The WHEEL of SHARP WEAPONS

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Vajrayogini Teachings The WHEEL of SHARP WEAPONS

A Lojong Text

Gelek Rimpoche

Jewel Heart Transcripts are lightly to moderately edited transcriptions of the teachings of Kyabje Gelek Rimpoche and others teachers who have taught at Jewel Heart. Their purpose is to provide Rimpoche’s students, as well as all others who are interested, with these extremely valuable teachings in a way that gives one the feeling of being present at the teachings.

JEWEL HEART Tibetan Cultural and Buddhist Center, 1129 Oak Valley Drive, Ann Arbor, MI 48108 USA www.jewelheart.org Acknowledgements

This is the transcription of teachings Rimpoche gave during the annual spring retreat in Nijmegen, The Netherlands in 2006 and 2007, and teaching weekends in Garrison Insti- tute NY, May 2007, and Ann Arbor MI, September 2007. The subject is Training of the Mind, Lojong in Tibetan, methods to develop the altruistic mind, the bodhimind. These methods are no sinecure as the ego-cherishing part of our minds is confronted straight out. It may be clear that these teachings are aimed at the Mahayana practitioner. Though these teachings stem from the tenth century, they are totally applicable in our present-day situation and can be of great use in our present-day lives. What makes it extra valuable is that Rimpoche’s commentary uses the language and examples of our time and place. The text used is Dharmarakshita’s The Wheel of Sharp Weapons. It is the third Lojong text Rimpoche has commented upon, the other two being Geshe Chekawa’s Seven Point Mind Training and Langri Tangpa’s Eight Verses of Mind Training. Again, we’ve been lucky to be able to combine the best of two sides of the ocean: the clarity and completeness of the teaching in Nijmegen joined to the looseness and direct connections with daily life of the teachings in New York and Ann Arbor. The translation of the root text into English was done by Geshe Thubten Jinpa. Then Inge Eijkhout and Tsewang Namgyal took care of the transliteration of the Tibetan. The transcriptions were done by Jewel Heart members in the different countries, and Piet Soeters translated the root text into Dutch. The final editing was done by me, taking full responsibility for any inaccuracies. Nijmegen, September 10, 2010 Marianne Soeters © Ngawang Gelek c O N T E N TS

I INTRODUCTION 1 Our precious human life 1 Background and lineage of this teaching 19 What is Lojong? 21 Lojong—developing the bodhmind 36

II THE TEXT—PART ONE 45 The Title 45 Outline 1: From the Example point of view 48 Outline 2: Give and take (tong len) 86 Outline 3: Recognizing what you have to give up and the antidote 87

III THE TEXT—PART TWO 171 Outline 4: How we recognize (the culprit) 177 Outline 5: Making a request to the yidam 183 Outline 6: Ultimate Request 231 Outline 7: Praying and Dedication 236 Outline 8: Absolute Bodhmind 240

IV QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 269

V THE ROOT TEXT 303 NOTES 357

GLOSSARY 371

LITERATURE 391

I INTRODUCTION

Welcome everybody. It is wonderful to get together with old friends. Some of you have been friends for twenty years; some of you are quite new. It’s great to see the old ones and I like to welcome the new ones. Before we go into this teaching, please generate the bodhimind:

I would like to obtain enlighte ment for the sake of all sentient beings and for that aim I will listen to the teachings.

We have come together to spend time on a very important teaching called Lojong,1 training of the mind. It is very specific within the Gelugpa tradition, and comes from Atisha.2 My first job today is setting the motivation, why you are here. You are here to help yourself, to uplift your spiritual development. We hope at least to challenge our ego and threaten our self-cherishing. That is our goal and it is our motivation.

Our precious human life Jamgon Lama Tsongkhapa has said in his Short Lamrim,3 Lines of Experience :

1 Gelek Rimpoche

This working basis (of a human form endowed) with liberties is superior to a wish-granting gem. Moreover, such is only obtained this very one time. Difficult to acquire and easily lost, (it passes in a flash) like lightning in the sky. Considering how (easily this can happen at any time) and realizing that all worldly activities are as (immaterial as chaff, you must try to take advantage of its essential significance at all times, day and night. I, the yogi, have practiced just that. If you would also seek Liberation, please cultivate yourself in the same way.4

He says, the life we have is not only precious; it is more precious than a precious jewel. Such a life we found by chance just now. We have found it just once; only this time we have been able to find it! It is difficult to find and it is easy to destroy; it is like lightning in the sky. Think about this situation and think how our ordinary daily mundane chores do not have much meaning. In the traditional old Tibetan culture, when during the autumn you’re collecting the harvest, you have to remove the skin from grains like wheat and barley. There were no machines in Tibet; so after walking over and smashing the grains, people would carry the grains in bamboo baskets and throw them from a higher level down, six foot or something, so the wind will carry away the chaff. Our mundane works actually are like that chaff. The only purpose of chaff is to get rid of it. Just like that, mundane works will not give you long term result at all. Therefore we should be very

2 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS careful to get the real essence out of our life. And we should focus on that day and night. Je Tsongkhapa says, ‘I, the yogi, have practiced just that. If you would also like to seek liberation, please cultivate yourself in the same way.’ But during the teachings it is customary to say, ‘The great masters have practiced that way and you who are seeking the liberation should also follow that path.’

So the essence of our practice is to really recognize the importance of life itself. Buddha says it has eighteen qualities—eight leisures and ten endowments.5 Think about it: this life is so important, not just in material terms but particularly for the spiritual path. It is important in its essence. This life has two unique things. One: we can think and communicate. Two: we have a tremendous amount of opportunities and we can utilize the opportunities that we have. Our thinking capacity is tremendous, unlike any other life form. Therefore the opportunities that we talk about are accessible to us. Our pets, dogs and cats, etc., may be very intelligent but give them your car key and let them go and buy you a carton of milk, then you will see the limit of their thinking and their communicating capacity. We are totally different and there is no difference between our capacity of thinking and that of Buddha. There’s no difference between us and Einstein. Honestly. We have the same capacity, it is just a question of whether we utilize it or not. What makes us not to utilize it is laziness, as we all know. In principle we are capable of understanding complicated scientific materials,

3 Gelek Rimpoche but if you just read about it if you haven’t studied it and trained your mind, you won’t. Similarly we are capable of understanding Buddha’s development and are able to duplicate that, but we can’t just do it without putting efforts in. Even in order to learn how to read and write we have to put efforts in. Take a lazy person like me. I had a tremendous amount of opportunity and capacity; however I didn’t put any effort in reading and writing English or speaking it correctly. If you do the same thing for the Dharma, then that’s what you’re going to get. You need to go a little deep into it. Without that you can never be able to do it right. Unfortunately, this is not as easy as reading a popular novel. That has no depth, is easy, smooth and entertaining, but to me that is superficial. A superficial approach to Dharma will never do any good to us. You need to go deeper into it and that begins here, by looking at our own life, realizing and recognizing how important it is. Jamgon Tsongkhapa said it is more important than a wish-fulfilling jewel. Not only he, but also Shantideva in his Bodhisattvacaryavatara says it.6

Leisure and endowment are very hard to find. And since they accomplish what is meaningful for humanity, If I do not take advantage of them now, How will such a perfect opportunity come about again?

This is where it really begins. People may think Dharma practice begins with folding your hands and taking refuge. Taking refuge is the beginning of being a buddhist, but dharma practice doesn’t begin there. Dharma practice begins with looking at our life, seeing how important it is,

4 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS how difficult to find it is, what opportunities it gives us and appreciating that.

As a preparation for the Wheel of Sharp Weapons I should talk the whole Lamrim, in detail. Lojong and Lamrim not only go side-by-side, they are like one side of the paper and the other side! Lojong is what you are training the mind in. That is exactly the same for Lamrim. You may think Lamrim is a system of stages over there and we are watching it from over here. No. The Lamrim is a system of stages taking our mind and putting it on the first step, then moving it to the second step, to the third step and so on. Pabongka’s Liberation in the Palm of your Hand quotes the Kadampa lamas, saying ‘one shouldn’t have so much a gap between oneself and the dharma that a horse could run in between.’ The steps are brought inside our mind. The one climbing the steps is our mind. And the one pushing that mind to the next step is we ourselves. We pick up our own consciousness, our awareness, and put it on the first step, looking into our life, seeing what it is, how great it is. That is what meditation practice is all about! Right now, you are hearing the words. In your meditation you have to think about it. Only listening and taking notes is not enough. You have to really think about it, in this case why and how our life is precious. We do know how important and precious our life [in the West] is. It looks like it is more precious than anybody else’s, like the Iraqi or Darfur peoples’ lives. That is of course a wrong attitude, but we are more fortunate. Recognizing that our life is precious is not a big problem, in the sense that there

5 Gelek Rimpoche is not an other mind that will come up and contradict that. That means there is no big struggle. Of course, you can try to brainwash yourself by just keep telling yourself that life is important, but if you never think about it, then one day your mind will tell you, ‘To hell with you. What the heck are you talking about? I can buy a life for ten cents out there.’ In the case of a life in Iraq or Darfur they may be able to say that, but as to an American life you can’t. So, in the context the four points of logic this is the natural logic;7 we have that understanding quite naturally. This is our additional advantage.

Preciousness or importance of our life. Recognizing the preciousness of our life has to make an impact on our mind. That means the mind will accept it and then next time without any effort your mind should automatically think, ‘Of course this life is the most precious thing I ever had and I will ever have!’ If that automatically comes up the moment you think about it, that is called gaining experience. Hon- estly. We are not looking for the mystical; we want some straight-forward help. With this life you can achieve whatever you want to achieve. You are even able to become a buddha. That is not impossible; this life can do that. And below that, you can do anything else you want to as well. If you want to make money, each and every one of you is capable of making money—believe me. Even if you think, ‘I can’t make much, I can only make ten cents’, even then you are capable. If you search within your mind you can make it. There is no one here who cannot make money. You know that very well.

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Similarly there is no one here who cannot become a buddha. Each and every one of you is capable because you can think, because you can improve, because you can change, because you can communicate. Enlightenment is not a prefabricated thing thrown down from the sky that hits you on the head and suddenly you are enlightened. Buddha is not a pre-manufactured one coming down. No. Buddha was an individual, just like us. He went through these steps and reached the top, so why can’t we do the same thing? We are not lacking anything; we may have some physical difficulties but we don’t have mental handicaps. We all have little screws loose but that doesn’t mean we are mentally challenged persons. Therefore, each and every one of us can do it. But we have to do it ourselves. We have to apply our mind and think. On the level of importance of life you have to think: this life is capable of giving the result of buddhahood. The simple logical reason is that:

• Buddha himself did it and all these great masters one after another did it; so why can’t we? • Our mind is not limited to any single capacity; the capacity of the mind is limitless. • The mind is not static; it is developing and changing. • We do have the opportunity; information is available and experienced persons are available at our disposal.

There are zillions of reasons you can think about. Then you are convinced: yes I can, yes I can, yes I can! That is the

7 Gelek Rimpoche realization of the importance of life that we talk about at the level of Lamrim common with the lower level. From the Mahayana point of view we are capable of achieving buddhahood and that is the most important thing human life can give us. The Vajrayana says it is capable of delivering enlightenment within the short lifetime. We hope that we are in that category, but that is not guaranteed. We say this can happen if everything is right. In that case an individual person can even obtain enlightenment within three years and three months. That’s what the teachings say. (I remember one time His Holiness said: this may be propaganda.) Logically thinking, on the basis of those four reasonings, it is possible. But everything has to be right at every point! However, if we don’t get enlightened within three years and three months it doesn’t matter, as long as we make it within a reasonable time, like within our lifetime. Or, at least at the time when we need it the most.8 If we make it then that is good enough. We are capable of doing that, honestly. That may convince us of the importance of this life. The moment you realize that, it cuts the laziness tremendously. You will realize that wasting time is very expensive and it becomes very difficult for any individual to justify that you don’t have to push and put in efforts, that you don’t have to drag the dead, heavily-loaded donkey up the hill. Remember, that’s what we are doing to our practice; that’s where we are. That laziness will completely go when you realize the importance of this life and you realize it is extremely difficult to find such an opportunity [again]. So you can’t just sit there and waste your life.

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Keep on analyzing what makes this life so precious, what makes my life different form that of my pets. My pets say ‘meeeooowww’, but I talk. My pets don’t read, but I can. My pets just think very little, about food and running and toilet, but I think a lot of different things. My life is different. It was produced by many different causes. It is not just the parents’ activities alone. A lot of eggs are produced, but not every egg has a life. It is not just the physical genes; the mental gene acts within that. What makes the mental gene get into the physical genes? Our previous karma. We have built up a tremendous karma; that made this happen. The most important karma in that context is morality. You know how difficult morality is. Even for those who talk a lot about it, it is. That is the clear indication of how difficult and hard it is.Y ou and I can sit here and look at them and laugh but then if someone else turns things around, each and every one of us will have difficulties too. And then, don’t forget our true morality here is keeping our vows. It doesn’t matter what your sexual orientation may be. But when we start looking at our vows we don’t even know them! We’re lucky if we know the ten non-virtues. How many vows have we taken? In the Vajrayana vows alone there are nineteen commitments of the five buddha families. The bodhisattva vow has eighteen root vows. We don’t even know their names and definitions, how it happens and what effect they will have. You should study these and read Jamgon Lama Tsongkhapa’s important book on tantric root vows and downfalls.9 Not knowing those, that itself is a doorway to getting downfalls; not being conscien-

9 Gelek Rimpoche tious is another doorway. If you don’t respect the vows and you think, ‘It’s just a rule and rules are made to be broken’, you [certainly] open the doorway to getting downfalls. Then when you look at how the downfalls get to us and you think about perfect morality and you wonder where it is—well, it has gone with the wind That will convince us how difficult it is to maintain the fundamental basis of this life’s causes. That alone will tell you how difficult it is to find this kind of life, a human life with its leisures and opportunities.

Paramitas make your life rich. On top of that you need to have the six paramitas: generosity, morality, patience, enthusiasm, concentration and wisdom. Generosity makes sure that you are not just making it, but that that you are wealthy and provided with abundance. This does come from generosity, not from stinginess. The honorability of the individual comes out of morality. Patience is the cause of being good looking, handsome, beautiful or least good enough that people don’t say, ‘I don’t want to look at your face.’ Enthusiasm makes you capable of doing everything. Some people, when they start something, are able to complete it; others start many things but never complete anything. The cause is lack of enthusiasm in previous life or lives. Likewise, some people are able to focus, because they practiced meditation before. Some people are extremely intelligent and brilliant, which is the result of the wisdom that they have applied earlier. That’s how the paramitas make the human life rich. So, look at this life’s importance and how difficult to find it is. You can see that when you look at the causes you need

10 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS to get this life. Then look back at yourself and check: Did I have good generosity? Have I had perfect morality? Moral- ity is not only the foundation but also the honorability of your future life. Some people automatically receive respect and honor and some people don’t get that. If that happens to us we normally think that the reason these people are looking at me and thinking that way about me is their fault; they must be misunderstanding or not understanding. But no, it is my own fault; it is my lack of morality. Jamgon Tsongkhapa said in his Short Lamrim10 that because of morality people will respect you.

By its power you are able to bend all beings (to your good influence) without (recourse to) mesmerizing glares.

Lack of patience will make you a temper tantrum person, a short-tempered one. Patience on the other hand produces beauty and also good quality in the individual. Physically, people may or may not like you, but, if people like you more deeply, it is because of the quality of the personality, and that is produced by patience. So look at each of these paramitas and then look at yourself. The vain hope that ‘If I didn’t do well this time I can probably do it in my next life’, will be defeated within you. Instead you will gain a realization and think, ‘It is make it or break it this time. I’ve got to it do now!’ You just cannot sit idle, you just cannot waste time. That is how it works. So you develop one step after another. After a while, the moment you think about your life, all this will come up automatically and it won’t be like somebody is telling you

11 Gelek Rimpoche a fairy tale story but something that is inside with you. It is not good enough to think ‘Rimpoche said so.’ Then it is like a fairy tale; you are not convinced and that’s because you didn’t meditate. If you meditate and analyze and think about it in different ways then automatically the realization comes in and that automatically improves the individual person. It makes you an excellent person even at the level of the precious human life alone. A person who is always playing tit for tat will not think like that. They will think, ‘If you do this then I will do that; yes, I will get you.’ That’s like playing chess, not like really being a good person. Honestly. Then one person is trying to get the other one and without realizing we become controlled by our negative emotions. You may not be openly angry but you always think, ‘Ha, I catch you here, I get you there.’ When certain politicians one after another start falling, and you had said, ‘Got you here’, that is the effect of hatred. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t notice, but honestly, we shouldn’t rejoice in their misfortune. True, it is also important to enjoy a laugh but also we have to realize this is the effect of hatred—the political situation became bad and people started hating each other. Instead we should think, ‘Poor guy.’ We have to have compassion instead of gloating that someone cannot run for president because of certain activities that had come out. We should think that he wanted to become president and he could have, but now he cannot run; ‘poor guy.’ With a little change in attitude we can improve ourselves. Whether we hate him or have compassion for him, that doesn’t make a difference to that

12 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS person. We can be showing our fist under the blanket, but that is not going to have any effect on him at all. But it does have a big effect on ourselves, because building negativity or building positivity is our own choice. That is how we choose how to live.

Our life is easily lost. This life has great opportunities and choices for us, but it is impermanent. The time is ticking, like in the hour glass of Days of our Lives. When I first came to the United States I had more time, so I kept watching soap series. I was attracted to the sand going down in the hour glass and thought: that is how our life goes! Other than that it actually seems to be permanent: still the same characters twenty years later, with the same issues going on. Except the sand running down continuously! The reality of our life is that with every minute it is really going. The Seventh Dalai Lama, Gyalwa Kelsang Gyatso, said,

The moment you are born we don’t have a right to stay even a minute. We are running towards death like a galloping horse. We call ourselves living beings but truly we are earmarked for death. Sadly, our situation is that.11

Since the moment we were born the clock has been ticking. It has gone down to ninety nine minutes, ninety eight, . . . , ninety five . . . It is going and going. The sign of going is also shown in our face, in our stomach, in our bones, in our eyes, our ears, and our hair, really everywhere. Kyabje Trijang Rimpoche, when he was only ten years old and just

13 Gelek Rimpoche learning the alphabet, wrote a poem using every letter of the alphabet in the beginning of each line. In that he wrote,

Hey friends, the invitation of the Lord of Death has fallen on your head in the form of snow.

It refers to the gray hair of course. We can color it now but that does not mean it is not gray! All these are the signs of the clock ticking. In our everyday life we notice it. We become either near-sighted or far-sighted. It is the true face of impermanence in our eyes. We are getting older day by day; the power of the physical body reduces continuously. The capacity of the mental-physical combination is decreasing minute by minute and finally it will disappear. That is decay. That is reality.

Need of the bodhimind. So now we have a challenge. Are we able to achieve what we wanted to achieve? Or will the decay of life be faster? Which is going to come first? Every minute there is a competition between achieving our spiritual goal and our mental and physical capacity reducing. Up to age 25 it is growing, and after age 25 it starts going down. Many of you probably think, ‘I’m still young’, yes, but after age 25 it starts going down. People can’t keep it up. It is a clear sign that time is constantly ticking, every minute without fail. But our efforts are not ticking up every minute without fail. That’s because we don’t have the bodhimind. If we had the bodhimind within ourselves it would keep on clicking positive karma continuously—how strongly, that depends on the individual. Bodhimind itself created the accumu-

14 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS lation of positive karma and bodhimind itself purifies our negativities. The first chapter of the Bodhisattvacaryavatara says about the bodhimind:

It is like the supreme gold-making elixir; For it transforms the unclean body we have taken Into the priceless jewel of the Buddha Form; Therefore firmly seize this Awakening Mind. Shantideva, Bodhisattvacaryavatara, Ch 1, verse 10

Making metal into gold is a traditional Indian magical power. It is a biblical story type of thing. There is this solution that the moment it touches metal it makes it into gold. Maybe it is propaganda, who knows. But it was used as an example by Shantideva who says that the touch of the bodhimind will make all actions virtuous. Even though it is not true in the case of metals, in the case of the bodhimind it is true. Mind is formless; there is no physical condition: no form, no shape, no tangibility. It is simply thought-oriented. The definition of mind issel zhin rig pa12—clear and understanding. It is spacious, it’s empty, it is clear of any physical destruction; it is capable of perceiving and projecting. Any thoughts will be able to change and influence it easily. So the bodhimind can definitely influence the mind easily, and transform it. How does that work? When the mind looks at something it sort of takes an exact duplicate photograph and perceives it inside. It becomes part of my mind and I store that in the mental faculty called memory. Conditions then make that mental faculty or memory pop up and I recog-

15 Gelek Rimpoche nize that person. If properly stored the memory comes out with a name; if improperly stored, no name or only the nickname may pop up. That is how the mind correctly perceives. Similarly the mind looks at the bodhimind, takes a ‘photo’ of it and then it becomes that mind. Thus the influence of the bodhimind is becoming that mind’s nature. In the mind, transforming a substance is much easier than physically. Shantideva used a physical example: like metal is transformed into gold by a magical gold solution, the impure, unclean body is made into the great precious buddha body through the Bodhimind. Shantideva says that the value of it is without equivalent and immeasurable. That important bodhimind is. After developing the bodhimind, even if you just keep on sleeping or have no awareness, you will keep on building your merit as well as purification. It will keep on functioning automatically.

From that time hence, Even while asleep or unconcerned, A force of merit equal to the sky Will perpetually ensue. Shantideva, Bodhisattvacaryavatara, Ch. 1, verse 19

However, if you try to develop bodhimind straightaway it never work. It has to be based on the Three Principles, one built on top of the other.

The Three Principles. The first principle is seeking freedom for yourself. It is the fundamental basis of training our own

16 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS mind. The second principle, developing bodhimind, is built on the first principle. If you don’t have the first principle then your bodhimind becomes an ice castle; as soon as the heat comes it melts, because it has no foundation. Then the third principle, developing wisdom, is the icing on the cake. So the three principles are built on top of each other. And if you have a lot of icing but no cake, what are you going to do? Lick all the cream, that’s all. The first principle is equal to the ‘common with the lower level’ as well as ‘common with the medium level’ scope out of the Three Scopes.13 In the path that Buddha had shared and that comes to you through Tibetan Bud- dhism nothing really works without going through those levels. As a matter of fact the commentary on the Wheel of Sharp Weapons says that sometimes you may hear people talk about instant liberation and encountering the pure primordial mind etcetera, but actually they all have to be processed; it doesn’t happen instantly. The commentary I’m using quotes the Seventh Dalai Lama,14 who said that the pure primordial nature is not created, like lightning, clear and complete, but all is just like the nature of mind itself:15 luminous and all faults temporary. We heard that a number of times, but all that needs prerequisites and process and procedures; there is no instant enlightenment. We have to remember that very clearly. If you hear talk about the primordial nature of the mind, it may look like there is instant enlightenment, however when you begin to look carefully, you see that they lead you through the total path gradually. This process is the only path that all Bud- dhas of all three times have traveled.

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There is a saying that there is no second door to liberation beside wisdom. It is almost the same thing here: there is no second door to peace. A true path does not lead you the wrong way, but in the correct direction. There are no shortcuts. Some people may say, ‘I’m willing to take a rough deal and go through the shortcut’, but there really is none. Otherwise all the buddhas would have gone through the shortcut and would have shared that with us. They didn’t. So we have to go through this process of the Three Principles of the Path: the first principle brings you both, the ‘common with the lower level’ and ‘common with the medium level.’ That will liberate the individual from the clutches of attachment for samsaric goodies in this and future lives. From the negative point this is what we have to get rid of. From the positive point, what we can obtain is liberation. Liberation itself cuts the attachment because attachment is the main cause of our suffering. Samsara’s glue is attachment, not even self-cherishing. At the beginning level our difficulty is to get rid of attachment and of anger/hatred. We know anger is not good. We know hatred gives trouble; it brings violence, which brings more violence, which brings suffering, But though we do have an understanding of the consequences of anger and hatred, we don’t pinpoint them to ourselves. What we don’t know is that attachment brings suffering. That is because we enjoy attachment. We enjoy talking dirty jokes. We have a very soft spot for attachment, for what I call our ‘samsaric picnic spots.’ That is our problem.

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Background and lineage of this teaching Lojong is a Mahayana teaching and in the Tibetan tradition there are many different lojongs.16 Generally the word lojong means ‘training of the mind.’ True lojong is the practice or the training to be able to uplift oneself from one’s present spiritual level to the extraordinary level of total enlightenment. On the other hand there is some kind of understanding, in the western mind as well as in the Tibetan tradition, that lojong has to do with unlimited unconditioned compassion, technically called bodhimind.17 People think that way, which is not true, as this commentary18 or rather notes of a teaching by Trichen Tenpa Rabgye,19 says. This particular teaching has not been available much. Within the Gelugpa tradition there are only two teaching notes on it, as far as I know. One by Trichen Tenpa Rabgye and very short notes by Lobsang Tamdrin20 a Mongolian.

Kyabje Lhatsun Rimpoche. One of my late masters, Kyabje Lhatsun Rimpoche,21 travelled twice to Mongolia, where he and Lobsang Tamdrin gave teachings to and received teachings from each other. So he got this teaching. I received this teaching from him when I was very young, probably nine or ten. When the late Ribur Rimpoche22 was here, he reminded me that I received this teaching from Kyabje Lhatsun Rimpoche. He said he remembered that I was present there. Then I remembered that it was actually in my own house! Kyabje Lhatsun Rimpoche was very old [at that time]. I also received White Tara from him. Kyabje Lhatsun Rimpoche was so great, fantastic; one of the greatest masters. After 1959 and during the Cultural

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Revolution he remained in Tibet. These are the stories I heard from Ribur Rimpoche. After the Tibetan uprising in 1959 when the Chinese Communists took over, they wanted to introduce study and education; they meant Communist education. The word ‘education’ in Tibetan, is Lo-jong, which means ‘study.’23 Lo-jong24 begins with Lo, not with Lob. Kyabje Lhatsun Rimpoche was the most senior lama, by age and respect, and many people listened to him. The Chinese made everybody speak a little bit, and they emphasized Lobjong. Kyabje Lhatsun Rimpoche half pretended not to hear it—he was really old—and said, ‘Yes, yes, you have to do a lot of Lojong. Lojong is really good. You have a lot of incarnate lamas here, and you have a responsibility. When I was young I studied a lot of lojongs, especially the Wheel of Sharp Weapons, The Poison-destroying Peacock,25 the Seven Point Mind Training,26 the Eight Verses of Langri Tangpa27. . . .’ Kyabje Lhatsun Rimpoche kept on listing them one after the other. He counted almost 100. ‘Particularly the Wheel of Sharp Weapons is very useful!’ he said. I asked Ribur Rimpoche, ‘Then what did the communist party do?’ He said, ‘The Chinese guards just sat there. They didn’t catch Rimpoche’s teaching. Kyabje Lhatsun Rimpoche took the opportunity and went on and on talking about the Wheel of Sharp Weapons.’ That way he taught this Lojong at a big communist education meeting of about thousand people!

The lineage. So, I received this teaching once from Kyabje Lhatsun Rimpoche in Tibet. I don’t remember from whom Kyabje Lhatsun Rimpoche received this teaching. His

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Holiness received it from Kyabje Trijang Rimpoche, who received it from Pabongka Rimpoche. The lineage here goes according to the teaching lineage list of Kyabje Trijang Rimpoche, which probably refers to Pabongka. That is the background of the continuation of this lineage. Recently I got the teaching from His Holiness. From that last teaching we use the English translation now. The person who translated it is Geshe Thubten Jinpa, a professor in Canada. He received a phd from Oxford. He translated the Collected Lojong, called ‘the hundred lojongs.’28

I do give a lot of open teachings, but when we are talking about Lojong, it can’t be very open. Lojong is not only a very strong buddhist, but also a very strong Mahayana buddhist practice. I would like to make that very clear to you, so that you have a correct idea what you are here for. These teachings present the very typical Mahayana idea of total altruism, totally dedicated activity. By doing so, you may think that is undermining self-liberation. It is not. It is pointing out the altruistic aspect of Buddhism. So, do not take it as a criticism of either an individual person or a school of thought.

What is Lojong? Lojong is training of, or changing, your own mind. Our mind, as we normally use it, is addicted. We try to train the mind not to follow the addictions. Like a horse is trained for the horse races, we train the mind not to go towards the negativities, but to go to the right way. That way we cultivate better ‘addictions.’ People think lojong means bringing

21 Gelek Rimpoche the bodhimind to people. That is not [completely] true. Within the Mahayana there are two [outlines]: training the mind in relative compassion and training the mind in absolute compassion. You may think that absolute compassion is the true compassion. In a way yes, but normally when we talk about compassion and wisdom, relative compassion is compassion as high as you can go! compassion is the combination of compassion and wisdom. The terminology in Tibetan gives you that understanding, but translated into a western language the words easily loose their power. If you don’t have the background you may understand the word relative as ‘artificial’, ‘semi’ or ‘not the best’, while the kun dzob in kun dzob jang chub sem29 [the relative bodhimind], makes it clear it is the real highest compassion. In don dam jang chub sem30 the don dam makes clear it is combined with wisdom, which this teaching calls the absolute bodhimind.

Mahayana Mahayana is the system of Buddhist teachings that leads to enlightenment. Another way of thinking is: Mahayana is a spiritual vehicle that an individual can use to achieve the spiritual goal [of buddhahood]. Every vehicle within Bud- dhism is not necessarily Mahayana. We always talk about three yanas, traditionally counted as: Sravakayana, Pratyek- abuddhayana and Buddhayana. Sravakas31 are those that listen to the Buddha’s teaching and also practice certain teachings of the Buddha. The Mahayana teachings they pass on rather than practicing them themselves. The arhats that we see around the Bud-

22 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS dha in pictures are usually sravakas. Pratyekas, also called self-liberators,32 are those supposed to have appeared in the world in between two Buddha tenyos.33 These two [yanas] are both known as Hinayana, nowadays usually called Theravadayana and Self-liberating yana respectively. The third yana, which gives the ultimate goal, buddhahood, is called Buddhayana [or Mahayana]. Originally that is divided into two categories: sutra Buddhayana and tantra Buddhayana.34 They are also called the causal and the result Buddhayana respectively. Nowadays we commonly divide the three yanas in Hinayana, Mahayana and Vajrayana.35

Each one of the yanas has three most important things: the basis or ground on which to function, the method to use, and the result to gain. The basis is the two truths: absolute truth and relative truth. The method is wisdom and compassion. The result is the ultimate achievement. The wisdom is the same in the three yanas, the compassion differs. In Hinayana compassion is the normal compassion as we understand it; in Mahayana compassion it is the greater compassion.36 The result is also different. In Hinayana the goal is to achieve liberation, nirvana, which is the discontinuation of suffering. Don’t think death is the end of suffering, Bud- dhism says we continue. Buddha says there is reincarnation and there is no scientific proof that reincarnation does not exist; so we maintain the benefit of the doubt. We continue on the suffering level; when we go beyond that, we achieve nirvana. The goal of Theravada37 is nirvana. Some people

23 Gelek Rimpoche translate that as ‘ordinary enlightenment.’ To a certain extend it is enlightenment, but it is a limited enlightenment. In Mahayana the goal is totally different. It says, ‘Hey, you can achieve buddhahood, you can become a buddha; enlightenment is accessible to anyone who really wants to.’ The reason why you want to become a buddha, is this,

Wanting to be free of suffering myself is not enough. I have a responsibility of helping a-l-l living beings, liberate them all. I cannot do that unless I become a buddha. A buddha has unlimited capacity, unlike anybody else a buddha can do anything. That responsibility makes it necessary for me to become a buddha.

Who gave you this responsibility? Nobody. You took it, saying, ‘I will take that responsibility because I have great compassion.’ This is very important. Great compassion is: the mind that focuses on all living beings and takes the action commitment to free them from suffering. Not a single individual is left out. This compassion is not so easy to gain within us. Ordinary compassion, yes, we can see, understand and gain, because we are good, respectable human beings, so we care. But this great compassion is so big! Its focal point is: every living being. Don’t forget, that includes insects too. So, it is huge! (It sounds funny; I am a person who eats meat, while many of you are vegetarian; but that is what it is. Sometimes we are rather hypocrite that way, but still we do the best we can.) This greater compassion is focused on all living beings and wants to liberate them. Liberate them in the sense of cessation of suffering and transformation into the extra-ordinary life that is free

24 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS of all sufferings. Then the next step is taking that responsibility personally, which combined with a mind wishing to become a buddha, becomes the bodhimind. Our mind does not become bodhimind unless we think, meditate, practice, train our mind. Bodhimind is the desire to become a buddha joined with total altruism, total dedication to benefit all living beings, ‘I will be the doer, I like to become a buddha and thereby make a change and serve [all beings].’ Sometimes we call this a wishing mind; one wishes to become a buddha and one is totally dedicated to the service of all beings—a two-pronged mind. Such a mind with total dedication and the total desire of becoming a buddha as quickly as possible, we won’t get easily unless we have a committed responsibility of liberating all living beings as soon as possible. Such a responsibility is only possible if you have greater compassion. Greater compassion is only possible if you have love. Love-compassion is the real most important key for us here! Love wishes beings happy and with joy; compassion wishes them to be separated from the pain. So, such a committed mind is not possible unless you have strong love. Let’s look into our normal life. If you have someone that you love, your spouse or your children, and you see they are having difficulties, how much desire of helping, supporting to make them well and happy do we normally have? We know that from our experience. Then when you see someone else, who is not really among your loved ones but who is acquainted with us, and you see them suffering, how much desire of helping do we have? Compare it. Our common knowledge is, there is a huge difference. If

25 Gelek Rimpoche we see suffering with those, we don’t have that same sense of urge. What makes the difference? Nothing but the love. That is how powerful love is. And that shows how important love is to bring about the compassion! Then, when we are talking about greater love-compassion, we are talking about that much love. When we really think about it, we see how powerful love is. What did Buddha do? He has this compassion and love to all living beings equally. Equal to all; that is the idea of equality or equanimity. Dharmakirti, one of the earlier Indian masters,38 has said,

We call Buddha free of attachment. What does that mean? His love and his compassion is the same to the one who gives him a massage of sandalwood and the one that comes and attacks him with a chisel. That is because of being free of attachment.

That is the love and the compassion we are talking about. Such a powerful love-compassion is not going to come to us overnight. Even though we may imagine or pretend to have it, it is developing, it is a gradual process.

Practice-jong.39 That is what lojong is all about: bringing our ordinary mind, which is strongly influenced by hatred or obsession, to change via a meditative process. That is why we need the Mahayana, the great yana, which is superior to just wanting to be good or just wanting to be spiritual. The moment we talk about Mahayana, we talk about such a basis of powerful love and compassion and the desire to become a fully enlightened buddha—the goal. It also gives

26 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS us the message: whatever spiritual practice we do, we should not do it unless we have a purpose. In other words, you need to take your spiritual practice seriously. So far lojong from the jong point of view.

Mind-lo.40 Now we will talk from the lo point of view, the mind. What is mind? That is important for us to know. We know mind is something somewhere within our physical body, something that is capable of seeing and of knowing. We also have some idea of the mind being very powerful, very capable, almost like ‘the sky is the limit.’ We have some idea, but we are not completely clear about it. The definition of the mind in Sutrayana is: clear and knowing, sel rig.41 The word rig pa can mean knowing, understanding, The idea of sel is clear or lucid. The mind has the capacity of seeing, of knowing [and thereby] of clearing the obstacles of whatever your goal is. It comes in from somewhere and fades away the darkness. The mind has a natural capacity to know deeply, to know by itself, without depending on external light. How does that work? The mind’s way of knowing is almost photographic. When you see something and you click, you give a certain amount of light, the picture is taken and it keeps. Exactly in that way the mind knows. That is why the definition of mind is ‘lucid in nature and knowing.’ Once you expose the mind to knowledge, the mental faculty called memory stores and maintains that information. The mind has its own system of cataloging; the moment you contact it the memory pops and [we can make use of it]. Five omnipresent mental factors, are working

27 Gelek Rimpoche simultaneously at that moment.42 If one of those five is not present, we get a defect in that clarity, in that knowing, in that storage. Our mind is like a complicated mechanical system. It also has five object-ascertaining mental factors.43 Of those the ones necessary at that moment will work: when you have seen something, when you think about it and e.g. when you are not completely certain about something, those five help you to find out.

Lo and jong. When I arrived here today, I noticed my mental faculties were not functioning properly—due to jet-lack. And when they do not function properly you see the person gets nervous, doesn’t know what to do and all those. When the mind is working perfectly—there are 51 mental factors, ten of them working perfectly well—the mind’s capacity is unlimited. As this is the case, it is our job to give the mind the facts and wise ways to improve the individual. We have to expose the mind to it. When the mind is exposed to information and you leave the mind alone, it will automatically analyze. This analyzing process will give the result of ascertaining. But instead of letting the mind alone or supporting it, we sometimes try not to analyze, we let ourselves get brainwashed, have blind faith etc. That is limiting the mind from what it actually can gain. We need to support the mind to analyze the information. For that we do analytical meditation. After analyzing, as a result conclusions will be drawn. Then we focus on that, using concentration meditation. That changes the mind’s nature. And then when the mind is properly trained, as a result of that it will become different. That is lo

28 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS and that is jong. When the mind is trained, it will function automatically. The way and how you train the mind here is showing the faults of negative emotions and its consequences—karma; contemplating the hells and vice verse contemplating total enlightenment. When the mind is well-informed and trained it will form a habit. That is how the individual improves. The individual’s thinking changes, the caring changes, the love changes, compassion grows—a huge thing opens up within the individual! That is how lojong—lo and jong—works.

As I said, lojong is training of the mind. Every practice Bud- dha has been teaching is training of the mind because the mind is the one that can make a total difference to our lives. Our happiness can be given by our mind; our sadness and sorrow can be given by our mind. Not only the happiness and sadness of this life, but also the joys and sufferings of future lives totally are the result of our mind and its activity, nothing else. It is the mind that makes the total difference to our life and our lives. It is that important. What is our mind like? At this moment our mind is in an addicted situation. We have a strong addiction of anger, hatred, obsession, jealousy, and of, most importantly, self-cherishing,—entertaining. This addiction is extremely strong with all of us, even with those who claim or think they are doing wonderful work. Most of us have very strong ego-attachment, ego-boosting, self-cherishing addiction. Even those who do wonderful work for the benefit of a lot of people and even generations, through a variety of activities,

29 Gelek Rimpoche have a strong ego-boosting and self-cherishing addiction. This is a problem for all of us. This is the enemy within ourselves. If we do not realize that, we will think, ‘I’m great, I’ve been doing wonderful work.’ True; wonderful work has been done. But how wonderful it would be if there were no ego-service involved! Everyone has room to improve, and we hope to advance to that in this teaching period of the great teachings of the Wheel of Sharp Weapons. In short, this is a Mahayana practice. It is very important to realize that a Mahayana practice cannot be effective to the individual unless we have quite a strong background of what we can technically call Hinayana. The politically correct language is self-liberating yana. Hinayana is the Smaller Vehicle,44 which delivers the individual to liberation. It is called ‘small’ because it is only self-concerned, not so much concerned with all living beings. The focal point is oneself, one person. With that we cannot go and liberate many, because if we don’t know how to liberate ourselves, we have no way of knowing how to help so many. Honestly speaking, it is not possible. That is why self-help is a most important thing and in order to get to the Maha or ‘bigger’ vehicle,45 it is important to get into the Hinayana first. Without that, we will lose every foundation and we will simply be building a castle on ice.

Bus Stop Buddhism. First and foremost, training our mind on the basis of Buddha’s teaching, is really truly done through the Four Noble Truths.46 There is nothing equivalent to the Four Noble Truths, which is absolutely relevant

30 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS in our lives. It was relevant 2600 years ago, it is still relevant in our lives today, and it will be relevant in the future. It is something fantastic—a great jewel that the Buddha shared with us. Honestly. All the many truly profound teachings of the Buddha in the Vajrayana, in the Mahayana, and in the Hinayana, boil down to the Four Noble Truths. The first truth, the Truth of Suffering, is true to all of us. No matter whoever thinks or says what, it is the reality of our life. Day after day, minute after minute, while we are asleep, when awake, when walking or eating, we are dominated by the truth of suffering. Does it have to be that way? Buddha said no, it does not. It is because of our addictions, All of our addictions, like hatred, jealousy, etc. remain active with us because of our addiction to ego and our self-cherishing. True misunderstanding was given to us as truth. Honestly speaking, if we are kind to the other person, trying to help like a servant, it automatically helps ourselves. When we do good to someone, we get benefitted. When we help someone, we get joy and happiness in return. We get that, for sure. But we do have a misunderstanding. We think that to help ourselves we have to hurt others, ‘In order to make myself better, I have to attack you, I have to destroy you.’ That misunderstanding is the consequence of our self-cherishing and ego. The bottom line is: all our problems come from ego and self-cherishing. Period. In order to strike that enemy’s vital points, we must make ourselves strong. The way we make ourselves strong is through the Four Noble Truths:

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• the truth of suffering • the truth of the cause of suffering • the truth of the cessation of suffering • the path leading to the cessation of suffering

Years ago we used to say we needed ‘Bus Stop Buddhism.’ We did not realize that Buddha already provided a Bus Stop Buddhism called the Four Noble Truths: truly profound and deep. The fundamental principle of Buddhist teaching and our way of life, of whether we’ll go through the positive or the negative process, is just four lines: two going this way and two going that way: cause and result, cause and result. That’s what it is. The question rises: When can we switch from our addiction to creating a new way of life? According to the earlier teachers, there is nothing better than this life, with its human quality. But even in this lifetime [we have limitations]; getting old has its physical, mental, and emotional consequences and when that takes over, it becomes more difficult than when you are young. I’m not talking about being young in your twenties; I’m talking about being young in your thirties, forties, and fifties. Being mature is the great time to do it. We have very limited time and we are very good at wasting time by getting other priorities. We have tremendous schedules, deadlines, and priorities, because of doing something important to benefit people. But, we do that at the expense of helping ourselves through meditative practice. So, although it is good and wonderful and benefits people, it is a waste to the individual. Awareness of this is really called for nowadays. What’s happening today is this. The real essence of Buddha’s expe-

32 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS rience, the Dharma, becomes something we put away somewhere. Something similar takes priority and becomes the most important thing in the individual’s life. Then, when it is time to go, and you are calculating, you may have huge losses. You do have lot of gains, but the gains may not balance the losses; that is important to remember. That is how you help yourself. Buddha repeatedly said: helping yourself is Dharma. Tra- ditional teachings will tell you to do tremendous amounts of meditations on impermanence. They provided: three roots, three reasonings, and three resolutions.47 This is a very strong practice of training your mind. It is not to create trouble or fear for the individual, or sadness and depression. It is there to give us a sense of urgency. That is extremely important. Otherwise we’ll put everything off until tomorrow. At the time of death, wealth will not help, retinues will not help, friends will not help; at the end you are left with your positive or negative karma. Equally, the key of the Buddha’s message is: karma is our own creation; it is me who makes a difference to myself; nobody else. That makes us strong. If death comes before I can do anything, what should I do? Take refuge to Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. I’m not going to go into detail why. You can raise questions to individuals here. We are all here together for these teachings and you think, ‘Everybody here is more learned than myself.’ I used to think that way: everybody else is more learned than me. That way you reduce your pride. Otherwise everybody will think, ‘I am the best.’ Best of what? Empty head and ego. If the person doesn’t have an answer, don’t think, ‘I’m

33 Gelek Rimpoche better than him or her’, because that will harm you. Dis- cuss. Whatever you know, you can share with the person. If not, don’t push, because it may create negativities for the other person.

What does help and what does harm us? The Buddha told us 2600 years ago: compassion helps us! That message kept on going. Not only Buddhism, but all spiritual traditions, like Christianity etc. encourage compassion. Whether east of west, there is no genuine spiritual path that encourages violence. None at all! Non-violence, what Gandhi called ahimsa, is not really Gandhi’s idea, it is the core teaching of all spiritual religions we know. So there must be a reason why all the great ones we admire, encourage non-violence and compassion. Unfortunately they are consumed by hatred tremendously! Thanks to leaders like Saddam and so forth, we get more and more engaged in hatred. Hatred brings suffering. We know that. When you hurt someone you get back what you did. From the natural incidents point of view, from the law point of view and especially from the karmic point of view violence brings pain and suffering. And also violence brings violence! So violence is the actual enemy. Where does violence come from? From our mind, from thinking that we need to protect ourselves. When do we become violent? When we feel we need security. Nations and families alike. There are many examples, like ‘Who is not with us is with them.’ Or, ‘me me, me!’ Because of ‘me me me’ ‘mine’ comes in and all problems start from there. To understand that, you need not be the Buddha or Christ.

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With common sense we can see this happening within our life. Unfortunately everything in our life is built on that: economy, politics, everything. So the self-cherishing, holding ‘me me me’ dear, is the true enemy within ourselves.

Self-cherishing. Self-cherishing is the one who really gives us pain and suffering and does not give us joy and happiness at all. Somehow, unfortunately, we don’t know that, we don’t pay attention to it. First and foremost it is important the recognize this enemy, self-cherishing, within our mind. (Of course, I do not mean caring for ourselves; if you don’t do that, who else will care for you?) The enemy within ourselves is the big ‘me’ that thinks it is the center of the world, that dictates, that tries to destroy our joy, our happiness. It is the enemy in the disguise of self-protection. I think it is very important for us to deal with that one first. Our common sense gives us automatically self-cherishing, ‘I am here to protect myself, me.’ Logically, I have to cherish and protect myself. There is truth in that. The true self, the true me, needs help. But what is happening now, is: my ego functioning as me. My ego took over my identity. My ego twisted me, made me hate everybody under the pretext of protecting myself. We have a common quality, our human nature, which is: true loving, true caring. Each and everyone of us has it. No matter whoever you look at, if you look deeply, there is kindness, caring and loving within the person. However we can’t utilize it. We don’t see each other as nice persons, we always see the faults of the other one—that is what ego dictates us. That is actually destroying our happiness and joy.

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2600 years ago Buddha told us: compassion brings happiness. Common sense tells us: when we are good to someone they will be good to us. Scientists, I was told, are beginning to discover this. They test people on the brain level, in what area the love lies, where the sorrow.. etc. The scientists give specific orders: meditate on this. When you meditate compassion, it is shown which area is activated. They are using people as ‘guinea pigs’, experienced meditators as well as young people. They spend millions of dollars on it, but it is also good news: 2600 years of words we followed get a scientific confirmation. Recently I attended one of these conferences. Medical doctors, including surgeons, are deeply interested in analytical meditation and specifically in meditation on relative compassion. Another group of scientist, the mind-life guys, focuses on absolute compassion. They look at existence, its changes and effects—the interdependent nature of existence. They have been dragging His Holiness everywhere because of him being symbolic for relative and absolute bodhimind. We are dealing with both here. It is the key to lasting happiness, from the spiritual point of view and scientifi- cally, both. This is where spirituality and science meet. Sci- ence follows the facts, and a lot of spiritual paths follow faith. Faith did not let people down and when the fact-following ones make a turn of 180 degrees, we do meet here.

Lojong—developing the bodhimind So I feel fortunate to be able to address this text today with you, because this is Tibet’s gift to western people. For a thousand years the Tibetans kept his behind the snow. I want you

36 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS to remember this is a very ancient text. The author of this Lojong text, The Wheel of Sharp Weapons48, is Dharmarak- shita,49 who happened to be one of the teachers of Atisha,50 the great Indian teacher and scholar who refined the teachings in Tibet in the 11th century. He brought this teaching from India. So it may not go as smoothly as you expect. This text is about the generation of the bodhimind as you all know. We need to know what we are trying to generate. What is bodhimind? That, I think, is a very important point to get you oriented. What kind of mind are we calling bodhimind? What is it? Maitreya Buddha has five different little texts, and one of them is called the Abhisamayalan- kara, which is the Wisdom Gone Beyond teaching. It is the explanation, of the Buddha’s Prajnaparamita, the Wisdom Transcendental teaching. Within that, there is direct teaching and indirect teachings. Although it says direct teaching is wisdom and indirect teaching is compassion, both teachings cover compassion and wisdom. But the actual words tell you more about compassion. There are two lines there, telling you what bodhimind is. It says:

Bodhimind is: for the benefit of others seeking total enlightenment.

