where it has arisen, may it never decrease, but continue to flourish forevermore.
Okay, thank you.
So it's the same here.
Respectfully, I prostrate myself to the Sugata who are endowed with the Dharmakāya as well as to their noble children and to all who are worthy of veneration. So basically, this is again coming from this Bodhicaryāvatāra at the very beginning and he just took that line and put it here because in Tibetan we don't have a copyright. So we can almost take everywhere, put everywhere. Because we believe that dharma is always free and whoever has a... they're saying that dharma belongs to... who have a diligent... nobody has a right for the dharma. But of course I'm talking from the Tibetan's point of view, yeah? In the West probably you have laws and everything so I'm not suggesting to do that here.
So here he's saying that I'm prostrating or giving homage to the Buddha. Sugata refers to the Buddha and the Dharma and the Sangha. So normally when you say the noble children it refers to the sanghas or Bodhisattvas.
So we pay homage in order to get the blessing as well as so that the texts that I'm composing may be beneficial to everyone. So it's kind of like starting with the proper motivation.
In the second line, okay maybe you have this Dharmakāya word and I guess again again you have to be patient for the new ones but for the old ones. Maybe in the our sādhanas you hear a lot of this. Dharmakāya, Saṃbhogakāya, Nirmāṇakāya, three kayās.
I will say a little bit short because it's a little bit confusing I think.
Okay, it's like this.
I think the word kāya is a Sanskrit word and I don't know exactly what will be the English translation. It's very difficult to translate. In Tibetan we translate it as a ku. So it literally means a form.
So different forms. Different... Maybe we can kind of say perspective forms.
Again I think form is not really... I feel still is something... But anyway. Maybe in English you know sometimes you use this dimension, yeah? Three dimension, two dimension. I think it's a little bit like that. Dimension, kāya.
So it really we are not talking about that there are three Buddha, one is called Dharmakāya, another is called Saṃbhogakāya. It's not really like three person and different name, yeah? Because if you look at the some form, you can look at this flower in the two dimension or the three dimension, yeah? Maybe same object but you can look it from the different dimension. Is there one dimension? Maybe not.
So this, okay, generally speaking when we talk about the three kāya, it's not that Buddha's problem, okay? It's our problem.
The thing is that it's not Buddha have this beautiful three kāyas he want to show us, no. The problem is that when somebody ask, what is Buddha?
This difficult answer. It really depends on the person who is asking, okay? I have to answer, yeah? Especially if you are paid to come here and teach, you have to say something.
So, if somebody ask me, okay, so just tell me what is Buddha?
I can answer in three different layers, okay? I can say that, well, yeah, Buddha is someone who was born 2,600 years ago in a place called Lumbini as a prince. And he renounce, practice, did some self-experiment meditations and he become enlightened when he was 35 years old in a place called Bodh Gaya in India. And then he was teaching around and at the end, age of 81, he was passed away in a place called Kushinagar.
Yeah? Is he? Okay. This is one way to answer.
Maybe it makes sense, right? Now you might ask again, where's Buddha now? Is he there? That's maybe different answer comes. Now, the second answer would be, okay, so tell me a little more about Buddha, yeah? Well, you know, Buddha is, he lives in the place where there's no suffering, where there's no hope, where there's no fear. And, he never gets old. He always looks like between 16 to 25.
And his hair never gets gray and he don't have to eat the food.
And he can teach 10 different places at the same time. Amazing, isn't it? And he don't need the mic, he don't need a translator. If there's people from 10 different countries, he can just speak one voice and everybody will hear what they want to hear. Amazing, isn't it? And all his students are,
he doesn't need to convince. He just have to show there and everybody will understand what he was trying to say. Maybe sometimes he just smiles, people will understand.
And you don't have to make the, what you call the, appointment to see the Buddha. Whenever you want, you can go and see and talk to him.
This is what we call the Saṃbhogakāya, second form of Buddha, which is called... So the first one is called Nirmāṇakāya that we can understand. And it makes sense that he was born, he was eating, he was sleeping and he died. Well, that makes sense. If I say he never died, then that will be a little bit strange thing.
The second Buddha dimension is only capable to the certain people we call them Bodhisattvas. So people who have purified certain kind of obscurations and only accessible for that kind of person, not for people like us. So there is a certain kind of accessibility issues there.
Only those people get the pass.
It looks exactly what we expect Buddha to be. He don't have to worry about time, he don't have to worry about the space. He is completely beyond time and space, but at the same time he functions perfectly.
It's not like a random.
Maybe I'm making a little bit too...
Maybe I'm translating too much, but I hope you will understand what I'm trying to say. Not literal, don't take it literal. So the first one is called Nirmāṇakāya. Every, normal people can understand, maybe some people have seen. If you can go now, you can see the places where he was born, everything is there. And second thing is, if you ask where was he, then the question is wrong, because since he is beyond time and space, he is everywhere. You cannot really ask where it is. I cannot point south, west, north, east, because then it will be almost like underestimating his power.
So now, the third one, the Dharmakāya. The... Here dharma refers to the ultimate reality.
So that, in that concept, if anyone asks me, where is Buddha, or what is Buddha, I might not answer, but I will kind of argue that actually the question you ask, where and what, is fundamentally not possible to answer, because when you say where, you are talking about time, and when you say what, you are talking about space. And Buddha is completely beyond time and space, and this is what we call the Dharmakāya. So you cannot ask where and what Buddha is.
I won't answer that.
I will argue that your question is wrong.
You can't ask where is Buddha or what is Buddha.
Does it make sense? And this is what we call the Dharmakāya.
And sometimes we also call the Nirmāṇakāya and the Saṃbhogakāya as Rūpakāya, because both of them have certain kind of form, and the Dharmakāya is called the formless kāya. It means, even though it's called kāya, but actually it's not a kāya, it's not a dimension. It's beyond the dimension.
So when you recite in your sādhana, I take refuge to the Dharmakāya, Saṃbhogakāya and Nirmāṇakāya, you have to have this kind of understanding that Buddha has different layers of definition, and these three are different definitions of Buddha.
So why there's three, yeah? Why there's not only one? Why they make it complicated? Again, it's not Buddha's problem, it's our problem. We ask for, isn't it?
Okay, of course we can say that let's come together, sit down and remain in Dharmakāya. I can say that, but then there's no path at all, right? It was very difficult. Of course, there will be very good pith instruction, but it doesn't really work that way. There's no communication system. So, what I will say is, okay, come, let's come pray to the Buddha. And where is Buddha? Buddha is there. Maybe now this Buddha looks a little bit convincing because this is Nirmāṇakāya. He looks more like human.
Maybe it's more digestible, so to speak. Sometimes Buddha's Saṃbhogakāya looks a little bit strange. You might think, is it Buddha? You will question, because he will be wearing lots of jewelry, and all the necklaces, golds, but it looks like he's ready for some big party.
And also, sometimes, when you look at the Guru Rinpoche, I don't know, okay, small over there, and then the Shakyamuni Buddha. Now, the Guru Rinpoche is kind of like a Saṃbhogakāya form, and Shakyamuni Buddha is Nirmāṇakāya form. If you put together, it almost looks like a Guru Rinpoche comes as a repellent to the Shakyamuni Buddha. So he does all the things that Shakyamuni Buddha said, you should not do it.