The word they use is jang chub,51 which is perfection— perfection of generosity, morality, patience, enthusiasm, concentration, wisdom. These are the six paramitas that lead to self-development. There are four other paramitas for developing it in others. So it becomes ten paramitas. In normal explanations you see six emphasized because they are for personal development.

37 Some people translate ‘perfection as ‘gone beyond’, meaning it is not just simple generosity, but perfected generosity. The perfection of all those activities is called jang chub: jang means you got trained, [all obstacles cleared] and chub means everything is within your mind, all together, not falling apart, [perfected]. Jang chub is really a word for enlightenment. When you get that position of perfection, it is total enlightenment. What happens to the individual is that they have totally cleared their obstacles, both at the gross level—the emotional obstacles such as obsession, hatred, ignorance, etc.– as well as their imprints. The imprint may not be directly affected by anger, hatred, or obsession, but it indirectly influences the individual. These are called: the two blocks to clear, to get rid of, or the two merits to be obtained—usual merit and wisdom merit. That’s why Nagarjuna’s dedication says:

Ge wa di yi kye bo kun bo kun, so nam ye she tsog dzog shing so nam ye she le jung way, dam pa ku nyi tob par shog

By this merit may all beings perfect the two collections of merit and wisdom and achieve the two enlightened holy bodies 52 born from merit and wisdom.

Because of the two collections, one may get the two kayas— the mental and the physical form of enlightenment. What clears the two obstacles is wisdom and compassion, which actually are the two paths, the two methods Some people translate ‘perfection as ‘gone beyond’, The base on which we are standing is our ordinary body meaning it is not just simple generosity, but perfected gen- and our ordinary mind. Let’s call that the two truths, the erosity. The perfection of all those activities is called jang relative and the absolute truth. These are the two we are chub: jang means you got trained, [all obstacles cleared] and going to transform into the perfection of the physical body chub means everything is within your mind, all together, and the perfection of the mind. By what means? Through not falling apart, [perfected]. Jang chub is really a word for the path of compassion and wisdom. And the result we hope enlightenment. When you get that position of perfection, it to get is the perfection of the body and the mind. is total enlightenment. Some people will say Buddhist practice means to be What happens to the individual is that they have totally good. To be good is fine, but I don’t think that conveys the cleared their obstacles, both at the gross level—the emotional real message of what Buddhist practice is. Being good cuts obstacles such as obsession, hatred, ignorance, etc.– as well negativities and when you don’t have negativities, you don’t as their imprints. The imprint may not be directly affected have suffering and that’s good enough. But the Buddhist by anger, hatred, or obsession, but it indirectly influences path is a little more than that. There is a goal you hope to the individual. These are called: the two blocks to clear, to gain; there is a path to travel; there is a basis on which you get rid of, or the two merits to be obtained—usual merit stand. These are important to recognize, even before we talk and wisdom merit. That’s why Nagarjuna’s dedication says: about the bodhimind.

Ge wa di yi kye bo kun bo kun, When we talk about compassion and wisdom, we don’t so nam ye she tsog dzog shing have to talk much about ourselves; we talk about our physi- so nam ye she le jung way, cal, mental, and emotional conditions. They are no secret dam pa ku nyi tob par shog for us; they are known to us. But [everything] beyond that, the path we travel, and the result we want to gain, is not By this merit may all beings known to us. That requires study and basic understanding, perfect the two collections of merit and wisdom and it requires confirmation of your basic understanding and achieve the two enlightened holy bodies 52 through analyzing. born from merit and wisdom.

Because of the two collections, one may get the two kayas— Wisdom. When talking about wisdom, there are four aspects: the mental and the physical form of enlightenment. What 1. functional reasoning; 2. relational reasoning; 3. logical clears the two obstacles is wisdom and compassion, which reasoning; 4. reasoning from the nature of things.53 Those actually are the two paths, the two methods four are tools you use to confirm whether your understand- Gelek Rimpoche ing is right or wrong. There are times when you have to rely on quotations. However, we rather don’t rely on quotations but on logical points. That is why Buddha says, ‘Don’t buy it because I said so; burn it and rub it and make sure it is truly gold.’ So analyzing, and confirming, and then travel- ing by means of that mind makes you perfect. That is very much Buddha’s way. Buddha has a huge respect for our intelligence. Of course, our intelligence is tainted with selfish interests as well as ego-grasping, but it is still a pure mind, a pure intelligence, and it is a matter of how the individual uses the mind. That is important. The believing system will give you a lot of trouble. Yet, if you do not have trust, there is another problem. That’s why I introduced the words ‘intelligent faith.’ Intelligent faith is based on the four logical points we just introduced. Utilizing those four for analyzing will give you a very strong, unshakable faith. Don’t be like a flag that goes to the extreme left when the wind comes from the east and when the wind shifts turns to the extreme west, flaps until it is torn. That means the flag cannot stand by itself; it totally depends on the wind. This means you have no idea what you are doing; you only go in the direction that circumstances push you. If you do that, how can you claim to be a Buddhist practitioner? Impossi- ble. That’s why the faith you need is intelligent faith. If you are a blind-faith person, what is the use of your intelligence? You have to utilize your intelligence; you cannot ignore it. On the other hand, if you are doubtful ‘until the cows come home,’ you are wasting your life completely. That doesn’t work at all.

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Basically, when I talk to you about base, path, and result, it is a very brief orientation of the Buddhist path. The Bud- dhist path has a base, and then there are paths to follow, and there is a result to gain. If one goes somewhere beyond that framework, then it becomes very questionable whether or not it is a real Buddha-recommended practice. Within that framework, the subjects we really have to deal with are the two parts of the path: wisdom and compassion.

Compassion. 1. Simple kindness is part of compassion 2. Sharing is part of compassion 3. The compassion we are talking about here is: How wonderful it would be if all beings would be free from suffering and the causes of suffering; I will pray and I will make them free from suffering.

These correspond to three different depths. 1. The prayer form of wishing all beings to be free from suffering. That is the compassion of the four immea surables, wishing them: equanimity, being free from suffering, being endowed happiness, and remaining with joy. These are not really the deep compassion we are talking about. 2. The seven stages of developing bodhimind, which has compassion within it. 3. The exchange method of developing bodhimind.

Compassion itself is just one word, but you see how deep it is. Those of you who are new should know that there is com-

41 Gelek Rimpoche passion at a superficial level and from there it goes deeper and deeper down. The unlimited, unconditioned love-compassion—a combination of love and compassion—is the bodhimind. As we quoted Maitreya Buddha: bodhimind is seeking enlightenment for the benefit of others. Who is seeking it? I am. For what? For the benefit of others. If you look at the US House of Representatives, when someone stands up and says, ‘Lady from Illinois, the lady stands for what?’ They say, ‘I stand here for bill so-and- so.’ Just like that, you say, ‘I stand here for enlightenment.’ Who is doing it? You. Who is going to be enlightened? You yourself. That’s why we call it ‘dun pa nying be54—‘dun pa means aspiration, intention or determination that leads to striving after the object. It’s sort of a wish. ‘dun pa nying be is double wishing, meaning ‘totally dedicated to altruism.’ But who is going to do it? You yourself, you are going to do it. I used to call this a two-pronged mind: I am totally dedicated to altruism, but I am also seeking [enlightenment] for myself. As to refuge, in sixty years I have never seen a book that says ‘I take refuge for all sentient beings except me.’ Self is most important here. That double mind is bodhimind. We call it ‘precious bodhimind’ because it is extremely important. We do the artificial bodhimind, ‘For the benefit of all beings I would like to become a buddha as quickly as possible.’ It is artificial, corrected; we make our mind into it. But by doing it many times, it will become true one day. That is called ‘training the mind.’ It’s like learning how to drive: when you keep on driving, you get better and better and one day you can do it perfectly; you need not think,

42 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS

‘Who is there on that side?’ or ‘Where do I turn?’ Just like that, while you are developing that mind, you have to think very carefully. You can’t just say, ‘For the benefit of all beings I would like to obtain this state as quickly as possible…’ We have been taught these words; that is an artificially created mind, which means you have to push that force inside.

This bodhimind is not developed easily. Jamgon Lama Tsongkhapa recommends eleven stages, the seven stages and the exchange stages combined together. You find it in Pabongka’s Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand ,55 although there it is presented as seven-stages alone and exchange stage separate. But then the eleven stages come together after that. If you look into the special qualities of Tsongkhapa’s teaching, you’ll see the best way is to combine the seven and exchange stage together. You have to do the best for yourself, so combine them together. Though either one of them will work, when you combine them you have a much more effective way to develop the bodhimind, very effective to develop not just compassion, but greater compassion. There is a big difference between compassion and greater compassion. The difference is the point on which you focus your compassion. Greater compassion is focused on all living beings: a-l-l! Not just some living beings. Not only Demo- crats; Republicans are included. That is almost impossible for us to develop. Our mind was trained to simply wishing to give happiness to all. So you see how important it is and how difficult to develop. Even the wish to free beings from suffering is already named as immeasurable.

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Then, the aspects of what you want are different. What you want is to free beings from suffering. You want to separate them from suffering and for that you need love. Dedicated compassion will never develop unless you have love. Love is so important; without love, you won’t care. Compassion is based on caring. Love makes you care. So without love, there is no compassion. This applies whether you are talking about one percent or ten percent or all living beings. The seven-stage development of bodhimind is: recognize all beings as mother beings; remember their kindness; repay their kindness; then develop love, compassion, the special mind, and bodhimind. That is how we count them. Before that you have equanimity, but that is not counted as one of those seven. Love causes compassion. Love is the cause; compassion is the result. Greater compassion is focused on all living beings. We say, ‘May all beings . . . .’ Wishing is okay. But when you are dedicated to really bring them to that level, you begin to ask questions to yourself: ‘What am I doing here? Why should I be concerned? I can’t even make myself straight, so why should I worry about others?’ These ideas and thoughts will come. Lojong is counter-challenging those thoughts and ideas, whether it is the Seven Points Lojong, the Eight Verses Lojong, the Wheel of Sharp Weapons, the Poison- Destroying Peacock, a one-short-verse lojong, or the larger lojongs given by the later Gelugpa teachers. Whether you have many lojongs or one, the purpose is the same. It’s all referring to training the mind. Training the mind in the way bodhisattvas function; that’s what we’re looking for.56

44 II The Text—PART ONE

The Title Theg pa chen poi lo jong tsön cha khor lo The Wheel of Sharp Weapons: A Lojong Text attributed to Dharmarakshita

kön chog sum la chag tsäl lo Homage to the Three Jewels!

dra wo nä la bab pai tsön cha khor lo she ja wa This is the wheel of weapons striking at the vital points of the enemy’s body.

The title has an important point: striking at the vital points of the enemy. If you’re going to hit someone, and you don’t want to kill him, you hit at the legs or hands. If you really want to kill, you have to get at a vital point. Here we are talking about the life of our spiritual development.

Enemy. The title suggests a fight and an enemy. The question is: who is the enemy here? Not an external but an internal enemy that we cherish. We spend day and night protecting and promoting this enemy in order to destroy ourselves and get the worst consequences we could ever get. We don’t know this one as enemy; we know it as self-cher-

45 Gelek Rimpoche ishing57 and ego.58 Self-cherishing is linked to the ego very closely. Ego will refuse to give up cherishing itself. Ego will choose ‘me’ over others, not only over all humans but over all living beings. That is how the ego functions within us. If that is not our enemy, who is? Cherishing the ego brings us continued suffering. As Milarepa said:

The enemy within us is our negative emotions. No matter how long it has been, no matter how much I have been deserving this, I have suffered the consequences and have been tortured continuously for no good reason.

Vital point. The text here uses the words ‘vital point.’ The teachings tell you that we as spiritual practitioners should try to be as expert as possible to strike the enemy within ourselves. That is important, because we then can develop ourselves quickly as well as easily, and our struggles may not be so difficult. Traditional teachings tell you that wood- choppers know exactly at what point to cut the wood. And e.g. the banana tree has as its vital point a little hole where the moisture comes in; if you hit that hole, the tree falls immediately. And just like butchers know how to butcher an animal without torturing it too much, we spiritual practitioners need to destroy the enemy within us by striking the vital point of his life strength. The Wheel of Sharp Weapons will lead you to it. This is not just one weapon but a wheel of weapons that one after another hit the vital point itself.

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The Text

thro wo chen po shin jei she la chag tsäl lo Homage to the wrathful Yamantaka!

The text begins with ‘Homage to the wrathful Yamantaka.’ 59 There are several physical forms of Yamantaka: Red Yaman- taka, Black Yamantaka, Thirteen-deity Yamantaka, and Solitary Hero Yamantaka. But when you are saying here ‘homage to the wrathful Yamantaka,’ it is the Red Yaman- taka,60 according to His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The English translation uses the word ‘wrathful’; a word-by-word translation is ‘the great fearless Yamantaka.’ Yamantaka is a yidam. The word yidam contains yid, mind, and dam, commitment. So it is a mentally produced, mentally existing point that we hold as our own commitment. All yidams are born out of emptiness. There has not been a real person called Mr. Yamantaka born in 600 A.D. in Southern India. It is a mental commitment; your mind produces it. Yamantaka is one of the most wrathful deities: the one who destroys the Lord of Death.61 Who is Yamantaka so angry at? Not a person, not a living being, but ego and self-cherishing. Why does he have so many weapons in his hands, but no guns or bombs? His weapons are meant to strike at the vital point of ego and self-cherishing. That’s why Lama Dharmarakshita pays homage to Yamantaka. The peaceful Yamantaka is Manjushri,62 the wisdom of all Buddhas. That refers to the absolute bodhimind. The development of the bodhimind is explained here in eight outlines.

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Outline I: From the Example point of view What is the essence of the first five verses?I n the traditional Indian culture it is said that a peacock can digest poison and by that their feathers become more beautiful. That is the example here.

1 tsän dug nag su ma ja gyu wa na män gyi dum ra leg par dze gyur kyang ma jai tsog nam ga war mi gyur gyi tsän dug chü kyi ma ja tso wa tar

1 When peacocks roam through the jungle of virulent poison, Though the gardens of medicinal plants may be attractive, The peacock flocks will not take delight in them; For peacocks thrive on the essence of virulent poison.

The example stems from a traditional Hindu-Buddhist mythological story which says that peacocks are benefitting if they eat poison. One version says when a peacock runs through the forest of poison there may be beautiful and wonderful medicinal plants, but the peacock doesn’t like them; instead he takes the essence of the poison, which nourishes him. Another way of looking at this is that when the peacock runs through the forest of poison, though the medicinal plants may be very beautiful and wonderful, the peacock doesn’t get attracted by their beauty, because it gets the nourishment through the poison. Normally, the tradition reads it the first way, but you can read it the other way too.

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Similarly here we are talking about the bodhisattva, the hero who developed the bodhimind. Not just by taking the vows of a bodhisattva; that alone would not develop the bodhimind. You have to create a tremendous amount of karmic connections, which links up to our positive karma and [then] the blessings of enlightened beings work on top of that and make it possible. When you truly develop the bodhimind then there is not just a possibility but there is a probability that you become a true bodhisattva, a hero. Bodhimind does not grow like a fruit that you pick and put in your pocket. It is a gradual process within the individual. That’s why we have the Seven Stage Development, the Exchange Stage Development and the Eleven Stage Devel- opment [of the bodhimind]. These are all in Pabongka’s Liberation in the Palm of your Hands. If you look carefully and meditate on each and every one of those eleven steps then you can develop the bodhimind. Before that we have to go through the prerequisites. Without prerequisites it won’t work; no matter how much time you spend, no matter whatever you do it won’t work. So you may ask, ‘In that case, until I developed the prerequisites should I not meditate on bodhimind?’ The answer for this was given a number of times by earlier teachers: ‘No, you should meditate now, because this is very fortunate, it builds your karmic link and it makes it possible to develop the bodhimind easily; but don’t spend too much time on it. Put the major focus on wherever your level is!’ On top of that one should have the overview style of meditation in prayer form, like for example the Lamrim stages in the Lama Chöpa.63 Or the Foundation of All Perfections,64

49 Gelek Rimpoche a meditation on the Lamrim stages in the form of seeking blessings. In short, this verse talks about the actual practice, which is: relative and absolute bodhicitta.65 Relative bodhicitta is true bodhicitta. Absolute bodhicitta is bodhicitta combined with wisdom. Whenever we talk about unlimited love-com passion, it refers to relative or true bodhicitta.

2 pa wo khor wai nag su jug pa na de kyi päl gyi dum ra dze gyur kyang pa wo dag ni chag par mi gyur gyi dug ngäl nag su sem pa tso wa yin

2 Likewise when heroes enter the jungle of cyclic existence, Though the gardens of happiness and prosperity may seem beautiful, The heroes will not become attached to them; For heroes thrive in the forest of suffering.

Likewise, the great heroes, the bodhisattvas go into the forest of samsara, where the samsaric goodies are very attractive. However, a hero knows that samsaric goodies are not going to help. It doesn’t help you, doesn’t help others, and doesn’t help anybody; therefore they are not attracted to that. Instead the heroes enjoy the suffering. Why? Suffering helps us to recognize suffering and not continue with it. It helps us to look for other ways. Kyabje Ling Rimpoche66 always said that suffering has good qualities; it makes you sad and that has the advantage of reducing undesirable pride. Remember, pride is like a lion; it is one of the eight

50 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS fears.67 Sadness reduces this and makes the ego shrink to something little, almost like what they call it in Yiddish smooch. That’s why the heroes enjoy suffering; not because suffering is great but because suffering has benefits while these samsaric picnic spots can only satisfy ego [for a little while], nothing more. In monastic traditions other than Buddhism, like in the Judeo-Christian tradition, they take a vow of poverty because of that. Our temptations are attachments, obsessions. If you let the temptation take over, you get into difficulties. If, on the contrary, you restrain from the temptation, though it looks difficult and suffering, it will lead the individual to the joy of liberation. If you know how to use this technique and you can do it, it will affect the life of your spiritual development, the life of liberation, and gradually you may be able to use the temptations, just like peacocks use the poison. What makes the individual able to utilize poison? When we are practicing, contemplating, what are our obstacles? Number one: our attachment. Temptation is everywhere. Physical, emotional and financial attractions come in continuously and are like a hook that hooks you. That is no secret to us, we all know this. Who are going to be caught in it? Also we, by following the attraction. Just like that we got and get caught into the samsaric life. If there is no attraction, there is no glue for samsara. That is the first problem we are tackling. We are told here: Well, you can use the attraction, enjoy it, you don’t have to give it up, but don’t get caught into it. The example is the peacock, which has the possibility to eat poison and not get sick, but on the contrary get better

51 Gelek Rimpoche looking. This example is not made up by the Tibetans; it is in the Sanskrit texts. What is the ‘chemical’ that bodhisattvas have within? Un-contamination. According to Vasu- bhandu’s Abhidharmakosha, the real chemical here is the wisdom. So, heroes here are those who are able to help themselves. They have been able to defeat their self-cherishing and ego. They almost completely ignore selfish interest. All activities of those great bodhisattvas are totally dedicated to the benefit of all living beings.K hedrup Je’s praise of Tsong- khapa says, ‘One little breath you breathe is for the benefit of all living beings.’68 That’s what it means: we breathe in and breathe out, and every breath should be for the benefit of all living beings. That is the bodhisattva’s way of living. When you reach that level, then you have become a hero.

Samsara. The verse says, . . . when heroes enter the jungle of cyclic existence . . .That refers to samsara. Why is it called a jungle? In a jungle you have nice, wonderful trees as well as poisonous ivy. The jungle of samsara has wonderful things, as well as the poisons of attachment, hatred, anger, and ignorance. Samsara is covered with all kinds of growing things. Hatred and anger are growing together; attachment and obsession are growing together; ignorance and ego are growing together, so strongly that you cannot even see the sky of freedom! Yet, these heroes like to be in samsara because they can destroy the poisons one by one, for their purpose. Within samsara, you do have samsaric picnic spots. I’m not sure whether the great bodhisattvas really enjoy them.

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Probably not. On the contrary, they will be happy to deal with the most difficult things. One day Jack Kornfield asked me, ‘How come those Tibetan lamas always like bor- derline personalities more than anybody else?’ I never knew the answer. Today, when I thought about these particular words, this is probably what it means. The saying that the peacock gets its colors from poison may be from the Sanskrit tradition. I don’t think people in the West say that. The message behind is that great bodhisattvas like to repeatedly come back in samsara. They do so in many different forms: in the form of a very well respected and well behaved master, a great monk, or great nun, or sometimes in the form of an absolutely crazy yuppie. Bod- hisattvas are even reported to have come back as military generals. The reason these bodhisattvas are living in samsara more than in nirvana, is compassion, love, and caring. You see, love and compassion are so important! Remember the Angulimala story—the guy who has killed 999 people by severing their heads, and who walked around with their thumbs on a mala, because a non-virtuous master had told him, ‘If you can kill 1000 human beings in one week and come back to me with their thumbs, I will liberate you.’ The guy killed 999 human beings, and by then everybody except his own mother had run away. But he hesitated about killing his mother. She watched him from a distance. This is a mother’s love to her child. The mother has fear for her own life, but still she can’t give up her own son, even though he just killed almost a thousand human beings and was wearing their bloody thumbs around his neck. In that way, the hero bodhisattvas’ love for all human

53 Gelek Rimpoche beings makes them choose samsaric suffering places more than samsaric picnic spots. As a matter of fact, those great heroes may see those picnic spots as suffering. The peacock does not fall in love with the medicinal plants in a beautiful garden. In the same way, you will not develop obsession and attachment to samsaric picnic spots. If you do, you will get a tremendous problem. Your bodhisattva vow cannot be broken by pain and suffering, but it can be broken by attachment. Attachment is one of those emotions that may, in very special cases, assist an individual to become liberated, but in general, attachment is very capable of breaking your bodhisattva vows. Hero bodhisattvas will always come back to a place of suffering. One can take tremendous advantage of suffering. Number one, the understanding of suffering is of tremendous benefit. Number two, suffering itself has one good quality, as Kyabje Ling Rimpoche used to say, you can always get rid of it. Buddha gave the teaching of the Four Noble Truths with as first principle: suffering. The purpose of the first Noble Truth, the truth of suffering, is to recognize and understand it. In certain cases our mind is very harsh, but there are also certain points where the heart can become gentle, fragile: that is the point of joy and happiness as well as the point of suffering. When the individual is having a tremendous amount of suffering, it may open up the mind; for some people, it makes more heart-aches.

A story. I have an interesting story to tell you here. There was a woman by the name of Lady Lalo. She was a very

54 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS devoted person and a wonderful woman. I think her hus- band died; he was a cabinet minister. Then she had a lover. The lover was the person who tried to establish democracy in Tibet earlier. He was arrested, and they took out his eye- balls. Then she got mad and so hardened: ‘Until now I’ve been doing prayers and making offerings to all four Tibetan traditions, to all different monasteries. I’m now fed up!’ She went to a temple in her house at night, did her morning business right on the offering table, locked the door and said, ‘From now on, this is locked; I’m fed up with everything.’ She became very disheartened and didn’t open the door for a long time. Later, in her old age, she met Pabongka, who was able to open her up, and she was able to practice again. In my memory, she was the first woman who sponsored the Dalai Lama to give the first Kalachakra initiation in Tibet. And when she was making a mandala offering, all of her jewels fell down everywhere. So, sometimes, hardship hardens the mind, but at other times, the mind can be softened by it.

Questions. Now there are questions, such as: When a bodhisattva comes back to samsara again and again to help or do whatever their job is, are they a samsaric person or a bodhisattva? Bodhisattvas, who take rebirth in samsara willingly, theoretically are not samsaric persons. Bodhisattvas may even take birth in a hell realm; some take rebirth as animal. A great example is Lhundub Pandita, who wrote the very detailed Yamantaka commentary, still available in Tibetan and English.69 There are reports that he, as a downfall of breaking the commitment, took rebirth as a jackal. In our

55 Gelek Rimpoche mind, we ask, ‘How come? The whole purpose is to get freedom and have no suffering.’ We have to think about these kinds of things, or else we’ll get mixed up. When we talk about samsara, we talk about where it begins and where it ends. That is a question that bo thers a number of intelligent people. When Buddha was asked, ‘What is the beginning and what the end of samsara?’, Buddha kept silent. That tells us there is no beginning of samsara. No one can say where it began. But there is always an end of samsara [possible]. All of us are within this circle of life, which has been there right from the beginning. Con- sciousness has no birth, no death. There are no new beings at all. It is a pool of beings and we divide them into samsaric and non-samsaric. From that pool, a couple of us will get out and become non-samsaric. Continuation of contaminated rebirth is samsara. Contaminated consciousness becoming uncontaminated is the beginning of liberation. Liberation is not somewhere else; it is within us. When you reach to the arhat level,70 you become non-samsaric. That’s how it is. When someone tells you, ‘You have a buddha within you right from the beginning, but this buddha had some problem because of your negative emotions’, that is a totally wrong teaching. Logically speaking, it is straightforward: if someone is a fully enlightened buddha, how can that buddha get in trouble with attachment and hatred? When we get rid of negative emotions, what guarantee do we have that we will not repeat them? None. This is a big question that bothers spiritual practitioners, honestly speaking. In one way, it is not important: if Bud-

56 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS dha is within you, it is fine; if Buddha is not within you, fine. It doesn’t look like it is so important. But when you really pin it down and think about it, it is a big problem. What guarantee do we have, even if we work hard? We’ll have all kinds of hits we have to take. Now we have this beautiful weather. Why are you not out there lying under a tree getting a beautiful breeze instead of being locked in this room, listening to me with this terrible voice bugging you in your ear all day? Why should you take that hit? At the end of all this, you are going to learn a lot of things not to do. Things we cherish the most—ego and self-cherishing— we’re telling you here, it is bad, bad, bad! We have to think twice before we even listen. If you follow the meditations, they will tell you attachment is not good. But at the same time, we all enjoy attachment. Why should we do things like meditation that are not part of our culture? Usually when you pray, you say, ‘Give me this, give me that.’ Here, when you pray, it is the opposite: you look at yourself and think, ‘this was the right thing; this was the wrong thing; I need to purify this; I need to encourage that.’ That is very much not part of Western culture. Plus, we have very important work to do, respon- sibilities and jobs. Whether it is work for three pennies or for three million dollars, it is important for each and every one of us. Then we try to fit in our practice and when we can’t fit it in, we do it at 12:30 at night. We begin to say our prayers, go to bed at 2 in the morning and get up at 6:30. Why should we do this? There is no guarantee: number one, there is no guarantee we are going to be enlightened, because our negative emotions are so strong. Number two,

57 Gelek Rimpoche if we do improve a little bit, what guarantee do we have we will maintain it? And if one would be fully enlightened right from the beginning, and then becomes terrible. . . . ? Who can say that’s not going to happen? It has already happened once. That’s why Jamgon Lama Tsongkhapa’s point is so important: we are not enlightened from the beginning. Some people think we were enlightened originally and then something happened to us. If that would be the case, what guarantee would we have that if we become enlightened again, we will not have the same problem again? In one way this looks like a philosophical, theoretical, theological problem. But on the other hand, it is a real problem for us practitioners. We put our efforts and energy into this, and we need to know that what we are doing is right. That is important. So when you say you were fully enlightened one time but then you had negative emotions and then were not enlightened [anymore], it is a wrong statement.

When we talk about samsara, we need to know that. Once we get out of samsara, we are not going to come back [into samsara], at least not due to the power of negative karma and delusions. That’s what we’re working for. When you are in the second path—that has four stages: heat, peak, patience, and best Dharma— and you get to the patience level, you have become immune to being reborn into the lower realms. When you arrive at the third path, the path of seeing and you become an arya, then the sufferings of illness, aging and death will not be there. Aryas will not take rebirth in a suffering realm by karma and delusions.

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Now the question is, how do the great hero bodhisattvas come back to samsara? How and why did they get here? Not by karma, and not by delusions. They got here, took rebirth in samsara, by their love, their compassion and their commitment. That’s the whole idea of the tulku system. That doesn’t mean every tulku is free of [negative karma and delusions]. A person like me is certainly not free. But that’s what it’s supposed to be.

Lamrim. I would like to emphasize again: do not dismiss the Lamrim practice because it is a prerequisite. The most important and effective practice to our life today is the Lamrim. It is the Lamrim that will touch your heart and soften your mind. It is the Lamrim that will uplift you. The Lamrim is the real vehicle you can rely on. So do not look down on and dismiss it. In the West, there is some kind of funny thought in the air that says Lamrim is not so important, but instant enlightenment is extremely important. Mind you, Vajray- ana never works with an individual if you do not have a strong foundation of Lamrim. It is proven again and again, but it is very hard for us to learn the lesson. If the Lamrim is not based strongly within the individual, and you would like to go and get an initiation into Vajrayana, no one will say no to you. You will get a commitment, and then you’ll say, ‘What the hell is this? What am I doing here? I don’t like it. How did I get here?’ And then a tremendous amount of obstacles may come, like e.g. when you really want to make your practice go more smoothly, you get sick, or you get family issues—obstacles do come in that form. They

59 Gelek Rimpoche will keep you away from making your practice smoother. By the time that is happening, it is too late.

3 de chir de kyi dang du len pa yi ngar mai wang gi dug la kyel wa yin dug ngäl dang du len pai sem pa de pa wai tob kyi tag tu de wa yin

3 Those who avidly pursue happiness and prosperity Are brought to suffering due to their cowardice. The bodhisattvas, who willingly embrace suffering Always remain happy due to their heroism.

The translation is much better than the original Tibetan, which is quite complicated. I will explain it according to the original Tibetan. The verse begins with ‘Because of that. . . .’ Because of what? This is interesting. The reason we gave earlier: the heroes who are happily and voluntarily taking on sufferings are great bodhisattvas. In other words, bodhisattvas should be able to, without hesitation, be involved with suffering. This is hard indeed, because self-cherishing will say, ‘I should not get into suffering. Getting into suffering is not good. I will be unnecessarily sick; I will unnecessarily be having problems.’ But the bodhisattva’s way here is, ‘Because of the reasons given earlier, the hero or heroine bodhisattva should be able to accept suffering as a joy and welcome it rather than avoiding it.’ The verse says, ‘Because of that, those who run after luxuries and pleasures, joys and happiness, their weaknesses will make them grow in suffering.’ Weaknesses lead you to suffering. If you are entertaining your weakness, you do not

60 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS become a hero or heroine, you are a coward and a weak person. Just the opposite of that, ‘You great bodhisattvas who welcome and embrace suffering, because of your heroism you will always remain in joy.’

The mirror of Dharma. What does that mean for us? To become a bodhisattva, you should be a stable and steady person; you should not be weak and cowardly. In the West we have these things happening; we may have a little bit of problems or difficulties and little incidents, but we cannot take them. It is completely overwhelming and it becomes difficult for us to manage them. If you analyze the difficulties, sometimes it’s not that much, it’s not unusual; it is a very simple matter. But as our desire is so great that it doesn’t meet our expectations, we get frustrated and nervous. As I often say,

When your stomach is filled up and you are warmed by sunshine, you become a good dharma practitioner. But when you have a little incident, you become worse than ordinary human beings.71

We also are in the habit of comparing ourselves to other people, ‘So and so makes it so easily. Why not me?’ We get completely worked up and we overreact. We even start blaming ourselves. This particular verse is referring to the weak and cowardly person. It is not the normal Western understanding of the word coward. This author has a particular intention when he refers to a ‘weak person’ and ‘weakness.’ He is referring to the personality we very often engage in. This verse tells us, ‘Don’t do that. If an incident

61 Gelek Rimpoche occurs, it is samsaric in nature. Nothing has happened to you alone that never has happened to anybody else. It now happens to be the person who happens to be meeting with this incident. So what?’ As a human being, think, ‘I have this wonderful mind. I have these capabilities. I can manage, I look for a way to manage it’, rather than saying ‘Why me?’ and having a long face, making my whole day and life miserable, and thereby affecting my companions and making everyone else miserable.’ That is one way. The other way is: you have a small success and you go ‘Ooh!’ You fly in the air and circle around and refuse to land on the ground. Both these two are called a ‘weak person.’ They are referred to in the first half of the verse, the two lines that give the definition of ‘coward.’ Thereby it is telling us that being engaged in that is the wrong behavior, according to the bodhisattva’s vows and commitments. So try to be a little bit stable as a person towards excitement as well as sadness both. Different people have different characters. It is nobody’s business to look at an other person and make judgments. Again, I must emphasize that. When we hear this, the first thing we do is forget ourselves, look out and say ‘this person has this problem,’ ‘that person has that problem,’ and a whole list runs in our mind, with each face labeled. That won’t do any good. It is nobody’s business. It is the business of the individual only. Buddha very often said, ‘Do not make judgments of another person unless you are like me.’ That means if you are a buddha, go ahead, because then you have total knowledge. If you’re not, don’t judge; it sometimes creates tremendous negativities.

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Observe yourself, and make an assessment of yourself. If you find yourself in this category, you know what to do. This is the change that needs to take place. This is called Dharma practice. Dharma practice is not necessarily sitting down and praying, picking up a mala and counting. Dharma practice is observing yourself, observing your own problem. Really. You should see your own reflection in the mirror of Dharma, in the mirror of the teaching. In this verse we introduced a problem. It is your job now to look into your own mirror, look at yourself and see what you are doing. If you are like that person, then that is your problem. No one can help you except you yourself. No one can make a change except you yourself. Yes, you can pray that you might be able to change. If you cannot change by yourself, then the only alternative is to pray that ‘I might be able to change.’ True Dharma is: trying to make a change. That way, even though bodhisattvas and buddhas may not call you hero or heroine, they shouldn’t call you a coward or weak. The decision is within us; only we ourselves can make it. That is what the first two lines mean. The next two lines are the opposite of that: Those who can embrace suffering have a brave mind. Not only they embrace the suffering of a person, or group of people, they embrace the suffering of all living beings. If these are not heroes or heroines, then who else is? These are called great bodhisattvas. Weak and cowardly actions will lead you to suffering; heroic actions will lead you to joy and happiness. This particular verse has half talking about the negative system and half on the positive system, just like the Four Noble Truths.

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In short, if we can’t help ourselves, our pain and suffering will continue. As we all know, our life neither did begin at the conception, nor will it end at the death; it is continuing. Since it continues, we must know what brings us happiness, what brings us suffering. If we don’t have the panoramic view of life after life, our field becomes very narrow, very limited. Also, in the period between birth and death, our definition of happiness may differ: some think it is wealth, some think it is love, or rather attachment. That limited view causes us to bring in violence as a means to happiness. That is the ego spell running over ourselves. One who can overcome that is a hero.

4 da dir dö chag tsän dug nag dang dra pa wo ma ja ta wü chün par gyur ngar ma ja rog ta wui sog la chi rang dö chän gyi dug di ga na chün nyön mong shän laang de shin jar wa na ja rog ta wur thar pai sog la bab

4 Now here, desire is like the jungle of virulent poison The peacock-like heroes [alone] can digest this. But for the crow-like cowards it spells death, For how can the self-centered digest such poison? When you extend this [analogy] to other afflictions, Each similarly assails liberation’s life force, like [poison to] a crow.

The idea here is: a peacock can digest poison and it helps, but if a crow eats poison, the crow dies. The metaphor is: hatred- developing conditions and obsession-developing conditions

64 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS are the field of poison. One who is controlled by the ego is exampled by the crow and the one who has overpowered it, is the hero. If a crow eats poison, he looses his life. If we are controlled by ego—and we don’t have awareness, alertness, understanding and discipline—we loose the life of liberation.

The biggest problem we face. Actually our problem is two- fold: self-cherishing and ego-grasping. Self-cherishing we handle through the relative bodhimind; ego-grasping we handle through the absolute bodhimind, the wisdom. Look into your own mind. When you have very strong compassion to all beings, it directly contradicts your mind of self-cherishing. Let me try an example. Say you are young and thinking about yourself only. At that time what you are grasping, is me, my life, my making money etc. It is only me. Then when you fall in love, get married and have children, then your self-cherishing will be challenged by the love for your wife, kids etc. If you look within, you will see: my self-cherishing is reduced and the love for my spouse and children has come in. If you extend that responsibility, then next is society. Then you try to extend that love and care from the society to the country, then from your country to the world, to humanity. That way the me will be challenged in our day today life. When the person only cares for him- or her self, we consider them a bad person; society accepts that as not good. People that only care for themselves alone, will be helped by others once or twice, but gradually they will say ‘out!.’ You see, cherishing and protecting yourself ultimately will hurt you, because you can’t do everything by yourself;

65 Gelek Rimpoche you will be without friends, people will alienate from you, yet you need people to care for you. Conclusion: self-cherishing will hurt us. We know that but we fail to see it. We think, ‘If I don’t take care of myself, who does?’ This now is interesting. If you can help yourself, and you become capable with whatever capacity you have to keep on serving other people, it does not hurt you and it helps others. Years ago there was a plane crash in South America somewhere. Two young persons were given the food to go and get others to come and help. It took them twelve days and in the end everyone that survived was saved.72 This is an example from real life and this is what bodhisattvas are supposed to do.

Now here. Looking at the text again, you see the Tibetan starts with, ‘Now here.’ What does that mean? It refers to previous activities. We have to look backwards to where we are coming from. ‘I am here now, but how did I get over here? By developing the Common with the Lower Level, which includes the importance of human life, its impermanence, refuge, karma, and rebirth, and developing the Common with the Medium Level, which includes Buddha’s teaching of the Four Noble Truths, the interdependent system of the Twelve Links and the karmic system. All of those made me see much more than I used to see. I used to see my life from birth to death, and nothing else. Within that life what did I see? My perception of happiness and my perception of suffering, which may or may not be true.’ If you are from a Third World nation, your role model or object of achievement is wealth. If you are a fortunate

66 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS person, like an American or European, your projection of joy and happiness shifts from wealth to leisure, or whatever it is the individual has in his own fantasy. Some people may have the Playboy fantasy or whatever. Because we don’t have a proper reference of joy, and we don’t know the ‘joy that has never known suffering’, our joy and happiness is a simple projection of the individual’s fantasy! If you think I’m wrong, tell me. But I don’t think I’m wrong. Even if we substitute that fantasy with enlightenment or something, it’s still a fantasy right now. But replacing our present fantasy with another fantasy called ‘enlightenment’ or ‘total freedom’ is at least better than Playboy. That has made us able to reach ‘Now here.’ Another way of reading ‘Now here’ is this: it is time for you to work on the bodhimind. But simply working with the bodhimind alone is going to take eons. The basic Mahayana 101 says:

Our great Buddha first generated bodhimind, then accumulated merit for three countless eons and finally obtained enlightenment.

That is the common slogan in the Mahayana. But we don’t have enough patience to work for three countless eons. Even three decades becomes very difficult for us, honestly. And three lifetimes is totally impossible. We want it now! Really. People only think about the result and they don’t think about the cause. They think, ‘I would like to be a lawyer or doctor’, but they don’t want to think about how many years you spend learning to train to be a doctor; how many years you have to train to become a lawyer, how many years

67 Gelek Rimpoche of effort you have to put in get a PhD under your name! Similarly we see enlightenment and we don’t see what takes to get to that level. Somehow that’s why we don’t put too much energy in. We like to do things half way. Even those who are putting efforts in halfway, half cooked and half raw, are great. Many people will just touch here and there and ‘boom’ want to come out like a butterfly. This verse says that attachment is like a poisonous forest. It can only be digested by a peacock-like hero. This means your Rolls-Royce doesn’t drive you, but you drive your Rolls-Royce. Get it? If you are a coward like a crow you will pay the price. If you keep on being attracted to samsara’s goodies and picnic spots, if you keep on entertaining laziness, as a consequence you will not reach liberation. Then your precious human life’s purpose is defeated, wasted. Changing our usual habit is very hard. Say you are driving to work. Changing your usual route and go down different streets is hard. You complain to yourself, you complain to your colleagues and when you come home you complain to your family and grumble so much. It is nothing, but changing just one street hurts your laziness, which you protect. You are abusing yourself, your colleagues, your family, for the sake of your laziness. In the bigger picture you are missing the opportunity of liberation for the sake of laziness. The life of liberation is the price you are paying. If that is not cowardly, then what is?

Embracing suffering. If I say, ‘Taking suffering as a path’, you will all have some doubt and a long face. If I change these words to ‘Transforming suffering into joy,’ everybody will

68 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS have a nice smile. That indicates how cowardly we are—to use the words of this teaching. When you go to bed, don’t just go ‘boom’ and fall asleep. Before you go to sleep, review what you did today—not every thought, but the major things. That is part of Dharma practice. If it is good activities, rejoice; give a pat on your own shoulder. If it is a little weak, next morning you address yourself: ‘Good morning, Mr. Cow- ard.’ Dharma practitioners are urged to have at least a little review before you go to sleep and at least a little preview to set your motivation before you get up. These are the ways you conduct your daily life. A nice way of saying this is ‘transform suffering into a path.’ A way of hitting the ego and self-cherishing strongly is, ‘embrace sufferings’— not only your own future suffering, but the suffering of all your friends and enemies and of every living being. Take on any suffering, wherever it is. It is yours. That is how you hit your own ego. Ego will probably dance around, hit the ceiling, shout, ‘What is wrong with this guy? I should not have let him go to Garrison!73 If that happens, you are getting somewhere. These are methods of loosening ego’s grip over ourselves. We are good at such things: we are happy to wear our hat the other way around; counterculture activities are in our blood. America is formed on the basis of going against the British empire. So it is time for us to utilize these and go against our boss, the ego inside us, and against our self- cherishing! If we get one step forward toward that, it will make a hell of a difference to us and it will lead us to the ‘joy that has never known suffering.’74 That is our goal.

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Again, ‘Now here’ means not only how we got here, not only that we are capable of embracing suffering, but also that if we cannot really commit, if we cannot really do it directly, we at least can pray, ‘May I be able to do this.’

Vajrayana. ‘Now here’ not only talks about embracing suffering; it also refers to Vajrayana. The most important practice available from the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, the icing on the cake, is Vajrayana. Some people are afraid of it. I always encourage it. But you cannot become Vajrayana practitioners without a little background in the Lamrim. ‘Now here’ refers to pre-Vajrayana. ‘The peacock-like heroes can digest this, but for the crow-like cowards it spells death.’ The crows hope they get nice feathers like a peacock; so they eat the poison, but then die. Just like that, without the background of the lower and medium Lamrim level, you cannot manage your spiritual path, you will die. Vajrayana goes beyond this. Again, ‘Now here.’ Vajrayana embraces attachment. Vajrayana embraces anger. Vajrayana embraces ignorance. The embracing I am talking about is transformation, especially of attachment, because it is cool. Hatred is hot. It is difficult to handle something that is hot; it is easy to handle something that is cool. So the Vajrayana quality is completely emphasized here. Why do we do this? Because we have so much anxiety to become fully enlightened. We put all our efforts toward doing something good. As a result, there are two things. Some people’s goal is just to do the right thing and that is a good enough goal for them. Some people’s goal doesn’t stop there; they want to do the right thing to help others,

70 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS and thereby, ‘May I become fully enlightened as soon as possible.’ Bodhimind started to develop within us by remembering the kindness that people rendered to us. Bodhimind also tells us that people’s sufferings are so urgent that they need to be cared for. We begin to see that the environment needs to be taken care of; otherwise we will have no good air to breathe or good water to drink. We begin to see the urgency now. Just like that, in the need of people and the responsibility we have taken as part of our development, there is a sense of urgency and that is why we need to become a buddha as quickly as possible. If not because of this, why should I become a buddha? I might as well be free of suffering and have a nice picnic in the Bahamas. This need and sense of urgency is there because your loved ones are waiting to be helped. They are standing there waiting for rescue. That’s why the Vajrayana is important. Vajrayana is the only yana or vehicle or way that talks about the individual obtaining enlightenment within a reasonable time.

Different yanas; different goals. Buddhist traditions such as Theravadas [also called Hinayana] never talk about it becoming an issue. It’s not even a subject of concern at all, just like in the Judeo-Christian tradition you don’t talk about becoming God. This may be a naïve statement because of my lack of knowledge of the Judeo-Christian tradition, but I hear no one talking about becoming God. God is beyond reach; it is a supernatural, monotheistic God. Theravada traditions look to Buddha in a similar manner. Buddha has

71 Gelek Rimpoche become Buddha, and that’s it. They don’t talk about people becoming a Buddha; they talk about arhats becoming free of suffering and having a nice picnic. Then Mahayana comes in and says that samsara is not the only suffering situation; nirvana is also suffering. These are called: the two sufferings. Freeing ourselves from those two and becoming a fully enlightened Buddha and helping all other living beings is the goal. So Mahayana is not introducing a Buddha who goes to a picnic-lunch all the time. No. They are introducing a buddha who takes action all the time. You see, the goal changes. In the Mahayana sutra tradition, they talk about ‘three countless eons’ of accumulation merit and purification [to get to the buddha stage]. That is impossible to gain. Vajrayana is the only one that talks about a reasonable time period: a lifetime achievement; or if not, at the time of death; and if that is not possible, then it will be during the next one or two lives, or as the Fifth Dalai Lama says, in the sixteenth lifetime, at maximum. And that is very short compared with countless eons. That’s why Vajrayana is the crown jewel, the cream of the buddhist milk. The method of Vajrayana is, again, transforming attachment and anger. I don’t know whether or not you can really transform ignorance, but you can discontinue it. So Vajrayana talks about transformation. We will be happy to accept it; it’s not going to hurt ego; ego will enjoy it, too. But when you say ‘accept suffering’, it will shock the ego and each shock will hurt the ego, and hurt the self-cherishing. Such a practice of embracing suffering or embracing negative emotions are things that only the great bodhisat-

72 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS tvas can do; others will not be able to do it. If they attempt, instead of transforming, it becomes threatening to their life. Welcoming suffering, and even more than that, embracing attachment, is a big deal. Whether you embrace or control attachment and use it as a path for development, or attachment controls the individual and makes you its slave, is always a question of who influences whom and how much. That is where the risk is involved. Chances are that since we already have a strong addiction to attachment for so many lifetimes, we controlling our attachment is much more rare and difficult than attachment controlling us. That’s why this analogy of a peacock digesting poison is given. The story is that peacocks enjoy the poison and they do not harm other living beings much, like other birds or animals do. So not only the peacock’s look has been developed by the poison, but the poison also prevents them from harming other beings. They are careful not to hurt other living beings. So, the comparison between a peacock and a bodhisattva is not only the development aspect of it, but the prevention aspect as well. What is the real message behind all this? To embrace the path of bliss-void.75 Void refers to wisdom, which is emptiness and its related activities. Bliss refers to love-compassion and its related activities, technically called the method aspects. Different Buddhist schools of thought76 developed different viewpoints on wisdom. And even in the non-Bud- dhist schools the bottom line of this wisdom boils down to the negation of the self—the self that is grasped by the self-grasping mind, and is cherished by the self-cherishing mind. Chandrakirti has said,

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All negative karma, negative emotions and faults come out of jigta.77

Jigta refers to the mind or the view that perceives the perishable aggregates as the self. Yogis will refute that self. This is what Chandrakirti says. The non-Buddhist schools and the four plus one Buddhist schools have different ways of perceiving and projecting what the focal point is. But ultimately everyone strongly recommends the Prasangika viewpoint. The Prasangika school of thought says that everything existing is terms and conditions only; there is nothing to be pointed out as ‘this is the one.’ This means that there will be no end to the Russian doll.78 Everything is just terms and conditions; that is the definition of existence. This particular void and bliss has not only to be embraced, but has to become the mental and physical aspects of the individual: the combination of void and bliss, of clear light and illusion body.79 When you say ‘Now here’, these two words include all the things we just talked. Looking at it from there [you’ll see that] only a hero like a peacock can digest that, not a coward like a crow.