Okay? Now, Shakyamuni said that, well, you know, you should cut your hair. Really. You should not even touch the gold. And you should wear this certain kind of color and a certain kind of material. This is my teaching. And what Guru Rinpoche is saying, he is wearing all the gold, not even forget about touching it, but he is actually wearing all the gold. And India is quite a hot place. But he is wearing all these, I don't know how many clothes that he is wearing. You can say this is one of the most expensive dress in the jeba letters that he is in. That's a little bit difficult to digest, I think.
See?
So, again, Saṃbhogakāya, Nirmāṇakāya is communication, communicating through the verbal communication system. Okay? And Guru Rinpoche is trying to communicate through the so-called visual communication system. That's why it almost looks like Guru Rinpoche has come as a rebalance to Shakyamuni Buddha and said, I did everything that you said, you should not do it.
So as long as you don't understand this symbolic communication system, it's a little bit difficult to believe how Guru Rinpoche and Shakyamuni agreed to each other. It seems like they must be debating every time.
So, as I think many of you are practicing sādhana and trikāya is everywhere, I thought it's a little bit important to know the differences.
So after, there's a contents here. So in this, there are four topics to be explained. The person who is the support for engaging in the path, the intent with which one engages, the way of engaging, the training and the result of having thus engaged. So you have a little bit explanation of what kind of person and what kind of qualities that you should possess in order to practice
and what kind of intention that you should have and what is the way to engage and result. So it's easy.
Generally speaking in Buddhism, we say that, you know, it's like a like a cooking, you know practicing Dharma is like cooking. So when you want to cook, since everything is dependent, you need a cause, you need a condition, you need a support, and then you need a skill, and then there will be a nice, delicious food as a result. And similarly, when you practice, there's a cause, there's a support, there's a condition, there's a result.
And in the text, it is said that the cause is the potential that I was kind of explaining a little bit before. And just the nature of our mind, the potential that we have, we also call Buddha nature, is a cause for the liberation or enlightenment. So as long as you have mind, you have that. Sometimes we recognize that, sometimes we don't.
But many good yogis actually who have recognized, they say that the nature of our mind, the potential, is very difficult to... We don't recognize that, not because it's very difficult to recognize, because it's too easy.
It's so easy that we don't believe that actually it is the nature of our mind.
So the support is a precious human life. It will come later. Cause is our Buddha nature. Support is precious human life. It means the one who has intact senses, who can function properly.
And the condition is a spiritual guru. So he is the one who finds out our problems, our weakness, our qualities, and he reminds us when we go astray. So the condition is the spiritual friend.
Now, the method. There are different methods, but the actual method is pith instructions that comes from the spiritual master. So of course, normally if you practice six pāramitās, this is also a method, but the pith instruction from our spiritual master is a very important method in order to recognize that potential.
Maybe yesterday we were talking about this guru and the student, the business of the blessing and the devotion, and the...
how our communication is kind of cut between because of not being able to trust each other and just waiting who will do the first move.
And a...
when you engage in this guru and student's things,
if you don't like the path, there's one thing you can do. Get used to it.
And then maybe yesterday we were talking about is there a universal password? Unfortunately, no. Because each guru has their own pith instruction and it's a very individual thing, unfortunately. But you can try, guess there's some guess password that you can do. It's surrendering to the path. Surrender. If you surrender, then you're kind of close. Not exactly, but going quite close. And of course, having a confidence into the spiritual path and the spiritual friend is very, very important.
Then the result, of course, is the liberation. So cause, Buddha nature, support, precious human life, condition, spiritual friend,
the method is pith instruction, and the result is liberation. So this is the five cause, support, and so forth. So here some of them you will see from this text.
Okay, so I think I will stop here. Maybe if you have some questions,
please feel free to be stupid.
They say that if you ask questions, you will be stupid once, yeah? But if you don't...
I think I might be a little bit confused to you new guys, so I'm sorry about that.
Yes. They said that all living beings are have Buddha nature, but until which kind of structure we can put this Buddha nature, like what is this smallest, like these micro things that you have in our body also have Buddha nature?
Well, from the Buddhist philosophy or Buddhist psychology point of view, we always talk about the so-called mind and matter, right? But I think we also talk about life, but I think the definition of life from the scientific point of view and Buddhist is a little bit different, so it makes me a little bit confused. So from the Buddhist point of view, as long as you have a mind, it doesn't really matter whether you are a micro-bacteria or you are a dinosaur, you have a Buddha nature, exactly the same kind of potential.
So that means a micro-bacteria has mind? I'm not sure, but if it has a mind, then have Buddha nature. Again, I'm a little bit confused from the scientific point of view, which is sentient beings or which is not, yeah? When you talk about this very small, small bacteria, I always get very confused. And also the definition of life is quite different from the Buddhist, how we use and I think from the scientific point of view. But normally we say if you have a life, then you have a Buddha nature, but that's a little bit confusing for the, I think, Western world, because the word, tse, or the so that we use in Tibetan is not like how you use in the West.
Is it the same when you say every being wants and goes towards happiness, and goes from one to another while suffering? Is it the same that because of that they have Buddha nature? Yes, yes. And also I think the theory is because they also go in the direction of self -suffering. Yes, yes, yes. So in the text, there is a text called Uttaratantraśāstra and it explains the whole detail about the Buddha. There are many texts, but this is the one main text that we study. And in text, they give you certain kind of symptoms and signs that you have a Buddha nature. I think, generally speaking, one of the most convincing is that as long as you have mind, you have this natural potential, wanting to be free, wanting to be happy. Yes. And that shows that that is the sign that you have Buddha nature.
I think if you want to be happy, it is very important
what is the definition of happiness, because otherwise it becomes endless.
You have to make sure that what I'm really looking for, otherwise like you want happiness but you don't know, you're just guessing and then happiness always changes. It's like if you really want to do a marathon, of course you have to make sure that there's a finish line, right? Otherwise, you're walking whole thinking that there will be finish line and putting all your time and energy and exhausted, there's no point. So whether you just relax, walk slowly, or make sure that there's a finish line, check first.
I think many times we're still not clear what is happiness.
And sometimes even we have so different happiness and it gets really difficult. How do you find? For me, I think for me,
just a...
for me happiness would be not a big thing, but this I and want would be the big thing. So once I'm free from I and want, I'm quite confident that happiness will be there, but I don't know what is the exact definition right now.
Because sometimes when I close my eyes and try to forget all the hopes and fears, it feels quite close to the happiness for a few seconds here.
And if that's enlightenment, I think it's quite nice. That was my version of enlightenment.
And... I was telling this story, I'm not sure if I said it here or not.
For the Tibetans,
hardcore Buddhist, fanatic, they will do the prostration, you know, prostration. From place called the lower part of Kham to the place called Lhasa, I don't know how much kilometer is there, it takes even sometimes a year, from morning till night, with lots of energy. And... And they say there's a New Zealander, a person from New Zealand, a mountaineer enthusiast. He will spend thousands of dollars, go to Nepal and climb the Mount Everest, with all these gears set up.
Now, if this, okay, the New Zealand indigenous mountaineer is coming from here, and Tibetan is coming from here, doing prostration, they will meet each other. They look very funny to each other because he will be putting things, he will have this, I don't know what you call it, tumor on here, because when you do the prostration for several years, there will be a tumor on here.