5 de chir sem pa’ ma ja ta wu yi dug gi nag dang dra wai nyön mong nam chü du jar la khor wai nag su jug dang du lang la dug di shom par ja

5 Therefore peacock-like heroes must convert Afflictions that resemble a jungle of poison into an elixir And enter the jungle of cyclic existence;

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Embracing the afflictions, heroes must destroy their poison.

Now this verse is simple. ‘Therefore, by the great heroes who are like a peacock, the poison-like samsaric things, particularly the afflictive emotions, are taken as elixir, as nectar. Doing so, they can enter the forest of poison, the jungle of samsara.’ Why? By embracing the afflictions and destroying its poison, they gain control over it. That is how bodhisattvas are recommended to not only embrace the sufferings but the negative emotions, the afflictions, as well. We usually hear, ‘Hey, it is poison, don’t go nearby; this is attachment don’t go nearby; these are negative emotions, don’t go nearby, walk away, get rid of them.’ Here you see the difference between Mahayana and Theravada, or Hinayana. The Theravada will say, ‘Don’t touch the gold and the silver. You may develop attachment and lose the life of liberation.’ They will put any gold within a little cloth, so they are not literally touching it. Mahayana says, ‘Don’t run away; it is part of your life. You are living with it, you sleep with it, and you get up with it. So don’t run away. Take advantage of it.’ If you have overpowered ego, then like a peacock you can transform the power of the poison and use it. It becomes energy with which you can help and do whatever is needed. If you don’t have ego controlling you, and you have great compassion as well as understanding of reality—that is the absolute bodhimind—then there is a possibility for the individual person to even utilize negative emotions such as hatred and attachment into the liberating path.

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Let us take attachment as an example, in particular the attachment to our life style. When our living standard is improving we become happy, but we also develop a strong attachment. So, we should entertain some different thoughts about that. We should think, ‘I did this a number of times in my lives and every time when I did this it increased my difficulties to maintain that living standard. I had to suffer more. I had to work more. I had to pay more and do more to maintain this.’ Then watch your mind for a minute and see what is happening with that attachment. At that moment the attachment is not really carrying the banner because it has slowed down a little bit. Otherwise, we have this drive that will drive you. It may be for different reasons, some more noble than others, but drive is drive. So who is driving you? Are you driven by your Rolls-Royce? Maybe so, yet you are still carrying the banner saying, ‘I have a Rolls-Royce here.’ Then think, ‘But I can’t make the payment.’ When you watch your mind at that moment you see that this banner-carrying mind is not waving the banner so much now. Then a second thought may come up and influence you, ‘I don’t want the Rolls-Royce, take it away.’ That again is the crow’s way of doing, not the peacock’s way. The peacock’s way is, ‘All right, I bought it, I shall maintain it and I shall make it absolutely beneficial for all living beings.’ That is how you transform it. But it is not the big fat lazy guy just saying from the mouth, ‘I am using this to benefit all living beings.’ Sometimes we say that as an excuse. Now, you may be a real estate agent and think, ‘I need a good car because of my job.’ Somebody could say, ‘That is an excuse. All you

76 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS need is a reasonable car. That will do.’ But on the other hand, if you have a good car you can impress more people. By impressing more people they trust you more. Because of the trust you may sell more houses. There is truth in that. So according to this verse, making more and more money is not terrible; it’s good. By making more money you can benefit yourself and others more.Y ou don’t have to be broke all the time. You can pay your loans and then you can utilize that. This verse talks about transformation of afflictive emotions into elixir. In Tibetan the word is chü, which means vitamins or something like that. For example, if you eat blueberries you get antioxidants. We are not talking about the color or taste of the blueberries, but about the antioxidants. Chü is the antioxidant. In case of eating meat, chü is the iron or protein in there. It is whatever the essence of benefit or whatever nutrition it is that helps you. So you want to transform the poison of negative emotions into such a chü. That is meant by: Embracing the afflictions, heroes must destroy their poison. In the Vajrayana they tell you that destroying the tree- like negativities is not done by cutting down the tree but by going inside and eating it from inside out. Worms and insects do that and that way destroy the tree; it is one of the examples occasionally given in Vajrayana. That is the meaning of destroying the negative emotions by utilizing them. This teaching here is not exactly Vajrayana but it is telling you the same. So therefore a hero goes into the forest of samsara and embraces those negativities and by embracing them destroys them.

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This text is related to Yamantaka. [Therefore] the prostration at the beginning of the text is done to Yamantaka. [The practice of] Yamantaka is the method of transforming hatred80 into the path [to enlightenment]. Likewise in Vajrayana we have Heruka Chakrasamvara for transforming obsession81 into the path. That means, if we know how to handle things, if we know the techniques, then even though negative emotions are poison, there is a possibility to transform them into the path! It is not easy, but it is not impossible. Up to here the text gives the general explanation of samsara, the root of samsara and how samsara works.

6 da ni rang wang me par khor wa yi dag tu dzin pa dü kyi pho nya di rang dö kyi dö ro dang phar thröl la shän dön ka’ chä dang du lang war ja

6 From now on I will distance myself from this demon’s emissary Self grasping—which [makes me] wander helplessly And seeks [only] selfish happiness and prosperity; I will joyfully embrace hardship for the sake of others.

Self-cherishing and self-grasping. The word ‘demon’s emissary’ here refers to self-grasping. What are they talking about? In this case, when they say ‘the demon within us,’ it is self-cherishing and self-grasping is the agent of this devil.82 When we begin to look within us, these two, self-cherishing and self-grasping are very much interconnected. Self-cherishing is the one that makes the self so important:

78 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS it is everything I cannot do without; it is like a master living inside. The perceiving mind is serving that master, the self-cherishing, because it is me, it is my territory that is coming in. The idea is that I have to grasp and protect [myself] because I am the most important. Self-cherishing is the one who sits inside and dictates; self-grasping is a little less important in this case. However, it depends on how intelligent the individual practitioner is. If you are very intelligent, you can get rid of self-grasping before you get rid of self-cherishing. There are non-bodhisattvas who have realized the wisdom [of selflessness] before developing bodhimind. Nagarjuna said there are practitioners who recognize this wisdom way before they even challenge self-cherishing. I had an interesting experience at the University of Michigan in ‘87 or ‘88. They gave me the opportunity to teach Tibetan language as an adjunct lecturer. There was a visiting Japanese professor who was translating a particular verse, but could not figure it out. We met together. The professor had the idea that bodhimind has to be developed first and then wisdom comes in on the first path and the second path,83 and at the path of seeing, you really see the wisdom. This verse however talks about the fact that there are people who overcome self-grasping before overcoming self-cherishing. For normal people, self-cherishing is easier to handle than self-grasping, because it is really hard to find what you are grasping at. It needs a lot of thinking and meditating, and a lot of purification. With just analyzing alone, you cannot get the wisdom at all. Analyzing can lead you towards it. Intellectually you get closer and closer, but the

79 Gelek Rimpoche ultimate obstacle is within the individual. To be able to see what you are grasping at you have to overcome the internal obstacles, which are the negativities created by the afflictive emotions. That’s why it is very tough. Self-cherishing, on the other hand, is not that tough to recognize. Whenever we talk about ‘me me me’, we may think we are talking about wisdom, but actually we are talking about self-cherishing. ‘What about me!?’ is self- cherishing, not ego or self-grasping talk. [To understand] self-grasping, one needs to see what is being grasped at. Analyzing alone will not get it; you need purification and accumulation of merit. That doesn’t look very scientific, but experience tells us about it from that angle. As Einstein has contributed to the world so much, a person raised the question, ‘Do you consider Einstein an arya, a person who sees?’ I don’t know. Logical analyzing will be able to come to the same point. However, clearing the obstacles is also necessary and that is done through purification and accumulation of merit. Otherwise we will reach a certain level and then get stuck.

‘Wander helplessly’ refers to ourselves in our present position. Think about how we did get born, how we lived so far, how we are living now, how we going to go, what’s going to happen. We are really wandering helplessly. No doubt about it. We call some places ‘my home’, ‘my workplace’ and so on, but we are truly wandering homeless persons. The real punks are we. We came into this world by wandering; we are living here wandering. We are helpless. We don’t know what’s going to happen in the next minute. We can

80 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS drop dead, we can get hurt physically, mentally, emotionally. Anything can happen. We have no control over our life, but we pretend we do. We struggle to control our life but things don’t work the way we think they do. We mis- calculate what others do, which is clearly indicating that we cannot control our own life. That does not mean we should not plan anything. We do have to plan; we do have to work, but remember: we have no control. What’s supposed to happen is not necessarily going to happen. I see huge differences of cultural expectations. What Americans think should happen is not necessarily agreeable to any other culture. We do presume that, but then we make a huge mess. So, wandering helplessly in the forest of samsara is a true statement for us. We don’t even know how we came into this world. Even if we knew we couldn’t have made it any different. We helplessly continue. We keep on experiencing continuously and continuously have good learning experiences but we still can’t control our lives. That tells us how helpless we are. Causing all this is this is the master and emissary pair of self-cherishing and ego-grasping makes us always want ‘joy and happiness.’ The commentary says, ‘Throw them away like a dead body’, meaning: don’t let us go according to the wishes of these two; they will make us seek samsaric happiness continuously and will never let us embrace the suffering of others.’ Exactly this is the problem! What we need to do is just the opposite. We need to be a bad person to the self-cherishing and ‘joyfully embrace hardship for the sake of others.’ [So think]:

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In order to develop joy and happiness for all others, I will embrace the suffering of all beings. Yet, if I still have desire for myself, what should I do? I should recognize it and give my joy and happiness to others.

They say ‘if.’ Why? Because most bodhisattvas will not have that; if they are bodhisattvas. But in case someone somewhere should give up, it says ‘if.’ Then you have to do the exact opposite of these two negativities.

The essence of the different yanas Hinayana. The essence Buddha’s teaching is liberating yourself from suffering and the cause of suffering. Many methods have been given to do that and many of them are done by strict discipline. That is great, but hard for everybody to follow. Truly. If you look into the buddhist celibacy community, they are supposed to be very disciplined, so much so that you should not look aside more than two feet, because that way you may not encounter with any attraction. This is forcefully disciplining the individual by cutting off attachment. It is true discipline: mental discipline together with physical discipline.

Mahayana. The essence of the Mahayana is compassion. Compassion cuts the ego, although the direct opposite of ego is wisdom. Wisdom without compassion becomes dry academic knowledge; compassion changes our motivation. Until that develops, it is only ‘me me me’; when compas sion is known and developed well, it becomes ‘we we we.’ Then when you perfect that, it becomes ‘all living beings.’

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This indicates how the individual changes from yana to yana, from vehicle to vehicle.

Vajrayana. Within the Mahayana you have the Vajrayana. That is where we talk about transforming. We sometimes make a large distinction between Sutrayana and Vajrayana and to a certain extent it is true, but honestly speaking everything that comes to us through the Tibetan tradition, is Vajrayana, even the Four Noble Truths. Without Vajrayana we can’t survive. Old people will say, ‘We live with Vajray- ana, we sleep with Vajrayana, we die with Vajrayana.’ Other people think, ‘Oh, these rituals and hand movements that is Vajrayana.’ No. Mantra, yes, is Vajrayana. Mantra means: protection of the mind. Real Vajrayana is transformation. It is a very strong discipline in a very relaxed manner. Let’s look at hatred. What does that do to the individual? How does my hatred affect me? If you look into it with wisdom, you find: ‘my hatred will hurt me, it tortures me, I presume everybody hates me, I isolate myself from everybody else and I become suspicious of everybody else.’ These are the vivid examples. Hatred sometimes comes to the point of, ‘I kill him because he will kill me.’ Murders are committed by hatred. Vajrayana gives you the wisdom that says, ‘there is no enemy outside me; the real culprit is within me, my self-cherishing, my ego; it is not those over there.’ We have a friend in New York, an elderly Afro-American lady. Once I was doing a teaching there and she asked me: how do you look into Buddha, what is it all about? I was naïve and also short of time and I said, ‘Oh, just like God.’

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A month later she told me, ‘Well Rimpoche, if Buddha is God . . . I am not interested to become God.’ Then one day she came and said, ‘I thank you’ and gave me a kiss. She said, ‘Everywhere I go people treat me better. Earlier when I did go for shopping in the department stores, I had to fight for my rights. Now I come and say ‘thank you’ to them, they say ‘thank you’ to me and everyone is nice to me.’ Whether Buddhism helped her or not, she had a change of mind. Before, she probably always had the idea of racial difficulties, ‘they look down on me’,etc . The essence of the Vajrayana is the combination of compassion and wisdom. The wisdom aspect here is: what is the ego, where does it come from? We really have to look into it very carefully. Then we begin to see it is only our confusion. And also we see: it is not as solid as it seems. Our normal way of looking is that everything is so solid; it is only this, only that. That is very very tough. When you look at it with the Vajrayana eye, it is not so solid at all. It is simply dependent rise: depending on time and conditions things happen to be. So it is not as real and solid as we thought. That way it becomes easier to transform. That is what is talked about in verse 5: ‘transforming poison into elixir’, changing poison into nectar, changing hatred into compassion, changing obsession into pure love, changing horrible events, like war, into peace. It is not picking up the hatred and say, ‘Oh now it is something else.’ No, it goes through a process. When the individual looks into a situation carefully, one begins to see it by oneself. That is what Buddhism is all about, actually.

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As long as we maintain and entertain the ego, we become slaves of ego. If we could find a person called ‘Mr. Ego’, then we could get him and beat him up. But no; it is not like that. Then what is it? It is the way we perceive things within ourselves. Then ego becomes [‘me’].84 That is the way that ego exists and the self is tortured. I am not saying we are schizophrenic, but we function as being schizophrenic. Each and every one of us cherishes oneself so strongly. That is not love, it is holding [ourselves] tight. That makes us not to care for anyone else, or for anything else. We care for nothing, except ‘me.’ That really is going too far. That happens to be wrong! So much so that you are destroying yourself completely. We don’t have to look far. Just take Hitler as an example. Cherishing himself and his race and then destroy everyone else, finally destroyed himself. To a certain extent Saddam too. Mostly those brutal dictators do that. And as we see, that brings them suffering. On the other hand, persons like Gandhi and Mother Theresa totally care for everybody else; not at the expense of themselves, they do care for themselves too. And see the result. Who says mother Theresa is not a nice person? So, you see: who hurts whom? And how? You clearly see it is the self-cherishing that is the real enemy within us. [So think],

Self-cherishing is the actual devil within me, that makes me to circle without any freedom in samsara, with neither choice nor control for whatsoever. Therefore [from now] I am going to cherish others, endure the sufferings of others, and I will do it voluntarily.

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Outline 2: Give and take (tong len)

7 lä kyi dä shing nyön mong gom pa yi ri thün kye gu nam kyi dug ngäl nam kyi dö dag gi teng du pung war ja

7 Propelled by karma and habituated to the afflictions— The sufferings of all beings who share this nature I will heap them upon this self that yearns for happiness.

Give and take, tong and len in the bodhisattva training is: giving the benefit and profit to others; taking the losses and disadvantages on oneself. That is just the opposite of what we normally do: we normally take the profit and give the losses to others. Here the message is: take the losses in and give the profit to others and by giving away the profit, in the end you get a huge profit.Tong len is this. Many will tell you that anything that happens in our life that is due to the self. I tell you: that self is not the real self; it is the ego. Every suffering and pain we experience, is not something made by somebody; it is our own deeds that give their results. We are addicted to afflictions and driven by karma. That’s why doing the opposite of that is so extremely difficult. Therefore we collect all the sufferings that we have experienced so far in samsara and we think:

I have been wandering around without any control. I experience countless continuations of suffering. These are all due to ego-grasping, self-grasping, which has cre-

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ated negative karmas and their results. I am addicted to the afflictions and that’s why this is happening.

So from now I need to put all the pains and sufferings on this very mind that says, ‘I must enjoy, I must have this, I must have that.’ I will take all the pains and sufferings and throw them at the ego-grasping, because that’s the one that created all the problems and deserves it.

Outline 3: Recognizing what you have to give up and the antidote

8 gäl te rang dö thri wa shug pai tse dog la rang gi de kyi dro la jin ji tar dag la khor gyi log drub tse rang gi yeng pä län she nying tsim dreng

8 When selfish craving enters my heart, I will expel it and offer my happiness to all beings. If those around me rise in mutiny against me, I will relish it, thinking, ‘This is due to my own negligence.’

We have the vows and commitments of the bodhimind and are supposed to be totally altruistic. But in case it happens that selfish thoughts do come in and you develop a desire, you have to do the exact opposite. Instead of entertaining this, you say to yourself,

How horrible you are. I did not expect you would do such a thing. I came from very far, up to this level, I came

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from the points of embracing human life, to impermanence, to recognizing the sufferings and developing the desire to have liberation, to taking refuge and the meditations on the sufferings in particular lives and in general in samsara.

I was seeking liberation and seeing that not only me, but all others, my loved ones, my near and dear ones, are in the same conditions and I have committed myself to develop love and compassion for all beings. I have developed the ‘special mind’, I developed the bodhimind. I have come up to this level and now this is happening all over again. How horrible you are. Shame on you!.

And then you do just the opposite of what you wanted to do. If you wanted something, give it away to people. If you want happiness, give it to others. Don’t even think about it.

Now the last two lines: Suppose you’ve been helpful to someone, whether it is your children, your students, disciples, your parents or whoever. You tried to be good, bring your kids up and then they may go against you. The verse uses the word ‘mutiny.’ Think, ‘This is the fault of my own negligence.’ It may be only Tibetan culture, but when the kids fight among each other and one kid does something wrong and then has to face the consequences, the other one will say, ‘Did you enjoy that?’ That’s another way of saying, ‘You deserved it.’ That is the relish they are talking about here. The message is to see that every pain and problem we experience is not caused by someone else, but is due to our own negative deeds that now give their results. As you can see

88 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS by yourself this text gives you so many sharp things. Once we are going to see it, it pushes all our buttons completely. Samsara. We are talking about samsara in general: the sufferings and problems of samsara. Samsara is a Sanskrit word. Earlier we said, life does not begin here and does not end here. At Buddha’s lifetime when Buddha was asked by someone, ‘Where is the beginning and where is the end?’ he kept silent. Buddha chose not to say something. According to Buddha, as far as we understand, there is no beginning. (It is like sometimes is said in the west ‘all souls are old souls.’) That means, we are continuously running somewhere. We are continuing in different parts of existence. Buddhism gives you six realms of different life forms: hell beings, ghosts, animals, humans, demi-gods and gods. At some levels the beings have serious pains, like in hell; at other levels there is less pain, like in the human realm, and some have no pain, like the samsaric gods. All of them we have been through. According to the Buddha, we have been circling continuously. What makes you to continue in that is the ego.

Ego. A little earlier we mentioned the devil and the agent of the devil. The devil is the self-cherishing here and self- grasping or self-holding his agent. Self-grasping is said to be the source of all pains, all suffering. Sometimes it is called ma rig pa,85 sometimes dag zhin; combined together we call it ego. Of course, the word ego is used by the psychologists as self in the sense of self-esteem, but nowadays people use the word ego for the self-grasping. We are not the ego. As Lama

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Yeshe says ‘I, me, okay, good person; ego bad.’ ‘Me’ is an okay person that is normal, that’s fine. But when confusion and fear are coming together then they change the individual; the true individual somehow gets overpowered. We know that for ourselves by looking back into our own life: we have the fear of loosing, the fear of not getting what we want, the fear of pain etc.86 That twists the person so much that one is willing to sacrifice almost everything for the sake of what is called ‘happiness.’ Is there real ‘happiness’? What we project as happiness, is not there. Very few people will say, ‘I am happy and satisfied with life.’ Nearly everyone says, ‘Fine, but . . . .’ Always there is something that is not right. And always we have a false hope of it being ‘at the other side of the mountain.’ Then you cross that mountain and you find, again, it is not there. That is how we run after ‘happiness’ or joy; it evaporates, it disappears. That is driving the individual and it is going on till you die. That pain of suffering is what we call samsara. Not the suffering of one life, but the suffering of life after life. The pain and suffering is real, it gets us, all the time. Even what we call ‘happiness’ also gives you pain. Even if you win the Miss Universe contest, you still have ‘This is great, but. . .’ The ‘but’ expresses the dissatisfaction inside. That is samsara. It is not outside us; it is within the individual. It is searching projected happiness. It is a wild goose chase. Then you may think happiness is not there. Sure it is there. But we are not getting it. We are getting the false happiness. That is not your fault; it is the fault of ego. That is the confusion we talk about. That is the real problem. It

90 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS destroys our happiness, our joy. True joy is the joy that has never known suffering; that is completely hidden for us. Spiritual practice, spiritual work is supposed to bring the joy that has never known suffering. That is our goal. If we indulge in suffering projected as joy, it distances us from that real joy.

The following verses will put the blame where blame is due. When you read the text, you may think it is blaming the self, but remember it is blaming the devil, the self-cherishing. These verses tell us it is time for us to separate from this self-cherishing mind, that selfishness that is saying I‘ want happiness and joy’, to totally separate from that in order to help and serve others, willingly taking their pains and difficulties. If we do that, it hurts the devil inside; if we don’t do that it helps the devil inside. Knowing that, take in all pains and difficulties of everyone and put them on the devil, the self-cherishing within. It is that willingness [we need]. And in case we say, ‘I can’t do that, I must have my happiness, the coffee-shop’, give your coffee-shop happiness away, and you will have less headache. The word ‘negligence’ here means neglecting the wisdom of knowing that ego is the source of suffering.

9 lü la mi sö na tsa jung wai tse dro wai lü la nö pa kyäl wa yi lä ngän tsön cha rang la khor wa yin da ni na tsa ma lü rang la lang

9 When my body falls prey to unbearable illnesses, It is the weapon of evil karma returning on me

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For injuring the bodies of others; From now on I will take all sickness upon myself.

How to challenge our selfishness, our self-cherishing? Whenever we have self-cherishing, we get more and more suffering, but when we take on the suffering of others, we learn to give our joy and all good things to others. Taking is suffering and pain, and giving is all joy—just the opposite of what we normally do. When you have physical pain, realize this is nothing. Think,

I have hurt beings physically and as a consequence of that I’m suffering now. The weapon I used earlier to hurt others physically now comes back on me, like a boomerang. The solution for that is to take all illnesses and pain of everyone on me.

This is easy to say when you are not sick; when you are sick and have difficulties, you can’t say that. So, we should learn and think about this when we are not sick. At the time we get sick and have difficulties, no one can remind you; that will create additional suffering. So, at that time one has to remember it. We can utilize our illnesses to purify the negative deeds we have accumulated and we can even pray,

May I get sick mores so that all negativities I have, now get purified once and for all. Not only my negativities, but even everybody else’s. May my sickness substitute for everybody else’s so that no one needs to get sick. What I am experiencing now is the consequence of my own deeds. By utilizing this, may one have to experience that pain and suffering. May my pain here, substitute for everybody else.

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Sincerely praying that from the heart is actually accepting the pain and sufferings, which is easier for the individual anyway. That does not mean you don’t treat yourself, like not taking medicine. Some buddhists say: let me suffer more and because this is my purification I can’t take medicines. That is extreme. That is wrong. There are some christian groups who will say, ‘God wishes me to suffer, so I can’t take medicines and my children can’t take medicines.’ All that is extreme; that is not appreciating the value of human life; it is lack of compassion for yourself and for those around you. That is wrong You may also have the thought, ‘Why me? Why should I have to suffer? Why not someone else?’ That is the other extreme. Sometimes that even goes into ‘I can’t take any more so I end my life.’ People do that. Those are all wrong. Both sides are extreme; go the middle way.

This verse is saying that when we have strong physical suffering, it is the result of hurting other people physically. It is the Wheel of Sharp Weapons that we have created and is getting back onto us now. So we should take all pains, all sicknesses on ourselves. Earlier we kept on thinking that we must give the pains to others, especially to t hose we don’t like. We might have been wishing that our enemies may get sick, collapse, have a heart-attack, and drop dead. In future we should avoid this and take all the suffering on ourselves. Do not think that wishing something bad for others has no power. As a consequence of this, we are having this suffering now. When you realize this, embrace all physical pains. Don’t wish them on

93 Gelek Rimpoche others. That is what lo jong teaches us. This is a very powerful way to cut the karma that brings us illnesses. However, we are very afraid of doing it; we’ll shit ourselves. That is because of our self-cherishing addiction. There is a way to handle that. Because we have fear, let us not take everybody’s suffering now, but let’s take our own future pain:

I am willing to take whatever illness or physical trouble I will have tonight. Actually how happy I will be if I have a little headache now and that substitutes for headache tomorrow, next week, next year, all my life. How wonderful that is!

In order to protect myself, I shall not do harm to anyone. And any harm or illnesses that come along, I would like to embrace, so that other people do not have to experience it. I would like to take the sufferings of all people on ‘me me me’, the ego.

Now I recognize this self-cherishing, this ego-grasping, I want to separate myself from that.

And I like to engage in the difficult practices, like morality, generosity etc. for my own sake and for the sake of others.

You have to honestly pray for that from the bottom of your heart; then you become a hero. Through that tremendous virtue is generated and tremendous negativity is purified! That is the point you are hitting here, because our culture will tell you, ‘Why me, why me?’

10 rang gi sem la dug ngäl jung wai tse nge par shän gyi sem gyü trug pa yi

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lä ngän tsön cha rang la khor wa yin da ni dug ngäl ma lü rang la lang

10 When my mind falls prey to suffering, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me For definitely causing turbulence in the hearts of others. From now on I will take all suffering upon myself.

This verse is about the mind. It says, ‘When I am so miserable, so upset, when my life is so miserable mentally, it is because I did the same to someone else. Why do I cry and why I am sad? Because I made others do the same thing.’ Does not that sound familiar? Now, to remedy this, take all the pain. Don’t torture the other person; that again creates karma that will torture you. Ego will say, ‘You can’t be a doormat, you must stand for yourself!’ But without knowing, you create trouble for the future. Take it on you, do not create more suffering. That is the act of a hero. We do the other way round, ‘He has given me this much trouble, I can’t take it, I will teach him a lesson, twist him a little bit.’ That will make more trouble for ourselves in the future! If you look carefully, this is the essence of non-violence. It does not make you a doormat. This is easily misunder- stood. Doesn’t the bible say to turn the other cheek? Great, if you can. But the real point is: try to change your mind. Look at terrorism. Terror is bringing suffering and pain unexpectedly, anywhere, to anybody. No one wants terror. No one wants suffering. Yet we get it. I am a strong believer of this: terrorism cannot be solved by having a gun in one hand and a pile of dollars in the other hand. It only

95 Gelek Rimpoche can be changed internally, by understanding that it causes pain, that it costs lives. Only if understanding enters the mind, things can be changed; honestly speaking. Especially if religions are involved, it becomes worse. That is what we experience. So, you see how important it is for the sake of the individual person to have a good spiritual path, a spiritual path that does not have violence. Mental suffering is very painful. I don’t have to tell you. You people are expert on that. Honestly, mental torture will make you literally continuously cry, unable to stop. You can’t even take a breath in between. Mental pains make you cry so badly. I’m quite sure you all have had that experience. When you get a shock surprise you cry and continuously maintain that sadness and then hide it, pretend not to have it; you put a little powder on the face, cover it up with a little lipstick and hide it inside. This verse tells us: don’t do that. When we have this suffering we have to think where did that come from? You will say, ‘So-and-so made me mad and insulted me and then dumped me.’ Or you could say, ‘I hurt So-and-so, I did this, I did that.’ It can go either this way or that way, depending on how people are playing with you. It is nothing but a game they are playing. Sometimes it is a little more serious but more or less all our mental pains are [like that]. Losing love and things like that are reality. I’m not talking about those; these are real and are mental pains too. If you trace them there is a cause for it. But that’s not the point. The point is, in such a reality, what can you do? It’s interesting; you can’t change the situation. You can simply pray, ‘This has happened to me and may my positive

96 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS karmas fulfill the wishes of the lost loved ones. The pain that I experience, may it substitute for the pain of all other people under similar conditions, so that they don’t have to suffer so much.’ Is that actually going to happen? No. It may not even ease your pain. But it creates an opportunity for you to generate tremendous virtue. That is what lo jong tells you. Man-made suffering is different, ‘So-and-so hurt me, I’m hurt so much’, and nonstop sobbing and crying, that is different. Maybe it is reality. Maybe [you realize] ‘I’m suffering now because I’ve played the same trick on the same person or others earlier and this now is the consequence that I’m experiencing.’ Instead of that think,

May I have more severe pain than I have now and may that substitute everybody else’s pain. This Wheel of Sharp Weapons of my own creation is now hitting me. So now I would like to accept and embrace all pains.

Meditation—tong len87 When you have pain on your body, think ‘this is the weapon [of negative karma returning on me for injuring the bodies] of others.’ You can do a meditation on that. Whether you have as witness the Buddha, the Guru, God, or are witness-less, think:

Why do I get sick all the time? Because I was harmful, I was offending people. I have hurt, injured, harmed and created physical pain for others, this life or some other life and that karma is now getting me. The weapon I used to hurt others physically now comes back on me, like a boomerang. I was searching for ‘my happiness’ and this

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is the result. From now on I must take all the pains [of others] on me. Therefore I am here to welcome the pain.

See the lama inseparable from the Buddha in front of you, with or without lineage tree.

Do a brief Seven Limbs Prayer, like e.g.

I bow down in body, speech and mind. I offer the best I have to give both real and imagined to fill the space between us. I regret and purify all transgressions. I rejoice in all virtues. I request you to remain until total enlightenment. I request wise and compassionate guidance. I dedicate my merit for the sake of all beings.

Mentally make offerings and if you want, offer a mandala.

When you have physical suffering think:

I wish I could take the physical pain from all beings, so that they don’t have to suffer. May my illness now substitute for all who have to suffer. I welcome the pain and illnesses and I ask whoever is up there, please help me, bring me pain, and bring me more, so that others don’t have to suffer. May my pain, my illness substitute for others’ pain. Help me to do this.

And if you have cancer, think:

May this cancer of mine grow stronger, may it destroy my

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ego and may thereby happen that no one has to experience such a cancer. May I be able to do that.

If you are afraid of taking on you all people’s illnesses, then take on the sufferings you yourself are going to have tonight, tomorrow, next month, next year, etc. And wish,

May my sickness substitute for others so they need not get sick. You may even pray,

May I get sick more, so that all negativities I accumulated get purified once and for all. As this sickness is the consequence of my own deeds, may my pain substitute for everybody else’s.

It is easy to say this when you are not sick; when you are, it is difficult. I expect us to learn this when we are not sick, and when we get sick, no one will tell us, so then we have to remember that we can purify the negative deeds we have accumulated. Praying that from your heart is accepting your pain and suffering, which also makes it easier for the individual to deal with one’s sickness. Mind you, that does not mean you don’t treat yourself! Some Buddhists say, ‘I won’t take medicines, just let me suffer more, because then I get more purification . . .’ That is extreme and that is wrong. Do not do that. That is not accepting the preciousness of our human life. It is lack of compassion for yourself and for those around you. On the other hand you may have the thought, ‘Why me?’ Why not someone else?’ That is also not good, that is the other side, the extreme of taking one’s life. Both sides are extreme. Go the middle way.

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When you have mental suffering, mental problems, think,

Why am I unhappy with my life, with my friend, with my job? Why is this happening to me? Mental unhappi- ness, depression and worries definitely come from whenI hurt others’ feeling, made other persons mad, and harmed them mentally.

This is the weapon returning on me. It is the consequence of hurting other people’s mind. If I take that as stress, as ‘Why me?’ Why do I have to suffer?’, it increases the mental difficulties rather than decreasing them. SoI try to bring in awareness and alertness, both, and think:

I am not going to worry, but I am going to do this: May this suffering now, substitute for all mental difficulties in my life now and my future lives.

Then expand this to your spouse, your children, your future children, to all your friends and even all living beings.

That way you are taking the disadvantage and turning it into an advantage.

This has to be applied very carefully. Don’t overdo it. And do it with a strong belief and trust in Buddha’s word. Sometimes you may get aversion to it: why should I do it? If you give in to that, not only you are not taking advantage of the unfortunate incident, but your advantage will turn into a disadvantage. Do it the wise way: slowly, gradually. When you start with this practice, you will be afraid. When you say, ‘May this substitute for everybody’s suffer-

100 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS ing . . . .’ it is not going to [literally] happen, so you do not have to be afraid of it. But if you are afraid, start with your own future sufferings. Mental difficulties you find much more in the West than in the East. Western people probably pay more attention to mental problems. It seems that people who have no eco- nomic and health problems, have more mental problems than those who have less wealth and live a poorer life. For those who have sufferings in their life, it looks like they don’t make so much mental problems. The way and how the individual perceives things make a difference. The way we take care, by relaxing, taking precautions etc., is great, is important. But the additional suffering of ‘Why me?’ and ‘I am doomed!’ is unnecessary. No one is doomed. No one is helpless, hopeless. Everybody gets better. Even if you die, you get better. All sufferings and pains are temporary; all joy and happiness are temporarily. Here [the text] says, ‘It is the consequence of hurting others mentally, of ‘causing turbulence in the hearts of others.’

11 rang nyi tre kom drag pö sir wa na thram dang ku throg ser na jä pa yi lä ngän tsön cha rang la khor wa yin da ni tre kom ma lü rang la lang

11 When I am tormented by extreme hunger and thirst, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me For engaging in deception, theft, and miserly acts; From now on I will take all hunger and thirst upon myself.

101 Gelek Rimpoche

This needs a little explanation. The idea here is suffering from hunger and thirst. That is still reality if you look at Dar- fur, etc. However, the original idea of the author is the fasting practice88 that practitioners do in a specific period. That is, any difficulties that we encounter by fasting, using that for purifying, ‘Whatever suffering that I and all people have created for other people, by cutting their sources of food and drinks, I purify [by this fasting practice now].’ So the actual training here is turning it the other way round: voluntary taking upon you hunger and thirst in order to purify. When in your visualization, you see the sufferings in Africa etc., [you think], ‘May my little hunger here substitute for all those who suffer from hunger and thirst.’ You know it does not [literally] happen, but it is a way of thinking that will help you and [indirectly] help them. It helps me for sure. Don’t suffer extra; if you have to take some sugar to get your sugar level back where it should be, do so. Do both. We think that stealing, cheating and being stingy will make us rich. No; it makes us hungry and thirsty instead!

12 wang me shän gyi khöl shing nar wai tse män la dang shing drän du köl wa yi lä ngän tsön cha rang la khor wa yin da ni lü sog shän gyi dön du köl

12 When I am powerless and suffer in servitude to others, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me For being hostile to the weak and subjugating them; From now on I will employ my body and life in the service of others.

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We are good at being forceful against those hopeless ones who can’t challenge us. We like to act like heroes in their presence and take advantage of them. In traditional cultures we use the weak ones as servants. In Tibet the saying goes, ‘We always like to love the rich person’s son.’ In America also we like the rich and famous and when they do something we like to copy it. That’s why all business people have the rich and famous do their commercials, whether it is Nike shoes or whatever. People do that, right? How many people come into Tibetan Buddhism because of Richard Gere or other movie stars? That is how we function. We follow the rich and famous and we look down on the weak and suffering ones. We do have some sympathy for the people in Darfur but when we begin to think about it, we think, ‘Oh, it is the fault of their leader. Why did they elect that guy anyway?’ The next verses are all very similar. Different ways of embracing suffering are shown.

13 mi nyän tsig nam na war jung wa na thra ma la sog ngag gi nong pa yi lä ngän tsön cha rang la khor wa yin da ni ngag gi kyön la mä par ja

13 When unpleasant words reach my ears, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me For my verbal offenses, such as divisive speech; From now on I will condemn flawed speech.

This is very true. Whenever we have problems when people are saying something, it always seems ‘this is something bad

103 Gelek Rimpoche about me.’ It is not always their fault, though we think it is. Unless we have created such karma, we will not experience it. Therefore it is a consequence of our doing the same things. If we don’t want that, what we have to do is watch our tongue!

14 gang yang ma dag yül du kye pa na ma dag nang wa tag par gom pa yi lä ngän tsön cha rang la khor wa yin da ni dag nang ba’ shig gom war ja

14 When I am born in a place of impurity; It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me For always cultivating impure perceptions; From now on I will cultivate only pure perceptions.

The verse talks about taking birth in a difficult area. Physical conditions can be very difficult, not only in Tibet. When we look at Ladakh, it is very hard: dry, cold, miserable, streets all going up and down. When recently I went back tot Tibet I began to realize how much barren land it is! I never realized. But you know what Ladakhis themselves call it? ‘Pure Karma Land.’ The earlier Ladakh teachers have emphasized that because of the difficult area where they are born and because of the constant problems with the Muslim faith, they lack pure karma. To remind themselves that they need pure karma, they call their land ‘Pure Karma Land.’ It’s obvious they need pure karma. In one way they have met with the great Buddhist teachings, and that is great; on the other hand, it is a very difficult physical area.I n order to create a pure karmic land, you have to generate pure perception.

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That’s the reason why in Vajrayana ordinary appearance and ordinary perception are the object of negation.

Pure perception. To overcome the obstacles of ordinary perception and conceptualization is to see everything as pure. There is a way of doing that and that is Vajrayana. You generate yourself in the form of a yidam89 and you generate all environments in the form of a pure land. That means, all houses etc are generated in the form of a mandala, all beings around are angels, dakini’s and all of those. That way of doing is not kidding yourself, but bringing in pure perception that will materialize, that will become real, at least at the time when you become fully enlightened. So from now one should have a pure perception. Pure perception is positive thinking. Tibetan Buddhism gives you so much positivity! You imagine yourself an enlightened being! You look at every male as Avalokiteshvara, the embodiment of compassion, and at every female as Tara, the mother of all buddhas. That is changing your perception. And that will change your reality!

Moving towards Vajrayana It is never too early to take initiation. Some people become allergic to it: ‘Oh Vajrayana is not meant for me.’ Others would like to take initiation, so I let them take initiation. But I tell them, ‘Your major practice remains the Lamrim. You may have a daily commitment of saying the sadhana. That’s fine; just say the words and think about it a little bit, but spend your major time on the Lamrim. That’s the one that will make a difference to us.’

105 Gelek Rimpoche

Vajrayana is a totally different system. For example, at the Lamrim level, our target of what we want to get rid of is negative emotions and negative karma; in particular self-cherishing and ego-grasping. When you get into the Vajrayana, the target changes. The target then is ordinary perception and conceptualization rather than all those negative emotions. It is presumed you are already done with this. Since it is an opportunity, one must take this opportunity because Vajrayana is very rare. Extremely rare. Out of thousand buddhas in this eon, maybe two will carry the Vajrayana. So, one cannot afford to miss the opportunity. But along with that, your major focus must be on the Lamrim. If that does not make a difference in your life, Vajrayana will do nothing! If you make a difference in your life with the Lamrim, then when you reach to that level, Vajrayana will make a tremendous difference. For individual practitioners in order make a difference to themselves, the day is divided into two categories: actual session and in-between sessions. Even though not in retreat, if you make a division of session and in-between sessions it will make a hell of a difference in your life.

Preliminaries. The session begins in the morning. with the six prerequisites, the six preliminaries, or whatever name you care to give it. The moment we hear the word ‘preliminary,’ it has a psychological effect on us. We look down on it. No. The preliminaries are for all of us, every day of our life: cleansing, laying out your altar, preparing offerings with presentation of art, sitting according to Vairochana

106 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS

Buddha’s style of sitting, correcting your thoughts and generating a special virtuous mind. These are all things we need to do every day. We look down on them very much, and sometimes our time will not permit them. Can you imagine telling the working American to get up in the morning and clean your bedroom before you do anything else? It is almost impossible. Our life is such that the moment we jump out of the bed, we jump into the shower or not, we pick up coffee and a hamburger, get in the car and go. This is the life we have. If you tell that person, ‘The first thing you need to do is clean up your room,’ it doesn’t sound right, but it is. Even you can’t clean your room in the morning, it’s fine, as long as you clean it. And you have to lay your altar. The altar is important, but some people like to hide it. I personally don’t like hiding the altar at all, but some people do because maybe corporate America doesn’t accept having an altar. On the other hand, Vajrayana will tell you secrecy is important. They aren’t saying to keep the image secret. The Chinese published all the best artwork available in multi- colored books available everywhere. In every art store and every bookstore you see the yab-yum images. What is meant is that you keep your individual practice secret. When we do a short initiation in public, we will skip generating the individual receivers in the form of the yidam. We skip it because that is the losing of secrecy; not the thangka. If you don’t want to have an altar in your living room, fine; if you want to have it in your closet, fine. There’s nothing wrong with it. But don’t put your altar in your closet in order to hide it. You put it in there in order to make it

107 Gelek Rimpoche inaccessible to anyone else. It is the mind that makes a difference. If you think in your mind, ‘I have to hide it’, it is wrong. If you think ‘I can’t make this totally available to everybody,’ then it’s different. The act of offering is important. Yes: you can imagine everything, but at the same time, a little bit of physical offering is necessary. If your offering is all mental and nothing physical, it’s not a good offering. Prostration is very good for you. It is one of the best ways to purify our negativities. It is also good exercise. A person like me should do a lot of prostrations, but I am unable to do them right now. A number of people here did a lot of prostrations, and that’s very good. Creating the Field of Merit and making the seven limb offerings –’I bow down…’ etc. are an everyday requirement. Don’t look down on them and say it is only a preliminary. It is not for the kid who just joined the club; it is for all of us. One should do at least that much every day. It is a very important thing. It is the beginning of our session. Accord- ing to the Buddha and our Buddhist teachings, you do your session early in the morning. But if you can’t, you have to do it later in the day. My own personal opinion is: if you do your commitments in the morning before anything happens, it’s much better.

Rimpoche’s teachers’ schedule. My teacher Lochö Rimpoche told me, ‘morning is morning and evening is evening.’ You do your morning session in the morning and your evening session in the evening. That is Lochö Rimpoche’s world. He can do that. For us, it’s difficult.B etter do everything in

108 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS the morning, if you can. If you don’t do it in the morning, you may end up doing it after midnight, half asleep and then you fall asleep, not knowing whether you have said it or not. His Holiness does everything in the morning. He gets up 3:30 or no later than 4:30 in the morning. By 6:30, his first appointment starts, and he has done everything by then. That means you have to go to bed by 8 or 9. Kyabje Trijang Rimpoche went to bed by 8:30 or so. One time he invited me to dinner, and I didn’t realize dinner was 4:30. It was in Lhasa, and his attendants came to find me. I said, ‘Dinner? Dinner must be 7 or 8.’ They said, ‘No, it’s at 4:30. He is waiting.’ I had to run! Kyabje Ling Rimpoche stayed up a little later, but if you were late in the evening for dinner he always scolded you. One time I was at Song Rimpoche, and I said I had to go. Song Rimpoche was talking and talking and I said, ‘I’m going.’ He said, ‘Stay a few minutes.’ By the time I got back to Ling Rimpoche, he said, ‘Where have you been? Every- body is waiting for you here.’ These people do their practice early in the morning. I couldn’t get up at 5:30 or 6. The time I was sleeping in Kyabje Ling Rimpoche’s house, Kyabje Ling Rimpoche came by and started scratching my head in the bed, every morning. One night Song Rimpoche held me so long, so in the morning Kyabje Ling Rimpoche scratched my head. Normally I would get up right away, run down to a little faucet and put my head under there. When I got up this time, Kyabje Ling Rimpoche said, ‘Song Rimpoche is send- ing his attendant to call you. I saw him and when I walked

109 Gelek Rimpoche to the other side, he hid behind the tree. So, Song Rimpoche started calling me at 6:30; Kyabje Ling Rimpoche woke me up. I went to Song Rimpoche, and he stayed in bed. The conversation we had last night, where we had stopped, he started talking there again.