And then maybe this mountaineer will be having all this gear up, everything boots, you know, oxygens. Imagine that they meet each other and try to talk. What is happiness?
Now, of course, you know, we are polite to each other, especially when you meet a different culture. And then maybe Tibetan might be saying, what are you doing? I'm going to climb the Mount Everest, the highest mount in the world. I'm going to conquer the Mount Everest, you know. I've been waiting this for 30 years. Finally I'm here. He will say proudly with lots of energy and proudness. Now, from this Tibetan, he might not say bad words, but he might be smiling.
Stupid Westerners.
This is the one of the most expensive, stupid self-torture that you can do. Okay? And of course, now, this, we'll look at this person. Well, you know, I was doing prostration for three years, and I'm here, and I'm. Stupid Tibetan tsampa eaters. Yeah. And of course, both are getting happy, but so different. And of course, both are human beings, yeah. It's not like one of them came from the different planet.
So what is happiness? It depends who you really are.
That's why, from the Buddhist point of view, as long as you don't understand your potential, you won't really see the happiness clearly.
Because your happiness is defined by your potential.
Although in Nepal, we have many mountains, but we have no idea, no interest at all, climbing a mountain. We think this is the most stupid thing you can do.
We have no, how to say, this proudness of overtaking the rock.
Conquering the rock, yeah. We don't feel proud. We feel it's kind of irresponsible, father or children or citizen, if you do that. But of course, I'm not saying it is. I'm just saying that that's how we think. It's our perspective, right? And maybe you will say the same thing to the host doing 100,000 prostrations. It's just the stupid thing you can do.
So what I was trying to say is that happiness is happiness, but it's important to understand that
before you pursue to the happiness, you should make sure, maybe not 100%, but at least 60, 70% this is my kind of what you call the model of happiness. At least you should have something like that. And this is actually what we call the view in Buddhism, yeah? Having a right view. It's knowing very clearly where you really want to go.
Yeah? Any other questions?
If this, this could be considered act of compassion, the last act of compassion, why from the Buddhist point of view to donate your organs when your time is not considered so good?
I think, well, you know, you mean like you give your eye and for somebody else? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I think if you look it from the sūtras point of view and then you have this many, many stories where they were giving their eyes, Bodhisattva’s eyes or limbs, yeah? So it's common.
But of course, you know, you should not do it emotionally. You should do it with the wisdom. That's important.
That's perfect. You are dead already. Because they think when you have like a brain dead, and then, OK, then they take a wish to donate then But I think this modern organ donation is a very new thing, yeah? And I really don't think it exists in... Although through the power of... what do you call the... through the power of the two. When you got certain kind of realization and then you will get certain kind of power. So there is a story that someone take eye and put it in someone else's eye. But I don't think in India 2,400 years ago there is such a technologically advanced. But you have this story, but not because of the technological, but because of the power they have. Because when you have a certain kind of power, then you don't really have to depend on the time and space. And then you can almost do everything you want. But now Tibet, and these days, I think even donating organ is very new thing.
We don't have that, yeah? When I was in my village and I told some of my mom and they said that, you know, if you go to Kathmandu, actually you can change your teeth. They won't believe me. Really. This is impossible to changing your teeth. So, but now I think when this little bit of hesitation is coming from little bit of Vajrayāna's influences, and this little bit different story.
And from the Sūtrayāna you have this thing. And then as long as we are talking about the practically donating organ is very new thing for us. And I think many Tibetans still they don't believe when you say that you can exchange the eye or, you know, this kind of thing. They says this is not real.
But personally speaking, I think there's nothing wrong with it, yeah? If it is helpful and...
So... Of course, of course, yeah?
When you make the Bodhisattva's aspiration, they will say that...
they will make this kind of aspirations that whatever is possible to help even one small, small fraction, may I become that and that.
Page number 18, yeah? künsang dorjé chang chen men ché né drinchen tsawai lama yenché kyi drowai dön du mönlam gang tapa dedak thamché deng dir drupar shok May all the aspirations for the benefit of beings from Samantabhadra and Great Vajradhāra down until our kind root guru be accomplished this very day. sönam diyi thamché sikpa nyi thopné nyepai dranam phamjé né kyega nachi balap trukpa yi sipai tsolé drowa drölwar shok By this merit, may I attend omniscience. Having defeated the enemy misdeeds, may I free all beings from the ocean of existence with its stormy waves of birth, old age, sickness, and death.
jangchup semchok rinpoché ma kyepa nam kyé gyurchik kyepa nyampa mepa yang gongné gongdu phelwar shok May the supreme and precious mind of enlightenment awaken in those where it has not arisen, where it has arisen, may it never decrease, but continue to flourish forevermore.
Okay, thank you.
19:50
Okay, so here you have some... when the
Tibetan traditional text starts,
you have something at the beginning we
call the homage
and then sometimes there's a line we call
the pledge of composing the text
and the main text starts and there's
something in the dedication.
So it's the same here.
Respectfully, I prostrate myself to the Sugata who are endowed with the Dharmakāya as well as to their noble children and to all who are worthy of veneration. So basically, this is again coming from this Bodhicaryāvatāra at the very beginning and he just took that line and put it here because in Tibetan we don't have a copyright. So we can almost take everywhere, put everywhere. Because we believe that dharma is always free and whoever has a... they're saying that dharma belongs to... who have a diligent... nobody has a right for the dharma. But of course I'm talking from the Tibetan's point of view, yeah? In the West probably you have laws and everything so I'm not suggesting to do that here.
So here he's saying that I'm prostrating or giving homage to the Buddha. Sugata refers to the Buddha and the Dharma and the Sangha. So normally when you say the noble children it refers to the sanghas or Bodhisattvas.
So we pay homage in order to get the blessing as well as so that the texts that I'm composing may be beneficial to everyone. So it's kind of like starting with the proper motivation.
In the second line, okay maybe you have this Dharmakāya word and I guess again again you have to be patient for the new ones but for the old ones. Maybe in the our sādhanas you hear a lot of this. Dharmakāya, Saṃbhogakāya, Nirmāṇakāya, three kayās.
I will say a little bit short because it's a little bit confusing I think.
Okay, it's like this.
I think the word kāya is a Sanskrit word and I don't know exactly what will be the English translation. It's very difficult to translate. In Tibetan we translate it as a ku. So it literally means a form.
So different forms. Different... Maybe we can kind of say perspective forms.
Again I think form is not really... I feel still is something... But anyway. Maybe in English you know sometimes you use this dimension, yeah? Three dimension, two dimension. I think it's a little bit like that. Dimension, kāya.
So it really we are not talking about that there are three Buddha, one is called Dharmakāya, another is called Saṃbhogakāya. It's not really like three person and different name, yeah? Because if you look at the some form, you can look at this flower in the two dimension or the three dimension, yeah? Maybe same object but you can look it from the different dimension. Is there one dimension? Maybe not.
So this, okay, generally speaking when we talk about the three kāya, it's not that Buddha's problem, okay? It's our problem.
The thing is that it's not Buddha have this beautiful three kāyas he want to show us, no. The problem is that when somebody ask, what is Buddha?
This difficult answer. It really depends on the person who is asking, okay? I have to answer, yeah? Especially if you are paid to come here and teach, you have to say something.
So, if somebody ask me, okay, so just tell me what is Buddha?
I can answer in three different layers, okay? I can say that, well, yeah, Buddha is someone who was born 2,600 years ago in a place called Lumbini as a prince. And he renounce, practice, did some self-experiment meditations and he become enlightened when he was 35 years old in a place called Bodh Gaya in India. And then he was teaching around and at the end, age of 81, he was passed away in a place called Kushinagar.
Yeah? Is he? Okay. This is one way to answer.
Maybe it makes sense, right? Now you might ask again, where's Buddha now? Is he there? That's maybe different answer comes. Now, the second answer would be, okay, so tell me a little more about Buddha, yeah? Well, you know, Buddha is, he lives in the place where there's no suffering, where there's no hope, where there's no fear. And, he never gets old. He always looks like between 16 to 25.
And his hair never gets gray and he don't have to eat the food.
And he can teach 10 different places at the same time. Amazing, isn't it? And he don't need the mic, he don't need a translator. If there's people from 10 different countries, he can just speak one voice and everybody will hear what they want to hear. Amazing, isn't it? And all his students are,
he doesn't need to convince. He just have to show there and everybody will understand what he was trying to say. Maybe sometimes he just smiles, people will understand.
And you don't have to make the, what you call the, appointment to see the Buddha. Whenever you want, you can go and see and talk to him.
This is what we call the Saṃbhogakāya, second form of Buddha, which is called... So the first one is called Nirmāṇakāya that we can understand. And it makes sense that he was born, he was eating, he was sleeping and he died. Well, that makes sense. If I say he never died, then that will be a little bit strange thing.
The second Buddha dimension is only capable to the certain people we call them Bodhisattvas. So people who have purified certain kind of obscurations and only accessible for that kind of person, not for people like us. So there is a certain kind of accessibility issues there.
Only those people get the pass.
It looks exactly what we expect Buddha to be. He don't have to worry about time, he don't have to worry about the space. He is completely beyond time and space, but at the same time he functions perfectly.
It's not like a random.
Maybe I'm making a little bit too...
Maybe I'm translating too much, but I hope you will understand what I'm trying to say. Not literal, don't take it literal. So the first one is called Nirmāṇakāya. Every, normal people can understand, maybe some people have seen. If you can go now, you can see the places where he was born, everything is there. And second thing is, if you ask where was he, then the question is wrong, because since he is beyond time and space, he is everywhere. You cannot really ask where it is. I cannot point south, west, north, east, because then it will be almost like underestimating his power.
So now, the third one, the Dharmakāya. The... Here dharma refers to the ultimate reality.
So that, in that concept, if anyone asks me, where is Buddha, or what is Buddha, I might not answer, but I will kind of argue that actually the question you ask, where and what, is fundamentally not possible to answer, because when you say where, you are talking about time, and when you say what, you are talking about space. And Buddha is completely beyond time and space, and this is what we call the Dharmakāya. So you cannot ask where and what Buddha is.
I won't answer that.
I will argue that your question is wrong.
You can't ask where is Buddha or what is Buddha.
Does it make sense? And this is what we call the Dharmakāya.
And sometimes we also call the Nirmāṇakāya and the Saṃbhogakāya as Rūpakāya, because both of them have certain kind of form, and the Dharmakāya is called the formless kāya. It means, even though it's called kāya, but actually it's not a kāya, it's not a dimension. It's beyond the dimension.
So when you recite in your sādhana, I take refuge to the Dharmakāya, Saṃbhogakāya and Nirmāṇakāya, you have to have this kind of understanding that Buddha has different layers of definition, and these three are different definitions of Buddha.
So why there's three, yeah? Why there's not only one? Why they make it complicated? Again, it's not Buddha's problem, it's our problem. We ask for, isn't it?
Okay, of course we can say that let's come together, sit down and remain in Dharmakāya. I can say that, but then there's no path at all, right? It was very difficult. Of course, there will be very good pith instruction, but it doesn't really work that way. There's no communication system. So, what I will say is, okay, come, let's come pray to the Buddha. And where is Buddha? Buddha is there. Maybe now this Buddha looks a little bit convincing because this is Nirmāṇakāya. He looks more like human.
Maybe it's more digestible, so to speak. Sometimes Buddha's Saṃbhogakāya looks a little bit strange. You might think, is it Buddha? You will question, because he will be wearing lots of jewelry, and all the necklaces, golds, but it looks like he's ready for some big party.
And also, sometimes, when you look at the Guru Rinpoche, I don't know, okay, small over there, and then the Shakyamuni Buddha. Now, the Guru Rinpoche is kind of like a Saṃbhogakāya form, and Shakyamuni Buddha is Nirmāṇakāya form. If you put together, it almost looks like a Guru Rinpoche comes as a repellent to the Shakyamuni Buddha. So he does all the things that Shakyamuni Buddha said, you should not do it.
Okay? Now, Shakyamuni said that, well, you know, you should cut your hair. Really. You should not even touch the gold. And you should wear this certain kind of color and a certain kind of material. This is my teaching. And what Guru Rinpoche is saying, he is wearing all the gold, not even forget about touching it, but he is actually wearing all the gold. And India is quite a hot place. But he is wearing all these, I don't know how many clothes that he is wearing. You can say this is one of the most expensive dress in the jeba letters that he is in. That's a little bit difficult to digest, I think.
See?
So, again, Saṃbhogakāya, Nirmāṇakāya is communication, communicating through the verbal communication system. Okay? And Guru Rinpoche is trying to communicate through the so-called visual communication system. That's why it almost looks like Guru Rinpoche has come as a rebalance to Shakyamuni Buddha and said, I did everything that you said, you should not do it.
So as long as you don't understand this symbolic communication system, it's a little bit difficult to believe how Guru Rinpoche and Shakyamuni agreed to each other. It seems like they must be debating every time.
So, as I think many of you are practicing sādhana and trikāya is everywhere, I thought it's a little bit important to know the differences.
So after, there's a contents here. So in this, there are four topics to be explained. The person who is the support for engaging in the path, the intent with which one engages, the way of engaging, the training and the result of having thus engaged. So you have a little bit explanation of what kind of person and what kind of qualities that you should possess in order to practice
and what kind of intention that you should have and what is the way to engage and result. So it's easy.
Generally speaking in Buddhism, we say that, you know, it's like a like a cooking, you know practicing Dharma is like cooking. So when you want to cook, since everything is dependent, you need a cause, you need a condition, you need a support, and then you need a skill, and then there will be a nice, delicious food as a result. And similarly, when you practice, there's a cause, there's a support, there's a condition, there's a result.
And in the text, it is said that the cause is the potential that I was kind of explaining a little bit before. And just the nature of our mind, the potential that we have, we also call Buddha nature, is a cause for the liberation or enlightenment. So as long as you have mind, you have that. Sometimes we recognize that, sometimes we don't.
But many good yogis actually who have recognized, they say that the nature of our mind, the potential, is very difficult to... We don't recognize that, not because it's very difficult to recognize, because it's too easy.
It's so easy that we don't believe that actually it is the nature of our mind.