Lamrim Lower level. At this level [of possibly entering Vajrayana] one has to have at least an understanding and, if possible, a realization in ‘common with the lower level.’ After the six preliminaries, one starts the actual practice. That begins with the guru-devotional practice, which is referred to as the root of all development. When there is no root, nothing can grow. In the West, Guru is very foreign word, and it sometimes becomes dangerous too. Why? Because a lot of incidents happened in the 60s, as you know. It is very hard for people to remember and appreciate the contributions of every individual’s spiritual development—those early gurus in America, the real, proper, true ones. Contributions are very hard to remember, while controversial people are easily remembered. So there are many issues of caution that have to be raised. In my generation, when I came here in the 1980s, I hesitated, though I am the same age as the late Chögyam Trungpa Rimpoche, as well as Lama Yeshe. They passed away at the age of 47 or 48. I came here much later, in the 70s and 80s, and was very cautious about talking about guru-devotional practice because of the scandals. It was not only my contemporaries and I. Kyabje Ling Rimpoche and Kyabje Trijang Rimpoche, who had been

110 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS teaching guru-devotional practice for decades in Tibet, also hesitated to speak about the subject because of confusion and fear of misunderstanding. Kyabje Ling Rimpoche, in his last teaching of the Four Mindfulnesses, spent a tremendous amount of time on the mindfulness of the guru. Even during breaks, when he came to his room and took a rest, as I was serving tea, he told me, ‘You cannot always be afraid of it. You must speak, and I spoke of it today.’ If you look in the transcript,90 you see how much he went out of the way to speak of it, because it is the root of all development. The guru is extremely important, as you all know. It is a funny subject. People have taken advantage of other people and have done a lot of wrong things. That doesn’t mean you can do away with guru-devotional practice. You cannot limit it. If you look at the topic, there are eight advantages, eight disadvantages, and eight lacks of guru- devotional practice.91 They are not a joke; they are a very serious matter. Many of us have difficulty getting spiritual development. This is not because of no reason; these difficulties are not the fault of the teaching, not the fault of the lineage; some of them are not the fault of individual practitioners and how they do their practice, but are the fault of a lack of guru- devotional practice. Unfortunately, lack of guru-devotional practice gets the individual nowhere. The essence of guru-devotional practice is faith—intelligent faith, not blind faith. Like a mother can give birth to children, guru-devotional practice can give birth to spiritual realizations. Without it, it is very difficult. Then, embracing human life, impermanence and especially death, then after death, what happens to the indi-

111 Gelek Rimpoche vidual; do we disappear? We’re told you don’t disappear. It is all a question of karma.

Medium level. The Four Noble Truths is looking at two negative truths and two positive truths. The two negative truths are the cause and the result of negativity. The cause is that negative karmas are created by negative emotions, which come from ego and self-cherishing. [The result is suffering.] Then the two positive truths are libration and the path leading to liberation. This is the basic structure of how our lives are governed by our own deeds: the positive way and the negative way. That realization adds up to the twelve links of interdependent nature of existence. That completes the individual’s ‘common with the medium level’ practice. Mahayana. Thereby, the challenge of the individual has now shifted. It shifts to compassion and love. Bodhimind we call it; a bodhisattva’s mind; the altruistic mind; the mind that is seeking total enlightenment for the benefit of others and for myself. Each one of us will say, ‘I am seeking enlightenment for myself for the benefit of others. Do you see the two purposes? There is the purpose of self and the purpose of others. Both are clearly worded here. Such an unlimited, unconditioned compassion and love cannot be conditioned in us by saying the word ‘bodhimind’ by feeling a little good here and there, or by thinking, ‘Oh yeah, I’m doing great.’ That way we’re not going to get anywhere in bodhimind at all, no matter whatever helpful work you do. Even if you take the whole heavy weight of the world, even then you’re not going to develop bodhimind. Bodhimind is only developed within the individual

112 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS through a meditative process, of which only two are known in the history of Buddhism: the seven-stages of development of bodhimind that Buddha shared with us through Mai- treya Buddha, Asanga, and all those, or the exchange-stage of development of bodhimind, shared by Buddha through Manjushri, Nagarjuna, Shantideva, and all of those. Later on Tsongkhapa has given the eleven-stages development by combining these two together. Whichever of those you do, is totally up to you. But without following those steps you will not develop the bodhimind, whatever you do. This sounds funny, but it is true. It is a fact. We normally say there are so many bodhisattvas who didn’t follow the Buddhist path. That’s absolutely true, but they did follow one of these paths. One doesn’t have to be a Buddhist in order to become a bodhisattva. Well, maybe that’s too extreme a statement, because the object you want to achieve is to become a buddha, so that makes you a buddhist. But on the other hand, a person like Mother Teresa having great bodhisattva activities—the bodhisattvas may not have been able to do as much as she did. However, whether she is a bodhisattva or not is a different question. I don’t know whether she seeks total enlightenment or not. But she had an unlimited altruistic mind, no doubt. Whether she does or doesn’t seek total enlightenment, no one can make judgment of anyone else except ourselves, the Buddha tells us. The definition of bodhimind tells us it is a two-pronged mind: one is total altruism; two is seeking total enlightenment. When you combine these two together in one person it becomes absolute, unconditioned love and compassion,

113 Gelek Rimpoche which is technically known as bodhimind or bodhicitta; citta meaning heart, and heart referring to mind.92

Equality, equanimity. Briefly,I should share with you at least one stage. Of the seven stages, the first stage—whether you count it in or not—is equanimity or equality. This equality is not what we call American equality. It is not and it is. Here, the major emphasis of equality is between me and others. When you talk about American equality is equal rights—as long as you are an American citizen you have equal rights. I’m not saying you are equal to me or I am equal to you. I am saying that in my mind, my wants and dislikes have same value as what you want and what you don’t want. Therefore, right now, ‘me’ is the most important. I often say, if I don’t help myself, who else can help me? That’s true. On the other hand, ‘me’ is becoming my priority by ignoring others. That’s what we need to change, to change into: making your desire equally valuable and important and serious as my desire is in my mind. I can’t do that right now because when I look at all of you here, when I look at you: wonderful people, great people, kind, compassionate and many of you brilliant, still, when I entertain a selfish mind, my needs supersede what you want. But when I am talking about equanimity, that brilliant power that supersedes others’ needs and desires has to be reduced! By reducing that, the needs of others begin to be recognized, acknowledged. Consider it seriously; bring it up to the level of my desire and others’ desire. We are not making you equal to me or me equal to you. No! In my own mind, I am making my desire and your desire to be on an equal level. That is how

114 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS you gain respect for people. That is the opening of friendship with people. If you close that, you’ll have a lack of true friends. If you think the person has a motive, it’s not going to be a friend. They will be cautious: what’s this person’s motive all about? It’s like a politician’s smile. When you see politicians clapping their hands, like the Chinese leaders, we are cautious. We might like to support politicians, but we are cautious. Just like that, when you have not made this equal level [in your mind], you cannot be a genuine friend. Mutual respect and honesty are really open when you have this equalized level. It also opens the individual to appreciate anybody else, no matter how they look and what their character is. This is what the Dalai Lama calls ‘heart to heart touch’, or ‘heart shake.’ Shaking hands with the mind of a warm heart. That is where equanimity or equality begins. This is what we’re looking for. What is our obstacle to developing this? It is our projection of likes and dislikes. ‘I don’t like Hillary; I like Hillary; I don’t like Obama; I like Obama.’ These are examples of likes and dislikes without valid reasons. We ask, ‘Why don’t you like them?’ ‘Well, I don’t trust them.’ We look at some people and say, ‘That is an enemy; that is a friend.’ Some- times, someone who was our friend, we make them into an enemy. Saddam Hussein is an example. Between enemy and friend, or loved one, there is a huge difference in our mind. Perceiving the face of our loved ones, we begin to smile; then thinking of Osama bin Laden we feel cautious. We might not feel anger, but the mind goes down. This is the black and white picture we have. This strong black and white picture is the strongest obsta-

115 Gelek Rimpoche cle to developing equanimity. No one here, and I am very strongly included, would have the desire to fulfill the wishes of Osama bin Laden. It’s very hard to think about it. We can develop compassion for Osama bin Laden by focusing on helping him. But we can never develop the thought, ‘I wish he would fulfill his wishes.’ It’s not possible, because his wishes are wrong. Therefore, it’s not possible. That gives us the picture of our mind looking: black and white. This is particularly true if you have a personal enemy; that is even stronger than thinking of Osama bin Laden. Building equanimity here is to face that challenge, a very big challenge for us. This is the first step toward building greater compassion. It is easy to develop compassion for loved ones. It is easier to develop compassion for ourselves. But it is very difficult to develop compassion for all. And bodhimind,—unlimited, unconditioned love and compassion—demands that, because the root of that mind is based not on compassion but on greater compassion. Greater compassion is not focused solely on one person but is focused on all living beings: a-l-l, with the desire to separate them from suffering. When we sit here and produce a lot of nameless, faceless dots and call them ‘all living beings’, it’s easy to develop compassion. But the moment each and every one of them occupies a face and a name, our mind will change and we begin to see the true color of our mind. So, the first challenge is equanimity, equalizing. What helps? We can’t make enemies into friends. Maybe we can, but the cia always makes friends into enemies. But we can reduce the obsession and the hatred. These are the things we need to undermine: hatred and obsession. Right from

116 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS the beginning, at the equanimity level, we are undermining hatred and obsession. We are throwing a huge challenge to hatred, a huge challenge to obsession. What will help us? Time and change. Consider the enemy of last year; this year we don’t hate them so strongly as we did last year. Time helps us. Change helps us. The changing of the mind and the time make a big difference to the individual. If you think of others, it is the same principle, the same mechanism. People are not so anxious as they were in 2001. This year we are not that anxious. Fear and anxiety have gone down. That’s what I meant: time will help; change of circumstances will help. It was impossible for me not to feel sorry when Jerry Falwell died. I was feeling very sorry, honestly. Although he was in the right wing, and all of that, you cannot help but feel sorry for him when he passed away. I really thought it was being overweight that did it. You can’t help feeling sorry. Even though we don’t appreciate the way he functioned, circumstances make your feeling change completely.

Development of bodhicitta. Time and circumstances will help us to reduce hatred, reduce obsession, and develop caring, love and compassion. Buddha tells us we have to develop looking at everybody as mother sentient beings. I often think that a mother’s love for her children is the point Buddha was talking about. With a very few exceptional cases, most mothers have tremendous caring and compassion and love to their children. No matter what it is, a mother is willing to sacrifice it for the children. Don’t think about your relationship to your mother. Think about if you were a mother, what is your relationship with your children. From that

117 Gelek Rimpoche angle, you know what Buddha is talking about. And Bud- dha recommended to us to develop that much caring, that much kindness, that much love. Then we remember their kindness and want to repay their kindness. And the result of that equanimity and developing the motherly feeling, remembering the kindness, committing to repay it, will automatically bring you love. There is no way you cannot love that person. Love is the automatic result. If you say, ‘I have to meditate on love, good things…’, I am not sure if you are going to develop love or attachment. But thinking along those lines will automatically give us love. We spend time on these three and then develop love. If you love, you care. Caring is such that you cannot force the caring idea without love; no way. It is almost like the cause and result of evolution—one brings the other. Caring becomes compassion. Compassion brings commitment. Love plus compassion will definitely bring commitment. Mothers will know that. It brings the commitment: no matter what it takes, I will do it. That is called special mind. Once you have that special mind, reality will settle in. ‘Okay, I’m committed, I’m going to it. What can I do? I don’t know what to do. I need total knowledge, total enlightenment, because I need to know how to do this, not only for one person, but for all.’ So tremendous knowledge, tremendous information is needed. And as there is no way to pick it up one by one, we need total knowledge and enlightenment. That becomes at least artificial bodhimind. Whenever we talk about it, we just follow that meditation; it will give you artificial bodhicitta.Y ou keep on repeating and repeat-

118 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS ing it day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year. I almost wanted to say life after life. If you keep repeating it, it becomes true bodhicitta. As to true bodhicitta, we are talking about two types: one is the prayer form, the other is the action form. First, you pray that you may be able to do this. Then that praying bodhimind can become actual bodhimind, when we literally engage in action. This is briefly the development of the bodhimind. This is not analytical meditation; it is a superficial move through the stages. [Meditation on bodhimind] is a great, worthwhile meditation. It is a way of achieving and fulfilling the purpose of life or, you may say ‘fulfilling my mission.’ It is going to be a good contribution to you, as far as I know. This is Buddha’s wisdom, which was shared 2600 years ago. Now let’s go back to the text.

15 phän shing dza’ wai drog dang dräl wai tse shän gyi khor nam dag gi kha drang pä lä ngän tsön cha rang la khor wa yin da ni shän dag khor dang dräl mi ja

15 When I become separated from helpful and loving friends, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me For luring away others’ companions; From now on I will never estrange others from their companions.

We have another pain: separation from our loved ones. That comes in many ways, as we know. We loose good

119 Gelek Rimpoche friends through death. Many times there are circumstances, even within us, that will lead to or even force a separation. And that also is done with the idea of looking for happiness. ‘My old companion cannot give me that happiness, so I get my happiness somewhere else.’ But we know it gives a lot of pain all the time. Why? Because we played a trick to someone else before, the same way. How did we create trouble? We created trouble under the pretext of ‘happiness’, getting happiness ourselves. For a short time it may be happiness, but it is false happiness. Finally, according to the characteristic of the individual, it takes its own shape and will give you even more pain. So, ‘from now on I will not play such a trick.’

16 dam pa tham chä dag la mi ga’ na dam pa bhor nä drog ngän ten pa yi lä ngän tsön cha rang la khor wa yin da ni ngän pai drog nam pang par ja

16 When the sublime ones become displeased with me, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me For renouncing the sublime ones and seeking bad companions; From now on I will renounce negative friendships.

The idea of wrong friends is an important point. Friends that help to bring spiritual development within the individual, that help you to bring enlightenment to you, that help you to bring you closer to developing compassion and love, are good friends. Friends that drive you away from spirituality, that help you to develop self-cherishing, are

120 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS considered wrong friends. As I always say, ‘A negative friend does not come out saying I am your negative friend, nor do they come with horns etc. They will come as a friend that says to care for you.’ Friends are important. Spiritual friend-practitioners are important, especially in the West. They stimulate you to choose the right priorities. If your spouse and friends are interested in spiritual practice and they support you, you should be very grateful. Sometimes there is the opposite effect, we all know. That’s not so helpful. That does not mean you have to change your friend. You may help your friend to get interested, but if they don’t have the leisure and opportunity from the karmic points of view, you can’t help it. However, don’t let them take you away. This is important. I noticed this happens much more important in the West than in Tibet.

17 dro kur shän gyi dig sog jung wai tse rang gi dam pa nam la mä pa yi lä ngän tsön cha rang la khor wa yin da ni shän la dro kur mä mi ja

17 When others assail me with exaggerations, denigration, and so on, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me For disparaging sublime beings; From now on I will never belittle others with disparaging words.

This goes for anybody, not only disparaging the sublime beings. Whoever you disparage, you’ll get the blame for

121 Gelek Rimpoche things you did not do. That is easy to understand. We are very good at accusing and criticizing people. Whether the other person is a great person or not, we don’t know. We probably presume they are not and go on accusing. Or we think what we do is right and what they do is wrong. So don’t be quick accusing other people, don’t be quick in saying what they do is not right.

18 kho wai dzä la chü sö jung wai tse shän gyi kho wa khyä du sä pa yi lä ngän tsön cha rang la khor wa yin da ni shän gyi kho wa drub par ja

18 When my material resources waste away, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me For being disrespectful toward others’ resources; From now on I will help others find what they need.

The needs of others should be met. The way and how you do this is like in Shantideva’s Bodhisattvacaryavatara: ‘I dedicate my body, my mind, my wealth and my virtues, for the benefit of all living beings.’93 I don’t think one has to be the servant of everybody; honestly.

19 sem mi säl shing nying mi ga’ wai tse kye wo shän la dig pa sag pa yi lä ngän tsön cha rang la khor wa yin da ni shän gyi dig kyen pang war ja

19 When my mind becomes dull and my heart unhappy, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me

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For making others accumulate negative karma; From now on I will shun enabling others’ negative acts.

Our own minds are not clear. We are not happy and that is the result of creating negativities for others. So sometimes we wonder, ‘Why am I not happy, why am I so sad? Here’s the answer given by Buddha. Creating conditions for others to create negativities makes that happen When you try to meditate and nothing is clear to you, and there is always pain and worries in the heart, it is the karmic result of making others to create negativities. Think, ‘I now will avoid creating a cause for others’ negativities and [by that] I avoid the cause of suffering for others.’ This talks about making others do the wrong things, and also providing the opportunity for others to do the wrong things by your own behavior. E.g., you say ‘I like to pray’ and you do a lot of praying and stay up late, ringing the bell in the middle of the night; so you do not let others sleep. After some time the others will think, ‘Oh no, not again!’ That way the praying person is creating a cause of pain for others. You’re making yourself instrumental to other people’s negativity: 1) They can’t sleep, so their mind gets disturbed. 2) The negativity was brought about on the Dharma. This point is specific for a dharma practitioner. If you want to do your practice, do it in your own environment; you don’t want to be a disturber and create nuisance. Likewise, we undoubtedly create inconveniences for our neighbors. We park in front of the neighbors’ houses; that is a nuisance, too. So, awareness is necessary.

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20 ja wa ma drub sem tsa thrug pai tse dam pai lä la bhar chä jä pa yi lä ngän tsön cha rang la khor wa yin da ni bhar chä tham chä pang war ja

20 When I fail in my endeavors and feel deeply disturbed, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me For obstructing the work of sublime ones; From now on I will relinquish all obstructive deeds.

Whenever we try to do something we can’t complete it and we get sad and we get mad. This is because we disturbed other people’s work and that is the Wheel of Sharp Weapons hitting us. This is important. [All these things mentioned above and below] we have them happen very often. In order to avoid that, every last line of the verse tells you what to do: ‘From now on I will . . . .’ etc.

21 gang tar jä kyang la ma ma nye tse dam pai chö la ngo kog jä pa yi lä ngän tsön cha rang la khor wa yin da ni chö la ngo kog chung war ja

21 When my gurus remain displeased no matter what I do, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me For acting duplicitously toward the sublime Dharma; From now on I will be less duplicitous with respect to the Dharma.

Guru-devotional practice. Whether the guru is pleased or not is not the point. But the author made a big deal out of it here because guru-devotional practice is the root of

124 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS all development. Individual students try to make the master happy, but not necessarily the master will be happy. When that happens, it is an important obstacle because guru-devotional practice is the root of all development. If you have chosen an individual person as your guru and if then he doesn’t like what you do, there is a problem. When no matter whatever you try to do the other person doesn’t bother, you might get fed up and say, `No matter whatever happens, this one doesn’t ever listen or doesn’t please me. Therefore it’s not my fault; it is only his or her fault.’ When that happens, it is a huge obstacle to your Dharma practice. This is not a secret. You can read it wherever you find something about guru-devotional practice, in any Lamrim, including the Lamrim Chenmo, nowadays available in Eng- lish, along with the medium Lamrim available in English through Pabongka’s Liberation in Palm of your Hand as well as the Second Dalai Lama’s Essence of Refined Gold. 94 There are now so many Lamrims available in English and they will tell you how important guru-devotional practice is; especially in Vajrayana. Broken commitments and vows in relation to the guru connection is the number one downfall in Vajrayana. So it is much more difficult than in the Sutrayana. That is why this is very specifically mentioned here. These are the specific things which have strong effects on the individual. If you have broken commitments with the guru, then no matter how much practice you do, you will not achieve anything. Buddha Vajradhara himself has said it and he gave the example that no matter how much you squeeze the sand, you won’t get oil.

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That’s why this verse is telling us about the negative karma that one creates specifically by breaking vows and commitments. The verse talks about not being straightforward but behaving duplicitously towards the sublime Dharma. That means two-faced. When face to face with the guru you try to be nice and wonderful and holy, and the other part of your mind is thinking, ‘to hell with you’, that is creating negative karma. We all do that. When we come to see our teachers, we do behave differently. We shouldn’t have double standards of Dharma practice. If when someone is watching, you try to be more holy, say your sadhana and meditate and even if you don’t meditate you sit straight, all that type of things to impress people, and when nobody is watching you are more careless, that is the double standard we are talking about. We do that. We like to show people we are doing well. Also, sometimes we don’t see the special qualities of the Dharma. We see it as a normal activity, we see the Dharma as one of the subjects we study rather than seeing it as a spiritual practice, spiritual life. That’s also what this verse is about.

22 kye wo yong kyi kha log jung wai tse ngo tsa threl yö khyä du sä pa yi lä ngän tsön cha rang la khor wa yin da ni mi sün pa la dzem par ja

22 When everyone challenges what I say, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me For disregarding shame and my conscience; From now on I will refrain from troubling behavior.

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If you don’t do anything wrong and yet you get the blame, it is the karmic consequences of ignoring shame and embarrassment previously. That’s the intention of this verse. You may try to do something very sincerely and won- derfully and you think you do the best you can, but people don’t like it. They show their displeasure and start saying bad things behind your back. This happens to us very often, especially when dealing with a number of people. Normally we say, ‘I tried my best and they don’t like it, so they don’t deserve it, I go my way.’ For a bodhisattva it is the other way around. A bodhisattva will look into why this is happening and conclude, ‘It’s because I have ignored norms and rules, because I functioned disrespectfully towards others in my previous lives or at any time.’ My commentary says that it is especially disrespect to your masters and friends and colleagues that brings this result. We should think, ‘All of these I totally ignored. I created all kinds of negativities and now this is the result I am experiencing. By knowing this, I should change my attitude. I shouldn’t do something disrespectful to people, like ignoring people, dismissing people, cutting the lines and so on. The result of having done negative things like that in the past, is that though I do everything with good motivation, people still express their displeasure. This is due to my negative karma. This now is a great opportunity for me to purify this very negative karma and to also correct myself to function better. From now on I shouldn’t do wrong things like this.

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Shame and embarrassment: ngo tsa and trhel yö.95 These are two different mental faculties among the eleven virtuous factors that you can use as prevention for doing the wrong things. In the western culture saying ‘I am ashamed’ is bad; in the Japanese culture it is terrible; they will even run away and become homeless. But here the idea here is self-discipline. Self-discipline is a very important thing, the true way of helping ourselves. If we would be kids, we would have to be disciplined by our parents or teacher. But we are not, nor do we welcome someone disciplining us. Therefore we need self-discipline. That is maintained by these two mental faculties that the Buddha recommended strongly: (a) ‘How embarrassing it would be if people came to know that I behaved this way. Especially for someone with the name of Rimpoche, how embarrassing it is.’ (b) ‘Even if no one knows, if I would behave this way, how could I face myself?’ That is why people like ‘to hide in the closet.’ So it is important to have both of them.

23 khor nam dü ma thag tu drä pai tse dug shi ngän pa chog su tsong pa yi lä ngän tsön cha rang la khor wa yin da ni gang laang mi shi leg par ja

23 When disputes arise as soon as my companions gather, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me For peddling my destructive, evil character in all directions; From now on I will maintain good character wherever i am.

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The idea here is, when I have friends and as soon as we get together dispute and all of those arise, it is because of my destructive character. When you don’t get along well with other people, the reasons will be you are selling your terrible character to others. Although we blame the other person for being terrible and not being able to get along well with, ‘one hand never makes noise.’ You sell your bad character, they sell their bad character and only that way it can clash. When there are difficulties between two people or two groups of people you have to remember that is where it is coming from: from ‘Showing your Viking horns.’ Think,

This is the situation if I get separated from my friends, my companion or retinue on and off all the time. The moment we get together they go away and disappear. That is because of my earlier bad character of being moody, showing dislike, showing a long face, yapping all the time or non-stop screaming. It is because of that type of roughness of character.

In Tibetan the word is very strong, not just bad behavior but ‘horrible way of living.’ Peddling that to everybody means you are ready to fight with anybody about anything. Whoever says what, you are ready to spark. It is almost like a fire-cracker that goes off: tah tah tah tah tah! Also saying things like, ‘Well that person didn’t call me, so why should I call him? I thought we were friends, but no longer. I don’t need any friend. I don’t want this, I don’t want that’—all of those won’t work. If you are showing

129 Gelek Rimpoche your bad character to others, they will run away from you. Obviously. Who would like to listen to your nonsense? If you have a friend who always likes to nag nag or cry cry and complain, who is going to listen to him all the time? It is just an invitation to get the same thing back. Therefore you should make a resolution, ‘From now on I will show the good human character. I will show loving kindness and be respectful.’

24 nye tsang tham chä dra wor lang pai tse sam pa ngän pa nang du chug pa yi lä ngän tsön cha rang la khor wa yin da ni mug kyo gyu nam chung war ja

24 When all who are close to me rise up as enemies, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me For harboring harmful, evil intentions within; From now on I will diminish deceit and guile.

The translator did a great job here. What is translated here as ‘deceit and guile’ is old Tibetan. The text also mentions ‘harboring harmful, evil intentions.’ There are two categories: manipulating persons and purposely creating certain conditions. Politicians do that all the time. It is their job. Not every manipulation is bad, but when you are harboring harmful intentions, then it is bad. Sometimes power struggle is played. Nations, politicians, families, spouses play it. That is what this verse talks about. If you are not careful with this, every friend becomes an enemy, because after a little while people can no longer tolerate it. The remedy is: never manipulate people, never create such circumstances.

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That does not mean you can’t make money, but it should not be done with evil intention.

Say somebody becomes close to you but very soon the person turns into your enemy. If that happens just once, it could be something they did wrong, but if it happens every time when you meet somebody, it is a clear indication that it is caused by some previous karma of having bad intentions, of manipulating people, of wanting to harm them, or taking advantage of people to get favors. Anybody can manipulate anybody; if people have love or care for you, it is possible to manipulate them.

A story. I have a very good example. One time I was trav- eling on the train and I had some money in my bag, as a matter of fact a good amount of cash. It was in the evening, already dark and I was going from Brussels to Amsterdam. I think it was the last station before I reached Amsterdam. There were some people going up and down on the plat- form and suddenly I saw near my window some guy was choking; he had bubbles coming from his mouth and was almost going to fall. I started looking through the window to what is happening. And then, all of a sudden I noticed my bag was gone from my seat! I was manipulated by that guy pretending to choke; my attention was taken away and at the same time my bag was gone Everything I had was in that bag, passport, air ticket, credit card and everything else—all gone! I could even still see my bag moving through the crowd. I tried to run after the guy carrying it, but I couldn’t catch up with him. The next day when I went to

131 Gelek Rimpoche complain to the police as well as to the American Embassy, they said, ‘You are okay?’ I said, ‘Yes I’m okay, but my bag is gone.’ The embassy person told me I was lucky. The same thing had happened to another American guy. He also saw his bag going and that guy managed to catch up with the thief but the thief had a knife and cut across his face and he was still in hospital and the embassy was looking after him. The embassy thought it must have been the same gang. So I was lucky I didn’t get into hospital. This is just an example. But we do manipulate people in many ways to make them do what we want. We can manipulate politically, economically and in many other ways, even trying to catch the care and love of an individual by crying and creating a scene. That is manipulation. In reality you have some bad intention within your own mind, making the other people to do this by whatever means. People do that all the time, misusing others, like spouses, children, parents, friends and so on, taking advantage of other people’s kindness. It is because of a bad motivation deep inside you. It doesn’t have to be a huge thing. Real bad people will do huge manipulations, but even nice people will do small bad things. So, one shouldn’t be doing that, because the horrible consequence be will that the Wheel of Sharp Weapons will hit you, meaning: the moment someone gets in touch with you, they become your enemy, one after another continuously. That is what we receive in return. Now in order to change this, don’t use manipulation on anybody, for anything. Some people may say, ‘I was justi- fied to do it, I had very important reasons.’ That it is not right. The ends should never justify the means.

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Yet, this is exactly what we were doing in Iraq, Bush saying this whole war is for the sake of introducing democracy in the Middle East, in the middle of the Arab world. I don’t know whether this was really about democracy or whether the motivation is really underneath the ground, but in any case, this is the justification he was giving: what a wonderful example it would be to have democracy in the middle of all these dictators. So no matter how many people get killed for it, it must be worth it, dragging people into this and whatever you have to do to make them into a democracy. Same thing with Guantanamo Bay. There the justification was: we have to torture them, otherwise we don’t get the information we want. And we need the information to make us safer. Again, that is justifying the means for the end. That is negativity. Within your heart of hearts there is a bad thing and then you justify it in all kinds of way. That is what this verse is referring to.

25 bhä tsong trän dang mu chü na wai tse thrim me kor la bhag me bag pa yi lä ngän tsön cha rang la khor wa yin da ni kor throg la sog pang war ja

25 When I am sick with a chronic ulcer or edema, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me For wrongfully and with no conscience using others’ possessions; From now on I will renounce acts such as plundering others’ possessions.

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The translation uses politically correct language. It just says others’ possessions. Here, the idea behind it is taking away or diverting the offerings, whether it is food offering, clothes offering, medicinal offering, financial offering, or something meant for certain purposes. You divert it, thinking it is better used for something else. For example, you are going to donate $100 to Drepung Monastery. Someone comes in and says, ‘Well, Drepung is quite well to do; this other place is poor and you should divert it there,’ That is considered an important negativity that has lots of consequences. That’s what it means.

Kor.96 There is sort of a double negative here that is difficult to express in English. The example would be someone who takes things that they are not entitled to take. Let’s say you used to be a monk but you are not anymore. People come round with gifts for monks and you take them. They were meant for the monks and you are not a monk anymore, but nevertheless you take the gifts without hesitation. That becomes a shameless act. That is worse than taking it with hesitation or not being aware it is wrong. This is what we call kor. It is something very different from a normal income. An income is something you worked for and you earned; that is yours, no question. But kor is a gift that comes for spiritual reasons. Things like Jewel Heart sangha members giving pledges to Jewel Heart, are all kor, not just regular income. It was given voluntarily with a sincere mind and the hope of benefiting oneself and others. It was sincerely given by the individual with or without a difficulty of giving. For the person who is giving, it

134 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS becomes generosity and a virtue. However, for the person who is receiving it, it becomes kor. It is more than income. It weighs very heavy. Any misuse of that, like using gifts without conscience, is a heavy negativity. It applies not only to the Sangha community and its wealth. Someone may give you money personally and ask you to pray for them. They are seeking benefit on a spiritual level with the trust that you can do something that you can do better than they could themselves. It is great generosity for the individual who gives, while for the recipi- ent it becomes kor. The traditional teachings will tell you it is like burning charcoal; for chewing that you need iron teeth. This includes the teacher offerings and all that type of things. People working in a spiritual organization and getting a salary is different. You worked for it and earned it. With spiritual gifts, specifically if they are for monks and you as a non-monk use it, you get a downfall. It is all very complicated. I don’t want to go too much in detail, but this gives you an idea why this particular verse is here.

26 lo wur go nä lü la theb pai tse dam tsig nyam pai ja wa jä pa yi lä ngän tsön cha rang la khor wa yin da ni mi gei lä nam pang war ja

26 When my body is struck suddenly by contagious disease, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me For committing acts that undermined my solemn pledges; From now on I will renounce nonvirtue.

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If you are struck by a contagious disease, or e.g. migraine, it is the result of broken commitments. Remember during an initiation we say, ‘If you break the commitment, it will split your head.’ These are Lama Dharmarakshita’s teaching to his disciples from 1000 years ago. So it is something rather unusual saying ‘this is the result of that; that is the result of this.’ But this is what he does. Commitment, ‘solemn pledges’ doesn’t have to be Vajrayana commitments only; even the simple vows and commitments, when broken, will give these results.

27 she ja kün la lo drö mong pai tse shag tu ö pa chö la jä pa yi lä ngän tsön cha rang la khor wa yin da ni thö sog she rab gom par ja

27 When my intellect becomes ignorant of all fields of knowledge, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me For persisting in activities that must be cast aside; From now on I will cultivate the insights of learning and so on.

No matter how much you try to learn and put efforts in you don’t retain it. This is because previously we chose our priorities wrongly. Spiritual practice was left to the last, because no one was there to chase us. If no bill collectors are chasing you, there is not enough motivation to pay. If there is no teacher pushing you, you lack the motivation to learn. So now we should make learning, thinking and meditating on wisdom our priority.

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28 chö la chö tse nyi kyi nön pai tse dam pai chö la drib pa sag pa yi lä ngän tsön cha rang la khor wa yin da ni chö chir ka wa chä par ja

28 When I am overwhelmed by sloth while practicing Dharma, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me For amassing obscurations to the sublime Dharma; From now on I will undergo hardships for the sake of the Dharma.

There is something called chö dig,97 a negative karma created in relation to the Dharma. That is considered very harmful. There are a lot of activities in that category, in particular using Dharma materials for business purposes, also disrespectfully sitting on Dharma materials, jumping over them, putting your foot on it, walking or climbing over. Even a monk’s or nun’s robe moving over any Dharma book is considered creating negativity on the Dharma. The result they are talking about here, is: whenever you want to practice, you get very tired. If it happens one time, that is okay, you can just be tired. But if, when you are not tired at all and nothing has happened, as soon as you try to do your practice or try to read a Dharma book and try to understand it, you fall asleep, it is the direct result of having Dharma negativities. That’s why I always say, ‘Please no nesting.’ Particularly, if you leave Dharma books lying around, the second and third person that has to get up will almost have no choice but jump over them and thus create a negativity.

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29 nyön mong la ga’ nam yeng che wai tse mi tag khor wai nye mig ma gom pä lä ngän tsön cha rang la khor wa yin da ni khor war yi jung che war ja

29 When I delight in afflictions and am greatly distracted, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me For not contemplating impermanence and the defects of cyclic existence; From now on I will increase my dissatisfaction with cyclic existence.

‘Delight in afflictions’ means that one likes attachment and hatred. An example. When somebody has a lot of wealth and you see that, you say, ‘Oh that person is lucky. Why not me?’ When somebody is wearing something you really like, you think, ‘I wish I could get that!’ That is attachment. Sometimes you even like to be angry. People think it feels good to empty their chest, think that showing their temper gives them relief. That means you like the afflictive emotions. Your busy-ness is so much; there is no time for you to read Dharma materials, no time to think about Dharma meaning, no time to practice Dharma, yet you are busy talking, selling, buying, convincing, campaigning or whatever. That is delighting in afflictions and being greatly distracted. We have a saying in Tibetan, ‘If you keep yourself so busy, there may be a time that you don’t know it when you die.’ You don’t remember impermanence, you don’t remember the downfalls and the shortcomings of samsara; you never meditate and you let yourself go. This is a problem. This is the real Wheel of Sharp Weapons returning to you.

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According to Tibetan culture, falling asleep all the time is considered to be connected with ego-ignorance-confusion. Ignorance is the source of negativity. People who like to sleep a lot will fight and argue with you, saying they need eight hours of sleep. Maybe it’s true. But, you know, we have twenty-four hours in a day. If you give yourself eight hours for sleeping and another eight hours for gossiping, then there’s only another eight hours left, which you need to divide between reading, meditating, doing your business, paying your bills, driving and all this. So the chunk of time taken by sleep is really a lot. One has to realize that samsara is not a nice place to be. But, Buddha is not asking us to renounce our life. Buddha is not asking us to shave our head and go to the forest or the Himalayan caves. We need to renounce samsara, not ourselves nor our life. Renunciation of samsara is Buddha’s important message. Why? Because, samsara is suffering and nirvana is peace. It is part of the four Bud- dhist logos:

• All created phenomena are impermanent • ll contaminated things are suffering • All phenomena are in the nature of emptiness • Nirvana is peace.

If one likes the negative emotions and one wonders why, it is the consequence of not remembering impermanence, not thinking of the faults of samsara. That is the Wheel of Sharp Weapons we created to ourselves. In order to avoid that, the text says: now renounce samsara strongly. It doesn’t say renounce your life, it doesn’t say renounce your living,

139 Gelek Rimpoche it doesn’t say renounce your spouse, but it says to renounce your samsara. We should have a strong renunciation of samsara. That is my way of paraphrasing the root text. In short, we waste enormous amounts of time, because we don’t remember impermanence. The sense of urgency is not there. And when there is no sense of urgency, there is no self-discipline, there is lack of enthusiasm etc. Each one of these verses has a really important point. But the thing is this: when you have this huge mental wandering and addiction to afflictive emotions like anger, obsession etc., the direct antidote is meditation on impermanence, particularly on self-impermanence, dying. These are the most important points that can protect us from negative addictions.

30 chi tsug jä kyang mar dror shor wai tse lä dang gyu drä khyä du sä pa yi lä ngän tsön cha rang la khor wa yin da ni sö nam sog la bä par ja

30 When I continue to regress despite all my efforts, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me For defying karma and the law of cause and effect; From now on I will strive to accumulate merit.

This is something we recognize: we work hard yet don’t get what we want. That is because we do not honor the karmic system, the natural law of cause and result. Then it will come back on you. This is extremely true to us. The commentary says,

We try our best; we try to meditate; we try to practice; we try to do circumambulations; we try to do prostrations;

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we try to learn; we try to study. We do all that and even then nothing gets better. On the contrary, it is getting worse and worse. Instead of learning more, we forget more; instead of picking up more spiritual stuff, our habits are changing in the other direction. We become cynical rather than more kind. It’s not developing upward but downward.

That happens to so many of us, not only in the spiritual path but even in our business. Even though you put a lot of efforts in, your investments are going wrong, your income goes down; what could that be? According to this, in some of our lifetimes we absolutely ignored the karmic system of good deeds bringing good results and bad deeds bringing bad results. We killed others, we beat them up and we took things that did not belong to us. Now this is the result. To remedy that what shall we do? Practice tong len meditation: giving your virtues to others and taking others’ sufferings onto yourself. That helps. The root text says to create merit and the commentary says to develop patience. This happens when a text is two, three, or six hundred years old and has been translated into different languages, with different authors commenting. It is patience that is needed here. Even accumulation of merit needs patience and both [commentaries I am using] clearly say that tong len—give and take—is necessary and really helpful on this level. It not only applies to spiritual merit but even materially. When you work hard and make nothing, it is time to practice tong len.

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31 rim dro jä tsä log par song wai tse nag poi chog la re tö jä pa yi lä ngän tsön cha rang la khor wa yin da ni nag poi chog lä dog par ja

31 When all the religious rituals I perform go amiss, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me For investing hope and expectation in forces of darkness; From now on I will turn away from forces of darkness.

When you do pujas, rituals to achieve something, sometimes it does not work well. Then the problem is worshipping the non-virtuous side, the forces of darkness. Somebody recently raised the question whether ritual is really necessary in the Buddhist practice. My answer is this: in Buddhism there are many methods, many ways of approaching your goal. There is a karmic-principle way of doing it and that is very simple and straightforward: do the right thing and you get the right result; avoid doing the wrong thing and thus avoid getting the wrong result. Beyond that, rituals have their own purposes. They have a very important role to play, at least in Tibetan Buddhism. You could be watching a ritual with a very skeptical mind, thinking, ‘Saying that prayer, what is that going to help? It is just to satisfy stupid hopes.’ But that is absolutely not true. I can tell you with my own personal experience. I am a skeptical person. I’m very skeptical of Tibetan medicine but as far as the rituals are concerned, I’m convinced they work. I do know how to perform rituals— many of them, in many different ways. When you perform

142 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS a certain ritual for a certain success, sometimes effortlessly it moves smoothly and you yourself are surprised why and how it works, at least in the material world. Sometimes something suddenly happens somewhere and affects that individual, especially regarding illnesses and diseases. I have not seen that through a ritual the person completely got rid of a disease; however I saw day by day improvements. Like in my own case. The diabetes doesn’t affect me so much, no pain, almost nothing is happening. If you check your numbers, then yes, the sugar is far too high or something. But this has been going on for fifteen, twenty years and there is still very little effect. Also there are certain illnesses where certain people should have tremendous pain, but the person doesn’t experience pain. Whatever the excuses might be, the reality is, the individual person doesn’t experience the consequences and things run smoothly. Things where you expected to have obstacles run surprisingly smoothly. And when you don’t have a ritual performance, things you expected to run smoothly get all kinds of tangles around and everything happens differently. So ritual does work, ritual does have effect and ritual has its own value. But the ritual also must work together with the straightforward simple karmic-dharmic effect. Otherwise, no matter whatever and however you perform, the ritual doesn’t work. There maybe a ritual that normally is guaranteed to work, but sometimes it doesn’t. That also depends on who does the ritual. You need the right person. You yourself are not necessarily the right nor the wrong person either. So you look around and find best person. Even then sometimes it not only doesn’t work, but even goes the other way.

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The same thing with the mo, the divination. That can also sometimes give you the wrong message. When those things are happening, what is the answer? In normal American language the problem is named ‘you made a deal with the devil.’ You have relied on the wrong force. Now the right thing to do is not to choose the wrong force.

32 kön chog sum la söl wa ma theb tse sang gyä pa la yi che ma jä pä lä ngän tsön cha rang la khor wa yin da ni kön chog kho na ten par ja

32 When my prayers to the Three Jewels are impotent, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me for not entrusting myself to the Buddha’s way; from now on I will rely solely on the Three Jewels.

When we pray to Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, sometimes it does not fulfill [our wishes]. That is because of lack of faith. We always have two minds: refuge demands that you totally rely on Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, but in our mind we don’t have that. When you are refugee and take refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Sangha and that refuge becomes impotent, it is not the lack of power of the Bud- dha, Dharma and Sangha, but it is because trust and belief is not there. As I told you, faith is necessary. Devotion is also necessary. Devotion is the result of faith; without faith there is no development. If you expect to give birth to a child without a mother, no matter how efficient the father maybe, he will not be

144 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS able to give birth. You cannot produce a child without a mother. A sutra says that faith is like a mother who not only gives birth to a child but nurtures the child and brings it up. For those who don’t have faith there is no hope of developing any virtue at all. If you have a burnt seed of a grain, then even if you supply manure, water and heat, it will never grow because your seed is burnt. I used to live in 508 Cherry Street, Ann Arbor, and in those days I had seed for the lawn left in the garage. I remember I was giving talks on the attic of the garage and saying that I had all these seeds, but the grass was not growing because the seed was at the wrong place—on the cement floor in the garage. So, on my lawn no grass was growing, only weeds and dandelions. Likewise, when there is no faith, no spiritual development will grow. That’s why faith is necessary. Respect or devotion is the result of faith. Here we are talking about faith in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. It is not stupid faith. Buddha never encouraged blind faith. Intelligent faith is what you need; intelligent devotion is absolutely necessary, otherwise these things happen.

33 nam tog drib dang dön du lang pai tse lha dang ngag la dig pa sag pa yi lä ngän tsön cha rang la khor wa yin da ni nam tog tham chä shom par ja

33 When my imagination arises as veils and possessor spirits, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me

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For accumulating negative karma against deities and their mantras; From now I will vanquish all negative conceptions.

This very often happens with us. We think, ‘There is some kind of obstacle coming’ and this and that. Yeah, there are always obstacles. Why they are coming? Because we have broken commitments to the yidams and mantras. That is because of our thoughts. Milarepa said,

When you are suspicious, you get much more obstacles here and there. If you are less suspicious, life will be smoother.

Normally in the west you are not supposed to have those. Especially Vajrayana practitioners are not supposed to have those. This is a little important. Some spiritual practitioners, who when practicing are totally dedicated to do the good things, sometimes have problems arising. E.g. you see something which is not there; it looks like someone is talking into your ear telling to do this and that. These are psychological as well as spiritual problems; both. Sometimes you are praying and you hear whoever you are praying to, telling you what to do. To 99.9% of us this is an obstacle, because we are not at the level that we can talk to enlightened beings. We have a lot more purification and a lot more accumulation of merit to be done. This is not a common problem, but a number of people do have it, in the west as well as in the east. You think it is a vision, you think Tara is talking to you, or Mother Mary is. But in reality it might be your own emotions that become

146 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS a kind of ‘feel-like’ or ‘hear-like.’ It looks like someone is communicating with us. The verse talks about our own imagination appearing as spirits that kind of posses you or veil your thoughts. This is because of having created in the past negativities on the deities and the mantras. It is because of wrong meditation, wrong visualization that these type of things happen. Therefore it is important to do simple things. Complicated things are not necessarily profound. The remedy here is: subdue those wrong thoughts. Do not pay attention to what is appearing. Chances of getting closer to the deity in that way are very rare; chances of psychological difficulties are great. If it is a good one it will come back and also it will not harm you because you didn’t entertain them. Whether it is Buddha or Yamantaka, wrathful or peaceful Tara, whatever it is, the relationship between that particular being and yourself is a mental commitment. When it becomes an everyday usage, there is the danger of being disrespectful to the yidam: we feel we do this every day, so it is not a big deal. It is sort of taking it low or slightly looking down on it and being disrespectful, as well as saying the mantra wrongly or improperly, and also not believing or not trusting it. All that type of thing creates negativity, not only towards the yidams, but also towards the mantras. The consequences of this are getting strokes as well as sometimes internal evil tendencies taking a physical form and causing disturbances. People do get that occasionally. It is nothing unusual. In the West we dismiss this as hallucination. These are wrong thoughts and wrong ideas we have to destroy.

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34 wang me mi tar je su khyam pai tse la ma la sog nä nä trä pa yi lä ngän tsön cha rang la khor wa yin da ni gang yang yül nä yung mi ja

34 When I am lost and wander like a powerless man, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me For driving others, such as my guru, away from their abodes; From now on I will expel no one from their home.

I think here the Tibetans give a message to Chinese: if you drive someone away from his home, later you will have trouble.

35 sä ser la sog mi dö jung wai tse dam tsig tsül thrim tsül shin ma sung wä lä ngän tsön cha rang la khor wa yin da ni dam tsig la sog tsang war ja

35 When calamities such as frost and hailstorms occur, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me For failing to properly observe my pledges and moral precepts; From now on I will keep my pledges vows pure.

This is interesting and sort of straightforward. Natural disasters are not necessarily just natural. They also are the karmic consequences for the people facing it, for not having honored their vows. The remedy is to respect our morality. The essence of our commitments is the morality. When we commonly ignore morality, the consequences will be a common natural disaster.

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36 dö pa che la jor pä phong pai tse jin dang kön chog chö pa ma gyi pä lä ngän tsön cha rang la khor wa yin da ni chö jin dag la tsön par ja

36 When I am avaricious yet bereft of wealth, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me For failing to give charity and make offerings to the Three Jewels; From now on I will strive in giving and offering.

Our desires are huge but what we get is very little. That is because of lack of generosity. So, if you want to be rich you have to spend! If you are not generous you will always have a shortage, life after life. A Tibetan expression says, ‘Those who do have a lot, don’t give, because their sleeve is too long and their hand too short.’ Wanting a lot and then not getting anything is the result of not giving, of not being generous and especially of not making offerings. Generosity is the cause of wealth. However, we have a total misunderstanding about giving. Not giving is creating negativity and that is the cause of becoming poor, according to Buddha. Giving, on the other hand, brings you wealth. Morality makes you happy and joyful. And patience makes you beautiful.

37 kye sug ngän te khor gyi nyä pai tse ku sug ngän sheng khong thrö trug pa yi lä ngän tsön cha rang la khor wa yin da ni lha sheng ngang gyü ring war ja

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37 When I am ugly and am mistreated by my companions, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me For erecting ugly images while in the turmoil of anger; From now on I will be patient when creating the images of gods.

This verse contains an advice for artists. Good artists, like Marian van der Horst, spend a long time to get a good drawing. You can read this verse as building or painting nice images as well as being a nice and patient person, or you can read it as being a nice and patient person while building or painting images.

The woman singer. There is a sutra story. During the Bud- dha’s life time there was a woman singer, whose voice and songs were so beautiful. But every time she sang, a curtain was put on the stage and she had to sing from behind the curtain, because her physical looks were horrible. Then people asked Buddha, ‘Why is this famous woman with the wonderful voice so ugly?’ Buddha said she was a laborer during the previous Buddha’s time when people were building a huge stupa for him. As a laborer at that time the person kept on cursing the people, cursing the stupa, thinking it was horrible and making everybody suffer. When the stupa was completely finished he gave it a look and thought, ‘Not so bad after all. But I created a lot of negativities by cursing it, so out of my salary I’m going to buy a golden bell and I offer it to the stupa.’ Then Buddha explained: the result of cursing that Buddha’s stupa was that she became ugly- looking and as the result of giving that gold bell she got this beautiful voice that everybody wanted to hear.

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So when you look at images or at people and tell other people how ugly they are, it may feel great to insult them and even say, ‘you ugly fellow’, but in reality we create tremendous negativity and as a result, you become [like that].

38 gang tar jä kyang chag dang thrug pai tse ma rung gyü ngän reng su chug pa yi lä ngän tsön cha rang la khor wa yin da ni reng khye drung nä jung war ja

38 When attachment and anger erupt no matter what I do, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me For allowing my untamed evil mind to become rigid; From now on I will root out this obstinate heart.

The root text says the mind never has any flexibility. That’s probably a right translation. When whatever we do, our hatred and obsession become stronger and even when we reduce it and try to meditate, it looks like it becomes stronger. That is because of not having awareness and alertness—lack of mindfulness. So the text says: from now on I will root out this obstinate heart.

39 drub pa gang jä mig su ma song tse ta wa ngän pa khog tu shug pa yi lä ngän tsön cha rang la khor wa yin da ni chi je shän dön nyi du ja

39 When all my meditative practices fail in their aims, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me For allowing pernicious views to enter my heart; From now on whatever I do will be solely for others’ sake.

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When we practice, we can’t focus, and we don’t get to the point. This happens very often with us. When whatever efforts you put in meditation, in spiritual development, it does not really become good, it means something is wrong. Basically there is some wrong thing inside; something very powerful is hiding in there, either self-cherishing or ego- grasping. The translation calls it ‘pernicious view.’ If you think about it carefully, it really hits you! This is the Wheel of Sharp Weapons. Honestly. Whatever your practice may be, whether you are doing the development stage or completion stage, if you don’t have the foundational stages of the path like the guru-devotional practice, the importance of life and its impermanence, the ‘common with the lower’ and the ‘common with the medium’ levels up to the mahayana, and if without those thoughts you try to do sadhanas and try to meditate yourself in the form of Heruka or Yamantaka or Vajrayogini or Tara, then it doesn’t really work. That’s not the fault of that tantric practice; it is the fault of not having done the basic groundwork.

A story. There were two practitioners of Yamantaka sitting in a long retreat together and one died and the other one still continued and a few days later the one continuing saw a Yamantaka standing right in front of him. He really saw that. It was not a hallucination. So he thought, ‘Oh, I can see the face of Yamantaka. That’s great!’ And he started saying that prayer,

Supreme Form, Extremely Great Fury, Intrepid One, Enjoyer of Supreme Objects,

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Who acts in order to tame the hard to tame, To the Vajra-terrifier I bow down.

But that Yamantaka said, ‘Oh no no no! I am the friend who died here. I am not Yamantaka.’ So this person was reborn as a ghost who looked like Yamantaka. Remember, that happens. Therefore the traditional, very well-known Tibetan early masters’ advice is that without having those good foundations if you keep on saying mantras and doing all that practice for a long time, it is nothing but creating a cause to take rebirth as a ghost.