So the support is a precious human life. It will come later. Cause is our Buddha nature. Support is precious human life. It means the one who has intact senses, who can function properly.
And the condition is a spiritual guru. So he is the one who finds out our problems, our weakness, our qualities, and he reminds us when we go astray. So the condition is the spiritual friend.
Now, the method. There are different methods, but the actual method is pith instructions that comes from the spiritual master. So of course, normally if you practice six pāramitās, this is also a method, but the pith instruction from our spiritual master is a very important method in order to recognize that potential.
Maybe yesterday we were talking about this guru and the student, the business of the blessing and the devotion, and the...
how our communication is kind of cut between because of not being able to trust each other and just waiting who will do the first move.
And a...
when you engage in this guru and student's things,
if you don't like the path, there's one thing you can do. Get used to it.
And then maybe yesterday we were talking about is there a universal password? Unfortunately, no. Because each guru has their own pith instruction and it's a very individual thing, unfortunately. But you can try, guess there's some guess password that you can do. It's surrendering to the path. Surrender. If you surrender, then you're kind of close. Not exactly, but going quite close. And of course, having a confidence into the spiritual path and the spiritual friend is very, very important.
Then the result, of course, is the liberation. So cause, Buddha nature, support, precious human life, condition, spiritual friend,
the method is pith instruction, and the result is liberation. So this is the five cause, support, and so forth. So here some of them you will see from this text.
Okay, so I think I will stop here. Maybe if you have some questions,
please feel free to be stupid.
They say that if you ask questions, you will be stupid once, yeah? But if you don't...
I think I might be a little bit confused to you new guys, so I'm sorry about that.
Yes. They said that all living beings are have Buddha nature, but until which kind of structure we can put this Buddha nature, like what is this smallest, like these micro things that you have in our body also have Buddha nature?
Well, from the Buddhist philosophy or Buddhist psychology point of view, we always talk about the so-called mind and matter, right? But I think we also talk about life, but I think the definition of life from the scientific point of view and Buddhist is a little bit different, so it makes me a little bit confused. So from the Buddhist point of view, as long as you have a mind, it doesn't really matter whether you are a micro-bacteria or you are a dinosaur, you have a Buddha nature, exactly the same kind of potential.
So that means a micro-bacteria has mind? I'm not sure, but if it has a mind, then have Buddha nature. Again, I'm a little bit confused from the scientific point of view, which is sentient beings or which is not, yeah? When you talk about this very small, small bacteria, I always get very confused. And also the definition of life is quite different from the Buddhist, how we use and I think from the scientific point of view. But normally we say if you have a life, then you have a Buddha nature, but that's a little bit confusing for the, I think, Western world, because the word, tse, or the so that we use in Tibetan is not like how you use in the West.
Is it the same when you say every being wants and goes towards happiness, and goes from one to another while suffering? Is it the same that because of that they have Buddha nature? Yes, yes. And also I think the theory is because they also go in the direction of self -suffering. Yes, yes, yes. So in the text, there is a text called Uttaratantraśāstra and it explains the whole detail about the Buddha. There are many texts, but this is the one main text that we study. And in text, they give you certain kind of symptoms and signs that you have a Buddha nature. I think, generally speaking, one of the most convincing is that as long as you have mind, you have this natural potential, wanting to be free, wanting to be happy. Yes. And that shows that that is the sign that you have Buddha nature.
I think if you want to be happy, it is very important
what is the definition of happiness, because otherwise it becomes endless.
You have to make sure that what I'm really looking for, otherwise like you want happiness but you don't know, you're just guessing and then happiness always changes. It's like if you really want to do a marathon, of course you have to make sure that there's a finish line, right? Otherwise, you're walking whole thinking that there will be finish line and putting all your time and energy and exhausted, there's no point. So whether you just relax, walk slowly, or make sure that there's a finish line, check first.
I think many times we're still not clear what is happiness.
And sometimes even we have so different happiness and it gets really difficult. How do you find? For me, I think for me,
just a...
for me happiness would be not a big thing, but this I and want would be the big thing. So once I'm free from I and want, I'm quite confident that happiness will be there, but I don't know what is the exact definition right now.
Because sometimes when I close my eyes and try to forget all the hopes and fears, it feels quite close to the happiness for a few seconds here.
And if that's enlightenment, I think it's quite nice. That was my version of enlightenment.
And... I was telling this story, I'm not sure if I said it here or not.
For the Tibetans,
hardcore Buddhist, fanatic, they will do the prostration, you know, prostration. From place called the lower part of Kham to the place called Lhasa, I don't know how much kilometer is there, it takes even sometimes a year, from morning till night, with lots of energy. And... And they say there's a New Zealander, a person from New Zealand, a mountaineer enthusiast. He will spend thousands of dollars, go to Nepal and climb the Mount Everest, with all these gears set up.
Now, if this, okay, the New Zealand indigenous mountaineer is coming from here, and Tibetan is coming from here, doing prostration, they will meet each other. They look very funny to each other because he will be putting things, he will have this, I don't know what you call it, tumor on here, because when you do the prostration for several years, there will be a tumor on here.
And then maybe this mountaineer will be having all this gear up, everything boots, you know, oxygens. Imagine that they meet each other and try to talk. What is happiness?
Now, of course, you know, we are polite to each other, especially when you meet a different culture. And then maybe Tibetan might be saying, what are you doing? I'm going to climb the Mount Everest, the highest mount in the world. I'm going to conquer the Mount Everest, you know. I've been waiting this for 30 years. Finally I'm here. He will say proudly with lots of energy and proudness. Now, from this Tibetan, he might not say bad words, but he might be smiling.
Stupid Westerners.
This is the one of the most expensive, stupid self-torture that you can do. Okay? And of course, now, this, we'll look at this person. Well, you know, I was doing prostration for three years, and I'm here, and I'm. Stupid Tibetan tsampa eaters. Yeah. And of course, both are getting happy, but so different. And of course, both are human beings, yeah. It's not like one of them came from the different planet.
So what is happiness? It depends who you really are.
That's why, from the Buddhist point of view, as long as you don't understand your potential, you won't really see the happiness clearly.
Because your happiness is defined by your potential.
Although in Nepal, we have many mountains, but we have no idea, no interest at all, climbing a mountain. We think this is the most stupid thing you can do.
We have no, how to say, this proudness of overtaking the rock.
Conquering the rock, yeah. We don't feel proud. We feel it's kind of irresponsible, father or children or citizen, if you do that. But of course, I'm not saying it is. I'm just saying that that's how we think. It's our perspective, right? And maybe you will say the same thing to the host doing 100,000 prostrations. It's just the stupid thing you can do.
So what I was trying to say is that happiness is happiness, but it's important to understand that
before you pursue to the happiness, you should make sure, maybe not 100%, but at least 60, 70% this is my kind of what you call the model of happiness. At least you should have something like that. And this is actually what we call the view in Buddhism, yeah? Having a right view. It's knowing very clearly where you really want to go.
Yeah? Any other questions?
If this, this could be considered act of compassion, the last act of compassion, why from the Buddhist point of view to donate your organs when your time is not considered so good?
I think, well, you know, you mean like you give your eye and for somebody else? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I think if you look it from the sūtras point of view and then you have this many, many stories where they were giving their eyes, Bodhisattva’s eyes or limbs, yeah? So it's common.