One has to remember the foundation. The very ground, the very life of a practice is Lamrim, not the sadhana. We do a sadhana because of the commitment. Why do we have a commitment? Why have we taken initiation? Because we want to practice. That’s why we have a commitment. If you look, the sadhana builds up completely, first with the accumulation of merit, then with the accumulation of wisdom merit and then finally it builds the environment and the inhabitants within the mandala. Then within that we make offerings, praises, say mantras and all of them are linked together towards this aim. The difference between black magic and white magic is that white magic works with the basic compassion-oriented mind. Working towards this is good activity. Without that whatever you do becomes black magic. We are all not stupid; we are all intelligent. Many of you are brilliant and none of you are stupid. So you have to know and choose the best for you. That’s why it is necessary to establish a dharma foundation within yourself and that is

153 Gelek Rimpoche the thing which improves your life. That is what improves your personality and that is the one that provides virtues. All these other things are like technical tools or technical equipment that makes you go faster, more efficiently. All these only work because of the foundation and without that whatever you do doesn’t become good and nice. All these other practices, like development stage and completion stage and even meditating the Lamrim stages don’t become effective. Many people individually tell me that their practice is not becoming right, like it is not tight enough, it’s not strong enough, etc. But when you are talking to the individual, how can you tell in the face of that individual, ‘Hey you are wrong, you are stupid.’ You can’t and people won’t like. Unless I am sure this will help that person I will have hesitation to tell you, ‘Hey you are acting stupid.’ But other than that it is very difficult to say to anyone, ‘You have been stupid.’ Even if you think they don’t mind it, sometimes they do mind it and when they do mind we create unnecessary negativities. So you can’t say it to an individual. But it is a good opportunity to say in a group like this because it is not addressing any individual. So if you think this is talking to you then I meant to be talking to you (audience and Rimpoche laugh) If your practice isn’t working and doesn’t give you any result it is because it is not strong enough. Why this is happening? There are a number of reasons, honestly. For some people it is not happening because they’re a little crazy. We all have a little loose screw somewhere, otherwise you won’t be here. You would walk around in a three-piece suit and tie and just make money or something like that. Anyway,

154 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS whether you are in Wall Street or Main Street you would be some sort of strong yuppie. Other than that all of us have slightly loose screws. But then some people have more loose screws than others. Maybe there are just one or two screws holding it all together (audience laughs) so it is not falling apart. You have to make sure if that’s the case. At that level it will be very difficult for you to judge yourself so then you will look at how other people are acting towards you, how they treat you. They may joke, but there are really good sincere friendly jokes and they will make slightly sarcastic jokes and you can see that for yourself if you are aware of it and that is indicating you that something is wrong. That’s the hint and if you’re getting it, analyze it and try to improve yourself; that is how you’ll know. If you have a very close friend, ask them and some people may joke with you and say ‘yes you are’ and some people say ‘oh certainly not’ but that’s not necessarily true. However, you get a sense so that is how you can see the faults and correct them. If you are absolutely okay on that level and it is still not working then the second thing is you check your motivation. ‘Am I doing this to make me the better or for what purpose?’ Correct your motivation, move from there and thirdly, check your discipline. See whether you are disciplined enough doing your practice regularly and carefully or whether you are just glossing over it. We have a very well-known friend who had put all their daily practice commitments in the tape recorder and then just ran the tape recorder while driving their car. (Rimpoche laughs). So if your commitment is like that you have to work on your discipline.

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Also, doing the spiritual practice is an art and practitioners are artists. When artists try to present their art they pull all their body, mind and speech together and focus and concentrate completely. I remember Allen Ginsberg when he read poetry he didn’t just read, he performed the poetry. He put everything together, physically, mentally and emotionally and when he sat on a chair reading his poetry it had to be a strong chair, otherwise it would break, because he was bumping and jumping on it. (We made an extra, very strong chair and we still have that chair.) So he used every pound of his energy and blood and that’s what all artists do and those who don’t are not successful, their performance is not that good. It sounds silly but that’s what we know works. Similarly here we have to put some time and energy in. When we do our spiritual practice we spend very little time compared with other activities, and then we push everything together and do it all late at night. Don’t do that. I do that sometimes, but if you do all your sadhanas late at night after a little while, though everything really goes through, even then you know the sadhanas go around and get mixed up and you see the different yidams and deities at the wrong times and your words don’t correspond with the visualizations. In my case, after 60 years doing these practices the visualizations do come one after the another while the words comes from the tongue. But late at night the words don’t match the visualizations, you realize that all of a sudden you are in the wrong sadhana. That happens. So especially in the beginning you really have to put a lot of effort in and after a little while it becomes part of you and then it gets relaxed.

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This is how you correct and then in this particularly verse 39 here the problem is there because the self-cherishing mind is working deep inside us. That makes us think, ‘I like to do this practice so that I can become special and be a supernatural person. I will be more superior than my peers. I will be better than the others.’ That’s how we drive competition in the material world but in the spiritual world this is different. It doesn’t work. As a matter of fact it creates much more difficulty. So therefore we make that resolution: ‘From now on whatever I do whatever I do I will only do it for benefitting others.

40 ge jor jä kyang rang gyü ma thül tse tse dii che thab dang du lang pa yi lä ngän tsön cha rang la khor wa yin da ni thar pa dö la drim par ja

40 When my mind remains untamed despite spiritual practice, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me For eagerly pursuing mundane ambitions; From now on I will concentrate on aspiring for liberation.

This verse is along the same lines. Every effort is only put in to bring something superior, something unique. This is very strong with Americans. They always want something unique. They say, ‘What makes you different from the others? Why are you so unique?’ That’s the usual business question Amer- icans put and it is how they look at it. Our culture here is driven by wanting to find this unusual uniqueness. Fine, you already have it by having this Vajrayana practice. That’s very

157 Gelek Rimpoche unusual and unique already. But that’s not good enough for you and you are looking for something more unique, something your peers don’t have and something that makes you special. It is almost like you have to run for President. More or less our spiritual practice can also fall into that way of thinking, to bring some kind of happiness which is not really a total happiness but some samsaric material comfort or material joy. That’s always deep inside and that’s why it doesn’t work, according to this verse.

If no matter how many prayers and mantras you say, it does not become better, it becomes worse, there is more temper, more anger and misbehavior, [something is wrong]. This is not uncommon. Lots of people put a lot of effort in spiritual practices, not only buddhists, also christians etc., yet the person becomes more mean, more angry and more dis- satisfied in life, and even becomes a twisted personality. If that happens with you, it means you have the wrong goal; you are still engaged in mundane ambitions, you are aiming at becoming rich or famous or fully satisfied; you are not really aiming at liberation. The purpose of spirituality is to make yourself more happy and free from negative emotions, to get yourself out of the control of ego. A lot of people spend their whole life doing prayers while it gets worse and worse and they get full of negative emotions. There is 17th century story of such a person. After his death his lama said, ‘If he would have died three years ago, it would have been much better.’ So, when the practice is done to benefit this life, then whatever good we do, does not affect our mind.

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Every practice we do—usually that has been taken care of by the earlier masters or by the person who wrote the practice—has three things: at the beginning motivation, during the practice continuation of bodhimind, and at the end dedication. In short, if we put in a lot of efforts into our practice, and it doesn’t have effect on our mind, the problem is that we couldn’t give up self-cherishing, and were always hoping to get ‘samsaric goodies.’ The verse emphasizes you should strengthen your desire to be liberated, to be freed from samsara. So from now on at least we should have liberation as our goal, not just material joy and happiness. If you say Om mani padme hum because you want to be happy, that’s the wrong attitude and that’s why it doesn’t work. You should say Om mani padme hum because you want liberation.

41 dug ma thag la tag shing gyö pai tse threl me sar drog tho kha drim pa yi lä ngän tsön cha rang la khor wa yin da ni gang laang drog lug sab par ja

41 When I feel remorse as soon as I sit down and reflect, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me For being shamelessly fickle and clamoring for high status; From now on I will be vigilant in my associations with others.

The moment you sit down and start thinking what are you doing, you think, ‘Oh yes I made a mistake.’ Let’s say you are doing a retreat and from the moment you sit down you have find difficulties and think, ‘Oh I made a mistake. I

159 Gelek Rimpoche made a mistake. I should not have done that.’ So you start regretting immediately before you even begin. In the spiritual field one shouldn’t do that, because whatever you’re doing you should try to give yourself the opportunity to work with this and see how it affects you. Some people have a habit of always having new friends and everything has to be new new new. Yes, you can have new friends, you can have new things, but you must maintain your old ones. Some people are in the habit of throwing the old ones out and picking up new ones. That’s not good. If you look at the earlier Tibetan teachers they stand by their old friends. There are strong examples like Kyabje Trijang Rimpoche. Kyabje Trijang Rimpoche would stand by old relationships no matter whatever happens. I do remember very clearly early in the sixties, 1960 or 1961, during that period there were a couple of ministers that came from Tibet along with His Holiness. Something happened in Dharamsala, some political drama and everybody turned against those ministers. They had been great ministers but somehow every Tibetan turned against them and made them look like they are evil or devils or something. Something had happened in Dharamsala with His Holiness and everybody started declaring that these ministers were not Tibetan. But Kyabje Trijang Rimpoche stood by them and wrote even a book, saying that they were outstanding persons. So we should not do that, unless there’s a strong reason; that’s different. You don’t change the person because the political air is blowing from a different direction. If you do that you become unreliable. I am amazed in the United States some Democrats will think every Republican is a bad person. And

160 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS the same thing with the Republicans; when they say that somebody is a good guy it is because they are a Democrat or because they are a Republican. That is absolutely wrong. A person is a person and a political view is a political view. There can be differences on the political level, but we make it personal. Even on the individual level, when we have a misunderstanding with another individual it’s just a misunderstanding on a particular job or policy or work. It’s not you versus me. This is what this particular verse is saying. You don’t have any continuation of relationships and the friendships but always likes to have new ones, especially high ones and important ones and rich ones and you like to run after them like a dog wagging the tail. That is the wheel of sharp weapons turning against yourself. These are the consequences. Whatever you do then, you will feel, ‘Oh I better to something else. I should do this, I should do that’ and nothing is really achieved. So we should think, ‘In future I will be always careful in dealing with people.

42 shän gyi mug kyö rang nyi lü pai tse rang dö nga gyäl tog dö che pa yi lä ngän tsön cha rang la khor wa yin da ni gang laang ngön tsän chung war ja

42 When I am deceived by others’ treachery, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me For being conceited and greedy; From now on I will be discreet with respect to everything.

Some people’s manipulation may let you down. A friend told me, ‘If you put in a couple of thousands you’ll make good

161 Gelek Rimpoche money’, but in the end all money had gone. That is due to our own desire, which is much more than we think it is. I am not very sure if ‘discreet’ is the right word. The root text and commentary differ on that. There is another translation that says: ‘. . . we have acted with arrogance. Hereafter let us dampen our self centered pride.’ And one translation has a footnote from a commentary by Tenpa Rabkye that says: ‘From now on I shall minimize attachment towards everything.’ I think the translation that says self-centered pride or self-centered arrogance is correct. Tenpa Rabkye’s is another one. So, originally in Tibetan it comes in two different versions and now with different translation we have four different versions (Rimpoche laughs)

43 nyän shä chag dang yö su song wai tse dü kyi kyön nam nying la ma sam pä lä ngän tsön cha rang la khor wa yin da ni gäl kyen tag nä pang war ja

43 When my studies and teaching fall prey to attachment and anger, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me For failing to reflect on the ills of demons in my heart; From now on I will examine adverse forces and over come them.

‘When teaching and studying, instead of becoming anti- attachment and anti-hatred, become a help to bring attachment and hatred in one’s life, it is the fault of the evil

162 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS blessing your heart.’ This is true; so we don’t need much explanation. From now on, whatever you do, see what faults and advantages there are in this. Yesterday in another verse we said when during your dharma practice you fall asleep that is the result of creating a negativity against dharma.98 So maybe that is what is happening here.

Sometimes teachings and explanations are becoming wrong advice. That is because we have not been careful. Demons or evil spirits are not outside spirits; it is the person who has not been careful. In our functioning, we should see what are the obstacles and the consequences and then decide to do something or not. The message is: be careful! So, whenever we are doing teachings or explanations or guide others along the path, it is extremely important to have a completely pure motivation. Do not think, ‘Because of this, may my name become known, may people say I did a great job, may people begin to realize I’m good at it.’ These sorts of ideas do come up, but even the slightest touch of it [will make that] every teaching you give will not be helpful to people. Moreover, it becomes a difficulty for yourself, too. We have to remember this. My hope is that all of you will become great teachers in future. One way of helping others is teaching. But, when that happens, the biggest obstacle is, ‘I say something right, so people will think I have learned a lot.’ It’s a funny, crazy kind of hope we keep in our minds. Whenever you say even a single word of advice, make sure it is purely dedicated, a pure service to other people.

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44 sang jä tham chä ngän du song wai tse drin län tham chä log par chäl wa yi lä ngän tsön cha rang la khor wa yin da ni drin län chi wö lang war ja

44 When all the good I have done turns out badly, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me For repaying others’ kindness with ingratitude; From now on I will respectfully repay others’ kindness.

When you are good to someone and you get a bad reaction . . . That happens to us all the time, isn’t it? You try to be good and there is misunderstanding. Why does that happen? Because some time [in the past] we did not appreciate when people helped us. There are people who are not grateful when helped by others. Gratefulness is another bodhisattva’s way of functioning. Gratefulness brings appreciation of the people. Appreciation brings respect. And that helps to develop love and compassion. Although gratitude may not look that important, when you look inside, it is a big deal. This is trying to do the best for another person and it turns out bad and the person doesn’t appreciate what you did. That fault comes if we don’t acknowledge the kindness of the people and that is because we don’t appreciate the people. Whenever they have done something good and you didn’t appreciate that, the consequences of that are that whatever you try to do good for people doesn’t turn out to be good. It turns out to be something bad. The Ameri- can culture is very good on that. Whenever and whatever people receive they thank you. They do acknowledge and I hope the sincere thanks is from their heart.

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In my case, I’m bad and I don’t thank people. That’s for a variety of reasons. For example when you receive a gift from somebody because of dharma teachings you deeply appreciate it, but you don’t tell that person, ‘Thank you dear.’ That would not be right. But other than that, anything else you have to appreciate. You know who gave you what and appreciate that way down years later. People who know me they know that I remember each and every thing, who gave it to me and when, even years after. Then I say, ‘I received this from So and So in such and such a year.’ So appreciation must be maintained. Even in the material world you have to acknowledge and appreciate.

45 dor na mi dö thog tu bhab pa nam gar wa rang gi räl dri sä pa tar lä ngän tsön cha rang la khor wa yin da ni dig pai lä la bhag yö ja

46 ngän song nam su dug ngäl nyong wa yang da khän rang gi da yi sä pa tar lä ngän tsön cha rang la khor wa yin da ni dig pai lä la bhag yö ja

45 in brief, when calamities befall me like bolts of lightning, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me Just like the ironsmith who is slain by his own sword; From now on I will be heedful against negative acts.

46 When I undergo sufferings in the lower realms, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me Like an archer slain by his own arrow; From now on I will be heedful against negative acts.

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The sword maker makes the sword and then the sword kills himself, the maker. Likewise, you do negativities and those kill you. The same thing with the next one, the arrow maker kills himself with his own arrow. The commentary says that [when] what you don’t desire is all coming to you, it is like the sword man killing himself by his own sword and the arrow man killing himself by his own arrow. The conclusion should be, ‘From now on I have to be aware of negativities.’ The two examples of the sword man killing himself with his own sword and the arrow man killing himself with his own arrow, is the direct explanation. The indirect message is that the sword man’s sword is representing the absolute bodhimind. It is the wonderful weapon that cuts the self- grasping; it is quick and effective. Similarly the arrow is very quick when hitting the heart; the commentary indicates that is the cutting off of self-cherishing. Our own sword of absolute bodhimind is quick and good to kill our own self- grasping and our own arrow of the relative bodhimind hits the battle point, the heart of self- cherishing. So these two are represented in these two examples. These two verses are a kind of conclusion of the above. For whatever difficulties we are getting, we normally like to blame someone else. ‘If he would not have done this, it would have been better’, we say. That is a habit. And if you can’t blame someone else, you blame yourself and you sink into sadness and depression. As I said, the swordsman killing himself by his own sword is referring to our self-grasping. The archer slain by his self-made arrow is referring to our self-cherishing. The

166 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS swordsman is representing yourself. You can quickly kill your own ego. The sword of wisdom, absolute bodhicitta, is the most adequate weapon for cutting the ego, the self- grasping. The arrow-maker likewise is yourself. The arrow of compassion and love, relative bodhicitta, is the most adequate weapon for attacking self-cherishing; it can quickly poke a hole into the self-cherishing. The total conclusion of whatever we have been saying before is: whenever we have difficulties, it is not just something newly created, it is not just because someone did something, it is because we have done something wrong in thinking and doing. We are influenced by confusion, by not knowing, and by lack of compassion; all problems come from there. Every suffering and pain as well as unfulfilled wishes are not anybody else’s creation, nor anybody else’s fault, not even our fault; they are there because of our self- cherishing, the devil within us, and, self-grasping, its agent.

47 khyim gyi dug ngäl thog tu bhab pa yang kyang pai bhu tsä pha ma sä pa tar lä ngän tsön cha rang la khor wa yin da ni tag par rab tu jung war rig

47 When the sufferings of the householder befall me, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me Like parents slain by their own cherished children; From now I will rightly renounce worldly life.

This is a verse for monks and nuns, encouraging them to live in celibacy.

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These verses down to here are all saying the same: What is the fault of our suffering today? Why do I have to suffer so much? What did I do wrong? I think the buddhas and bodhisattvas try to answer this question by: what is the cause of what? This is a quite detailed explanation of whatever is happening. The messages down to here are all of the same category: if we experience this, then these are the consequences. The whole purpose is change, to change our addictions and way of thinking. Our tiny mischievous mind is always working. Anything we try to do, even we try to do good things, has a hope of acknowledgement, of return, of getting recognized in some way. It may be tedious, difficult, and apparently small things, but they are particularly harmful. These are the things we have to be careful about.

Meditation Here you have to do a little meditation, the conclusion of all those. If you have time, you meditate on every verse. Since we didn’t, we do a little meditation now.

You may visualize in the space before you Buddha, or God, or whoever as witness, as protector. Just visualize that and meditate on it for a minute.

Relax. Breathe in and out. Totally pay attention to the breath. Breathe in and out through both nostril nine times.

Now begin to look inside and think: I did get that message today; the message that all the difficulties that I experienced in the past, am experiencing now and will experience

168 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS in future are actually created by ‘someone’ within me. It is something that is truly not there, but which I think is there, which I presume is there, which therefore I worked for very hard. That is my ego.

Ego is controlling me completely. I never realized that before. The way and how ego functions within me, is through self-cherishing That means, I see myself being superior to anybody else and the most important of all. Those are the two creators of suffering within me. I recognized them today.

From now on I will not be controlled by these. I will do my best. For that, I need the support and blessings of the enlightened beings.

Visualize that light and liquid comes from the enlightened beings. The light clears the darkness of the confusion, ego. The liquid washes away the self-cherishing.

Now I will cherish everyone. I develop within my self- cherishing everyone. I develop within myself caring, love and compassion.

Those fill up my being completely. And I become a nice person. I become a happy person. I become pure.

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III The Text—PART TWO

Do kindly generate a pure motivation:

Whatever time we spent before and whatever time we’ll spend today, may it be utilized for benefitting ourselves as well as all other living beings. In particular, may it be utilized to develop within all of us the unlimited, unconditioned compassion.

For that we like to listen to and discuss this teaching. Not only we want to learn; whatever we can get, we will continuously study and then practice, so that finally it will make a difference to our life.

The idea here is to get the basic idea of uplifting the compassion within ourselves. As we mentioned before, there are a lot of Lojong practices; each one of them has a different approach, but the goal is the same. What we hope to gain here is the basic idea of what ultimate love and compassion is and how one deals with it. And we hope to gain the old buddhist bodhisattva idea, how do they look into life and how they function. That is our goal. Different points will be effective for different people. Some will be affected by one and some by an other point. If you are hoping to understand everything in a couple of

171 Gelek Rimpoche sessions, that is not going to happen. Certain points may not be clear, but others will be clear as well as quite helpful.

Development of the bodhimind To repeat, Maitreya Buddha has said,

Bodhimind is no other than seeking enlightenment with a total dedication to benefit all others.

Such a dedicated mind will not be able to develop within anyone unless you have a very firm commitment, which we call the special mind. It is the firm commitment of liberating all living beings, bringing them to the level of total enlightenment. Such a firm commitment will not be possible to develop within anyone unless you have very strongly developed the greater compassion: wishing to free all living beings from the clutches of negativities and their causes, i.e. the delusions and the imprints of those. Such is not possible to develop unless you have a profound pure love for all living beings. Such a profound pure love is not possible to develop within anyone unless you have reasons. The reasons here are: remembering the kindness and the care [of all mother beings]. They saved our own life a number of times, even within a day. Remembering that kindness will bring us to feel the need to repay that kindness. We have to give back whatever we can for the kindness and the good things that we received. In order to be able to give back, to repay, we have to remember how great they have been. Such a great thought

172 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS cannot be developed unless we see our connection with all living beings; not simply a connection but knowing them as the very closest, dearest and nearest person in our life. Buddha says they are mother-like beings. Such an idea cannot be realized by us unless we have equality and equanimity. That means from my point of view I look at all living beings as equal. The fundamental basis of this mind has to be developed from the equanimity. But such a care and such a concern cannot be developed within us unless we are aware of our own situation and we are aware of our own settlement in the path. Without ourselves been settled on a track how can we lead others on that track to get to enlightenment? Therefore the track on which we are going to lead people must be well-established within ourselves. That means looking at samsara as a source of suffering. Samsara is not only a source of suffering; samsara is suffering. But that’s not the end of our existence. There is nirvana and nirvana is peace. Samsara is suffering because no matter whether it is highly attractive picnic spots or the most horrible state in a hell realm, it is all suffering in nature. Samsara goes from the lower levels to high and back down, so much so that you can be in the formless realms, the peak of samsara, and within the next minute fall into the lowest possible hell realm. We are not only subject to such a change; it is not only probable that this will happen; it is sure to change. In this situation we have to realize that what causes all of this is the ultimate delusion, the delusion of the wrong view, of wrongly perceiving the self, and therefore grasping at ego. It is not just the self-cherishing,

173 Gelek Rimpoche but the self-grasping mind that is the real cause of all this turbulence within our lives. Knowing this clearly we can take this as a focal point of elimination completely. We have to terminate that from our mental system completely and take as our real goal the wisdom of selflessness. We have to apply that directly until that self-cherishing and that ego- grasping is completely eliminated and eradicated from the perception of our mind once for all. This cannot simply be established without having the very strong fortune of good luck and that is provided by the accumulation of merit. Using accumulation of merit and wisdom, combined together, we can travel across the ocean of samsara and reach beyond samsara to the pure freedom stage which is known as nirvana. This has never been possible for us because we have been held back by attachment. And that was because of our attraction to samsara’s picnic spots, our attraction that made us unable to let it go and gave us the desire to repeat samsara again and again. We just want those picnic spots and our feelings are simply confused, not knowing the nature of these picnic spots deep enough. And even if we do know deeply enough, we still refuse to see, we refuse to look at the deeper aspects of those picnic spots. We are attracted to the superficial surface feeling of these samsaric picnic spots. Unless we are able to cut that once for all we will never establish ourselves on the track that leads to nirvana. That can only be established when we have the cleared the desire for or the attachment to the samsaric goodies of this life. Further, by not recognizing how important our life is and how impermanent it is, by not recognizing how fragile

174 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS our life is, by not recognizing that life changes continuously, the mind of seeking liberation will not be established in us. Thus we have to look from the positive point of the precious life, from the impermanence and uncertainty of this life and all lives within samsara and take refuge to Bud- dha Dharma and Sangha. We then have to follow the advice of Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, particularly their advice on karma. Conducting everyday life based on these principles does establish the individual on the basis of relative and absolute reality, the practice of accumulation of merit and accumulation of wisdom-merit and that will lead to the dharmakaya and rupakaya of the buddha level. This is how we have to establish that within ourselves. This life is just like a magician’s show. There is no true reality. It is a very confused state. Anything can go wrong anywhere any minute. That is the reality and we have to dislike that. That will take us beyond samsara into nirvana and we will liberate ourselves through the path of moral discipline, concentration and wisdom—the Three Higher Trainings Buddha shared with us. At the beginning level we can train our mind by learning discipline and with that discipline we reduce the negativities. By reducing negativity we automatically gain positive karma. Thus we can achieve the karmic guarantee not to have a lower realm rebirth immediately. However, that is not enough. We have to cut the root of samsara, the self-grasping, through the wisdom of the interdependent nature of existence. By looking through the dependent nature of existence we will see the lack of independent existence.

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We will see the emptiness of independent existence by knowing that there is no such self or ego that we are grasping at. It does not exist as we perceive it. There is nobody else dictating from behind. It is all dependently arising; depending on terms and conditions. And these terms and conditions are provided by our own karma. Things materialize because of that; yet there is a continuation of self who is experiencing all these good and bad things within the life and lives. Living with that attitude, living with that understanding, living with that mind, makes it simple and easy to deal with the sophisticated worldly affairs and circumstances that you encounter—and not only you, but your near ones and dear ones, your family and everyone. You can see it quite clearly. One life is not the end of the story. It continues and is just dependent arising. We can clearly know this. Such an opportunity is with us. That is what Milarepa said in one of his songs:

While sleeping I am meditating. I have a method that others don’t have. I wish if others had it. How wonderful it is. How happy I would be if others could do this.

While eating I am meditating. . I have a method that others don’t have. I wish if others had it. How wonderful it is. How happy I would be if others could do this

While drinking I am meditating. . . I have a method that others don’t have. I wish if others had it. How wonderful it is. How happy I would be if others could do this.

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I paraphrased this of course,99 but it indicates how we can deal with life and also that others cannot and they are subjects of compassion—not in the sense of looking down and feeling ‘poor you’ but in the sense that I am indebted to their kindness and I have to repay that. I have to bring them to liberation. They are my mother, they are my father, they are my spouse, they are my everything. They are my savior; they are my field of merit. With that mind one very strongly generates that love and that brings the compassion, which in turn brings the commitment that generates bodhimind. This is how you develop. That is how you try to think back and forth. With this mind do kindly listen to the teaching.

Outline 4: How we recognize (the culprit)

48 de tar lag pä dra wo dag gi sin jab nä lü pai chom kün dag gyi sin rang du dzü nä lü pai sog po ni e ma dag dzin di yin the tsom me

48 Since that’s the way things are, I’ve seized the enemy! I’ve caught the thief who steals and deceives with stealth. Aha! There is no doubt that it’s this self-grasping indeed; This charlatan deceives me by impersonating me.

In the previous verses we talked about the many disadvantages of self-cherishing. These are not just made-up stories, but true realities. Here you say, ‘Now I got you!’ That is

177 Gelek Rimpoche the enemy. ‘Since this is the real truth, I now recognize my enemy; I caught the thief who hides behind me and steals things; I caught you red-handed! Until now, I did not recognize that the true enemy is ego-grasping combined with self-cherishing within me. Today, because of this kind teaching of Dharma and the kindness of the gurus, I recognize you for who you are, my dear enemy!’ Honestly, my dear enemy. Just like a thief comes stealing hiding in the night, this one hides behind some beautiful picture, saying, ‘Oh I care for you, I am not a bad person, I am kind and wonderful . . . .’ But today you say, ‘I recognize you!’ This charlatan is not only hiding behind a beautiful picture, it is pretending to be me! That is identity theft! Me100 doesn’t get to say anything. Ego-grasping and self-cherishing combined is overtaking me, fulfilling my functions. Me wants joy and happiness; doesn’t want to hurt anybody. But my ego and self-cherishing wants to show a porcupine type of behavior. My ego and self-cherishing wants ‘pre-emption.’ It’s not the American public who wants pre-emptive action, but the American ego. Just like that, my ego and self-cherishing pretend to be me, steal my identity and do all this. Now here you say, ‘I have caught you, you thief who has stolen my identity! Aha! I have no doubt this is you, my ego, my self-grasping and self-cherishing. These are the two we described earlier:101 the master and emissary, the mister and misses, the lord and lady within us. This is [combined] ego-grasping and self-cherishing sitting in there because they have the same purpose, the same goal. This is the true enemy within us!

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‘Since that is the way things are’ means this is the way things are. Whatever has been said earlier is not poetic embellish- ment. It is not glamorized or exaggerated. I don’t want to say ‘exaggerated’ because every poet will get upset. But it is poetry that instead of saying ‘somebody is peeing’ might say something like, ‘There is a great snow mountain and this sun is melting the snow.’ They use metaphors. Once I wrote a poem. A few of us had been invited to some kind of Buddhist conference in India. It was organized by the Mahabodhi Society. They were talking so much and we couldn’t understand what they were talking about and we didn’t know English well. I think it must have been in the late sixties or early seventies. There was a Japanese poet who was completely baldheaded and had a beard. This conference was in Delhi and it was very hot. So I wrote on a piece of paper, ‘The heat of the sunshine is so strong it melts the brain, which falls through to the cheeks as a forest.’ (Rimpoche and audience laugh) I don’t want to say that poetry exaggerates. What I mean is that what we read in these verses is not prefabricated; it is not just a story. It really is like that. Therefore ‘I now catch the enemy, the self-cherishing.’ All these effects of self-cherishing we saw above are actually happening in our life. It really happens one time or another. Sometimes everything happens simultaneously. That is the reality. So now I have to catch this real enemy within me. ‘I recognize the thief who impersonates me’, ‘I have caught the thief who steals and deceives with stealth.’ ‘This charlatan deceives me by impersonating me.’

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This is mostly the self-cherishing but you know it is difficult to recognize a thief, rather than an enemy. The enemy will tell you, ‘I’m your enemy’ and you both will know. The thief is more difficult to know because he does not say, ‘I am a thief.’ A thief hides, so is more difficult to catch. Also, this is the thief who pretends to be me! That means it is like a thief who is stealing from inside the family! That is even more difficult. This self-cherishing pretends to be me and does all this and so is much more difficult to capture than the others. Until now I have been unable to capture it, because I have actually been thinking that this is the one who is helping me. Instead it is the one harming me, the self-cherishing within me. And I don’t think there’s any doubt about it. So now I recognize the one who pretends to be me, who pretends to be my protector. The verse says: ‘that it is this self-grasping indeed.’ ‘Indeed’ means there is no doubt. If you have any doubt about this you have to cut it. Because there can be no doubt.

Self-cherishing and ego-grasping. If you’re confused between self-cherishing and ego-grasping, here our direct focus is self-cherishing. At the verses about the sword and the arrow we had both of them. But here the main subject is self- cherishing. This text talks mostly about self-cherishing but you can raise ego-grasping as well. Sure, it does the same thing and their opposites are relative bodhimind and absolute bodhimind. Actually when one develops, it is the same mind that has both of them. First one may develop only the relative bodhimind and not the absolute bodhimind. Then we are talking about two separate things. But when one

180 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS individual has both, they become the same in one mind. It is not two separate minds. That may be the confusion here too. The root text at this verse actually says self grasping—dag dzin.

Audience: Is it possible to have self-cherishing without self- grasping? If you don’t recognize yourself as an independently inherently existing self, then how could you cherish it? Rimpoche: I am not in the question and answer mood right now, but it’s an important question. So I will answer it. (Rimpoche laughs). Self-cherishing and self grasping are very interesting. There are some extremely brilliant people who develop the realization of emptiness before developing bodhimind. Those people then do have self-cherishing but not self-grasping. That is quite obvious.

Audience: It’s still illogical. Rimpoche: Maybe, but it is obvious. You can have understanding of emptiness but not care that much about others because you are the one who would like to develop this understanding of emptiness. The arhats of the lower yanas, like the Sravakas and Pratyekas, have the realization of emptiness. But they don’t have the total dedication of considering others more important than oneself. The need to develop for the others may not be there. They think, ‘I need to develop. I have to get rid of self-grasping.’ It is obvious. But here in this verse it does say dag dzin—self- grasping. And it says, ‘there is no doubt.’ This is indicating that this is how it is—no doubt. In case someone still has a little doubt thinking it might not be so, this verse is saying:

181 Gelek Rimpoche yes this is what it is indeed! And you have an ‘aha’ there too. The verse says ‘Aha’ (Tib: e-ma) because you know you have been able to see this and this is because of the kindness of the guru.

Now we recognize the message: whatever we mentioned earlier are not made-up stories, they are reality, they are happening with us almost all the time; they are coming from self-cherishing and ego-grasping. That is not false propaganda, it is true, and it is to the point. Ego is the imposter, ego is not you. Let me put it this way. If you ask me, ‘Is there someone called Mr. Ego, within me?’ No. Then you say, ‘Then it is only me, nobody else.’ That is also not true. We produce somebody other than the wonderful you, the wonderful me. We make up ‘somebody’ and whatever we make up, controls us. Our fear, confusion and ignorance together we made into another ‘being’ within us. As long as we don’t see that, it is almost like someone else within us governs our life and our true me cannot function. This is important. I am not saying we are schizophrenic. But we almost have two personalities. We function two ways: we play the good one and the bad one. We have both within us, alive and functioning. As long as we keep our confusion and fear, it will kill our functioning. Until now, we didn’t know. Now we know, we recognize it. So we have to be clear to ourselves: ‘Aha! Great we see this! There is no doubt that it is this self-grasping indeed.’ So what are we going to do?

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Outline 5: Making a request to the yidam

49 da ni lä kyi tsön cha lä la char thrö pai tsül gyi län sum lä la kor den nyi shab drä thab she chän mig dang tob shii che wa tsig la dra la nün

49 Now, O Yamantaka, raise the weapon of karma over his head— Spin the wheel three times fiercely over his head. Your legs of two truths spread apart and eyes of method and wisdom wide open, With your fangs of four powers bared, strike the enemy!

Here the subject changes. We make a request to the powerful yidam, Yamantaka, who is huge and wrathful, but in reality is the exchange of self and others, which is the weapon against self-cherishing. Remember, at the beginning the author made prostrations to Yamantaka and that is actually the red Yamantaka. But, whether it is the red or black or blue Yamantaka, whether it is Yamantaka Thirteen deities or single, Yamantaka is Yamantaka. ‘Raise the weapon of karma.’ The word in Tibetan is lä la. It does not necessarily mean ‘over’ his head. My understanding here is ‘chop the head! The word lä can be ‘over’, can be ‘brain’, can be ‘chop.’ What we have to understand is: ‘destroy the ego completely; make sure you spin it three times!.’ ‘Spin the wheel three times’ refers to the relative bodhimind, the absolute bodhimind and the combination of those two. It is all metaphors here. In reality it is all within ourselves. ‘Spin the wheel three times fiercely.’ Why

183 Gelek Rimpoche fiercely, getting angry? As theBodhisattvacarya va tara says:

This one hurt me so many times, made me remain in samsara so long, so why be angry and upset? If I really hate someone, this is the one to hate.102

The real weapon of mass destruction is no other than negative karmic consequences. Here we are asking Yamantaka: ‘If I do have any negative karmic consequences left, take all of them and cut the enemy of self-cherishing within me now!’ Why are we urging the great Yamantaka? Because the author of this Wheel of Sharp Weapons, Lama Dharmarak- shita, was a yogi of Yamantaka, and this was his practice. So we are urging Yamantaka to destroy the self-cherishing; not only to just destroy it but destroy it with wrath—not with negotiation but with real wrath—in order to make sure it goes away. We are asking Yamantaka to hit the enemy, not just once, not twice, but three times.

The verse refers to the two truths: the relative and the absolute truth. It is referring to the relative bodhimind, represented by the right leg slightly drawn in, and the absolute bodhimind, represented by the left leg slightly stretched out. Similarly, method and wisdom are like the two eyes, wide-open, indicating total focus on destruction. So the two eyes also are relative and absolute bodhimind. Then Yamantaka has four fangs and they stand for the four powers. They bite and chew up the enemy, self-cherishing and ego-grasping. Yamantaka beats them and bites them, hits them with his weapons and dances over their head.

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It is right to be fierceful on ego, on self-cherishing. It is wrong to develop hatred and fear on poor human beings. It is absolutely crazy to develop wrath and fear against your own mother, or towards helpless people. If you think of developing bodhimind, then through recognizing all beings as mother beings, seeing how kind they have been and so on, you will see where anger and hatred fit. Mother beings and innocent beings are not fit to be the object of hatred or anger at all. On the other hand, the negative emotions that are creating suffering, in particular the imposter ego, is fit to be object of hatred and anger. When you use your hatred etc. on the right object, the recognized enemy, then even though you won’t get rid of anger and hatred completely, doing that is transforming anger- hatred into the path. Using anger-hatred on the negativities is using anger-hatred as the path, while using it against living beings is negativity. If we look for transforming negativity, we don’t need some kind of lightning coming. We need the wisdom within our mind, [that grows] with the help of books and by the information through living teachings like this! Isn’t that wonderful? See how wonderful it is. Transformation happening somewhere while sitting in a retreat is not going to happen. And one day you just die. But here we said we caught the enemy red-handed and we also saw how to use the method: just change the object! There is no mystery about that. ‘Your legs of two truths.’ The relative bodhimind is the right, the absolute bodhimind the left leg. ‘Spread apart.’ That is making yourself stable. You are talking to Yamantaka. He stands stably on the corpse of

185 Gelek Rimpoche the enemy, ego. In Tibetan it says, ‘two eyes open.’ The translation adds up on it and says, ‘the eyes of wisdom and method wide open.’ If you stand there, having to destroy something, your eyes have to be wide open, fiercefully looking, with total focus. That is the Yamantaka look. He is looking with both eyes equally, balanced. That means, there is no disbalance between relative and absolute truth. His focus is on relative and absolute truth together; completely together! We may think of Yamantaka as being over there and ask him this and that. But, also, you yourself are recognizing your own enemy, and you yourself, as Yamantaka, do these things! ‘With your fangs of four powers bared, strike the enemy.’ This refers to the four powers of purification. Those powers are like fangs. If you bite with those, the enemy will bleed!

How to practice. You change yourself into the yidam, Yaman- taka.103 And within the principles of karma, you destroy this [ego]. You say, ‘Now, O Yamantaka, raise the weapon of karma over your head. Spin the wheel three times fiercely over his head . . . Strike the enemy!’ Each and every individual has good and bad karma. Even an activity as Yamantaka destroying the ego, has to be done within the karmic system. It is not just that Yamantaka can randomly destroy this or that one. Neither can someone go and talk to Yamantaka and get Yamantaka to chop this and that head off. That does not work. That means: the fundamental base of everything is karma. Who creates karma? Nobody else but we ourselves. How do we create positive karma? With a lot of efforts. How do we create negative karma? With no effort at all.

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How come we have to put in a lot of efforts for even a tiny little bit of positive karma and we create a huge negative karma effortlessly? That is because of what we call our addiction. Our addiction to negativities is too strong. When we get used to doing the wrong thing, it needs no effort to do it. As the great Indian teacher Dharmakirti said,

If you are perfect, nothing is difficult to do. Because you learned it and you are used to it, you can do it effortlessly.

But doing positive things is so hard! The earlier Tibetan teachings gave an example: it is like pushing a dead-tired fully-loaded donkey uphill. That is where we are. Anything negative is like running water 300 feet downwards, anything positive is like running water 300 feet upwards! Dharma means: reverse this. You cannot take the water up 300 feet without any difficulties, nor can you stop the water running down 300 feet down. So, what you have to do is change. Change what? And how? Put the positive things in the downstream water and the negative things in the upstream! That is our challenge. We cannot switch immediately. Try and do it slowly, step by step. Whenever there is an opportunity, do it! For example, avoid killing. Gradually try not to kill. Let’s say you go to a restaurant and you are very fond of fish, freshly cooked with all the spices and the beautiful smell. Very tempting. Happy to enjoy. Strong desire to eat. However, when you realize that fish will be picked up from the water tank right opposite you in the restaurant, you’ll willingly sacrifice it. Even though you have to sacrifice the taste, the smell, the desire etc, you

187 Gelek Rimpoche are willing to not order it. That is how you handle it. This is one example, which is not really easy but not that hard either. So, gradual adjustment. It is wonderful to have interest in the spiritual path, but if you think that overnight, or after a few lessons, you’ll be okay, it becomes a little difficult. What you need is constant efforts. This text says, ‘When you are putting efforts, you may think the first drops of effort are going to fill the bucket, but that is not true. Nor do the last ones. It is the collection of constant efforts put in, that fills the bucket.104 Keep that in mind. That is how we proceed on our path: kind and compassionate, to ourselves and to others. Do not sacrifice yourself for others nor act the other way round. Love-compassion and concern must shine to all. There is only one that does not deserve love-compassion; that is the devil within us. Why? Because that one is destroying my and others’ happiness, and unless and until that goes away, no one can have happiness. Being not even a person, it becomes even more powerful! So it is our mission in life to destroy that; it’s our mission of compassion, our mission of love, without which love and compassion cannot survive. If you try to create somebody else on that spot, that has nothing to do with an enemy, you create a complete new circle of fight and trouble and all that, as we see is happening in the world today. So the right thing is to recognize the right enemy!

50 dra wo sir wai rig ngag gyäl po yang khor wai nag su rang wang ma chi par lä kyi tsön cha thog nä gyug pa yi

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dag dzin gong po she pai dug tsub chän rang shän pung du jug pai dam nyam khug

50 The king of spells who confounds the enemy’s mind; Summon this oath breaker who betrays self and others— This savage called ‘self-grasping demon’— Who, while brandishing the weapon of karma, Runs amok in the jungle of cyclic existence.

‘King of spells’ refers to mantra. The most powerful mantra is known as the king of mantra. So whenever you apply a mantra spell that ‘confounds the enemy’s mind’, it will be the king of mantras. True compassion spells the self-cherishing. Therefore compassion is the king of mantras that confounds the enemy. ‘Summon this oath breaker who betrays self and others.’ The translation is much clearer than the original Tibetan. Honestly. Whom you are really destroying here is the ‘self-grasping demon’, which refers to self-grasping and self- cherishing together. ‘Spell’ is ngag in Tibetan. There is yantra, mantra and tantra and all kinds of things and sounds. Commonly known are dharanis and mantras. It is not a blanket rule, but normally when we say tayatha . . . that is a dharani. When we say om . . . that becomes a mantra. Normally we make this simple judgment, because om is the beginning of the mantra and om ah hum is body, mind and speech combined and then put other syllables in the middle and that becomes a mantra. When there is not an om or ah or a hum or phat to conclude, then we call that a dharani.

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Sometimes it differs. Here they call it ‘king of spells.’ What does the other translation say?

Audience: . . . with your powerful mantra of cherishing others demolish the enemy lurking within . . . Rimpoche: They must have read the commentary, because that’s what the commentary says.

I think the words really say ‘the king of mantras that makes the enemy crazy.’ I think it is something like this. You have to understand that in two ways: a) in one way it is a mantra which does that; b) on the other hand it is the practice of exchanging the self-cherishing for cherishing others. That is the spell you want to put on to self-cherishing, the real enemy who makes us run through the forest of samsara without any control, with a weapon in hand. It is self- cherishing and the harmful negative karma. That’s what we carry in our hand and anyone who gets a touch closer gets harmed and hurt. Not only that: we are running from the roof of samsara to the bottom of samsara, everywhere. That is the self-grasping, which not only the bodhisattvas but even those sravaka and pratyeka followers of the Buddha, the lower-yana practitioners, have to get rid of. Without getting rid of that, you cannot get out of samsara. Com- bined with self-cherishing it is the real enemy, the devil or demon spell. That is very powerful and harmful and makes us fall. Now we summon this particular ‘oath breaker’, as this translation says. Alex Berzin’s translation says ‘sly, deadly villain’ and Geshe Sopa’s says ‘vow breaker.’ When you use the word ‘vow breaker’ in the Buddhist field, it is worse than a villain and worse than a demon.

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We may not think of it as that bad but in the Buddhist field to call someone a vow breaker is really bad quite bad. It is a terrible word. I mean the f-word is nothing compared with that word.105 Some orthodox Tibetans will tell you you don’t even talk to those people, you don’t even go nearby, don’t drink anything from their hand, don’t do anything with them. And they look at this particular word dam nyam as a very, very strong word. I don’t even know how to express that in English. This is not used commonly for anyone but is used for very, very strong circumstances, like with spiritually or otherwise powerful persons. This particular word dam nyam or oath breaker drags us down completely. In English the word doesn’t make much sense compared to what it means in Tibetan. It is a very strong word. Here it is applied to self-cherishing and not only does it get us into trouble but also everybody else. So we have to ‘summon’ it. Again, the English meaning of that word is not strong enough. In Tibetan it means more ‘don’t let them get away.’ ‘Summon’ just means a notice from the court, but if you have George Bush as your friend you can get away with it. That is his executive privilege. So here this Tibetan word khug je means: don’t let them get away! So, we ask Yamantaka to summon this one that broke the commitment. That’s what the next verses will be about.

51 khug chig khug chig thro wo shin je she gyob chig gyob chig dra dag nying la nün phung je tog pai go la chem se chem dra dag she mai nying la ma ra ya

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51 Summon him, summon him, wrathful Yamantaka! Strike him, strike him, pierce the heart of this enemy, the self! Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

This verse is mixed with mantra. Maraya is a Sanskrit mantra word and means to destroy or kill. The word ‘summon’ is used twice here, first representing the relative bodhimind and second the absolute bodhimind. Then it says: strike him, strike him. Again it is used twice, again referring to the two types of bodhimind. So: this destroyer of oneself and others, this self-cherishing, hit it, and hit it on the head! Chem chem means: dance on its head, again twice because of the relative and the absolute bodhimind. Then it says: ‘mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, ego.’ The enemy, self-cherishing and its ‘authorized’ agent, the self grasping, destroy both of them at the heart—maraya!

52 hum hum yi dam chen po dzu thrül kye dza dza dra wo di ni dam la thog phä phä ching wa tham chä dräl du söl shig shig dzin pai dü pa chä du söl

52 Hum! Hum! Great meditation deity, display your miraculous powers; Dza! Dza! Bind this enemy tightly; Phat! Phat! Release us from all bondage; Shik! Shik! I beseech you to cut the knot of grasping.

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Again, we have hum hum twice for the same reason, the relative and absolute bodhimind. ‘Meditation deity’ is a mental commitment here; it is your mind commitment. Whether that deity is an external being or not is a different issue. The philosophers can think and argue about it. You cannot deny that Yamantaka is a superior being, but let that be; that’s not the issue. The issue here is: which is my Yamantaka? My mental creation, my mental commitment? Along with that there is an absolute being called Yaman- taka, so you merge them together. The Tibetan word for that is yidam. Here they call it ‘meditation deity.’ I want to get to the point of the yidam because we use that very often. Many of us say sadhanas every day. So yidam actually is ‘commitment of mind.’106 You may have a doubt now: you mean to say there is not really a person known as Yamantaka? I’m not saying that and that is not the issue. Yes, there is a Yamantaka and it is also your mental commitment; it is mind-created—yidam. I try to create it from the nature of emptiness and it’s born because terms and conditions are right. That is why you need this absolute [bodhimind], the wisdom here. Then it says: ‘Display your miraculous powers.’ That is very interesting. In the west there is a term called sorcerer. There is a book by Deepak Chopra called ‘Merlin.’ That is familiar and it is somehow accepted in the Western culture. In the old Tibetan culture the sorcerers were known as magicians. This word here is a stage superior to sorcerers or magicians. Actually there are two words: dzu thrül, meaning:

193 Gelek Rimpoche performed in that way. Dzu thrül together means the reality has been changed into that form. Sorcerers or magicians do not change the reality, but when they reach to the level of the dzu thrül, reality is changed. ‘Miraculous’ is maybe right because with that you can understand that reality has changed due to the magician’s performance. It is more than a magician’s performance. Somehow reality has changed; it is more real. So by miraculous control this enemy is bound. The verse says: dza dza—bind this enemy tightly. That is true in this particular case; the word dza in this particular case means almost the same as khug—summon. We read that as ‘don’t let them get away.’ So here also it is: bind them and don’t let them get away. phat phat means ‘use it, use it.’ So whatever you have brought here and tied down, now you use it. The root text says: ‘release us from bondage.’ That in Tibetan is ching wa. If you say ching dah, it means ‘release us from the killer.’ That is what the commentary says. It doesn’t matter; the absolute meaning doesn’t change. So if you say ching dah chen po rather than ching wa chen po, it means the biggest killer is Yamaraja. Yamaraja is Yamantaka, the King of Yamas, the King of the Killers, the controller of the killers. Here it is the controller of self-cherishing, because that is the enemy. So the controller or opponent of self-cherishing is Yamantaka. The root text is going with ching wa chen po and the commentary is going with the chi dah chen po. So it is my job to explain it both ways. You cannot say one is wrong. This is what happened with the old Indian texts. The translations could go a hundred different ways, so the teachers have to be able to explain a hundred ways. If

194 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS you cannot, either you are limited or something’s wrong with certain things. As long as there is nothing wrong it is accepted and should be explainable. That’s how it goes. So the last line of this verse goes: ‘ shik shik—I beseech you to cut the knot of grasping.’ A knot is made of two threads normally. So the knot here is the knot of self-cherishing and ego-grasping both together and that knot is cut. hum hum, dza, dza, and phat phat are mantra words. The double syllables refer to the relative and the absolute bodhimindDza dza means sort of subdue, settle. There are always two ‘people’ together: the devil and the devil’s agent, self-cherishing and ego-grasping. Shig Shig is not a mantra word; it is Tibetan and means: release, release; cut the negativities that are creating continuation of life in samsara. Samsara is almost like a slump. Who made me stay in the slump? Self-cherishing.