But of course, you know, you should not do it emotionally. You should do it with the wisdom. That's important.
That's perfect. You are dead already. Because they think when you have like a brain dead, and then, OK, then they take a wish to donate then But I think this modern organ donation is a very new thing, yeah? And I really don't think it exists in... Although through the power of... what do you call the... through the power of the two. When you got certain kind of realization and then you will get certain kind of power. So there is a story that someone take eye and put it in someone else's eye. But I don't think in India 2,400 years ago there is such a technologically advanced. But you have this story, but not because of the technological, but because of the power they have. Because when you have a certain kind of power, then you don't really have to depend on the time and space. And then you can almost do everything you want. But now Tibet, and these days, I think even donating organ is very new thing.
We don't have that, yeah? When I was in my village and I told some of my mom and they said that, you know, if you go to Kathmandu, actually you can change your teeth. They won't believe me. Really. This is impossible to changing your teeth. So, but now I think when this little bit of hesitation is coming from little bit of Vajrayāna's influences, and this little bit different story.
And from the Sūtrayāna you have this thing. And then as long as we are talking about the practically donating organ is very new thing for us. And I think many Tibetans still they don't believe when you say that you can exchange the eye or, you know, this kind of thing. They says this is not real.
But personally speaking, I think there's nothing wrong with it, yeah? If it is helpful and...
So... Of course, of course, yeah?
When you make the Bodhisattva's aspiration, they will say that...
they will make this kind of aspirations that whatever is possible to help even one small, small fraction, may I become that and that.
Page number 18, yeah? künsang dorjé chang chen men ché né drinchen tsawai lama yenché kyi drowai dön du mönlam gang tapa dedak thamché deng dir drupar shok May all the aspirations for the benefit of beings from Samantabhadra and Great Vajradhāra down until our kind root guru be accomplished this very day. sönam diyi thamché sikpa nyi thopné nyepai dranam phamjé né kyega nachi balap trukpa yi sipai tsolé drowa drölwar shok By this merit, may I attend omniscience. Having defeated the enemy misdeeds, may I free all beings from the ocean of existence with its stormy waves of birth, old age, sickness, and death.
jangchup semchok rinpoché ma kyepa nam kyé gyurchik kyepa nyampa mepa yang gongné gongdu phelwar shok May the supreme and precious mind of enlightenment awaken in those where it has not arisen, where it has arisen, may it never decrease, but continue to flourish forevermore.
Okay, thank you.
So it's the same here.
Respectfully, I prostrate myself to the Sugata who are endowed with the Dharmakāya as well as to their noble children and to all who are worthy of veneration. So basically, this is again coming from this Bodhicaryāvatāra at the very beginning and he just took that line and put it here because in Tibetan we don't have a copyright. So we can almost take everywhere, put everywhere. Because we believe that dharma is always free and whoever has a... they're saying that dharma belongs to... who have a diligent... nobody has a right for the dharma. But of course I'm talking from the Tibetan's point of view, yeah? In the West probably you have laws and everything so I'm not suggesting to do that here.
So here he's saying that I'm prostrating or giving homage to the Buddha. Sugata refers to the Buddha and the Dharma and the Sangha. So normally when you say the noble children it refers to the sanghas or Bodhisattvas.
So we pay homage in order to get the blessing as well as so that the texts that I'm composing may be beneficial to everyone. So it's kind of like starting with the proper motivation.
In the second line, okay maybe you have this Dharmakāya word and I guess again again you have to be patient for the new ones but for the old ones. Maybe in the our sādhanas you hear a lot of this. Dharmakāya, Saṃbhogakāya, Nirmāṇakāya, three kayās.
I will say a little bit short because it's a little bit confusing I think.
Okay, it's like this.
I think the word kāya is a Sanskrit word and I don't know exactly what will be the English translation. It's very difficult to translate. In Tibetan we translate it as a ku. So it literally means a form.
So different forms. Different... Maybe we can kind of say perspective forms.
Again I think form is not really... I feel still is something... But anyway. Maybe in English you know sometimes you use this dimension, yeah? Three dimension, two dimension. I think it's a little bit like that. Dimension, kāya.
So it really we are not talking about that there are three Buddha, one is called Dharmakāya, another is called Saṃbhogakāya. It's not really like three person and different name, yeah? Because if you look at the some form, you can look at this flower in the two dimension or the three dimension, yeah? Maybe same object but you can look it from the different dimension. Is there one dimension? Maybe not.
So this, okay, generally speaking when we talk about the three kāya, it's not that Buddha's problem, okay? It's our problem.
The thing is that it's not Buddha have this beautiful three kāyas he want to show us, no. The problem is that when somebody ask, what is Buddha?
This difficult answer. It really depends on the person who is asking, okay? I have to answer, yeah? Especially if you are paid to come here and teach, you have to say something.
So, if somebody ask me, okay, so just tell me what is Buddha?
I can answer in three different layers, okay? I can say that, well, yeah, Buddha is someone who was born 2,600 years ago in a place called Lumbini as a prince. And he renounce, practice, did some self-experiment meditations and he become enlightened when he was 35 years old in a place called Bodh Gaya in India. And then he was teaching around and at the end, age of 81, he was passed away in a place called Kushinagar.
Yeah? Is he? Okay. This is one way to answer.
Maybe it makes sense, right? Now you might ask again, where's Buddha now? Is he there? That's maybe different answer comes. Now, the second answer would be, okay, so tell me a little more about Buddha, yeah? Well, you know, Buddha is, he lives in the place where there's no suffering, where there's no hope, where there's no fear. And, he never gets old. He always looks like between 16 to 25.
And his hair never gets gray and he don't have to eat the food.
And he can teach 10 different places at the same time. Amazing, isn't it? And he don't need the mic, he don't need a translator. If there's people from 10 different countries, he can just speak one voice and everybody will hear what they want to hear. Amazing, isn't it? And all his students are,
he doesn't need to convince. He just have to show there and everybody will understand what he was trying to say. Maybe sometimes he just smiles, people will understand.
And you don't have to make the, what you call the, appointment to see the Buddha. Whenever you want, you can go and see and talk to him.
This is what we call the Saṃbhogakāya, second form of Buddha, which is called... So the first one is called Nirmāṇakāya that we can understand. And it makes sense that he was born, he was eating, he was sleeping and he died. Well, that makes sense. If I say he never died, then that will be a little bit strange thing.
The second Buddha dimension is only capable to the certain people we call them Bodhisattvas. So people who have purified certain kind of obscurations and only accessible for that kind of person, not for people like us. So there is a certain kind of accessibility issues there.
Only those people get the pass.
It looks exactly what we expect Buddha to be. He don't have to worry about time, he don't have to worry about the space. He is completely beyond time and space, but at the same time he functions perfectly.
It's not like a random.
Maybe I'm making a little bit too...
Maybe I'm translating too much, but I hope you will understand what I'm trying to say. Not literal, don't take it literal. So the first one is called Nirmāṇakāya. Every, normal people can understand, maybe some people have seen. If you can go now, you can see the places where he was born, everything is there. And second thing is, if you ask where was he, then the question is wrong, because since he is beyond time and space, he is everywhere. You cannot really ask where it is. I cannot point south, west, north, east, because then it will be almost like underestimating his power.
So now, the third one, the Dharmakāya. The... Here dharma refers to the ultimate reality.
So that, in that concept, if anyone asks me, where is Buddha, or what is Buddha, I might not answer, but I will kind of argue that actually the question you ask, where and what, is fundamentally not possible to answer, because when you say where, you are talking about time, and when you say what, you are talking about space. And Buddha is completely beyond time and space, and this is what we call the Dharmakāya. So you cannot ask where and what Buddha is.
I won't answer that.
I will argue that your question is wrong.
You can't ask where is Buddha or what is Buddha.
Does it make sense? And this is what we call the Dharmakāya.
And sometimes we also call the Nirmāṇakāya and the Saṃbhogakāya as Rūpakāya, because both of them have certain kind of form, and the Dharmakāya is called the formless kāya. It means, even though it's called kāya, but actually it's not a kāya, it's not a dimension. It's beyond the dimension.
So when you recite in your sādhana, I take refuge to the Dharmakāya, Saṃbhogakāya and Nirmāṇakāya, you have to have this kind of understanding that Buddha has different layers of definition, and these three are different definitions of Buddha.
So why there's three, yeah? Why there's not only one? Why they make it complicated? Again, it's not Buddha's problem, it's our problem. We ask for, isn't it?
Okay, of course we can say that let's come together, sit down and remain in Dharmakāya. I can say that, but then there's no path at all, right? It was very difficult. Of course, there will be very good pith instruction, but it doesn't really work that way. There's no communication system. So, what I will say is, okay, come, let's come pray to the Buddha. And where is Buddha? Buddha is there. Maybe now this Buddha looks a little bit convincing because this is Nirmāṇakāya. He looks more like human.
Maybe it's more digestible, so to speak. Sometimes Buddha's Saṃbhogakāya looks a little bit strange. You might think, is it Buddha? You will question, because he will be wearing lots of jewelry, and all the necklaces, golds, but it looks like he's ready for some big party.
And also, sometimes, when you look at the Guru Rinpoche, I don't know, okay, small over there, and then the Shakyamuni Buddha. Now, the Guru Rinpoche is kind of like a Saṃbhogakāya form, and Shakyamuni Buddha is Nirmāṇakāya form. If you put together, it almost looks like a Guru Rinpoche comes as a repellent to the Shakyamuni Buddha. So he does all the things that Shakyamuni Buddha said, you should not do it.
Okay? Now, Shakyamuni said that, well, you know, you should cut your hair. Really. You should not even touch the gold. And you should wear this certain kind of color and a certain kind of material. This is my teaching. And what Guru Rinpoche is saying, he is wearing all the gold, not even forget about touching it, but he is actually wearing all the gold. And India is quite a hot place. But he is wearing all these, I don't know how many clothes that he is wearing. You can say this is one of the most expensive dress in the jeba letters that he is in. That's a little bit difficult to digest, I think.
See?
So, again, Saṃbhogakāya, Nirmāṇakāya is communication, communicating through the verbal communication system. Okay? And Guru Rinpoche is trying to communicate through the so-called visual communication system. That's why it almost looks like Guru Rinpoche has come as a rebalance to Shakyamuni Buddha and said, I did everything that you said, you should not do it.
So as long as you don't understand this symbolic communication system, it's a little bit difficult to believe how Guru Rinpoche and Shakyamuni agreed to each other. It seems like they must be debating every time.
So, as I think many of you are practicing sādhana and trikāya is everywhere, I thought it's a little bit important to know the differences.
So after, there's a contents here. So in this, there are four topics to be explained. The person who is the support for engaging in the path, the intent with which one engages, the way of engaging, the training and the result of having thus engaged. So you have a little bit explanation of what kind of person and what kind of qualities that you should possess in order to practice
and what kind of intention that you should have and what is the way to engage and result. So it's easy.
Generally speaking in Buddhism, we say that, you know, it's like a like a cooking, you know practicing Dharma is like cooking. So when you want to cook, since everything is dependent, you need a cause, you need a condition, you need a support, and then you need a skill, and then there will be a nice, delicious food as a result. And similarly, when you practice, there's a cause, there's a support, there's a condition, there's a result.
And in the text, it is said that the cause is the potential that I was kind of explaining a little bit before. And just the nature of our mind, the potential that we have, we also call Buddha nature, is a cause for the liberation or enlightenment. So as long as you have mind, you have that. Sometimes we recognize that, sometimes we don't.
But many good yogis actually who have recognized, they say that the nature of our mind, the potential, is very difficult to... We don't recognize that, not because it's very difficult to recognize, because it's too easy.
It's so easy that we don't believe that actually it is the nature of our mind.
So the support is a precious human life. It will come later. Cause is our Buddha nature. Support is precious human life. It means the one who has intact senses, who can function properly.
And the condition is a spiritual guru. So he is the one who finds out our problems, our weakness, our qualities, and he reminds us when we go astray. So the condition is the spiritual friend.
Now, the method. There are different methods, but the actual method is pith instructions that comes from the spiritual master. So of course, normally if you practice six pāramitās, this is also a method, but the pith instruction from our spiritual master is a very important method in order to recognize that potential.
Maybe yesterday we were talking about this guru and the student, the business of the blessing and the devotion, and the...
how our communication is kind of cut between because of not being able to trust each other and just waiting who will do the first move.
And a...
when you engage in this guru and student's things,
if you don't like the path, there's one thing you can do. Get used to it.
And then maybe yesterday we were talking about is there a universal password? Unfortunately, no. Because each guru has their own pith instruction and it's a very individual thing, unfortunately. But you can try, guess there's some guess password that you can do. It's surrendering to the path. Surrender. If you surrender, then you're kind of close. Not exactly, but going quite close. And of course, having a confidence into the spiritual path and the spiritual friend is very, very important.
Then the result, of course, is the liberation. So cause, Buddha nature, support, precious human life, condition, spiritual friend,
the method is pith instruction, and the result is liberation. So this is the five cause, support, and so forth. So here some of them you will see from this text.
Okay, so I think I will stop here. Maybe if you have some questions,
please feel free to be stupid.
They say that if you ask questions, you will be stupid once, yeah? But if you don't...
I think I might be a little bit confused to you new guys, so I'm sorry about that.
Yes. They said that all living beings are have Buddha nature, but until which kind of structure we can put this Buddha nature, like what is this smallest, like these micro things that you have in our body also have Buddha nature?
Well, from the Buddhist philosophy or Buddhist psychology point of view, we always talk about the so-called mind and matter, right? But I think we also talk about life, but I think the definition of life from the scientific point of view and Buddhist is a little bit different, so it makes me a little bit confused. So from the Buddhist point of view, as long as you have a mind, it doesn't really matter whether you are a micro-bacteria or you are a dinosaur, you have a Buddha nature, exactly the same kind of potential.
So that means a micro-bacteria has mind? I'm not sure, but if it has a mind, then have Buddha nature. Again, I'm a little bit confused from the scientific point of view, which is sentient beings or which is not, yeah? When you talk about this very small, small bacteria, I always get very confused. And also the definition of life is quite different from the Buddhist, how we use and I think from the scientific point of view. But normally we say if you have a life, then you have a Buddha nature, but that's a little bit confusing for the, I think, Western world, because the word, tse, or the so that we use in Tibetan is not like how you use in the West.