Summary of the verses 49–52 49–50. ‘Because of the following reason, the bad karma of my enemy, self-cherishing, in order to make eradicate this completely, I urge you, fearless one, very angry to self-cherishing, very angry to ego, you great wrathful Yamantaka!’ Lama Dharmarakshita urges his yidam, the Red Yaman- taka, saying, ‘All your hand implements, all your weapons, circle them over the head of this enemy of mine. Chop him into pieces; don’t let any single piece remain. Just turn him into dust; destroy him completely, with your two legs of the two truths, and with your four fangs, which make the enemies confused and circle around. This ‘self-grasping demon’, makes me run through the jungle of samsara and

195 Gelek Rimpoche hurt everyone else with the weapons of ego-grasping and self-cherishing, which makes me and everybody get lost.’

51. So the urging to Yamantaka is: khug chig! Khug chig!— Summon him, Great Yamantaka. Gyob chig gyob chig!— Hit! Hit! Hit with relative bodhimind! Hit with absolute bodhimind! Hit with force—‘mortally strike at the heart of the butcher and enemy, Ego!’ It is true that it is the false conception that makes us lost, me and all others. So you strike at that! Strike! Strike!—relative and absolute bodhimind. Destroy their heart! These two enemies, [self-cherishing and self-grasping] remaining in the heart of us, kill these two!

52 Hum! Hum! This refers to the relative and the absolute bodhimind. Really, this huge enemy is the dirty bag full of ego and the dirty bag of self-cherishing. These two bags, you should destroy. Dza! Dza! This means ‘Control it! Overpower it!’ Don’t let them get away easily. Put them away nicely. These double exclamations here all refer to relative and absolute bodhimind. Phä! Phä! Means ‘Control it! Control it! Crush it! Crush it!’ It means control this one and release us. When our ego- grasping and self-cherishing are under control, we are freed. Shig! Shig! ‘Untie it! Untie it!’ ‘Release the individual from the knot of the self-cherishing and ego-grasping.’ Again, relative and absolute. So, we basically introduced the two types of bodhimind, which is the two types of compassion: pure compassion and compassion combined with wisdom. While reading,

196 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS we recognized the target, the creator of pain and suffering within ourselves, which are the devil and its agent within us. So now it becomes more and more clear.

53 tsur jön yi dam thro wo shin jei she khor wai lä kyi dam dzab jor wa yi lä dang nyön mong dug ngai kyäl pa di da ta nyi du shag shag dräl du söl

53 Appear before me, O Yamantaka, my meditation deity! Tear it! Tear it! Rip to shreds this very instant— The leather sack of karma and the five poisonous afflictions That mire me in karma’s samsaric mud.

Again you are calling Yamantaka, Shinje She, your great mental commitment, yidam chenpo, ‘I call you once again, Yamantaka. I have more things to talk to you about, I have to urge you. This enemy of mine is making me suffer tremendously in this samsaric karmic mud, with my [heavy] bag of negative karma and the five poisonous afflictions.107 Please cut it, cut it now!’ Here you say, Shag! Shag! meaning Cut! Cut! or Tear it! Tear it! Both doubles again refer to the relative and absolute bodhimind. Think,

Whatever I have done so far is not enough. Therefore I invite Yamantaka again and make a request again. I and all beings are in this samsara, the terrible swamp of negativities and negative karma and we could not get away. It is nothing but self-cherishing that keeps us there. That self-cherishing is full of the five poisons. So we ask you, Yamantaka, ‘Please tear that bag of poisons in which we

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are all caught. And also, do it not gradually and methodi- cally, but just tear it off!

54 ngän song sum du dug la kyäl gyur kyang dre mi she par gyu la gyug pa yi phung je tog pai go la chem se chem dra dag she mai nying la ma ra ya

54 Even though he leads me to misery in the three lower realms, I do not learn to fear him but rush to his source— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

Like before we tried to find the culprit, we now get the rep- etitions of who should be hit on the head, who should be destroyed etc. For example, this verse says, ‘Hit on the head of the one who made me suffer tremendously throughout the hell and the other lower realms, life after life. However, I could not give up, because it had its tricks to play. Though this enemy makes me suffer continuously, I still don’t learn how to be cautious and get free of him. This is because he pretends to be me, he has stolen my identity! So Strike! Strike at that false conception. Strike at the heart of the enemy self-cherishing and self-grasping, ego.’ Think,

This enemy made me suffer constantly, continuously. Not only in this life, but also in previous lives I have been in the three lower realms everywhere. However, I still didn’t

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learn the lesson. I’m still running and I’m still under the control of his spell. So I urge Yamantaka: ‘Destroy, destroy the head of that butcher, that killer, that enemy of me, the self-cherishing and ego-grasping. Ma ra ya! Kill it right here at the heart level. Destroy it!

55 kyi dö che la de gyu tsog mi sog dug sän chung la dö nag ngam sem che phung je tog pai go la chem se chem dra dag she mai nying la ma ra ya

55 Though my desire for comfort is great, I do not gather its causes; Though I have little endurance for pain, I am rife with the dark craving of greed— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

What you wanted so much you could not achieve. You have no patience for whatsoever. You’re really looking for miracles; everything should happen miraculously. You want this thing to happen and that thing to happen. We want to be learned, we want to be doctors and lawyers. We want to be experts and rocket scientist; we want to be everything, but we put in no efforts towards moving there. So such miracles are impossible to happen. You want too many things very shortly. Everything has to be now, now, now! But that never happens. Not a single buddha has ever appeared just like that—never ever. Everything has to have constant efforts,

199 Gelek Rimpoche constant learning, constant steady effort, continuously working. Look back after years of work and then you have something. But we don’t want to do this. We are looking for nice attractions. Everybody would like to become like Michael Milken who was involved with those junk bonds. How did he make all his money? Junk bonds, real estate junk bonds. Nobody wants to go and do the tedious work of putting the efforts in. Everybody wants everything to happen right now. You start something and then change your mind, doing something else all the time. So nothing happens. When you look back fifteen years back in your life there’s nothing, neither in the spiritual nor in the material world. In Tibetan we say it is like gelatin; like fruit jelly. It wiggles and everything is moving but nothing really happens. You touch here and touch there, but nothing gets really completed. You want to do some kind of retreat and sit there one day or two days and you already want to see the Yamanta- ka’s face. You think, ‘Did I dream about it?’, but you didn’t. You think you should have a good dream and you get all this anxiety. If you are really studying you have to spend time. Monks who are studying get their geshe degree after fifteen years. So you can’t go to the monastery and two days later you want to become geshe! That doesn’t work. In his commentary Trichen Tenpa Rabgye says,

People have no enthusiasm and no patience at all. They sit there for a month or a year and want to achieve results.

We don’t even sit for a month or a year. We sit for day or a week and want results. Maybe we want results even in an

200 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS hour or two. We want so many, many things and we want them now, now, now. We have no patience for whatsoever. What we’re really looking for is that everything miraculously happens. That’s what this is referring to. We want to be great, we want to be learned, we want to be a doctor, a lawyer, a rocket scientist—we want to be everything! But efforts towards moving there we won’t make. Everything demands constant efforts, constant learning, and continu- ous work. In short, we would like to be happy but we never worked to develop the cause of happiness. Hit him on the head, this ego!

56 dö thag nye la drub la tsön drü chung ja je mang la gang yang thar mi khyöl phung je tog pai go la chem se chem dra dag she mai nying la ma ra ya

56 Though I want immediate results, my efforts to achieve them are feeble; Though I pursue many tasks, I never complete a single one Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

This is referring to practitioners who go into the monastery and try to learn something. Then they see it takes fifteen years to become geshe. So they think, ‘Oh, that’s too much for me. Let me go to the tantric college.’ So they go to the tantric college and see that there you have to learn the rituals and the prayers and how to make tormas and draw diagrams and so on. So they think, ‘O my God, I can’t

201 Gelek Rimpoche do that. That’s not meant for me. I will go into retreat.’ So they go into retreat. But it is too quiet. They can’t sit there and there is nothing to do. So they have to go somewhere else again. This is all because of self-cherishing that makes us think that we would like to become instant experts. We want to be instantly learned and have instant spiritual development. But that’s not going to happen. So we run here and we run there and nothing is developing. If we try to mediate Lamrim, we want the result within a couple of months, or even weeks. When we do a retreat we would like to see some signs, like reading other people’s mind or see the face of the yidam within the first retreat, or rather in the first week, and preferably in the first night’s dream. As we want to do so many things, we don’t complete anything. We think, ‘Maybe I should do prostrations; maybe I should do mandala-offerings.’ We touch everywhere and nothing gets completed. When you develop Lamrim, you say, ‘Well, Lamrim is good but maybe I should go and do some Vajrayana practice . . . . Yeah, Vajrayana is good, but it is difficult; maybe I should do some mindfulness meditation only . . . . Well, I should do some psychology too.’ That is what this verse talks about. If you do everything completely, wonderful. But when nothing gets completed, you’re going here and there and complete nothing; that is the problem. In short, we really want achievements quickly but have no patience, no efforts, no endurance. We want to create many many activities but do not complete them. Hit him on the head!

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57 sar drog che la threl shung chi thag chung to dün che la ku throg tsöl dro rem phung je tog pai go la chem se chem dra dag she mai nying la ma ra ya

57 Though I am eager to make new friends, my loyalty and friendship are short-lived; Though I aspire for resources, I seek them through theft and extortion— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

You like to enjoy yourself, have a good life, but whenever you have to put efforts in, you can’t. We want wealth but do not create the right causes for it; instead we seek them through theft. This verse is specifically addressing the incarnate lamas. It is not about just new friends, but new dharma friends, a new guide, a new spiritual teacher, or new disciples. Everyone wants new, but we don’t have loyalty to the good old ones. This way you select your spiritual teacher, your spiritual friends and even your normal friends. There is no observa- tion at all; it is almost like a dog meeting with a liver. If a dog sees the liver, off he goes; no time to check or do anything. Suddenly you want to attend teachings and suddenly you want to have a friendship but then nothing can continue and nothing happens. Similarly if you want to become suddenly rich and there is no cause of richness, then there is nothing there.

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58 kha sag shog long khä la she mug che du sog rem la yö kyang ser nä ching phung je tog pai go la chem se chem dra dag she mai nying la ma ra ya

58 Though skilled at flattery and innuendo, my discon tent runs deep; Though assiduously amassing wealth, I am chained by miserliness— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

This verse is directed towards the spiritual teachers. It talks about wrong livelihood, like saying, ‘With my praise and blessings for you I give you something and hope to get something in return.’ Instead of working by yourself you talk sweetly and try to get other’s wealth diverted to you. That is one way. Another way is you are almost begging but not straightforward. You are saying, ‘Well, last year what you gave me that was wonderful and great and I’m looking for another one’, or something in that manner. This is more or less referring to the lamas and teachers. You might be saying, ‘Last year the pen you gave me was very good and it is so useful. But I have misplaced it somewhere. I don’t know where it is. I can’t find it.’ So this is wrong livelihood. There are five wrong livelihoods. Referring to the lamas, one is: ‘I gave this and that teaching to this and that person and they gave me this and that’, indicating maybe that’s what

204 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS they should do too. Then there is the sweet talking, ‘What you gave me last time was wonderful, so this time . . . .’ Another one is giving someone for example a little tiny mala, saying ‘with all my praise and blessings for you’ and hoping they will give you a thousand dollars for it. These are mostly directly related to spiritual masters. So, hit him on the head!

59 kün la jä pa chung la dug yü che rang la khyer kha me la ngam po che phung je tog pai go la chem se chem dra dag she mai nying la ma ra ya

59 Though rarely rendering help to others, I remain most boastful; Though unwilling to take risks, I am bloated with ambition— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

You have rendered very little service but you know how to talk about it and blow your own horn. Then the next: you know you don’t have the value, you have something very little but you hope to get something very big. You want to spend half a million and you hope to get three millions worth. When you realize that you got to stop. You boast, I did this, I did that. You are seeking the acknowledgement but when you look into yourself, there is not much there at all. Hit him on the head!

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60 lob pön mang la dam tsig khur she chung lob ma mang la phän dog kyong rän chung phung je tog pai go la chem se chem dra dag she mai nying la ma ra ya

60 Though I’ve many teachers, my capacity for pledges remains weak; Though I’ve many students, my patience and will to help are scant— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

That’s us. Many teachers have no commitment to the students and many students are of no help. This is very sharp—it is really the Wheel of Sharp Weapons We like to go and have so many different teachers and take a lot of different teachings from a lot of different masters but there is no commitment. It is very important to learn and to have perfect masters. If to each and every master you can maintain the commitments, then it is good; if you cannot it is not good. The text says: we have so many masters, but no commitments. Similarly, this goes to the masters too: we collect so many disciples, but cannot help them much. Hit him on the head!

61 khä lang che la phän pai nyam len chung nyän pa che la tag na lha dre threl phung je tog pai go la chem se chem dra dag she mai nying la ma ra ya

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61 Though eager to make promises, I remain weak in actual assistance; Though my fame may be great, when I am probed, even gods and ghosts are appalled— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

This is also true, particularly to us. We have quite some commitments, but the effect on the mind of the individual is very rare. E.g. we have quite a number of sadhana commitments. Are we really affecting our mind by them? That is questionable. What is guaranteed to help the mind is Lamrim practice! However, we like to ignore that and think that is meant for beginners, not for us. We have so many commitments: refuge vows, bodhisattva vows, vajrayana vows, this and that commitment. But we do nothing. We make ourselves very popular but for what we do to serve people even the ghosts will look down on. That is our reality. Hit him on the head!

62 thö gya chung la tong kä bä kham che lung gya chung la mi tog gu la tog phung je tog pai go la chem se chem dra dag she mai nying la ma ra ya

62 Though I am weak in learning, my temerity for empty words is great; Though slight in scriptural knowledge, I meddle in all kinds of topics— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false

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conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

You have huge learning but nothing is affecting you. That looks contradicting. The reality is that one needs to have reasonable learning; without that nothing can be done. But most important is to rely on whatever is affecting us.

63 khor yog mang la khur khän su yang me pön po mang la gyab ten gön dang dräl phung je tog pai go la chem se chem dra dag she mai nying la ma ra ya

63 Though I may have many friends and servants, none with dedication; Though I may have many leaders, I have no guardian I can rely on— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

64 go sa tho la yön tän dre wä chung la ma che la chag dang dü lä tsub phung je tog pai go la chem se chem dra dag she mai nying la ma ra ya

64 Though my status may be high, my qualities remain less than a ghost’s; Though I may be a great teacher, my afflictions remain worse than a demon’s— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception!

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Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

This is really the Wheel of Sharp Weapons. It may not be relevant to the western culture, but in old Tibet titles were very important, because a title works! But when someone has a big title but no quality it becomes show bizz, because there is a culture. You become a spiritual teacher and this and that but within you, attachment and hatred become very powerful, worse than a demon. That refers to ego, which is a bag full of delusions, fear and confusion. Such a thing is caused by self-cherishing. Hit him on the head!

65 ta wa tho la chö pa khyi lä ngän yön tän mang la shi ma lung la shor phung je tog pai go la chem se chem dra dag she mai nying la ma ra ya

65 Though my views may be lofty, my deeds are worse than a dog’s; Though my qualities may be numerous, the fundamental ones are lost to the winds – Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

This English translation does not do it justification here. There is another translation that says

We talk about theories and the most advanced teachings; yet our everyday conduct is worse than a dog’s. We are learned, intelligent, versed in great knowledge; yet cast to the wind wisdom’s ethical base.108

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There are two ways of looking at this verse:

1. My views are great. In one way it is scolding; in another way it is pointing out the faults. This is a very early text, from the eleventh century. At that time some people may have had the idea of ‘my understanding of wisdom is so great, therefore everything I do is wise, nothing to be worried about.’ That is continuing, even today, not only in Tibet. A number of people think, ‘My understanding of emptiness is great, so whatever I do is fine.’ That way of looking often includes us. Don’t look outside, look within ourselves. We do have that problem. From the practical point of view, it is not necessarily of view of wisdom, but the view of yourself, ‘I do great, I know a lot, maybe not everything but I know better than you. I am much more learned, much more well-informed than anybody else. Maybe I am not very learned, but I read a lot, I had much more opportunity, so I know better than anybody else.’ We think that way, and we behave as this text says ‘worse than a dog.’ That is, we’re able to attack other people. ‘What will that one know? Nothing. I know everything. This book says this, this book says that.’ That is what we do, a number of times. It links up to the next line. The word yön tän is translated as qualities, but [the way we comment on it here] it is talking about information. We may have more information here and there but no quality; all information remains as information. If this is hurting you, it is helping you. If this is not hurting you, it is not affecting you. If you think I am talking about somebody else, I am talking about each and everyone of us; me included, honestly. ‘I think I am great

210 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS but behave worse than a dog.’ When everything becomes information, nothing affects ourselves.

2. Traditional Tibetan teachings always have some kind of sarcastic remarks. Sarcastic remarks are advices. In Tibet you don’t have to be encouraged to enter Vajrayana; the moment you are interested in Buddhism, your interest is Vajrayana and everybody straightaway does that. The sarcastic advice is entering Vajrayana without prerequisites: though you claim your view is Vajrayana, you do not even have the prerequisite qualities of Lamrim. That was the biggest problem in Tibet, completely opposite from here in the West. Here on this level the traditional teachings will tell: one claims that your view is Vajrayana, but if you do not have the qualities of the Lamrim prerequisite at all, it will be like riding an untrained elephant. Another sarcastic remark is: Yes, I am a Vajrayana practitioner; therefore I can ignore the self-liberation vows. In short, you think, ‘I’m the greatest one.’ You sit, put your head up and look down on everything, but if exam- ined your behavior is worse than that of a dog. As solid quality you have nothing; everything has gone with the wind. Honestly, that’s what it is.

66 she dö tham chä rang gi phug su shug gyog kor tham chä dön me shän la je phung je tog pai go la chem se chem dra dag she mai nying la ma ra ya

66 i harbor all my self-centered desires deep within; For all my disputes I blame others for no reason—

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Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

If you are really spiritual practitioners in general and particularly if you have developed the bodhimind, you are supposed to give all benefits, credit and wins to others and accept all losses and difficulties. But we work in the complete opposite direction. Our purpose is to win for ourselves, to make ourselves richer and better. Any loss and blame we try to put onto others. That’s exactly the opposite of what bodhimind wants you to do.

67 ngur mig gyön nä sung kyob dre la shu dom pa lang nä chö lam dü dang tün phung je tog pai go la chem se chem dra dag she mai nying la ma ra ya

67 Though clad in saffron robes, I seek protection from the ghosts; Though I’ve taken the precepts, my conduct is that of a demon— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

When we take vows, we take the refuge vow of ‘relying on Buddha, Dharma and Sangha until enlightenment.’ That’s what we say. But if is there is a powerful deity that can cure us from some illness—this is much more in the east than in the West—we run non-stop towards that one. We also take the bodhisattva vows as well as the Vajrayana vows,

212 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS but instead of keeping the commitments according to our vows, we keep the commitment of self-cherishing and self- grasping. So we ask the yidam to destroy that.

68 de kyi lha yi jin nä dug dre chö dren pa chö kyi jä nä kön chog lu phung je tog pai go la chem se chem dra dag she mai nying la ma ra ya

68 Though the gods create my happiness, I propitiate malevolent spirits; Though the Dharma acts as my savior, I deceive the Three Jewels— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

These you don’t need to explain—that’s what we do every day anyway.

69 tag tu gön par dä nä yeng wä khyer dam chö tsug lag shü nä mo bhön kyong phung je tog pai go la chem se chem dra dag she mai nying la ma ra ya

69 Though always living in solitude, I am carried away by distractions; Though receiving sublime Dharma scriptures, I cherish divination and shamanism – Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

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We like to be in retreat and we claim to be in retreat, but what we are supposed to retreat from is our negativities and our wandering mind. We retreat from the absolute requirement of helping ourselves. We may sit locked in in a room, but our mind is non-stop wandering everywhere. We are learning great Dharma like Lamrim and Lojong, and the Vajrayana development- and completion stage, but we don’t put our efforts onto that; we put them on something else instead. The example here us a business person who had a lot of business as a head of a big family, and who forgot to collect back whatever someone borrowed from him. He always did a lot of praying, so he told his attendant, ‘Whenever I am praying, don’t forget to put a pen and paper near my mala.’ As soon as he started praying, he remembered who borrowed what, who had to collect what, who had to give what, and at the end of his daily practice he came out with a list for the attendant: go and get this, go and get that and so on. This list was produced during his practice-period. That is exactly what they are talking about here. That is what we do too when saying mantras and saying our sadhanas, remembering that ‘I have to call this one, I have to do this and that’; you may even take a note and the moment the session is over the first thing you do even before going to the bathroom is picking up the phone. This is what is referred to.

70 tsül thrim thar lam bhor nä pha khyim dzin de kyi chu la pho nä dug la nyag phung je tog pai go la chem se chem dra dag she mai nying la ma ra ya

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70 Forsaking ethical discipline, the liberation path, I cling to paternal home; Casting my happiness into the river, I chase after misery— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

That is me. I was a monk and left monkhood. That is what this verse talks about. I don’t know whether I chase after misery or not but I left the monkhood and remained lay. That’s what it is.

71 thar pai jug ngog bhor nä sa tha drim mi lü rin chen nye nä nyäl kham drub phung je tog pai go la chem se chem dra dag she mai nying la ma ra ya

71 Forsaking the gateway to liberation, I wander in the wilderness; Though obtaining a precious human birth, I seek the hell realms— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

This refers to many of us, to me too, so to all of us. We meet with the great Dharma, but our priorities are not the right ones. And with such a great life here, instead of achieving a great purpose, we may be reborn in hell. Why? Ego-grasping and self-cherishing work here.

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72 chö kyi gyur khyä shag nä tsong khe drub la mai chö dra shag nä drong yül drim phung je tog pai go la chem se chem dra dag she mai nying la ma ra ya

72 Putting aside spiritual developments, I pursue the profits of trade; Leaving my teacher’s classroom behind, I roam through towns and places— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

What does that mean to us? Choosing the wrong priority.

73 rang gi tso wa shag nä du go throg rang gi pha sä shag nä shän la ku phung je tog pai go la chem se chem dra dag she mai nying la ma ra ya

73 Forsaking my own livelihood, I rob others of their resources; Squandering my own inherited wealth, I plunder from others— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

74 e ma gom sän chung la ngön she no lam na ma sin dön me kang pa gyog phung je tog pai go la chem se chem dra dag she mai nying la ma ra ya

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74 Alas! [ema] Though my endurance for meditation is poor, I’ve sharp clairvoyance; Though I’ve not even reached the edge of the path, my legs are needlessly fast— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

No, it doesn’t really mean the individual has clairvoyance but pretends to have clairvoyance. Clairvoyance needs a lot of efforts but since you have no enthusiasm at all that’s why you pretend to have it. You didn’t really reach the path but you are quick at running around all the time and wasting your time wrongly.

75 phän par lab na dang sem dra ru dzin go kor lu na nying me drin du so phung je tog pai go la chem se chem dra dag she mai nying la ma ra ya

75 When someone gives useful advice, I view them as a hostile foe; When someone fools me with treachery, I repay the heartless one with kindness— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

We do that. If someone says, ‘That’s not good for you shouldn’t do it,’ you say, ‘Why not? I want to do it.’ But when someone says, ‘Oh you’re great, you’re wonderful and I will

217 Gelek Rimpoche be happy to join you for dinner if you pay for it’, then you buy that and think, ‘Oh, what a nice person.’ If you really say nice things about somebody and you mean it from your heart, that’s different. If somebody tries to help you really they will tell you ‘this is not good for you’ and point out your faults and then that makes them your enemy because you don’t like that, instead of taking that as an opportunity and changing your own thing.

A good friend should be able to point out your faults, in such a way that you won’t feel hurt, and if you do feel hurt, still it should be helpful. If you can’t point out someone’s faults, you can’t be a friend. What we usually do is this: when someone tells you nicely, you get angry at that person, you accuse them instead of saying thank you, but someone that is buttering you, wanting to take advantage of you, you think is a friend. That is the fault of ego-cherishing and self-grasping. When someone needs to point out faults to you it should not be done with a mind of accusing but with a mind of correcting. Especially the Dharma should really point out what your fault is, but if we look at that as an enemy, then true help becomes an enemy.

76 nang mir ten na nying tam dra la chä pheb par drog na threl me lo nying ku phung je tog pai go la chem se chem dra dag she mai nying la ma ra ya

76 When someone treats me as their family, I reveal heir secrets to their foes;

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When someone befriends me, I betray their trust with no pangs of conscience— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

77 ko long dam la nam tog su wä rag drog par ka’ la shi ngän gyün du long phung je tog pai go la chem se chem dra dag she mai nying la ma ra ya

77 my ill temper is intense, my paranoia more coarse than everyone’s; Hard to befriend, I constantly provoke others’ negative traits— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

Some people are like that in the west. They say, ‘Well I prefer to live by myself, I prefer to be alone.’ That is good way of hiding that. You pretend to be a good person, however you have to always show your bad character to people and that makes you very difficult to get along with. If anyone comes too close you become too sensitive. Some people are so sensitive and expect so much, but others will not come up to your level of expectation. Then when that doesn’t work out, you immediately get upset and say, ‘So and so is no longer my friend because they didn’t call me.’ And if I say, ‘So did you call them?’ They say, ‘No’ and, ‘I’m not angry with that person, I don’t want to be with them because they

219 Gelek Rimpoche didn’t call me, they don’t respect me’ or ‘They looked at me funny today, they didn’t wish me a good morning’ or ‘They didn’t smile at me.’ But don’t you think that other person also may have a bad time? So there are reasons and we can’t be so touchy and sensitive. Then even people’s way of walking near you becomes a problem. That makes it very difficult to remain your friend because you’ll show your bad character and that bad character makes it impossible for the other person to be with you. Some people yap all the time. Some people will show a long face all the time. Maybe some people will blame you all the time for everything and there is no limit to people’s thoughts. Don’t think of somebody else’s faults. It is not a movie pointing out somebody as a villain and somebody else a hero. Here everything is looking at yourself. It is always ‘I do this, I do this.’ This is what you have to check with yourself: am I being so sensitive, because I had a funny dream or I didn’t like the way that person looked at me so?’ Practice means looking at yourself. Don’t look what other people do. And it may be my job to point some things out to a few of you but it’s not your job. Your job is to point to yourself: do I do this? So if you are doing it realize and change it. You can, because it’s in your control and if you are not doing those things, be happy about it. But don’t deny it. Don’t tell yourself, ‘I don’t do this.’ If you don’t do it, why should others tell you that you are doing it? They’re not making up stories. So don’t make the people who point out your faults your enemies.

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In short, we show our cold shoulder to people, because always self-cherishing and ego-grasping is there. When someone comes near, we show our dissatisfaction, anger and bad behavior instead of our good human beings’ nature. Yes, there will be dissatisfaction, because our desire is so much and always something is wrong. But that does not mean we have to share that with everybody else all the time. Yet we do that. Why? Because of our ego, of our self- cherishing and ego-grasping. All of our behavior, how we live our life, how we function, is very well projected in this text. Honestly. Each one of the verses asks, why do we do that? Because of our self- cherishing, ego-grasping. Now we recognize the sources of pain, we now destroy it by the last two lines of each verse.

78 chöl na mi nyän kog na nö pa kyel tün na mi dü gyang na tsö pa tsöl phung je tog pai go la chem se chem dra dag she mai nying la ma ra ya

78 When someone asks for favor, I ignore him yet covertly cause him harm; When someone respects my wishes, I don’t concur but seek disputes from afar— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

79 ka’ lo mi de tag par drog par ka’ phog thug mang la tag tu dzin pa dam

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phung je tog pai go la chem se chem dra dag she mai nying la ma ra ya

79 i dislike advice and am always difficult to be with; I am easily offended, and my grudge is always strong— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

Some people are doing study and practice and instead of appreciating them you try to search for faults and instead of respecting the great beings we see them as enemies and say wrong things about them. We will be searching for the faults of others. We see nothing but faults. When someone does something we criticize it because ‘it is not my idea.’ That happens many times! Where does that come from? From self-cherishing and ego-grasping; nothing else.

80 tho män che shing dam pa dra ru dzin dö chag che wä shön nu dang du len phung je tog pai go la chem se chem dra dag she mai nying la ma ra ya

80 i crave high status and regard sublime beings as foes; Because my lust is strong, I eagerly pursue the young— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

Some people are doing study and practice and all this, but instead of appreciating the great beings, they try to search

222 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS for faults. Instead of respecting them, they see them as enemy. If anyone else has a spiritual practice, and has some development or some learning or is teaching we see nothing but faults. We disrespect all others, no matter how great they are. ‘It is not my idea so it is not right.’ We have that very strong; all of us! It is difficult to see it as a fault. But where is it coming from? It is ego, self-cherishing.

81 chi thag thung wä ngar drog gyang du phen sar drog che wä kün la kha drö ding phung je tog pai go la chem se chem dra dag she mai nying la ma ra ya

81 because of ficklenessI cast far away my past friendships; Infatuated with novelty, I talk animatedly to everyone— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

You make a lot of new friends but you cannot hold your old friends. Especially your good old friends will become weaker and weaker and they just disappear without us saying goodbye to them. But new friends, powerful and rich, you try to get! Hit him on the head!

82 ngön she me pä dzün kur dang du len nying je me pä lo tä nying la drab phung je tog pai go la chem se chem dra dag she mai nying la ma ra ya

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82 Having no clairvoyance, I resort to lies and deprecation; Having no compassion, I betray others’ trust and cause their hearts pain— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

Because we don’t have clairvoyance, after a little while we pretend to know everything and we pretend saying the right thing. This is not good. People with clairvoyance can tell you things, and maybe they know things but they’re not supposed to tell them. Sometimes they may tell something that is correct and then you want to be that. That’s why people do mo’s109 and all kinds of things. Amy says: ‘eenee meeanee miney moe catch a tiger by the toe, if he hollers let him go’ That is what sometimes the mo does. Because of no compassion people have no hesitation to hurt others. If they had compassion they would not hurt others. Because of the lack of compassion they will not hesi- tate to hurt others in order to fulfill their wish. This is all the fault of self-cherishing and therefore destroy, these bad thoughts and all this, like pretending to know something which you really don’t know. That’s a black lie. It happens a lot in the west but not only there, even in old Tibet. There are a lot of people who go into trance in Tibet and then in that trance some ghost or protector or whatever comes in. The body of the person in trance shakes and they yawn. Sometimes it is a family trait. Whole family generations used to make their living by doing this. I tell you an example: One old lady was about to die, so she trained her

224 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS daughter to do the same trance thing. She said, ‘Put your toe [strongly] down and lift the backside of your foot and sit on a chair like I show you and then naturally your legs will shake. And then, if you burn frankincense incense you will begin to yawn. Then next, if you say many things a few of them will come out to be true.’ The mother made a living in that way and told her daughter to do it the same way. That is what people sometimes do to give protection and predictions and all that.

83 thö pa chung wä kün la bar tsö je lung gya chung wä yong la log ta kye phung je tog pai go la chem se chem dra dag she mai nying la ma ra ya

83 Though my learning is feeble, I guess wildly about everything; As my scriptural knowledge is scant, I engender wrong views about everything— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

During the time of learning you don’t study, you spend your time fooling around. That is what we did, what I did. Although everything in the monastery is very well disciplined, within that you find out how to fool around. No problem. Though you memorized so much they will force you to recite. And you recite and you fall asleep and within the sleep you can still recite. When they recognize that they make you stand up and recite, but you still know how to fall

225 Gelek Rimpoche asleep while reciting. Then they put you in the window of a three-story building. You stand in the window and still fall asleep. You get to know how to do all this. This is how we wasted our time, as far as I am concerned. Whatever little I studied is because of the push and the force from the teachers, the parents and the attendants. They push you and you study. If you don’t study they pinch you; they beat you and then you do everything. The verse says, whatever you studied is very little. You haven’t studied the interdependent system or the four logical reasons: not grown from self, not grown from others, not grown from both and not grown without cause.110 There is another logical reasoning: if you exist you should either exist as oneness or separately.111 All of those could have been studied very carefully; but no, nothing. I didn’t get any of them established and by the time when you have to teach you have to read every book possible and then probably you think you know it and are about to say it. So everything you say has to be ‘to the best of my knowledge’, which is legally possible in the United States. But in the spiritual field in Tibetan Buddhism ‘to the best of my knowledge’ is a pathetic statement, honestly. It means you know nothing, so you are guessing everything. That is expressed here. The second line of the verse is: because you don’t have many resources to quote, and your own information and understanding is very little, you become skeptical of what everybody else is saying; you think it may not be right. When someone says something you say, ‘Oh, that that may

226 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS not be correct, because I have never seen it anywhere, I have never heard it.’ That is how you criticize others.

84 chag dang gom pä shän chog yong la mö thrag dog gom pä shän la dro kur deb phung je tog pai go la chem se chem dra dag she mai nying la ma ra ya

84 Habituated to attachment and anger, I insult all those who oppose me; Habituated to envy, I slander and denigrate others— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

Since we are so used to hatred and obsession, whatever everybody else does is not right in our eyes. We have a too strong jealousy and when we can’t find faults, we create them and make difficulties.

85 lob nyer ma jä gya chen khyä du sö la ma ma ten lung la mö par je phung je tog pai go la chem se chem dra dag she mai nying la ma ra ya

85 Failing to study, I have forsaken the vast [scholarly disciplines]; Failing to rely upon teachers, I defame the scriptures— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

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The first line says, you did not do much study, you heard and read a little bit only, so you could not get it, you did not understand it. Yet you draw a conclusion and say, ‘That is not going to help a lot of people, because I went through it and I didn’t see it.’ The second line says, ‘Well, I studied with great teachers, and I am very intelligent, I can read, I can understand, so I can give you the teaching. There is no need of a lineage, no need of the continuation of an oral transmission.’ Instead of getting the transmission from a great teacher, you think ‘I can understand, I can manage.’ We do that. When that happens, the continuation of the lineage is broken and it does not help the other person to develop.

86 de nö mi chä rang so dzün du drig dag nang ma jong lab tsä bar sha ma phung je tog pai go la chem se chem dra dag she mai nying la ma ra ya

86 instead of teaching the discourses, I expound lies of my own invention; Failing to cultivate pure perception, I utter insults and threats— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

When you teach, you should teach the teaching that comes from Buddha. One of the qualities of the Buddhadharma is this: ‘When you want pure water, it needs to come from the snowy mountains.’ Likewise, to get pure Dharma it has

228 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS to come through Buddha. The teachings have to be taught on the basis of Buddha’s teachings, and have to fit with the accepted teachings, like the Theravada Tripitakas and the Mahayana. If you make up your own stories, saying, ‘So and so says this, it is cute and attractive, beautiful’ or ‘I had this dream, this vision, I was told so and so…’ not knowing where it comes from, it means you are misleading the individual, wasting your own time and wasting the time of the other person. Then the spiritual path becomes extremely difficult. And with that you create more confusion.

87 chö min lä la mö par mi je par leg shä yong la sün jin na tsog tong phung je tog pai go la chem se chem dra dag she mai nying la ma ra ya

87 Refusing to condemn deeds that are contrary to Dharma, I level various criticisms against all well-spoken words— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

What you are supposed to criticize you don’t criticize and you do criticize the good ones.

88 ngo tsai nä la ngo tsar mi dzin par ngo mi tsa la ngo tsai chö log dzin phung je tog pai go la chem se chem dra dag she mai nying la ma ra ya

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88 Failing to regard signs of disgrace as a source of shame, Perversely I hold what are signs of honor as a source of shame— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

This is what I do: instead of saying that I failed at being a monk and lost the vows, somehow I saw a couple of publi- cations that said, ‘He chose to be a layperson.’ Whatever you have to be embarrassed about you don’t consider a source of embarrassment. But then why are you embarrassed? You have to hide what you did. People do that sometimes. On the other hand some people hide their spiritual practice, Buddhism or whatever, and feel embarrassed, making sure that nobody will know about it. But that’s nothing to be ashamed of. Whether you are Bud- dhist or Hindu or very conservative Christian or you have a strong Jewish belief there is nothing to hide—unless you are a member of the KKK or some cult group. This is what this verse talks about.

89 jä na rung wa chig kyang mi je par mi rig ja wa tham chä je pa yi phung je tog pai go la chem se chem dra dag she mai nying la ma ra ya

89 Failing to pursue any suitable deeds, I perform instead all that is inappropriate— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

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This is conclusion of all those verses: what you need to do in order to obtain liberation or total enlightenment, you don’t do; and what you shouldn’t do, you do. That is entertaining self-cherishing and ego. Up to here, all the faults of self-cherishing and egograsp- ing are explained.

Outline 6: Ultimate Request

90 e ma dag tai gong po jom dzä pai de sheg chö kyi ku nga’ thu tob chän dag me ye she tsön cha yug tho chän the tsom me par lä la län sum kor

90 Powerful one, you who possess the Bliss Gone’s dharmakaya And destroy the demon of egoistic view, O wielder of club,112 the weapon of no-self wisdom, Twirl it over your head three times, without hesitation!

The verse addresses the yidam, ‘Great wrathful Yaman- taka, your body, mind and speech qualities are extremely important and great; you are the one that can destroy the ego-grasping completely.’ Self-cherishing is produced by ego-grasping. Ego-grasping and self-cherishing are demons within the individual. ‘Bliss Gone’ or Tathagata, is referring to Buddha, here Buddha Yamantaka. What does ‘gone beyond’ mean? 1) Having the cause of development; 2) having cleared the obstacles; 3) having gained the quality. Because of these three reasons Tathagata [or Bliss-Gone] means quality of total enlightenment.

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[Buddha is called] Sang gye. Sang means ‘the one who cleared all obstacles’, including the delusions and the imprint of the delusions. Gye means ‘the one who developed total knowledge’ and when you add up one more, that total knowledge becomes quality. Because of that reason he is called Buddha and ‘Gone Beyond.’ Such a powerful Yamantaka is nothing but the bliss-void combination, which is completely free of ego-grasping and that’s why it’s referred to as powerful and the best. It is the ‘no-self wisdom.’ Most destruction of the [inherently existing] self is done by the wisdom that recognizes selflessness. [Though] this [text] is Sutrayana, here that wisdom particularly refers to the bliss-void wisdom combination. At the ultimate buddha level that wisdom is inseparable from bliss. That is the wisdom that destroys the self-cherishing completely. That wisdom takes the form of a club. I don’t know which hits harder, the club or hammer. Yamantaka turns around this club three times. Again there is the question why three times: 1) the ego-grasping, 2) the self-cherishing, the agent grown out of ego-grasping, and 3) the contaminated skandhas we have received from both—the two causes and the result—all three should be destroyed. That’s Yamantaka destroying three times and in a very fearful way. This destruction produces three positive things: the clear light, the illusion body, and the union of those two.113

91 ngam tab chen pö dra di dräl du söl she rab chen pö tog ngän shom du söl nying je chen pö lä lä kyab du söl nge par dag ni lag par dzä du söl

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91 With your great ferocity obliterate this enemy! With your great wisdom dismantle this false conception! With your great compassion protect me from my karma! Help destroy this Ego once and for all!

They made it into three things. In the Tibetan it is two. Such a club is not carried by anybody else but a very fearful person who has fearful fangs sticking out and legs trampling and dancing, and within that fearful gesture he destroys the self-cherishing. The verse says,

With your great compassion protect me and all sentient beings from self-cherishing, from the negative karma that grows out of self-cherishing and from the fears that we encounter because of that negative karma.

Please protect us from those because of your compassion but definitely destroy this ego-grasping—the real enemy without any doubt. I request that you totally destroy it!’

92 khor wa pa la du kha chi chi pa dag dzin di la nge par pung du söl gang la nyön mong dug nga chi chi pa rig thün di la nge par pung du söl

92 Whatever suffering exists for the beings in cyclic existence, Pile it all decisively upon this self-grasping. Wherever the poisons of five afflictions are found, Heap them decisively upon that which shares the same nature.

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Whatever sufferings we can possibly experience in samsara, pour all of them on top of this enemy. Then secondly: the five poisons, such as attachment, hatred, jealousy and the other negative emotions—heap them on that which shares the same nature. Now, the enlightened and non-enlightened do not share the same nature. The non-enlightened beings share a nature and the enlightened beings share a nature. They are sort of two separate categories. Here you can meditate the Lojong meditation of Give- and-take [tong len]114

Breathing out from your left nostril, you visualize that your outgoing breath takes away all the pains of everyone in samsara.

Then breathing in from your right nostril, pile all of them upon the self-cherishing: ‘May all my negative emotions, all my negative actions, my negative karma be put on my self-cherishing and ego-grasping.’

93 di tar nye pai tsa wa ma lü pa the tsom me par rig pä ngö sin kyang da dung di yi kha dzin shag deb na dzin khän de nyi lag par dzä du söl

93 Though having thus recognized the root of all evil Through critical reasoning and beyond any doubt, If I continue to abet it and act in its defense, Then destroy the very person, the grasper himself!

If you are still protecting the self-cherishing then this must be the self-cherishing itself. If you are still protecting your

234 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS ego-grasping then that itself is an act of the ego-grasping. Therefore whoever is protecting that should also be destroyed. [In other words], now you know that the root of the problem is self-grasping, and you still want to deal with this one . . . whoever is dealing with this should be destroyed.

94 da ni le län tham chä chig la da’ kye wo yong la ka’ drin che war gom shän gyi mi dö rang gi gyü la lang dag gi ge tsa dro wa yong la ngo

94 Now I will banish all the blames onto one source, And to all beings I’ll contemplate their great kindness. I will take into myself the undesirable qualities of others And dedicate my virtuous roots for the benefit of all beings.

Now we know where every blame belongs: to no one else except this self-cherishing. Everybody has been very kind. There are a lot of reasons why. The precious life we have obtained we obtained because of living beings. We can meditate compassion because of living beings. We can learn and practice because of the kindness of the people and so on. There are countless reasons. So, you give the good things and take the bad ones. However, we are taking the good things and giving the bad things. That’s the American tong len, hopefully only 20th century American tong len. Let’s hope the 21st century tong len will be to take the bad ones and give the good ones. Now we know where the fault lies, we will be grateful to all beings. Think,

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Because I know the kindness of the people, whatever undesirable things they may have, I will take on me. And whatever is good, whatever positive I have, I will give to others.

So you meditate give and take here, tong len. What you give is the good, what you take is the bad.

Outline 7: Praying and Dedication

95 de tar dro wa shän gyi go sum gyi dü sum gyi pa dag gi lang pa yi ma ja dug gi dong dang dän pa tar nyön mong jang chub drog su gyur war shog

95 Thus, as I take on myself all [negative] deeds of others Committed through their three doors throughout all three times, So, like a peacock that has colorful feathers because of poison, May the afflictions be transformed into factors of enlightenment.

You think,

By doing this, by taking the sufferings in, we can adjust and change and transform the poison of terrible negativ ties into something within ourselves that helps us to obtain total enlightenment. For example, peacocks have the capacity to take in poison and that poison is nutrition for them. These attractive feathers that they exhibit are the result of that. May I be able to do the same thing!

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Probably we wonder, ‘If I take all these horrible things, what am I going to do with it? It may become cancer; it may give me a headache or a disease.’ This text tells us: just like a peacock, adjust it, right now. Do we have that capacity? No, we don’t. But there are steps by which you’ll gradually be able to do it. The Eight Verses of Mind Training and the Seven Steps Mind Training say that you can first take your own future sufferings. E.g., the sufferings that you are bound to encounter in the evening you can take in the morning. In the same way you can take your own suffering away from next year, from next life. Then, when your mind is trained, you then take in that same way your spouse’s sufferings, the sufferings of the family’s loved ones and so and forth. And then, take the sufferings of your fellow citizens and those of all fellow human beings . . . . That is how you train. Over here it says: take everything now. However, don’t forget: the procedure of taking your own suffering first, is much easier than taking that of others.115

96 dag gi ge tsa dro la jin pa yi ja rog dug sö män gyi sö pa tar kye wo yong kyi thar pai sog sung nä de sheg sang gyä nyur du thob par shog

96 As I offer my roots of virtue to sentient beings, Like the crow that has consumed poison and is cured by its antidote, May I hold the lifeline of liberation of all beings And swiftly attain buddhahood of one gone to bliss.

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The peacock eats poison and can digest it. The crow thinks, ‘I can do the same thing, I will become like the peacock’, but the crow gets sick and may die. The peacock has that capacity of transforming. Likewise we—by giving our virtues to others, may the others be healed. This is simple dedication:

I give all my virtues to all living beings. Like the crow can be healed by medicines, may all living beings be healed and may they all become buddhas.

97 nam shig dag dang pha mar gyur pa nam og min nä su jang chub ma thob par dro wa drug tu lä kyi khyam na yang phän tsün chig sem chig gi dzin par shog

97 Until all who have been my parents and I have attained [Full] enlightenment in the Akanishta realm, As we wander through the six realms due to our karma, May we all hold each other in our hearts.

This is sort of dedicating for having good feelings for everybody.

98 de tse dro wa chig gi dön du yang ngän song sum du dag gi yong shug nä sem pa’ chen poi chö pa ma nyam par ngän song dug ngäl dag gi drong par shog

98 During that period, even for the sake of only a single being, May I immerse myself in the three lower realms, And, without compromising the conduct of a great bodhisattva, May I relieve the sufferings of the lower realms.

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That’s like in the Lama Chöpa during the verse on the perfection of the enthusiasm, where it says that for the sake of even one sentient being you have to be prepared to remain for hundreds of eons in the burning hell realms. Because of the compassion you have no hesitation and no sadness. This is how you transform. This is very similar to that.116

99 de ma thag tu nyäl wai sung ma nam dag la la mai du she kye gyur nä tsön cha dag kyang me tog char du gyur nö pa me par shi de phel war shog

99 At that very instant, may the guardians of hells Relate to me as their spiritual teacher, and May their weapons turn into a cascade of flowers; And free of harm, may peace and happiness prevail.

100 ngän song wa yang ngön she sung thob nä lha mii lü lang jang chub sem kye de dag gi drin län chö kyi so war shog dag la la mar sung nä ten par shog

100 May the beings of the lower realms, too, obtain clairvoyance and mantra, And may they attain human or celestial birth and generate the awakening mind; May they repay my kindness through spiritual practice, And may they take me as their teacher and rely upon me.

101 de tse tho ri dro wa tham chä kyang dag dang tsung par dag me rab gom nä si dang shi wa nam par mi tog par

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nyam pa nyi du ting dzin gom par shog nyam pa nyi du rang ngo thrö par shog

101 At this time, too may all the beings of the higher realms Meditate thoroughly on no-self just like me, And without conceptually opposing existence to pacification, May they meditate on their perfect equanimity; May they recognize their self-identity as perfect equanimity.

102 de tar jä na dra di chom par gyur de tar jä na nam tog chom gyur te mi tog ye she dag me gom gyur te sug kui gyu drä chi te thob mi gyur

102 if I do this, the enemy will be vanquished! If I do this, false conceptions will be vanquished! I’ll meditate on the non-conceptual wisdom of no-self. So why would I not attain the causes and effects of [Buddha’s] form body?

This completes the outlines of the relative bodhicitta. Maybe there is a little explanation here of the different views on emptiness between the Mind Only and the Pra- sangika, but that may be too detailed.

Outline 8: Absolute Bodhimind Relative bodhimind. To repeat, bodhicitta or bodhimind is a mind whishing to become fully enlightened, to become a buddha. It is a two-pronged mind: wishing [to become fully

240 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS enlightened] and being dedicated [to help all beings]. These are joined together. Again, bodhimind is the ultimate and unconditioned love and compassion. There is no more love than this; there is no more compassion than this. This mind has no limitations. There is no limit on whom you focus, because that is all living beings; there is no limitation on what you want to give [unlimited, unconditioned love and compassion] and there is no limit on what you want to achieve, buddhahood. It is all unlimited. Such a mind will not develop within the individual person unless you have a total commitment of liberating all living beings; not just liberating them but delivering them to total enlightenment. Such a commitment is not possible unless you have [unlimited] compassion. Such a compassion is not possible unless you have [unlimited] love. Such a love is not possible unless you know that every living being has something to do with us, has a most important connection with us as a giver of life. Or, as Buddha puts it, look at every being as a mother. Knowing this is not enough, because our self-cherishing is so strong. Every single damned thing that we can think of is a problem coming from self-cherishing. We have to see the faults of self-cherishing and we have to see the qualities of cherishing others. That is not easy, because our habit is ‘I need this, I need that, I cannot do this . . . .’ Always difficulties when the ‘I, I, I’ and the ‘me me me’ comes up. That is the source of all our problems.

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Knowing this is not enough. We need to meditate on it, soak your mind into it. And as the result of such a meditation our mind will accept that self-cherishing brings all the problems. Then we will challenge this selfish interest and not go on that road. Also we have to see that cherishing others brings joy and happiness. Not only to others, to ourselves too! If you can help someone, say safe somebody’s life, see how happy you will be! Treating others better, making them happy, is a source of joy! Recognize that! Meditate on it and make a habit of it. Then you begin to get the basis of the bodhimind a little bit. Still this is not enough. If you look at Buddha, how and why he became a buddha? Did he fight for himself or did he fight for others? Compare Buddha with yourself. ‘What do I fight for? Where did Buddha, all enlightened beings, arrive and where am I?’ Buddha is a quite clear example. Then one decides to dedicate oneself to the benefit of all beings. You seek the buddha stage in order to fulfill your commitment to all beings. That is the relative bodhimind.

103 ka ye de dag tham chä ten drel yin ten drel tog pa rang tsug me pa yin phar gyur tsur gyur dzün nang gyu ma yin gäl me shin du nang wai sug nyän yin

103 Listen! All of this is but dependent origination. Dependent and empty, they are devoid of self-subsistence. Changing from one form into another, they are like apparitions;

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Like a fire ring [seen in a rotating torch], they are mere illusion.

Absolute bodhimind is what this verse is about. On the basis of the relative bodhimind, we develop the absolute bodhimind, the wisdom of emptiness, which in this text is referred to as dependent origination. When you know something has a dependent origination, is dependently existing, you know it is not independently existing. When something does not independently exist, then when you go and search for it, you will not find it, because it is not there. The whole idea of dependent origination is Buddha’s logic: every phenomenon can be used as a point of reference and then you can say, ‘It does not truly exist117 because it is dependent rise.’ Dependent means: without [something] other it can’t exist. The pillar here118 is dependent. It looks very solid, it holds the beams etc, but it s a collection of particles. If you start looking at it and you take all particles out, one after the other, there will be no pillar left. It is dependently arisen. The second line says: Dependent and empty, i.e. devoid of self. That means, it changes. This side becomes that side and that side becomes this side, depending on where you are. Likewise east and west. It is all dependent rise. Interdependence. Everything that we explained, ego-grasping, self-cherishing, what ego holds as its focal point—the self—all of them are just dependent arising. Everything is just there because causes and conditions have just become right. The interdependent nature of existence is the reality

243 Gelek Rimpoche of emptiness. Emptiness is not just empty—it is interdependent existence: ‘Dependent and empty they are devoid of self subsistence.’ Interdependence is devoid of self-existence because it is dependent. If you dependently exist, it means you are depending on something. I have to depend on someone holding me to get up. That means I cannot get up by myself. My ‘self-standing’ is ‘void’ because I can only stand because of help and conditions. Likewise if you exist by being based on terms and conditions—just dependently arising—the message behind is it is: dependently existing means not independently existing or naturally existing. If something naturally exists then it should be independently existing. Its nature itself should be existing without depending on anything. But our existence is a dependent existence, not a natural existence. ‘Changing from one form into another they are like apparitions’—phar gyur tsur gyur. It sort of can go here or there. There is no certainty here—it is changeable. And not only that. When we look in the space in front of us outside, when it’s very cloudy we say that the weather is bad. But the clouds can suddenly go and then we say that the space is very clean and clear and wonderful. The nature of space, whether it is overcast or not, is totally clear. It doesn’t change. The clouds come and when they go it becomes the same thing. All in that manner. ‘Like a fire ring seen in a rotating torch they are mere illusion.’ When you are looking at the fire it looks like the fire is continuously burning. However the fire that is burning minute by minute is different. The fire of 5:27 pm is

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[not] the fire of 5.28 pm, although it seems to be one thing; in reality it changes every minute, every time, and even from second to second.

104 chu shing shin du sog la nying po me bu wa shin du tse la nying po me khug na shin du tü nä jig pa yin mig gyu shin du gyang nä dze pa yin me long sug nyän ta wur den den dra trin dang na wün shin du dö dö dra

104 Like the plantain tree, life force has no inner core; Like a bubble, life has no inner core; Like a mist, it dissipates when one bends down [to look]; Like a mirage, it is beguiling from a distance; Like a reflection in a mirror, it appears tangible and real; Like a fog, it appears as if it is here to stay.

When you look in the morning you can sometimes see some mist and then suddenly it is gone. Early in the morning in the mountains the fog sits there. Sometimes you see the peak of a mountain come out and it looks like there is a beautiful thing around the mountains. So it looks like it is very much there and then it’s suddenly gone. Every phenomenon that exists, exists as dependent rise; nothing exists by itself, independently. This is not strange to us. We studied this a number of times, even at the level of the Three Principles.119 In true reality, everything whatever we perceive as solid existence, is not really as solid as we think it is. We make a big deal of things, yet in absolute reality nothing exists.

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Compassion and wisdom. The question now is: is compassion alone enough to help myself and help others? The answer is: compassion is absolutely necessary, but compassion alone is not enough. Why not? In order to contradict a perceiving point of the mind, you have to have the direct contradiction. Here we need the direct contradiction to self-cherishing. Self- cherishing creates problems; cherishing others is great. Wit that we are directly contradicting the self-cherishing and that way it gets shaken. Compassion does challenge self-cherishing, but it does not challenge ego-grasping, which is the root of all our difficulties, the root of samsara. Unless we challenge that, enlightenment cannot be delivered. Remember, we have the example of the bird cannot cross the ocean on only one wing. It needs two wings.120 Likewise compassion alone is not enough; without the wisdom of emptiness you are like a bird with one wing only. Or a yak with one eye only. Emptiness is not empty; emptiness means dependent rise. Dependent rise is not ‘true’ or solid or self-existence; the essence of dependent rise is emptiness. We perceive something as very solid, but if you really dig down into it, the solidness we perceive, is not there, we cannot catch it; it is all dependent rise—terms and conditions. When the conditions are right, things do happen; when the conditions are not right, they do not happen. There are two emptinesses: selflessness on beings and selflessness on phenomena. Although the teachings will say selflessness on beings is easier to develop and emptiness on phenomena follows thereafter, it does not really matter

246 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS whatever way you go. The examples in this verse are telling us that all is dependent rise.

105 dra dag she ma di ni de shin du yö yö dra te nam yang yö ma yin den den dra te gang duang den ma nyong nang nang dra te dro kur yül lä dä

105 This butcher and enemy, Ego, too is just the same: Though ostensibly it appears to exist, it never does; Though seemingly real, nowhere is it really; Though appearing, it’s beyond reification and refutation.

Ego has no existence at all! But we perceive it is there. We make it a big deal. This verse says, it is not there, it will not be there, it never has been there at all and it also is not not there. However, that does not mean it is not there; it functions and that it is good enough to be there. Just like we said earlier: our enemy, the ego-grasping and its agent, the self-cherishing and it’s object or focal point, the self—all of them look like they are there, like they are true, like they are real, but they have never been true and never existed. It looks like the self-cherishing or the self itself is standing there, but what is perceiving the self standing there, that itself is a wrong mind, a wrong perception. In reality when you really go down, it never existed before and it will never exist—it is just not there.

106 de la lä kyi khor lo gang shig yö di ni de tar rang shin me na yang chu phor gang du da wai sug nyän shar

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lä drä di ni dzün pa na tsog tra nang wa tsam du lang dor jao ang

106 So how can there be a wheel of karma? It’s thus: Though they are devoid of intrinsic existence, Just as moon’s reflection appears in a cup of water, Karma and its effects appear as diverse falsehoods. So within this mere appearance I will follow the ethical norms.

When we look at the moon in the water, it looks like a moon but we know there is no moon in the water. Everything is like that. However it does not mean it is not there. It functions and that it is a good enough reason for it to be there. Likewise that self-cherishing itself it does not exist and that self-grasping itself does not exist. You are grasping but what you are grasping at does not exist. Now the question is, ‘But when it is not there how can there be cause and result? How can there be everything because it’s just not there?’ The next lines are saying: no no no—it’s explain- ing the absolute true nature, which means emptiness, that in absolute reality nothing really exists. However, relatively everything functions. There is no true existence of anything. However causes, conditions and results, all of them are just like this: when there is clean, clear water, like a lake, and there is a moon in the sky and no clouds [then you may see a moon in the water]. It could be a puddle or even just a cup of water— whenever these conditions get together you see the reflection of the moon in the water. The moon does exist in the glass or in the puddle or in the lake as a reflection and that reflection

248 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS is a dependent arising. It arises because of conditions such as some moonshine and the capability of the water to reflect. Similarly negative karmic causes and results and positive karmic causes and results do relatively exist. We talk about karma and its consequences of joy and suffering. All of them don’t exist in the absolute truth; however relatively they do exist and no one can stop that. When the conditions are right, when there is clear water and a clear sky and the moon is shining, then no one can stop the reflection appearing in the water, unless you block the conditions. When you alter the conditions, then the moon’s reflection disappears. That is how we exist. Can you see it? So suffering relatively exists, but if you can block or remove the conditions, that suffering ceases to exist. We are experiencing suffering because the conditions are right. If you can block the conditions, if you block the moonshine on the glass, the moon in the glass ceases to be there. Then you may raise the question: But I heard that karma is definite! However, when the conditions alter, karma goes too. Karma is also a dependent arising. You didn’t change karma, you exhausted the karma—it moved and a new karma takes place and that is how changes comes. That itself shows you that karma is not absolutely static and not independently existing. If that were the case then you couldn’t alter anything.

107 mi lam yül du käl wai me bar tse rang shin me kyang tsa wä jig trag tar nyäl kham sog la rang shin me na yang tso seg la sog jig pä pang war ja

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107 When the fire at the end of the universe blazes in a dream, I feel terrified by its heat, though it has no intrinsic reality. Likewise, although hell realms and their likes have no intrinsic reality, Out of trepidation for being smelted, burnt, and so on, I forsake [evil].

The Bodhisattvacaryavatara says,

Who made these burning iron ground in the hell rim? Where do all these fires come from? They are all nothing but the mind of negativity121

If you dream at night that the whole universe is burning and you are caught in the middle of a huge fire in a mountain or something, then you are suffering badly. You are burning and screaming. In reality someone who is not sleeping and is looking at you, sees that truly you are not burning. There is no fire. However, in the dream, though you are not really burning, you experience being burnt. And you may be sweating and even screaming and then you wake up and . . . . nothing. The burning in the dream and the suffering in the dream is reality for you. This is all the more true for people who have what we call ‘mental problems.’ They think the whole thing is going on, the whole world is burning. We may laugh at them and dismiss them and say, ‘That person is sick and hallucinating’ but the pain that individual person goes through is real to them. That person is experiencing true pain but when you’re looking at it there is nothing happening. The person may

250 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS be screaming, ‘My hair is on fire’ and jumping around and pouring water on their head but you know nothing is happening. Normally we will catch that person and don’t let them pour water on their head, but to that person his or her head is really on fire and to that person at that moment it is real pain, real suffering. For us looking from outside, particularly those of us who examine other people’s mind, it is not real but that person is truly suffering. That is how all our existence is in reality. Enlightened ones looking from the other side at what we are going through, with their knowledge and understanding it is just like ‘straight minded’ person looking at the crazy person jumping around, screaming that their head is on fire and they may even see the fire and feel the burning. So for us our suffering is real. But it is not there in reality. That is the example of absolute existence and relative existence. Things truly don’t exist but relatively they do. Relative existence serves the purpose, it does everything. No matter how much you say that person is crazy and maybe they are really crazy, but you cannot deny that they are actually experiencing that pain. If you try to deny that it shows you don’t know what you are talking about. So even though the hell realms et cetera don’t truly exist, however the suffering they’re talking about is the reality and individual persons experience it and therefore we must avoid it.

108 tsä pä thrül tse mün nag yö me kyang ting ring phug tu gyu shing tsub pa tar ma rig sog la rang shin me na yang she rab sum gyi thrül pa säl war ja

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108 When in feverish delirium, although there is no darkness at all One feels as if plunged and trapped inside a deep, dark cave, So too, although ignorance and so on lack intrinsic reality, I will dispel ignorance by means of the three wisdoms.

These are traditional examples of about a thousand years ago. A today’s example is people suffering from depression. When those of us that are not suffering from depression see it, they think it is not real, not true. But for that person it is true and extremely painful. Those of us not suffering may say the person is confused, but when you are suffering, whether you are confused or not, it is absolutely real and painful to you. Just like that is the hell or the hungry ghost realm [etc].—according to this commentary.

The commentary also talks about feverish delirium. This text was written about a thousand years ago. In today’s reality, just look at people going through depression. You can clearly see it. There may be no darkness, but in their experience it is so dark. There is no real hole, but you feel like you are falling into one and you are stuck down there. You can’t get up. Traditionally they talk about fever, maybe yellow fever or something. But in any case, in such an experience it feels really dark or maybe also the opposite. You feel there is too much light coming in so you have to cover it up. So when you have the sufferings that are coming from negative karma as well as negative emotions, you are perceiving all these things. And all these pains are actually only your perception and not reality. It is not true. We all know that

252 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS when we are looking at a person who’s sick in that manner. We know it’s not real but it is real and true to that person. In reality they are not falling in the deep dark pit, yet they feel it and they exactly see it and they feel they can’t get out. Just like that ignorance etcetera do not truly exist, however you have to clear it by the three wisdoms.

Three wisdoms. There are two ways to talk about the three wisdoms. One is: the wisdom of learning about emptiness, then of analyzing it and then of meditating on it. The other ways is understanding the emptiness through hearing, then with reasons, and then understanding emptiness directly. Understanding the emptiness through hearing is what we are doing right now. 122 We have been talking here about emptiness, that in reality it is not there but on the other hand it is really happening. So you get some understanding of emptiness through conversation or reading. That is the wisdom that follows learning. When you understand emptiness through reasoning, it goes like this: you think, ‘because of this it should be this; because of that it should be that. And because of this it should not be . . . sort of analyzing and so you came to the point by reasoning. That is the second level of understanding emptiness.123 The third level is the direct encounter, what we call ngön sum. [In short] when you engage in wisdom, first you hear about it, read about it. Then the second wisdom is gained when you understand by reasoning yourself—with these four logical points we talked the other day.124 Or you can use dependent arising as the reasoning, which is called the ‘King of Logic.’ So then in your mind you are convinced and

253 Gelek Rimpoche you’re getting some understanding. Finally getting it and encountering with emptiness directly is the third wisdom.

109 röl mo khän gyi gye pai lu lang te chä na dra dei rang shin ma chi mö ma chä tsog pai nyän pai dra jung nä kye woi sem kyi dung wa sel wa tar

109 When a musician plays a song with his violin, If probed, there is no intrinsic reality to the sound. Yet melodious tunes arrive through aggregation of unprobed facts And soothe the anguish that lies in people’s hearts.

When you think about this big concerts when there are hundreds of musicians sitting on the stage playing the music, that beautiful sound is not coming from the piano only, nor from the violins only etc. A single individual instrument does not produce that sound; it is the combination that produces the music. So the music exists because of the combination of all instruments playing together. There is sound; you can hear it, and sometimes you can even see it. But other than that, if you search which one makes this beautiful sound, it is not a single instrument. When a musician is playing the violin you can search for where the music is coming from. Is it coming from the musician or from the violin and if so, it is coming from the strings or from the bow? Or is it coming from that wood structure that carries the strings? When you listen and go near it looks like each one of them is providing the sound.

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But when the musician is not there, no matter how good the violin and the bow there will be—no music. When there are no strings, then no matter what the musician does there will be no music. When strings and violin and musician are there but there’s no bow, then again there is no sound. The music is provided by a combination of factors. Terms and conditions have to be just right and then that music gives relief to the people who are enjoying the music. It relieves their pain. Allen Ginsberg once asked me, ‘What is the purpose of poetry and music?’ I said, ‘To relieve suffering.’ That music relieves the suffering of the people. Causes and conditions have to be there. And each one of them separately can’t make something exist; then it looks like it’s there but it’s not there. Just appearance itself is good enough to be able to function, because the combination of these factors is good enough to hear the music and that relieves the pain of the individual. That is good enough. If you search you find that each one of them in reality is not producing music. It is the combination that is producing it. That is what it means to exist relatively. It is the interdependent nature of existence. And that serves the purpose. Beyond musician and instrument no music exists. Our life, our body, our house, our everything is just like that. A combination of factors produces the music; that relieves our pains and gives us joy. So it serves the purpose.

110 lä dang gyu drä yong su chä pa na chig dang tha dä rang shin me na yang nang nang ta wur chö la kye jig je

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yö yö ta wur de dug na tsog nyong nang wa tsam du lang dor jao ang

110 Likewise when karma and its effects are thoroughly analyzed, Though they do not exist as intrinsically one or many, Vividly appearing, they cause the rising and cessation of phenomena Seemingly real, they experience birth and death of every kind So within this mere appearance I’ll follow the ethical norms.

We learned that when you [intrinsically] exist, you exist as one, as many, [as neither or as both]; these four factors. Then it proves not to exist, but [‘mere appearance’] serves the purpose and you should be satisfied with that. We function on that basis.

111 chu yi thig pä bhum pa kheng pa na chu thig dang pö bhum pa mi kheng shing tha ma la sog re re ma yin mö ten drel tsog pä bhum pa gang wa tar

111 When drops of water fill a vase, It is not the first drop that fills it, Nor the last drop or each drop individually; Through the gathering of dependent factors the vase is filled

Isn’t that beautiful? Is says, not the first drop nor the middle drop not the last drop, none of the individual drops fill the bucket but altogether they do.

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112 de dug drä wu gang gi nyong wa na gyu yi kä chig dang pö ma yin shing tha mai kä chig sog kyi ma yin kyang ten drel tsog pä de dug nyong war gyur nang wa tsam du lang dor jao ang

112 Likewise, when someone experiences joy and suffering— the effects This is not due to the first instant of their cause; Nor is it due to the last instant of the cause. Joy and pain are felt through coming together of dependent factors. So within this mere appearance I will observe ethical norms.

These two verses talking about the collection of factors. It is not one cause that produces something. It is talking about dependent arise. It is not one cause that produces joy or suffering. It is a dependent arising. ‘Ethical norms’ is may be too much. It is the correct translation but everything may not be necessarily talking about ethical norms. It means that everything that appears as reality, you have to function within that as a truth.

113 e ma ma tag chig pur nyam ga’ wai nang wa di la nying po ma chi mö ön kyang yö pa ta wur nang wa yi chö di sab te män pä thong war ka’

113 Ah! So utterly delightful when left unanalyzed, This world of appearance is devoid of any essence; Yet is seems as if it really does exist. Profound indeed is this truth so hard for the weak to see.

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Whatever appears as solid existence, is empty.125 Empty is what sense? It is not saying it is not there. However, the way and how it exists, is not the way we think it does. We think everything exists solidly, as we see it. But, everything exists dependently. It is all dependent rise. What we try to achieve here, is to see that whatever appears, in reality is empty. Appearance and emptiness go together. The whole idea is: the appearance should not block the emptiness of it and emptiness should not block the appearance. Normally when you see something, you say, ‘It is there, because I saw it.’ And when something is not there, you say, ‘How could I see it; it is not there!’ So [you think]: appearance blocks emptiness and emptiness blocks appearance. But the Prasangika viewpoint,126 Buddhapalita’s viewpoint, says: ‘Because I saw it, it is not there’127 and: ‘Because I did not see it, it is there.’ So, appearance yet empty—not contradicting each other. It appears as existing in reality, yet it is empty. This is not contradictory. In the Three Principal Aspects of the Path we say:

Further, appearance eliminates the extreme of existence. Emptiness eliminates non‑existenc Emptiness itself is cause and effect. Understanding this protects from these extremes.

Existence has to be destroyed because you see it and nonex- istence has to be destroyed because you don’t see it. That’s the major point, which is profound and difficult to see.

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Appearance eliminates solid existence,128 and emptiness eliminates non-existence,129 So, the appearan ce establishes the emptiness; and vice versa the emptiness establishes this existence. This is what dependent rise is all about. This is what is so profound here. Up to here is shown that appearance is empty (of self-existence).

8b. Introducing the emptiness of the mind 114 da ni di la nyam par jog pa na nge par nang wa tsam yang chi shig yö yö pa chi yö me paang chi shig yö yin min dam cha’ gang duang chi shig yö

114 Now as I place my mind on this truth in total equipoise, What is there that retains definite appearance? What exists and what does not exist? What thesis is there anywhere of is and is not?

Before you meditate on emptiness, you have to know about it. If you do not understand emptiness, you cannot meditate on it. So when you know, you’re supposed to meditate on it. When you have some understanding of emptiness you begin to meditate on that. When you meditate, within that meditation all appearances will be blocked. All relative appearance, even relative existence itself is completely blocked. You don’t see it. Jamgon Lama Tsongkhapa says that the third path, the path of seeing itself, is divided into three categories. There is first some sort of prerequisite level, then the actual and then the aftermath. During the actual level when the mind

259 Gelek Rimpoche is completely focused on emptiness at that moment nothing else there except the true nature appears in your perception. The terminology we use is chi ta wa and chi ne wa. chi ne wa refers to more or less the relative and chi ta wa refers to more or less the absolute. At that point you are in total absorption on that emptiness and your mind sees nothing except the absolute truth. To that mind nothing else exists.130

Some people say ‘there is nothing so it looks like space.’ I don’t think that is the idea. The idea here is: space has no blocks, so you can move everything free. Where there is a block, there is no space. So ‘space-like’ means: no block, free! If you have some idea about emptiness, this much will do to understand. And when you are beginning to learn, or you have some misunderstanding on something, no matter how much we talk it won’t have much effect anyway.

115 yül dang yül chän chö nyi ma chi shing lang dor kün dräl trö dang dräl wa yi nyug mai ngang du lo drö ma chö par lhän ne nä na kye wu chen por gyur

115 There is no object, no subject, nor no ultimate nature [of things]; Free of all ethical norms and conceptual elaborations, If I abide naturally with this uncontrived awareness In the every-present, innate state, I will become a great being.

This verse is about the nature of the mind itself. It says, when you are meditating, observing, it does not have any

260 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS reality of pointing at ‘this is . . . ,’ just like that the mind itself, the subject, does not have something to point at ‘this is it.’ In absolute reality, there is no observer and observed, there is no purification and what is to be purified; there is no [solid] existence. In absolute reality, in the primordial mental state level, nothing is there; [you are] just simply remaining without new thoughts and ideas created by the influence of perception and appearance. Such a level is the natural level:131 nothing to observed, nothing observing. If you leave it alone and you keep on meditating very often and analyze that and concentrate on it, then without it taking very long, one may be able to see emptiness directly and become a kye bu chen po here called a great being.132 ‘Great being’ refers to one who has seen emptiness directly.133 In absolute reality nothing is a truly existing object. The object emptiness you are observing is also only the name, the label. It is a projection. Even emptiness itself does not exist from its nature. So in absolute reality it doesn’t exist. Therefore in absolute reality you cannot say, ‘This is to get rid of’ or ‘this is to be perceived.’ The procedure of avoiding and accepting is not there in absolute reality. In such a reality there is no manifestation—nothing. Absolute reality is free of all this. That is called ‘primordial.’ I don’t know what you understand by ‘primordial’, but it is like natural, real, true.

8c. Dedication 116 de tar kün dzob jang chub sem dang ni dön dam jang chub sem la chä pa yi

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tsog nyi bhar chä me par thar chin nä dön nyi phün sum tsog pa thob par shog

116 Thus by practicing conventional awakening mind And the ultimate mind of awakening, May I accomplish without obstacles the two accumulations And realize perfect fulfillment of the two aims.

As we explained earlier, self-cherishing has all kinds of faults and cherishing others has all qualities.134 Therefore you meditate on exchanging self and others and then meditate on relative bodhimind. Once you understand that you meditate on absolute bodhimind by using examples and logical reasons, by using quotations and so on. You learn, analyze and meditate By this virtue one may be able to obtain the merit and the wisdom merit and finally obtain total enlightenment which is enriched with the dharmakaya—the mental aspects of total enlightenment—and the rupakaya—the physical aspects of total enlightenment. That is I believe the dedication here.\

Colophon

This text entitled The Wheel Weapon Striking at the Vital Points of the Enemy was composed by the great Dharma- rakshita, a yogi of scriptural knowledge, reasoning, and realizations, in accordance with the instructions of the sublime teachers. He composed this in a jungle where

262 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS terrifying animals of prey roam free and undertook its practice in the terrifying jungle of our degenerate era.

He gave this teaching to Atisha, who, in order to transform many sentient beings so difficult to tame, undertook this practice throughout all places where sentient beings lie, whether in cardinal or intermediate directions. As he experienced the realizations of this practice, he uttered the following lines:

When I renounced my kingdom and practiced austerity, I accumulated merit and met with my supreme teacher He revealed to me this sublime Dharma nectar and initiated me into it. Having mastered the antidotes today, I commit the words to my heart.

By casting wide my intelligence free of prejudice Upon a detailed study of diverse doctrinal systems, I have witnessed immeasurable wonders, But I’ve found this teaching most helpful to our degenerate age.

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conqueror [Atisha] and his son [Dromtönpa] themselves acted as the scholar a nd translator of this text.

Atisha [gave this teaching] to Dromtönpa, [who then transmitted it to] Potowa, and thence, in a lineal order, to Sharawa, Chekawa, Chilbupa, Lha Chenpo, Lha Drowai Gönpo, Öjopa, Khenpo Martön, Khenpo Sherap Dorje, Buddharatna, Kirtsisila, Gyalwa Sangpo, Nup Chölungpa Sönam Rinchen, and he to myself, Shönu Gyalchok Kön- chok Bang.

This belongs to the cycle of Dharmarakshita’s mind training [teachings].

This teaching was given by Atish’a teacher, Dharmarak- shita,135 who took these notes out of his memory while meditating after having received this meditation from his teacher. Lama Dharmarakshita has prayed and dedicated this Wheel of Sharp Weapons that hits the vital points of the enemy’s existence. Lama Dharmarakshita was meditating in a fearful forest where a lot of threatening animals were running. The forest is referring to samsara; the fearful animals are the eight fears, symbolically depicted as tiger, lion, snake fire, water flood and so on.136 It has been written in the midst of those. Likewise our life is a forest and we do not know where we’re going and what the fears are around. We are in the midst of our life, in the midst of the eight fears. Finally Lama Dharmarakshita gave the teaching to Ati- sha, who gave it to Drom Rimpoche, telling him, ‘This will be useful for you, wild Tibetans.’ The lineage was continued, from Dromtönpa to Geshe Potowa, to Geshe Sharawa, Geshe Chekawa etc. to the person wrote this text. From there

264 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS the lineage continued. I received this teaching first from Kyabje Lhatsun Rimpoche137 and later from His Holiness the Dalai Lama. He gave this a few years ago in New York.

Thus we have completed the lojong, the Wheel of Sharp Weapons and some of you I’m sure understood this to a certain extent and it has been helpful. Some of you have heard it and it will become very helpful. We have created very positive karma and all these positive karmas we will be utilizing to be able to bring the bodhimind within all of us and connect it within us. That I think is the completion of this lo jong. It is exactly referring to our life.

We would like to dedicate this for the people who passed away from Jewel Heart as well as those like family, loved ones, spouses, our siblings, our near and dear ones and so on who passed away. We dedicate it to all of those. And each and every one of you has to bring your own prayer in here. You have to remember we dedicate all these virtues and those who have done well may enjoy the fruit of good karma and those who may not have done so well may purify all of their negativities in general and particularly the strong negativities and their consciousness will meet with the Lama Buddha Shakyamuni—not necessarily in the form of a buddha, not necessarily in the form of a lama but in the form of a spiritual guide. Anything can be an appearance of the spiritual guide—a bird, other animals, trees, rivers— anything that gives the message to the individual and links the individual through the positive karma and leads them towards total enlightenment. Along with that we should be

265 Gelek Rimpoche dedicating with the bodhimind: for the benefit of all, particularly for the benefit of the ones we are dedicating for, we wish that each one will become fully enlightened. For that we want to be there to help them and guide them. For this we seek the buddha level. That is it.

So we dedicate all our virtues for all living beings obtaining enlightenment together: spiritual masters and spiritual practitioners, teachers, disciples, students and benefactors. Everybody together. May all be able to obtain enlightenment.

We also dedicate our virtues for the longevity of buddha’s teaching, for the longevity of the great masters, for the longevity and success of each and every practitioner. Like Jamgön Lama Tsongkhapa said,

Empower me that the masters who have unfolded the sublime path within me and the spiritual friends who have inspired me may live long: And that the myriad inner and outer interferences be completely and utterly calmed forever.

Whatever we have talked, don’t leave it as words alone, but please use this teaching as a practice.

* * *

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Bodhisattva Vow. Each one of us would like to become fully enlightened, and guide sentient beings. Therefore we seek the buddha level, this time through a special ritual. Today we start with the preparations, which include cleaning and putting up a mass of stringed flowers. While sweeping and cleaning each and every one of you should say Avalokite- shavara’s long mantra Namo ratna trayaya… or the short mantra Om mani padme hum. Not only during the sweeping period but also during stringing and putting up the flowers for the Bodhisattva Vow Offering Ceremony. And please, don’t unnecessarily talk to each other. You know, real mantra-saying means: you hear it but others don’t. I also want you to have some Lam Rim meditation done tonight, on the basis of the Lamrim overview from the Lama Chöpa or the Foundation of All Perfections. Also do such a meditation tomorrow morning before you come here. Thirdly we will have the Lama Chöpa. Fourthly we will take the bodhisattva vow.

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IV Questions and Answers

Audience: How do we practice a text like this? Rimpoche: I don’t think you have to practice the text. You practice the message you get out of this text. Take the essence out of it in your mediation. This is not a sadhana or any other practice that you follow word by word. You use this text as a mirror. When something happens, you ask yourself what is happening and why? Then you may use this text.

Audience: Wrong view makes you collect bad karma. When I think about it deliberately I can see that, but unex- pected thoughts? Rimpoche: If something pops up, in the deep there is something, ego. We are influenced already. Whoever makes any decision, it is always based on some kind of motivation, some kind of ‘benefitting’ either an individual, or a party or whatever. There is a built-in agenda. That is the ego influence. We can call that wrong view. But in general Buddhism, wrong view refers to accepting there is no such a thing called karma, saying it is all fabricated stories. If you think it is not there and you are willing to investigate, then that is a different story. But if you are not willing to investigate, if you’re just simply saying ‘Oh this is just a big

269 Gelek Rimpoche lie, nothing has been proved’; that sort of thing is what is normally referred to as wrong view. Likewise the view of ‘the self is an independent permanent existence.’ Things like that we refer to as wrong view.

Audience: Rimpoche, there is still some confusion about the difference between self-cherishing and self-grasping. Perhaps it would be clarified if you could explain how self- grasping and self-cherishing manifest in everyday life and give examples. Rimpoche: Self-cherishing is not a problem. Self-grasping is very hard to point out; that’s why people spend their whole lifetime finding what the object of negation is. Self-cherishing is where the self is considered the most important. And whatever the self’s needs are, those are the most important needs. And also, the self is not willing to embrace or even accept suffering or any problems. It would like to have picnic spots, one after another, all through their life. That is self-cherishing; there is no confusion about that. Self-grasping is where we are holding something that is not there. Though the two are functioning as master and emissary, even then, what we are grasping at is not there. That is why it is a confused state of perception. Giving an example of that in our daily life is very hard. If it were easy, people would not have to spend their whole life trying to gain [that] wisdom.

Audience: You mentioned that some people are able to recognize wisdom before they recognize their self-cherishing. But how can a being that is no longer self-grasping still be self-cherishing?

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Rimpoche: There are definitely people who can do this. Self-cherishing is cherishing my desire. I want it to be on my terms of happiness. That is even there after one sees the wisdom. Compassion and love and are one aspect of functioning. Wisdom is another aspect of functioning. Although self-cherishing and self-grasping work together, you can defeat them separately.

Audience: The follow-up question to that is: For those people who have taken bodhisattva vows, are they now weak bodhisattvas aspiring to be stronger bodhisattvas as they advance on the path? Rimpoche: Whether you are a true bodhisattva or not does not depend on whether you have taken bodhisattva vows or not. It depends on whether the bodhimind, bodhicitta, is developed with you or not. That is the real factor that makes a difference. Either you have not taken the bodhisattva vow but have developed bodhicitta and you are a bodhisattva, or you have taken 100 million times the bodhisattva vows and have not developed bodhicitta, in which case you have bodhisattva vows but do not have bodhicitta. It’s as simple as that.

Audience: Let’s assume we are ready to embrace suffering. What next? What do we do? Rimpoche: The question is, what would you do with the suffering? The question is not, ‘What next?’ I know what you’re looking at: a special method of transforming suffering into joy. If you are hoping for that, I have to disappoint you. The point of embracing suffering is that there is much to make you a brave person. That much bravery you build

271 Gelek Rimpoche up within you. That will be your strength to be able to do it. Second, can we really take the suffering and embrace it as we visualize and pray and talk about it? The answer is no, we cannot. But there may be a time when you may be able to do it. If the opportunity and the capability rise to the individual to be able to do it, then that very person will have the capability of knowing what to do with it. For example, remember Milarepa’s story. Milarepa was quite famous and extremely important. There was not an equivalent to Milarepa. But there was a geshe, Geshe Tsak- puhwa, who was always jealous of Milarepa because he became so famous and Geshela’s activities weren’t growing very well. So Geshela always had a funny sort of [jealousy], so much so that I think Geshela’s niece brought poisoned yogurt for Milarepa. Their idea was to poison him. So Mil- arepa was offered the poisoned yogurt and he knowingly took it and fell sick. Then this geshe had tremendous regret. He came to see Milarepa and apologized, and Milarepa said, ‘It’s not your fault. It’s my bad karma.’ The geshe said, ‘There is no way I can take it, but if there were a way, I would like to take it.’ He sincerely regretted. Milarepa said, ‘There is no way you can take it. I could transfer it onto you; however, you will not be able to bear it. Let me transfer all the pain onto the door.’ He did some gesture, and the door started going crack, crack, and all kinds of funny things. And Mil- arepa said, ‘Even the door, which has no mind, cannot take it. Let me take two percent of it and give it to you.’ He made a gesture. The geshe was screaming and sweating and yelling and saying, ‘Please take it back!’138

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This is an example: if you can embrace the suffering, you will know what to do with it. Right now we are more or less visualizing, imagining or praying to be able to do this. When you are literally able to do it, you know what and what not to transform it [into]. Even for the visual image of taking the pains of other people, we have tremendous fear and hesitation. It is not easy. People are not crazy. The give and take technique begins by taking from yourself rather than from others. ‘My evening pain that I am supposed to have, or ‘tomorrow’s pain that I may have, I am taking now.’ Starting that way, it is easier for our mind. It is not as harsh as saying, ‘Take your enemy’s pain now!’ Therefore, always take your own [present or future] pain and suffering first. This is how you train your mind. When you are literally able to take it, you will have the capacity to know what to do with it.

Audience: Please, could you elaborate on the transforma- tional process? Rimpoche: As I said already, embrace suffering. When you embrace suffering, it does not mean that suffering literally comes to you. But in your imagination, you are accepting it. Accepting suffering builds up a little bit of openness and a little bravery in the mind. It also gives you the opportunity to see where these sufferings are coming from and what their cause is. And now, if I don’t like them, what can I do not to have them? It is in the verses we read before: when this thing happens, realize this is caused by this; and from now on one should do this. These are the tips and techniques of transforming suffering into a practice. This

273 Gelek Rimpoche is what we can do at this moment. And when in your mind you are accepting other people’s suffering, [you imagine] they experience wonderful joy and you appreciate that joy.

Audience: In the Wheel of Sharp Weapons, there are forty stanzas in which we call on Yamantaka to trample, overpower, strike, and butcher the enemy of our self-cherishing. Can this text be inserted as part of the practice? Can it be inserted in the sadhana? What’s the relationship between the two? Rimpoche: No, you should not insert it in the sadhana. Number one, the sadhanas should not be mixed so much. Mixing things is not very good; then the authenticity and being true to the tradition will be lost. Remember, this is not New Age. Number two, earlier in history there were certain monasteries in eastern Tibet that did this. They brought a particular thing into the form of a ritual within the sadhana and did it almost in an exorcism style of chant- ing, as well as using the symbols and rules of exorcism. Not only one or two, but a number of monasteries did this. As a consequence of that, there was a lot of misfortune in those monasteries and a lot of funny things like sudden deaths and unnecessary earthquakes and floods. Whole monasteries were leveled to the ground and a number of people died. That’s why one shouldn’t do it. If it is in Lojong, let it be in Lojong. If you say, ‘Let me see how it works in the sadhana,’ it opens the can of worms at your own risk. So you should not do it.

Audience: What are the signs that we are at risk of being poisoned like the crow?139

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Rimpoche: A number of things. The most important sign is whether you are improving or going down in terms of your positive activities, your way of thinking and the way in which you are developing negative emotions. How many times do they come? How quickly do they come? These are the signs you can see. Another question I have to raise is, when you put in efforts, sometimes you begin to notice your own faults or negativities more. It’s not a new ability you develop. You already have it, but you notice it much more than before. These are not the sign of a crow being poisoned; these are the recognition and acknowledgements of seeing your own the faults.

Audience: You used the word ‘coward’ to describe someone who is carried up and down with violent swings of strong emotions.140 It seems surprising to think of cowardice in this context. Why is someone a coward who feels excited or happy about a very positive experience? Aren’t we supposed to rejoice and appreciate our good fortune? Can you explain why the word ‘coward’ applies here? Rimpoche: Very good question. This particular teaching calls such a person a coward. But he or she is not necessarily a coward that we in a normal sense take it. Why is it a coward in this particular sense? Because the person has a lot of emotional swings, and those emotional swings are exactly what the hero bodhisattvas are able to stabilize, and get steady on. Those who cannot maintain their emotional moments are unstable and the word ‘coward’ is used to describe them. They are not necessarily cowards. This is a poetic metaphor.

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Audience: My question is on seeing ego as the enemy. We are supposed not to see anyone as an enemy. If feels sort of uncomfortable seeing ego as an enemy and wanting to destroy that. How to deal with that? Rimpoche: Ego is not anyone. We tried to explain ego is the false perception of self, confusion and fear together, some kind of monster we created within ourselves. You are right; no one should be destroyed but ego is not somebody, is nobody.

Audience: Evolutionary process made us develop dualistic thinking. In my view this has produced in our thinking the good and the bad, God and the devil, etc. By not rejecting anything, by seeing, we escape indoctrination and condi- tioning, we stop good and bad to exist, and it makes us who we originally are. Rimpoche: A good message. Thank you. But ‘who we originally are’ gives a huge confusion. The confusion is this. Some people think we originally are what we call the ‘primordial mind’, a mind being wonderful and pure, and thereafter we became impure. In my opinion and as far as I know, that idea is totally wrong. Not only me, even outstanding schools think that way too. The difficulty is this. If we would have been perfect and pure in the beginning, what has happened? How could pure and perfect become terrible? We may say, ‘Well, a good person can become a bad person, we have seen it, so it may be true.’ But what guarantee do we have if we now become perfect? Will we remain perfect? Do we repeat the same old chore of good, won-

276 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS derful, pure as we are and do we then become dirty, filthy, dualistic and then the process starts again, repeating the same thing? In that case there is no end to the whole process, so then why process at all? That [thought] also goes against the principle of purity and getting enlightened. The moment we have impurity it is the clear sign that we have not been pure and perfect before. Can there be a stain in pefect enlightenment? Can there be a stain in pure gold? This is not simple. It is deeper thinking; not a philosophy but reality. That is the reason why Tsongkhapa emphasizes and insists: there is Buddha nature within us, but there is not a natural Buddha within us. If there were a natural Buddha within us, how could we pick up all these faults? We have a buddha nature in us, a buddha seed you could say, which means we can develop and become a buddha. That is the deeper idea. Whether ‘the primordial’ is pure or not pure is beyond our judgment for the moment. And also it depends on the way we read the word ‘primordial.’ As the subtle consciousness of the individual? Or, as some people may think, does it refer to some well-established buddha before anything happened and then the bad weather came and something happened . . . ? That may not necessarily be right. If that were so, how would we know the bad weather might not come again? Whoever raised this question, think you; it is really good thinking. This kind of thinking we encourage. And for that there is the need of a sangha, the need of discussion, the need of sharing thoughts. This is a good way of developing ourselves. That is how we move spiritually: we put our efforts in and hope for the best. That is important,

277 Gelek Rimpoche because this opportunity is extremely rare. Life is rare, life with understanding of the spiritual path is more rare, and a life with interest in the spiritual path is even more rare than that! So we really have a great opportunity here and it is most important not to waste it. Wasting is extremely easy. Any circumstances can push you anywhere; you never know. That is why it is so important to be aware and take the opportunity.

Audience: What attitude does one need to have towards the ego when one sets out to vanquish it? Are there some guidelines to distinguish between selfish interest and self- interest in this pursuit? Rimpoche: I think that’s a very important question. When you are striking at the ego, what will you have to do? The whole book we are studying will tell you that. When I say ‘selfish’, I mean, ‘I am the most important; my interest supersedes anyone else’s interest.’ That is selfish interest. When you say ‘self-interest’, as an individual person we want develop compassion, develop a spiritual practice. These are types of self-interest, and there is nothing wrong with this. But self-interest should not be selfishness: over- powering everybody else’s interest. There is a huge gap between the two.

Audience: We were talking about emotionally toxic relationships, such as between a boss and a worker in an office. Rimpoche: This is not only a question between boss and worker, but between all human beings. This issue is everywhere, not only in the workplace. It is because of self- cherishing and ego. There are two egos and there are two

278 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS self-cherishing, and they are banging their heads against each other. That’s how it is, right? One has to take a step back and think about it a little more. That’s difficult, honestly. On one hand, if you are not wrong, you should point out your point of view. Not only is it right to do, but you may know a lot of things and also many things you discover by experimenting. But on the other hand, if you have two thick heads bouncing off each other, it never ends. One needs to be understanding, but not roll over and be a doormat.

Audience: There is much confusion about the nature of the ego. Psychoanalysts tell us that it is central to our identity. But Buddhist teaching tells us that ego is something to be destroyed. Don’t we need some sense of ego in order to succeed in society? Can you define the ego further and tell us what exactly we need to attack? Rimpoche: Can I ask Anne to answer that question?

Anne Warren: Well, I think there are two parts to the question. One is terminology confusion. The way that psychologists or psychiatrists use the word ego is very different from the way that Rimpoche is using the word ego, which is in the way of ego being self-centeredness and self- solidity. In terms of psychiatry or psychology, yes, a person needs a healthy ego, but that simply means a sense of self- confidence and self-efficacy able to accomplish things. And that’s not something to be gotten rid of. But the self that needs to be protected in warding off everything else and [is] sort of the center of everything and not concerned about others—that sort of ego is getting close to what the idea of the enemy is, I think.

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Rimpoche: Thank you. I might add something here: The word ego was created by the psychologists, and it means something to be protected. I use the word ego as normal common people’s usage: ‘Oh, it’s your ego talking.’ For example, we say George Bush is an egocentric person. He is a complete egomaniac. From that angle, maybe it is totally wrong language, but I am using the word ego from that angle. The original terminology in Tibetan is ignorance or not knowing. When you use it in this sense, ignorance becomes wrong knowing and confusion. It may not be a better choice because we already have confusion here, but this is why and how I use the word ego. Within the mind, it is marigpa, which is a combination of fear and selfishness dismissing other persons, and undermining everybody else—truly not knowing what reality is. It is fear and confusion and lack of clarity, all combined together. It could be totally my fault using the word ego in that sense. But no: Kyabje Ling Rimpoche used it in his teaching of the four mindfulnesses. I don’t mean self-esteem that has to be maintained, but [with the word ego I mean] the overpower- ing self as the dictator, or what I used to call ‘Queen Bee’ or ‘I Rimpoche.’ All of those are referring to that.

Audience: The text says bodhisattvas never become attached. However, there seem to be times when attachment is helpful: when we are babies, babies only thrive when there is attachment between mother and the baby. Are there kinds of attachment that are okay? Is attachment ever okay?

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Rimpoche: I would not say a baby has attachment to its mother, but there is love. Love and attachment are two different things to me. Love is pure; attachment is sick stuff. Okay? That’s it.

Audience: You had said that sometimes a bodhisattva might even come back as a general, and as we sit here across from West Point that question elicited some discussion: how could a general be a bodhisattva? How is that possible? Rimpoche: Well I didn’t say Dick Cheney was a bodhisattva, when he was across the river today. But you know, there are the generals of the Shambhala: they are generals and they are bodhisattvas. This is just one example.