Is it the same when you say every being wants and goes towards happiness, and goes from one to another while suffering? Is it the same that because of that they have Buddha nature? Yes, yes. And also I think the theory is because they also go in the direction of self -suffering. Yes, yes, yes. So in the text, there is a text called Uttaratantraśāstra and it explains the whole detail about the Buddha. There are many texts, but this is the one main text that we study. And in text, they give you certain kind of symptoms and signs that you have a Buddha nature. I think, generally speaking, one of the most convincing is that as long as you have mind, you have this natural potential, wanting to be free, wanting to be happy. Yes. And that shows that that is the sign that you have Buddha nature.
I think if you want to be happy, it is very important
what is the definition of happiness, because otherwise it becomes endless.
You have to make sure that what I'm really looking for, otherwise like you want happiness but you don't know, you're just guessing and then happiness always changes. It's like if you really want to do a marathon, of course you have to make sure that there's a finish line, right? Otherwise, you're walking whole thinking that there will be finish line and putting all your time and energy and exhausted, there's no point. So whether you just relax, walk slowly, or make sure that there's a finish line, check first.
I think many times we're still not clear what is happiness.
And sometimes even we have so different happiness and it gets really difficult. How do you find? For me, I think for me,
just a...
for me happiness would be not a big thing, but this I and want would be the big thing. So once I'm free from I and want, I'm quite confident that happiness will be there, but I don't know what is the exact definition right now.
Because sometimes when I close my eyes and try to forget all the hopes and fears, it feels quite close to the happiness for a few seconds here.
And if that's enlightenment, I think it's quite nice. That was my version of enlightenment.
And... I was telling this story, I'm not sure if I said it here or not.
For the Tibetans,
hardcore Buddhist, fanatic, they will do the prostration, you know, prostration. From place called the lower part of Kham to the place called Lhasa, I don't know how much kilometer is there, it takes even sometimes a year, from morning till night, with lots of energy. And... And they say there's a New Zealander, a person from New Zealand, a mountaineer enthusiast. He will spend thousands of dollars, go to Nepal and climb the Mount Everest, with all these gears set up.
Now, if this, okay, the New Zealand indigenous mountaineer is coming from here, and Tibetan is coming from here, doing prostration, they will meet each other. They look very funny to each other because he will be putting things, he will have this, I don't know what you call it, tumor on here, because when you do the prostration for several years, there will be a tumor on here.
And then maybe this mountaineer will be having all this gear up, everything boots, you know, oxygens. Imagine that they meet each other and try to talk. What is happiness?
Now, of course, you know, we are polite to each other, especially when you meet a different culture. And then maybe Tibetan might be saying, what are you doing? I'm going to climb the Mount Everest, the highest mount in the world. I'm going to conquer the Mount Everest, you know. I've been waiting this for 30 years. Finally I'm here. He will say proudly with lots of energy and proudness. Now, from this Tibetan, he might not say bad words, but he might be smiling.
Stupid Westerners.
This is the one of the most expensive, stupid self-torture that you can do. Okay? And of course, now, this, we'll look at this person. Well, you know, I was doing prostration for three years, and I'm here, and I'm. Stupid Tibetan tsampa eaters. Yeah. And of course, both are getting happy, but so different. And of course, both are human beings, yeah. It's not like one of them came from the different planet.
So what is happiness? It depends who you really are.
That's why, from the Buddhist point of view, as long as you don't understand your potential, you won't really see the happiness clearly.
Because your happiness is defined by your potential.
Although in Nepal, we have many mountains, but we have no idea, no interest at all, climbing a mountain. We think this is the most stupid thing you can do.
We have no, how to say, this proudness of overtaking the rock.
Conquering the rock, yeah. We don't feel proud. We feel it's kind of irresponsible, father or children or citizen, if you do that. But of course, I'm not saying it is. I'm just saying that that's how we think. It's our perspective, right? And maybe you will say the same thing to the host doing 100,000 prostrations. It's just the stupid thing you can do.
So what I was trying to say is that happiness is happiness, but it's important to understand that
before you pursue to the happiness, you should make sure, maybe not 100%, but at least 60, 70% this is my kind of what you call the model of happiness. At least you should have something like that. And this is actually what we call the view in Buddhism, yeah? Having a right view. It's knowing very clearly where you really want to go.
Yeah? Any other questions?
If this, this could be considered act of compassion, the last act of compassion, why from the Buddhist point of view to donate your organs when your time is not considered so good?
I think, well, you know, you mean like you give your eye and for somebody else? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I think if you look it from the sūtras point of view and then you have this many, many stories where they were giving their eyes, Bodhisattva’s eyes or limbs, yeah? So it's common.
But of course, you know, you should not do it emotionally. You should do it with the wisdom. That's important.
That's perfect. You are dead already. Because they think when you have like a brain dead, and then, OK, then they take a wish to donate then But I think this modern organ donation is a very new thing, yeah? And I really don't think it exists in... Although through the power of... what do you call the... through the power of the two. When you got certain kind of realization and then you will get certain kind of power. So there is a story that someone take eye and put it in someone else's eye. But I don't think in India 2,400 years ago there is such a technologically advanced. But you have this story, but not because of the technological, but because of the power they have. Because when you have a certain kind of power, then you don't really have to depend on the time and space. And then you can almost do everything you want. But now Tibet, and these days, I think even donating organ is very new thing.
We don't have that, yeah? When I was in my village and I told some of my mom and they said that, you know, if you go to Kathmandu, actually you can change your teeth. They won't believe me. Really. This is impossible to changing your teeth. So, but now I think when this little bit of hesitation is coming from little bit of Vajrayāna's influences, and this little bit different story.
And from the Sūtrayāna you have this thing. And then as long as we are talking about the practically donating organ is very new thing for us. And I think many Tibetans still they don't believe when you say that you can exchange the eye or, you know, this kind of thing. They says this is not real.
But personally speaking, I think there's nothing wrong with it, yeah? If it is helpful and...
So... Of course, of course, yeah?
When you make the Bodhisattva's aspiration, they will say that...
they will make this kind of aspirations that whatever is possible to help even one small, small fraction, may I become that and that.
Page number 18, yeah? künsang dorjé chang chen men ché né drinchen tsawai lama yenché kyi drowai dön du mönlam gang tapa dedak thamché deng dir drupar shok May all the aspirations for the benefit of beings from Samantabhadra and Great Vajradhāra down until our kind root guru be accomplished this very day. sönam diyi thamché sikpa nyi thopné nyepai dranam phamjé né kyega nachi balap trukpa yi sipai tsolé drowa drölwar shok By this merit, may I attend omniscience. Having defeated the enemy misdeeds, may I free all beings from the ocean of existence with its stormy waves of birth, old age, sickness, and death.
jangchup semchok rinpoché ma kyepa nam kyé gyurchik kyepa nyampa mepa yang gongné gongdu phelwar shok May the supreme and precious mind of enlightenment awaken in those where it has not arisen, where it has arisen, may it never decrease, but continue to flourish forevermore.
Okay, thank you.