Audience: You said this morning that, in certain exceptional cases, attachment can be used to further the path. You said that Bodhisattvas can experience pleasure without being attached to it. Would you elaborate on what you meant by that? Rimpoche: I did say that. The teachings will tell you that sometimes Bodhisattvas can use attachment to serve and benefit and uplift individuals as well as helping others. Look at the Vajrayana, sexuality as a spiritual practice is available and commonly known. At the attachment level, sometimes you have that. But transforming anger, and especially hatred, into the path is extremely difficult, although Yamantaka is an example of that. Attachment transforming into the path is a little easier because it’s cool. Hatred is hot. Ignorance transforming into the path is supposed to

281 Gelek Rimpoche be associated with Guhyasamaja. It is so difficult we almost cannot comprehend it. That’s why I said that sometimes attachment can be used in that way. Even the sutras say that sometimes attachment can be used to help the individual. I once had a photograph of a Rimpoche, a very big Kar- gyupa lama. He was not very well-known outside of Tibet. After 1959, when we came out of Tibet, those who were very great in Tibet became nobody, and those who were nobody became huge. Take the Karmapa. In Tibet, he wasn’t very big at all. Yet on the other hand, some very well-known incarnate lamas were treated like nobody. When you look at the picture of this very big Kargyupa, he dressed like a joker. He had a funny hat, and his scarf was put in his belt. He was very funny, and very good too. He came once a year to Lhasa during a prayer festival. He had so many people in his retinue; it could be fifty or a hundred. He always stayed in our house. He was known to every well-known incarnate lama and every government official, and he interfered with everything. He behaved like a lawyer taking a case, and he was very respected too. What I noticed was that he had been the teacher of the Fifth Dalai Lama. Whenever I saw him, I used to call him Kundun. He had very famous precious pills that the Fifth Dalai Lama had made and he said to me, ‘If you don’t use the word Kundun during the five or six weeks I am staying here, I will give you some of those precious pills.’ I tried not to do it. Every year he came to Lhasa, he had a new wife. Every year! When I was in the monastery, age 19 or 20, I was confused. They called them secret consorts. I said, ‘This lady, your secret consort, is not the same as last year.

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What happened?’ He said, ‘I have a commitment to have five hundred wives, and to liberate each one of them.’ He went on about how many lifetimes before he had made that commitment. In 1682, or something. It was almost like the Queen of England at the White House dinner saying ‘when I was here in 1776’ or something and everybody laughing because George Bush had said she had been here for 300 years. Just like that, he said, ‘I have a commitment of having five hundred wives and liberating each one of them.’ But he behaved like a lawyer, very funny. The day when his Holiness was leaving Tibet, Sabon Rimpoche, who was confirmed to be accompanying His Holiness that night, took a special trip to Lhasa to tell my father, ‘You had better go, because His Holiness is leaving tonight.’ There was another Rimpoche there from Ganden. He couldn’t say anything in the presence of this Rimpoche. He tried to talk to my mother, ‘Can I talk to you in another room?’ My mother didn’t take him out either, just invited him to have tea. He was thinking, I can whisper in his (Rimpoche’s father’s) ear and tell him, but he will get suspicious. At that moment, this other Rimpoche popped in the room and said, ‘I know the true picture of what is going on between the Chinese and Tibetan authorities. They decided to negotiate, etc.’ and Sabon Rimpoche said to himself, ‘There is no way I can tell him now.’ So he left. This Rimpoche was like that. But on the other hand, the Cultural Revolution came, and he was supposed to be beaten up. They even gave people training on how to beat him up. When the Chinese were coming to catch him, he asked his attendant, ‘What’s happening?’ The attendant

283 Gelek Rimpoche said, ‘Nothing’s happening, they are coming to get you. Six- teen people are coming to get you and beat you to death.’ He said, ‘Oh, very good, bring me monk’s robes.’ He was not a monk. He put on the monk’s robes and said, ‘Just close the door and go. When they want to open it, let them open it.’ He sat on his bed, cross-legged, and passed away. When they opened the door, he was dead. That shows he had total control over living and dying. That showed how great he was. Also he was extremely learned, and a great poet. He wrote huge love poems. He would dictate and two or three people would write. That’s what I meant: sometimes attachment can be used by bodhisattvas.

Audience: I found that my heart has been opened by the experience of this weekend teaching. How do I keep the feeling of the open heart as I go back into my regular life? Rimpoche: Keep on thinking about the subjects we talked about, read about it and see the relevance in your own life, where it is coming from, whether it is measuring anywhere. You can even take one single point and try to change it, try to correct it. That way, you are not only keeping your heart open, but making a hell of a difference. Just think about the points we raised here and see how it suits you. In the verses we read, they say ‘don’t do it,’ and ‘try to avoid it’, and when such a result is happening it is coming from that action. Recognize that your particular action was the cause of that pain, and try to change it. As the verse says, ‘From now on I should do this, from now on I don’t search other’s faults.’ These are the real tips and techniques. Keep on doing this, and it will make a difference in your life. The

284 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS purpose of opening your heart is to make a difference, not only in this life, but even in future lives. Our own future lives are in nobody’s hands but our own. Buddha cannot tell you, ‘Go to hell.’ Buddha cannot tell you, ‘Go to heaven.’ It is only our own deeds that make the difference. Remember, the most important thing is that each one of us is responsible for ourselves. I am responsible for myself and you are responsible for yourself. That’s why whether I get good or bad, depends on me. Whether she or he gets good or bad, depends on her or him. This is our responsibility. Karma is nothing but this responsibility. According to the Buddha, karma runs our lives. We create our own karma. Buddha does not create the karma for us; we do. If Buddha would create karma for us, he would have created all the best karma possible for us because of his love and compassion. But he could not. It is our own responsibility. So making a difference to our life or lives is done by ourselves, through the karmic system. It’s just like the Four Noble Truths, with the two sets of causal karma two karmic results. One is suffering, one is joy; and one is negative, and one is positive. Both results depend on the cause. To avoid suffering, work against the cause of suffering. To gain positive cessation, use the path. This is the solid fundamental principle. This is exactly how our life and our lives function. Knowing how this contributes to our self is the essence of the Buddha’s teaching and message. See- ing this will make a difference to our life and lives, and that is the best way to help ourselves. This is the essence of Dharma. This is the essence of spiritual practice. It is the best way to help ourselves—nothing more, nothing less.

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Audience: Prayer and mantras and malas help to be away from the busy thinking. In my opinion you have to be alert on what and how you are doing. I do not join a group, so I do not get the ‘pollution.’ It is also difficult. A lot of people hate me because I love them. Socrates got one cup of poison, I get many. Is there any advice I need? Rimpoche: Each individual has his own thing. Some like a group, like to discus and meditate together. Some don’t want that, they like to be a solitary hero. In my opinion both are great, both are welcome. Whether you meditate or not, or whatever kind of meditation you do, the most important is the enemy within us, the ego and the selfishness. If you can make a dent on it and you begin to see your individual negative emotions, reduce the small negative things, and be more loving and gentle and kind, if there is improvement within you, then whatever you do helps you. If you think everyone hates you and whatever you see and do, you think or feel everyone hates you, is against you …, then something is not right.

Audience: How can you overcome the fast way that thoughts come up? I can stay with my breath, but all of a sudden a thought is there. It comes from nowhere. How do a handle it? Rimpoche: Excellent question. It means, somebody is doing something. There is a problem here. It depends on your goal. If your goal is to become thoughtless, then your goal is wrong. Being thoughtless is not stabilizing your mind. The goal should be: to be able to focus. So when you have your focus on the breath and you notice a thought is

286 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS coming up, that is a beautiful recognition. What do you do? Recognize it and bring your attention back to the subject, or in this case the object. Maybe during the meditation you are doing nothing but that, but even then it is worthwhile. The whole idea is helping yourself, honestly. Sitting without thought can definitely reduce gross, strong negative emotions, but by just sitting you cannot get rid of them. So it is very important to analyze. The beginning of analytical meditation looks like disturbing the focus. Not only it looks like; to a certain extent it is. But it will give you a very good result after a while. The results [of thoughtless and of analytical meditation] are different, as big as gold and silver. That is why it is important to not just sit and think nothing. Earlier there was a great Indian scholar, Kamalashila, and a Chinese scholar called Hvashang Mahayana. They had a very long argument and debate in Tibet and finally the Tibetans kicked Hvashang out. The difference was between sitting thoughtless or analyzing. From there you can make your own choice, your own goal.

Audience: How does one quiet distracting thoughts and develop one-pointed concentration and attention? Rimpoche: If you attempt single-pointed concentration, you will have two obstacles: laxity and excitation. Each one of those obstacles is handled by all kinds of things, but particularly by two mental faculties: awareness and alertness. Whenever you notice you are not focusing, bring it back. The straightforward answer is that, the moment you recognize you have lost concentration, don’t give up and say, ‘I

287 Gelek Rimpoche have lost concentration anyway, let it go.’ That’s not right. Bring it back, bring it back. Putting it back is the answer. If you want to know more about single-pointed focusing, we have a transcript called GOM: a course in meditation. That will give you a very good idea about it.

Audience: I find it difficult to accept I am alone. Do you have any advise on that? Rimpoche: Being two is nice. Culturally, spiritually and otherwise. Even on the spiritual path they are always talking about two: the union. But then if you can’t be two, you have no choice. Being one is also okay, better than not being there. Being alone has nothing wrong; it does not deprive you of liberation. This text hits very strongly on that point of not getting on well with others. Being used to be alone, it is also very difficult to be two.

Audience: You said not keeping morality can lead to natural disasters. What is morality in this context? Rimpoche: We all have our own vows and commitments. Not honoring them and hurting people—that is the most important thing on morality here.

Audience: How do you relate with people that easily get hurt, if you are living with them? Rimpoche: One can never be perfect. Whenever you do something, you do hurt people, too. Some get hurt; some get happy, others get upset. When you walk, you hurt and kill insects. If you look for perfection, that is not available for us right now. So we do the best we can. Important is: don’t insult on top of it. We are human beings, we do wrong

288 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS things, but there is always a remedy; you can purify it. It is not lasting, it is not the end of the road, there is always a way to handle it. Always. That is because negativity is not permanent; it is impermanent, changeable. Again, that does not mean, ‘Oh I made a mistake somewhere, I have to purify, purify!’ so much so that you don’t think of anything else. That is like one of the verses before that talks about a twisted person. That happens when you fall into the trap of over- doing things. When you think ‘Oh, I did not do enough’ and you spend your life worrying you become a twisted person. On the other hand, there are people who are always doing things superficially. Both extremes are wrong; go in the middle. We are human beings, we commit negativities, these are impermanent. It is dependent rise, dependent on conditions. It is in our hands to make the conditions. That is how purification works, that is how changes come about. Purify does not mean praying and hoping it will be all right; you really have to do it. If you hurt someone, try to help someone. If you have strong obsession, try to clearly see, ‘Why am I so obsessed? What is it in there?’ Try not to be blind; try to see the good part and the bad part of it. Rejoice on the good part and purify the bad part. Thank you for your question.

Audience: Please would you provide some practical tips on making necessary assessments of people without falling into judgments. Rimpoche: When you talk to people, you do have some sense of understanding of the individual. That sense of intuition will give you some idea, and that very idea you

289 Gelek Rimpoche get through your intuition, you have to find out whether it is right or wrong by experimenting or testing. Then your intuition is more or less confirming not once but twice. By this time, you may or may not be making a judgment, but you more or less know what it is all about. And particularly if you are meeting with a stranger and talking about something, physical gestures will give you certain understanding of their mental level. That could be wrong, but more or less it gives you certain [signals]. This is how one develops ‘knowing the other’s mind.’ You [can get to] know the other’s mind on two levels: through ritual, through mantra, purification and accumulation of merit, and on the other side through analyzing—analyzing within yourself your own thoughts and seeing what kind of body gesture is corresponding to your thoughts. Then, as your own mind is not a secret to you, you judge from that angle, try to see whether that is suiting the other person or not. If you spend ten minutes with somebody, you get an idea of what kinds of body gestures that person has, whether they are honest or a joke or bluffing or whatever. That is how you begin. Then, you combine your intuition with reasoning. Intuition could be right or it could be wrong; don’t rely on intuition without reasoning. Body language will give you some idea. When through reasoning you test that idea a couple of times, you more or less can—well, not judge but you will have some sense or some idea as to whether the person is ok or not ok.

Audience: Aren’t we supposed to rejoice and appreciate our good fortune?

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Rimpoche: The idea is that a little gain should not pursue the individual so much and a little loss also should not pursue the individual emotionally, bouncing up and down. The heroes are emotionally quite balanced people. Yes, you rejoice, and you are happy about it. Acknowledge it. But with every joy and happiness you don’t have to shout and scream and fly three times in the air and refuse to land. Nor should you with every sadness and misfortune have a long face and land into depression either. After all, it is impermanent. After all, it changes. After all, it is emptiness. So why torture the individual so much with joy and sadness. When little effects swing the moods so much, it might not be good for you. I don’t mean physically or mentally, but spiritually. It is very important to be a stable person. If you go ‘zoom zoom’ all the time, you become more moody. When you go up to being good moody, fine; but then you have the opposite side and you come down. A little stability is recommended in the Buddha’s teaching. I shouldn’t say much, because I don’t know anything about psychology. And here you have great psychologists and psychiatrists and all that. But Buddha always recommended not having so much mood swings. But we do. And each and every one of us who has that swing in mood will have a lot more suffering and always be shedding tears, and even when happy, they shed tears too. A little bit of stability provides a good foundation for mental development, honestly. I don’t mean that emotional people cannot obtain enlightenment. But stability helps.

Audience: If everything is related to karma, the law of and

291 Gelek Rimpoche cause and effect, and we are all responsible for our own individual lives, why should we do, for example, Tara prayers? We shouldn’t have to do that because we are responsible for ourselves. Rimpoche: Good question, thank you. Praying is providing a cause. Praying is seeking support. It is one of the causes we create. That’s why we should pray.

Audience: You once said that Vajrayana is a very dangerous practice; that it’s like riding a tiger. What do you mean? Rimpoche: Vajrayana is extremely effective and wonderful and great. But if you are not ready, it is like jumping on a tiger; you don’t know where you are going to land. You can ride the tiger; but the tiger might ride you. Nagarjuna used this metaphor to describe emptiness, I used it to describe Vajrayana practice. Vajrayana is great. It has advantages as well as dangers. It’s great, but we need to know what to do with it. Vajrayana makes use of the negative emotions and turns them into a path. But if you don’t know how to use it, you will be completely overpowered by the negative emotions. And instead of whatever little we gained previously, it will all be washed away and overpowered. That is the danger. It’s not a physical danger but a spiritual danger.

Audience: Last week I took my six year old grandchild out to dinner. As we went to leave the restaurant, my car was being towed away. I completely lost my temper. To make matters worse, it began to rain very hard. My daughter started to cry, and my grandchild got wet in the rain. It took me until the next day to get over being upset and angry. Rimpoche, how could I have known what weapon to use

292 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS to defeat my anger in this car towing situation, which was actually happening? Rimpoche: Patience. Patience, understanding, and not blaming the police. Why did they tow your car? Because you may have been parked in the wrong place. There has to be some reason. They are not going to tow your car just because it happens to be your car. I don’t drive in New York, so that’s why I say that. I don’t think these particular police have a grudge against you. These things happen, I am sorry to say. If you look back, you could have gone back to the restaurant. There are all kinds of things you could have done. Naturally, your daughter cries. And you get upset because why does your car have to be towed at this particular minute? When you think about it from that angle, you get more and more mad. But when you think from the other angle, maybe I parked in the wrong place—even if there is no reason at all—we have the opportunity to challenge him, if you want to. Without punching his face, you can challenge the ticket. Take a deep breath, sit down for a minute. First, protect the child and take her out of the rain. Patience comes out of understanding. It is the mind that makes the difference. The mind thinks, ‘How dare they do this to me! They don’t know who I am!’ If you think in that way, you will get in all kinds of troubles. But the misery and suffering is what the individual has to experience. No matter how much we feel angry, and even if we even kick the footstep or the door, the pain is in our own leg, and the person who is doing the towing isn’t going to feel any pain at all. The police are gone; the car is gone; it is too late. The only thing to help ourselves is to understand why this is happening. Almost always we find it is our own fault.

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Audience: The last question is about whether a sangha can be monks and nuns. This person also noticed that the peacock seems to be a male peacock because it has all these beautiful feathers. What’s the future for women in Bud- dhism? How do you feel about the idea that things need to be changed in that direction? Rimpoche: I’ve tried to promote women in Buddhism as much as I could throughout my life, particularly introducing Tara as a feminine principle, a female buddha. However, when vinaya rules come into play, as I suggested this morning, a very strong Buddhist council headed by someone like His Holiness the Dalai Lama can make a difference. Bud- dhist principle is a democracy principle. It is the Buddha who introduced the democracy principle. Twenty six hundred years ago, nobody had a council or anything. It was the teacher and his disciples and followers. It was Buddha who had the council, following the democratic principle. If you look at Shantideva’s Bodhisattvacaryavatara, it is very difficult to make a difference between theC ommunist party’s manifesto and it. Tibetans formed a Communist party in Dharamsala. They had a huge manifesto and they went to Kyabje Trijang Rimpoche and they presented their party document. When they went out, I went in. Kyabje Tri- jang Rimpoche said, ‘This is the Communist party. These people are Communists, and this is supposed to be their document.’ I said, ‘What do you think?’ He said, ‘It looks like reading the Bodhisattvacaryavatara.’ It is very much a democratic principle; very similar ideas are there. My opinion is that a strong Buddhist council could change all of them. As we do it individually, it is not going to reach too

294 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS far. Some organizations affiliated with Jewel Heart may not accept it. But a strong Buddhist council, if that does it, will at least produce strong consideration among Buddhists. Buddha did give room for change. But it is a matter of move- ment. And it’s not going to go without objection either.

Concluding talk On Sunday, mostly we talk about the Mahayana level. We talked about relative and absolute bodhimind. When bodhimind is influenced by emptiness, then truly the essence of emptiness is compassion. The essence of compassion becomes wisdom. That is really what we are looking for: the combination of wisdom and compassion. Wisdom, in essence, is compassion; compassion, in essence, is wisdom. This is the real essence path that Mahayana practices share with us, and that lead the individual to the five paths: the paths of accumulation, action, seeing, meditation, and no more learning, the last referring to Buddha [or buddhahood]. At the path of accumulation, the essence work at this level puts the major emphasis on accumulating merit, as well as purification. That is why it is called the path of accumulation—you are accumulating merit. It’s almost like saying ‘good karma,’ though that’s technically not right. The bottom line is that you accumulate positive deeds as much as possible—good karma. Creation of good karma is our major effort right now, as well as purification, side by side.

Seven Limb Practice. For the creation of good karma, you have the seven-limb practice. As I say often, the seven-limb practice is a daily practice for everybody, junior or senior,

295 Gelek Rimpoche young or old, man or woman, kid or crone—I really was thinking retired senior in their 90s and 100s. It is for everybody. Remember that if you look into Buddha’s words called Prayer of Good Deeds,141 it is essentially the seven-limb practice, and it is so detailed! Then if you go into any ritual, like the Avalokiteshvara prayers, Tara prayers, and you look anywhere, in essence it is the seven-limb prayer. You find it not only in the Tibetan tradition, but in the Chinese traditions as well. They may not have seven exactly, but they may have three or four of them. And not only Chinese Buddhists, but Taoists too. For me there is a big issue with whether Taoists are Buddhists or not. They have beautiful ceremo- nies and art but in essence they are doing the seven-limb practice. As Shantideva says, ‘The Buddhas taught for eons what the easiest way we can benefit people and that is where the seven limbs came from originally.’ The real necessity of accumulating merit is collected in it. In our case, if you look at the Ganden Lha Gyema, every verse is part of the seven limbs. If you look at the Lama Chöpa, it has each of the seven limbs has three or four verses. In our Jewel Heart Prayer Book you have seven limbs in seven lines only. So, you can shrink it to say it in one minute or it can be detailed and practiced for ten hours a day. What- ever you do, it is all valuable. If you look at the previous masters, they did everything they could. For those of us who can chant 18 or 20 hours a day—you can do that. And those of us who want to finish in one minute, can do these seven lines. You can contract or expand the seven limbs as needed. The most important point is not the words or deeds but the mind. Mind here refers to meditation through the way

296 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS of visualizing. Tsongkhapa always said meditation has two components—concentration and analyzing. Without analyzing, how can there be meditation? Just sitting blank for a period of time, the individual can train the mind to give you harmony and pleasure, but that is not going to get any individual anywhere.

Respect. Even if you look at the seven-limb prayer here, the first verse begins with respect. We call it prostration. That also has to have thought associated with it. Simply knocking the hand doesn’t show any respect. Here, respect is remembering the qualities of the subject to whom you are prostrating: their qualities of body, speech and mind, their activities, their intelligence mind, their compassion, their wisdom, acknowledging and admiring that, respecting that, and seeking that quality for ourselves—that is what prostration is. When you say, ‘I bow down in body, speech, and mind’, what does that mean? With the highest part of your body you touch to the lowest part of the body of the one you pay respect. Bowing down in speech is shown through praising, admiring the quality that makes us praise. Bowing down in mind, as I said earlier, is a matter of admiring and appreciating and seeking that quality. Though the words may be short, the mind needs to be busy, and capable. As I say many times, there are some early Tibetan teachers who can meditate on the whole Lamrim in the short amount of time you put your leg in the stirrup of a horse and jump on the horse. This is the capability of our minds. When I was a kid, in my monastery, Nyare Khamtsen, there was a wonderful person, Chuntsang Rimpoche. When

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I was a kid, Kyabje Ling Rimpoche told me he is a living Yamantaka, but he was a bit difficult to talk to. Chuntsang Rimpoche would say mantras all the time. He would make his mala go continuously, moving more than one bead at a time. I was sitting next to him and I was trying to listen to what he was saying. He noticed I was trying to hear it and when I put my ear next to his mouth, he yelled ‘Om Mani Padme Hum!’ Later—Chuntsang Rimpoche passed away in 1958—I asked Ratö Rimpoche who was there, ‘What was Chuntsang Rimpoche mantra?’ He said, ‘I heard he screamed Om Mani Padme Hum in your ear.’ I said, ‘Yes.’ He said the mantra was ‘Om Yamaraja . . .’, Yamantaka’s mantra. He did millions of them. He didn’t depend on seeing the words; he did mental recitation. That’s why he grabbed any beads on his mala at once. When he was cremated, a piece of his skull came out of his fire and landed on the roadside, and you could read part of the mantra: Yamaraja. The mind is capable of doing this. We have to use our minds in that way. Visualizations and imagining should be there. If you just say the words, and you don’t back it up with thought, it doesn’t do any good. This applies to all your sadhana practices, and to all your pujas. Words are not the answer. If you can’t do it properly, though, saying the words will help you keep your commitment. Visualizing is more important. Thoughts are absolutely great. Num- bers are not that great, with the exception of Vajrayogini. Why is Vajrayogini an exception? Because in order to take rebirth in pure land of Vajrayogini, saying mantras is especially important. Thoughts and saying prayers and mantras together is important.

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Purification. The next most important thing is purification. You may say, ‘I regret all my negativities, etc.’ But you have to apply the four powers as well: 1) The power of base: generate refuge and bodhimind. 2) The power of regret is most important thought we have to generate. 3) If the power of regret is there, the power of non-repeating will automatically follow. 4) Prayers are the best antidote available.

Rejoice. The next important thing is to rejoice. Rejoicing in other peoples’ great activities has been done everywhere, wherever you can see. We have countless examples from the Buddha’s own activities. The Buddha’s discovery of reality— see how effective and helpful it is, even after 2600 years in a place like this!. And then the great many other religious leaders, who promoted kindness and compassion and non-violence. You can rejoice in all of them, in all of their traditions and their deeds. And even in the present times, there are living human beings we encounter such as His Holiness or Nelson Mandela, or Mother Theresa. There is no shortage of things to rejoice in, but the problem is we don’t take the time to do it. Whenever you rejoice [in someone’s goodness], the act of rejoicing will give you if not equal, at least half of the positive karma that person generated. This is a very quick way, the quickest way to get rich in the karmic field. The Buddhas did not choose this for no reason within the seven limbs. The most important of the seven limbs are respect, purification, and rejoicing, and of course dedication.

So that’s what you do every day. Since you have spent a few days here, what you need to take home to do, is this. What-

299 Gelek Rimpoche ever object of refuge you want to use is fine as long as they are enlightened beings.

Love-compassion. Then, generate the bodhimind—unconditioned, unlimited love and compassion. Remember, bodhimind does not grow just by saying ‘for the benefit of all beings I will obtain buddhahood, for which I will do this and that.’ That is a temporary substitute; that is not permanent. The real bodhimind is developed through either the seven-stages or the exchange stage of mind, or a combination of the seven stages and the exchange stage, the eleven-stages development. And use the give and take technique: tong len. First, love- compassion; then give-and-take techniques. When you are breathing in and out, with the breath as your basis, you take in all the sufferings of people and you give all virtuous things. When you do it correctly, it will force the mind to develop stronger love, stronger compassion. Thereby, the special mind will come as a result. We say, ‘I take total responsibility,’ artificially right now. It doesn’t become strong when we say it while in our heart of hearts we have hesitations. But it will become a true statement by the power of the give-and-take technique. You may want to take your own future sufferings first before you try to take other people’s sufferings, so the mind becomes accustomed and you don’t have rejection. Sometimes the mind can give a very strong rejection. If that happens, you have to stop for a while. That is why you have to move very gently. Do not force anything. When you treat your mind, do it just as you treat your children. If you try to force them

300 WHEEL OF SHARP WEAPONS to do something, you will have a strong rejection, and that can lead them to do some crazy things because they have no power other than that. Their power is limited to hurting themselves, and they may indulge in something to try to register their displeasure to their parents. Our mind acts in the same way: we can register displeasure to ourselves, it can register something very crazy, and by the time you realize it, it is a little too late. That’s why you always need to apply focus with gentleness. When you have gentleness, softness, and kindness, and someone wants to harm you, it is not easy to harm you. I’ve told you often the ghost story of this Kadampa master who was always crying. The local ghosts tried to finish him off, because they thought he would overpower them. They had a ghost meeting. One agenda item came up. ‘We better take care of that meditator, or he may become quite powerful.’ So someone volunteered: ‘I will do it because it is my territory.’ He went there, and the meditator was crying. ‘Why is he crying,’ the ghost thought. The man said, ‘I am worried about the ghosts and how they are suffering all the time.’ The ghost went away, and came back three times, and still he was crying. Next meeting, he reported, ‘I couldn’t do it; he was crying.’ The leader said, ‘I’ll do it myself.’ He went there and saw the same thing. So the leader couldn’t throw him off the ledge either. This meditator became known as the Long-Face Geshe—always crying. So when you are feeling sad about others, they can’t harm you. Remember: compassion and love is the best protection!

301

V THE ROOT TEXT

The Wheel Weapon Striking at the Vital Points of the Enemy

Homage to the Three Jewels!142 This is the wheel of weapons striking at the vital points of the enemy’s body. Homage to the wrathful Yamantaka!143

3 Those who avidly pursue happiness and prosperity Are brought to suffering due to their cowardice. The bodhisattvas, who willingly embrace suffering Always remain happy due to their heroism.

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When you extend this [analogy] to other afflictions,144 Each similarly assails liberation’s life force, like [poison to] a crow.

5 Therefore peacock-like heroes must convert Afflictions that resemble a jungle of poison into an elixir And enter the jungle of cyclic existence; Embracing the afflictions, heroes must destroy their poison.

6 From now on I will distance myself from this demon’s emissary— Self grasping—which [makes me] wander helplessly And seeks [only] selfish happiness and prosperity; I will joyfully embrace hardship for the sake of others.

7 Propelled by karma and habituated to the afflictions— The sufferings of all beings who share this nature I will heap them upon this self that yearns for happiness.

9 When my body falls prey to unbearable illnesses, It is the weapon of evil karma returning on me For injuring the bodies of others; From now on I will take all sickness upon myself.

10 When my mind falls prey to suffering, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me

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For definitely causing turbulence in the hearts of others. From now on I will take all suffering upon myself.

13 When unpleasant words reach my ears, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me For my verbal offenses, such as divisive speech; From now on I will condemn flawed speech.145

14 When I am born in a place of impurity; It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me For always cultivating impure perceptions; From now on I will cultivate only pure perceptions.

16 When the sublime ones become displeased with me, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me

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For renouncing the sublime ones and seeking bad companions; From now on I will renounce negative friendships.

18 When my material resources waste away, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me For being disrespectful toward others’ resources; From now on I will help others find what they need.

19 When my mind becomes dull and my heart unhappy, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me For making others accumulate negative karma; From now on I will shun enabling others’ negative acts.

20 When I fail in my endeavors and feel deeply disturbed, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me For obstructing the work of sublime ones; From now on I will relinquish all obstructive deeds.

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22 When everyone challenges what I say, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me For disregarding shame and my conscience; From now on I will refrain from troubling behavior.

24 When all who are close to me rise up as enemies, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me For harboring harmful, evil intentions within; From now on I will diminish deceit and guile.146

26 When my body is struck suddenly by contagious disease, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me For committing acts that undermined my solemn pledges; From now on I will renounce nonvirtue.

27 When my intellect becomes ignorant of all fields of knowledge, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me

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For persisting in activities that must be cast aside; From now on I will cultivate the insights of learning and so on.147

30 When I continue to regress despite all my efforts, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me For defying karma and the law of cause and effect; From now on I will strive to accumulate merit.

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33 When my imagination arises as veils and possessor spirits, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me For accumulating negative karma against deities and their mantras; From now I will vanquish all negative conceptions.148

38 When attachment and anger erupt no matter what I do, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me

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For allowing my untamed evil mind to become rigid; From now on I will root out this obstinate heart.150

42 When I am deceived by others’ treachery, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me For being conceited and greedy; From now on I will be discreet with respect to everything.151

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45 In brief, when calamities befall me like bolts of lightning, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me Just like the ironsmith who is slain by his own sword; From now on I will be heedful against negative acts.

46 When I undergo sufferings in the lower realms, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me Like an archer slain by his own arrow; From now on I will be heedful against negative acts.153

47 When the sufferings of the householder befall me, It is the weapon of evil karma turning upon me Like parents slain by their own cherished children; From now I will rightly renounce worldly life.

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52 Hum! Hum! Great meditation deity, display your miraculous powers; Dza! Dza! Bind this enemy tightly; Phat! Phat! Release us from all bondage; Shik! Shik! I beseech you to cut the knot of grasping.

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57 Though I am eager to make new friends, my loyalty and friendship are short-lived; Though I aspire for resources, I seek them through theft and extortion154 Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

58 Though skilled at flattery and innuendo, my discontent runs deep; Though assiduously amassing wealth, I am chained by miserliness— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

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61 Though eager to make promises, I remain weak in actual assistance; Though my fame may be great, when I am probed, even gods and ghosts are appalled— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false onception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

62 Though I am weak in learning, my temerity for empty words is great; Though slight in scriptural knowledge, I meddle in all kinds of topics— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

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66 I harbor all my self-centered desires deep within; For all my disputes I blame others for no reason— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

67 Though clad in saffron robes, I seek protection from the ghosts;

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Though I’ve taken the precepts, my conduct is that of a demon— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

69 Though always living in solitude, I am carried away by distractions; Though receiving sublime Dharma scriptures, I cherish divination and shamanism155— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

70 Forsaking ethical discipline, the liberation path, I cling to paternal home;156 Casting my happiness into the river, I chase after misery— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

71 Forsaking the gateway to liberation, I wander in the wilderness;157

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Though obtaining a precious human birth, I seek the hell realms— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

73 Forsaking my own livelihood, I rob others of their resources; Squandering my own inherited wealth,158 I plunder from others— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

74 Alas! [ema] Though my endurance for meditation is poor, I’ve sharp clairvoyance; 159 Though I’ve not even reached the edge of the path, my legs are needlessly fast— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

75 When someone gives useful advice, I view them as a hostile foe;

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When someone fools me with treachery, I repay the heartless one with kindness— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

76 When someone treats me as their family, I reveal their secrets to their foes; When someone befriends me, I betray their trust with no pangs of conscience— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

77 My ill temper is intense, my paranoia more coarse than everyone’s; Hard to befriend, I constantly provoke others’ negative traits— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

79 I dislike advice and am always difficult to be with; I am easily offended, and my grudge is always strong—

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Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

80 I crave high status and regard sublime beings as foes; Because my lust is strong, I eagerly pursue the young— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

81 Because of fickleness I cast far away my past friendships; Infatuated with novelty, I talk animatedly to everyone— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

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86 Instead of teaching the discourses, I expound lies of my own invention; Failing to cultivate pure perception, I utter insults and threats— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

87 Refusing to condemn deeds that are contrary to Dharma, I level various criticisms against all well-spoken words160— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

88 Failing to regard signs of disgrace as a source of shame, Perversely I hold what are signs of honor as a source of

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shame— Dance and trample on the head of this betrayer, false conception! Mortally strike at the heart of this butcher and enemy, Ego!

90 Powerful one, you who possess the Bliss Gone’s161 dharmakaya And destroy the demon of egoistic view, O wielder of club, the weapon of no-self wisdom,162 Twirl it over your head three times, without hesitation!

91 With your great ferocity obliterate this enemy! With your great wisdom dismantle this false conception! With your great compassion protect me from my karma! Help destroy this Ego once and for all!

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94 Now I will banish all the blames onto one source, And to all beings I’ll contemplate their great kindness.163 I will take into myself the undesirable qualities of others And dedicate my virtuous roots for the benefit of all beings.

97 Until all who have been my parents and I have attained [Full] enlightenment in the Akanishta realm, As we wander through the six realms due to our karma, May we all hold each other in our hearts.

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99 At that very instant, may the guardians of hells Relate to me as their spiritual teacher, and May their weapons turn into a cascade of flowers; And free of harm, may peace and happiness prevail.

101 At this time, too may all the beings of the higher realms Meditate thoroughly on no-self just like me, And without conceptually opposing existence to pacification,164 May they meditate on their perfect equanimity;165 May they recognize their self-identity as perfect equanimity.

102 If I do this, the enemy will be vanquished! If I do this, false conceptions will be vanquished! I’ll meditate on the non-conceptual wisdom of no-self. So why would I not attain the causes and effects of [Buddha’s] form body?

103 Listen! All of this is but dependent origination. Dependent and empty, they are devoid of self-subsistence. Changing from one form into another, they are like apparitions; Like a fire ring [seen in a rotating torch], they are mere illusion.

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104 Like the plantain tree, life force has no inner core; Like a bubble, life has no inner core;166 Like a mist, it dissipates when one bends down [to look]; Like a mirage, it is beguiling from a distance; Like a reflection in a mirror, it appears tangible and real; Like a fog, it appears as if it is here to stay.

106 So how can there be a wheel of karma? It’s thus: Though they are devoid of intrinsic existence, Just as moon’s reflection appears in a cup of water, Karma and its effects appear as diverse falsehoods. 167 So within this mere appearance I will follow the ethical norms.

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109 When a musician plays a song with his violin,169 If probed, there is no intrinsic reality to the sound. Yet melodious tunes arrive through aggregation of unprobed facts And soothe the anguish that lies in people’s hearts.

110 Likewise when karma and its effects are thoroughly analyzed,170 Though they do not exist as intrinsically one or many, Vividly appearing, they cause the rising and cessation of phenomena Seemingly real, they experience birth and death of every kind So within this mere appearance I’ll follow the ethical norms.

111 When drops of water fill a vase, It is not the first drop that fills it, Nor the last drop or each drop individually; Through the gathering of dependent factors the vase is filled

112 Likewise, when someone experiences joy and suffering—the effects – This is not due to the first instant of their cause; Nor is it due to the last instant of the cause. Joy and pain are felt through coming together of dependent factors. So within this mere appearance I will observe ethical norms.

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114 Now as I place my mind on this truth in total equipoise, What is there that retains definite appearance? What exists and what does not exist? What thesis is there anywhere of is and is not?

116 Thus by practicing conventional awakening mind And the ultimate mind of awakening, May I accomplish without obstacles the two accumulations And realize perfect fulfillment of the two aims.

Colophon This text entitled The Wheel Weapon Striking at the Vital Points of the Enemy was composed by the great Dharma- rakshita, a yogi of scriptural knowledge, reasoning, and realizations, in accordance with the instructions of the sublime teachers. He composed this in a jungle where terrifying animals of prey roam free and undertook its practice in the terrifying jungle of our degenerate era. He gave this teaching to Atisha, who, in order to transform many sentient beings so difficult to tame, undertook this practice throughout all places where sentient beings lie, whether in cardinal or intermediate directions. As he experienced the realizations of this practice, he uttered the following lines:

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From among his countless disciples in India and Tibet, Atisha bestowed this teaching to the most qualified ves- sel, Upasaka [Dromtönpa], who was prophesied by many meditation deities such as the Bhagavati Tara. This teaching was given to help tame the hardened people of Tibet, a land outside the bounds of civilizations. The father conqueror [Atisha] and his son [Dromtönpa] themselves acted as the scholar and translator of this text. Atisha [gave this teaching] to Dromtönpa, [who then transmitted it to] Potowa, and thence, in a lineal order, to Sharawa, Chekawa, Chilbupa, Lha Chenpo, Lha Drowai Gönpo, Öjopa, Khenpo Martön, Khenpo Sherap Dorje, Buddharatna, Kirt- sisila, Gyalwa Sangpo, Nup Chölungpa Sönam Rinchen, and he to myself, Shönu Gyalchok Könchok Bang. This belongs to the cycle of Dharmarakshita’s mind training [teachings].

Translation into English: Thubten Jinpa

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DE GRONDTEKST

Zwaardwiel van Transformatie Toegeschreven aan Dharmarakshita

Ik buig neer voor de Drie Juwelen. De titel van deze tekst luidt: ‘Het zwaardwiel dat de vijand feilloos in het hart weet te treffen.’ Ik buig neer voor Yamantaka, Toornig Heerser over de Dood.

1 In een gifplanten-wildernis scharrelen pauwen. Ze schuwen de mooie tuinen vlakbij vol met geneeskrachtige planten: enkel van gif leven zij.

2 Evenzo zwerven spirituele helden [bodhisattvas] in de wildernis van cyclisch bestaan. De tuinen van werelds genot trekken hen niet aan: in de jungle van lijden gedijen zij.

3 Angstvallig najagen van eigen geluk loopt voor ons op lijden uit. De heldenmoed andermans lijden op zich te nemen bezorgt bodhisattva’s het immerdurend ware geluk.

4 Welnu, in de gifplanten-jungle der begeerten gedijen alleen zij heldhaftig als pauwen; zij die lafhartig zijn als kraaien, zullen daar ten onder gaan.

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Hoe kan iemand, verknocht aan eigenbelang zich voeden met dat gif? Wie zich laat leiden door zijn obsessies,171 zoals een kraai, verspeelt daarmee elk uitzicht op bevrijding.

5 Bodhisattva’s echter zijn als pauwen; ze zetten hun obsessies—een jungle vol gif—om in elixer en begeven zich in de jungle van werelds bestaan. Door ze blijmoedig te aanvaarden weten zij hun driften te ontgiften.

6 Vanaf nu houd ik me verre van zelfzuchtige genotzoekerij, de handlanger van de duivel—zelfbestaan172— die me eindeloos doet dolen in de kringloop van bestaan. Blijmoedig neem ik ter wille van anderen moeilijkheden op me.

7 Moge het lijden van allen, die – evenals ik overgeleverd aan hun driften— voortgedreven worden door hun karma, zich opeenhopen op dit ‘ik’ dat uit is op geluk.

8 Moge ik, als ik verstrikt raak in zelfzucht173 dat stoppen, en om het tegen te gaan mijn geluk aan anderen schenken. En moge ik, wanneer een vriend zich tegen mij keert, dat verwelkomen als teken van eigen onachtzaamheid.

9 Als mijn lichaam ten prooi valt aan ernstige ziekten, dan is dat het zwaardwiel van karma dat terugslaat op mij voor lichamelijk letsel toegebracht aan anderen. Vanaf nu neem ik alle ziekten van anderen op mij.

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10 Als mijn geest ten prooi valt aan angst en depressie dan is dat het zwaardwiel van karma dat terugslaat op mij voor het psychisch kwetsen van anderen. Vanaf nu neem ik alle leed van anderen op mij.

11 Wanneer ik gekweld word door honger en dorst dan is dat het zwaardwiel van karma dat terugslaat op mij voor oplichting, stelen en weigeren te delen. Vanaf nu neem ik honger en dorst van anderen op mij.

12 Wanneer ik onvrij ben, overgeleverd aan anderen, dan is dat het zwaardwiel van karma dat terugslaat op mij voor onheuse bejegening en knechting van zwakkeren. Vanaf nu stel ik lijf en leven in dienst van de ander.

13 Wanneer belediging en beschuldiging mijn deel is dan is dat het zwaardwiel van karma dat terugslaat op mij voor laster, kwaadspreken en verbaal geweld. Vanaf nu hoed ik me voor dergelijke taal.

14 Wanneer ik terechtkom in slechte omstandigheden dan is dat het zwaardwiel van karma dat terugslaat op mij voor een negatieve kijk op anderen en de wereld. Vanaf nu tracht ik alles op positieve wijze te zien.

15 Wanneer ik verstoken blijf van genegenheid en hulp van vrienden dan is dat het zwaardwiel van karma dat terugslaat op mij voor het afpikken van andermans vrienden. Vanaf nu zal ik geen vriendschappen meer verstoren.

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16 Wanneer ik geestelijk hoogstaande mensen onwelgevallig ben dan is dat het zwaardwiel van karma dat terugslaat op mij voor het me afkeren van spirituele personen en het zoeken van heil bij verkeerde vrienden. Vanaf nu zie ik af van slecht gezelschap.

17 Wanneer op mij word afgegeven en ik geminacht word dan is dat het zwaardwiel van karma dat terugslaat op mij voor het kleineren van en afgeven op spirituele personen Vanaf nu zal ik denigrerende taal achterwege laten.

18 Wanneer in mijn dagelijkse behoeften niet langer wordt voorzien dan is dat het zwaardwiel van karma dat terugslaat op mij voor het voortdurend negeren van andermans noden. Vanaf nu ga ik andermans’ behoeften lenigen.

19 Wanneer ik ongeconcentreerd en neerslachtig ben dan is dat het zwaardwiel van karma dat terugslaat op mij voor het aanzetten van anderen tot kwaad. Vanaf nu zie ik ervan af andermans negatief gedrag te voeden.

20 Wanneer ik me gefrustreerd voel en niets me meer lukt dan is dat het zwaardwiel van karma dat terugslaat op mij voor het tegenwerken van goedwillenden. Vanaf nu zal ik hen niets in de weg leggen.

21 Wanneer niets wat ik doe mijn leraar welgevallig is dan is dat het zwaardwiel van karma dat terugslaat op mij voor veinzerij en onechtheid in beoefening van de dharma. Vanaf nu zal ik in alle oprechtheid de dharma beoefenen.

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22 Wanneer iedereen mij kritiseert en tegenspreekt dan is dat het zwaardwiel van karma dat terugslaat op mij voor schaamteloosheid en geen rekening houden met anderen. Vanaf nu zal ik onachtzaam gedrag vermijden.

23 Wanneer het in mijn bijzijn steeds weer tot woorden komt dan is dat het zwaardwiel van karma dat terugslaat op mij voor het uitventen van mijn ongenoegen en humeurigheid. Vanaf nu tracht ik steeds mijn een goed humeur te bewaren.

24 Wanneer wie mij na staan zich als vijanden tegen mij keren dan is dat het zwaardwiel van karma dat terugslaat op mij voor het heimelijk koesteren van kwaadwillige gedachten Vanaf nu zal ik huichelarij en achterbaksheid mijden.

25 Wanneer ik lijd aan chronische ziekten en kwalen dan is dat het zwaardwiel van karma dat terugslaat op mij voor het me onwettig en schaamteloos toe-eigenen van wat anderen toebehoort. Vanaf nu zal ik niet langer nemen wat van een ander is.

26 Wanneer ik onverhoeds geveld wordt door een beroerte of attaque dan is dat het zwaardwiel van karma dat terugslaat op mij voor daden die indruisten tegen mijn geloften. Vanaf nu zal ik afzien van dergelijk negatief gedrag.

27 Wanneer mijn verstand het bij alle leren laat afweten dan is dat het zwaardwiel van karma dat terugslaat op mij

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voor prioriteit geven aan alles behalve de Dharma. Vanaf nu ga ik me toeleggen op ontwikkelen van wijsheid door studie, [analyse en meditatie].

28 Wanneer tijdens de beoefening ik steeds door slaap word overmand dan is dat het zwaardwiel van karma dat terugslaat op mij voor disrespect voor de Dharma en haar geschriften. Vanaf nu neem ik alle ongemakken omwille van de Dharma voor lief.

29 Wanneer ik toegeef aan mijn driften en steeds ben afgeleid dan is dat het zwaardwiel van karma dat terugslaat op mij voor het niet mediteren op vergankelijkheid en de tekortkomingen van samsara. Vanaf nu zal ik mijn onvrede met dit bestaan versterken.

30 Wanneer al mijn inzet slechts resulteert in achteruitgang dan is dat het zwaardwiel van karma dat terugslaat op mij voor het veronachtzamen van de wetten van karma en afhankelijk ontstaan. Vanaf nu zal ik trachten goed karma op te bouwen.

31 Wanneer de rituelen die ik uitvoer, misgaan dan is dat het zwaardwiel van karma dat terugslaat op mij voor het me verlaten op duistere krachten. Vanaf nu wend ik me af van de wereld der duisternis.

32 Wanneer mijn gebeden tot de Drie Juwelen niets uitrichten dan is dat het zwaardwiel van karma dat terugslaat op mij voor gebrek aan vertrouwen in Boeddha en zijn methode. Vanaf nu verlaat ik me geheel en al op de Drie Juwelen.

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33 Wanneer mijn imaginaties verworden tot demonen en kwade geesten dan is dat het zwaardwiel van karma dat terugslaat op mij voor verkeerd omgaan met yidams en hun mantras. Vanaf nu laat ik alle eigen bedenksels achterwege.

34 Wanneer ik ontheemd en aangewezen op hulp rond moet zwerven, dan is dat het zwaardwiel van karma dat terugslaat op mij voor het uit hun huis verdrijven van anderen, zelfs leraren. Vanaf nu verjaag ik nooit meer iemand van huis en haard.

35 Wanneer natuurrampen als watersnood of stormen zich voordoen, dan is dat het zwaardwiel van karma dat terugslaat op mij voor het niet goed onderhouden van mijn geloften en ethische principes. Vanaf nu houd ik mijn geloften en leefregels zuiver.

36 Wanneer ik alles hebben wil maar ervan verstoken blijf, dan is dat het zwaardwiel van karma dat terugslaat op mij voor het nalaten van liefdadigheid en offeren aan de Drie Juwelen. Vanaf nu ga ik ruimhartig offeren en vrijelijk geven.

37 Wanneer ik er afzichtelijk uitzie en zelfs vrienden mij pesten dan is dat het zwaardwiel van karma dat terugslaat op mij voor het vanuit een verstoord gemoed maken van armzalige afbeeldingen. Vanaf nu zal ik vanuit innerlijke rust gewijde beelden scheppen.

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38 Wanneer kwaadheid en begeerte opspelen tegen wil en dank, dan is dat het zwaardwiel van karma dat terugslaat op mij voor het laten verharden van mijn ongetemd kwaadwillig gemoed. Vanaf nu zal ik deze starheid van geest tot in de wortel uitroeien.

39 Wanneer mijn spirituele beoefening zonder resultaten blijft dan is dat het zwaardwiel van karma dat terugslaat op mij voor het gedogen van foutieve zienswijzen in mijn geest. Vanaf nu zal al wat ik doe voor het welzijn van anderen zijn.

40 Wanneer ondanks spirituele beoefening mijn geest onbeteugeld blijft, dan is dat het zwaardwiel van karma dat terugslaat op mij voor het najagen van wereldse ambities. Vanaf nu ga ik al mijn aandacht richten op de wens tot bevrijding.

41 Wanneer mij bij elke spirituele beoefening twijfel en wanhoop besluipt dan is dat het zwaardwiel van karma dat terugslaat op mij voor botte grilligheid in vriendenkeuze om aanzien te verwerven. Vanaf nu zal ik zorgvuldig omgaan met mijn relaties.

42 Wanneer ik ten prooi val aan bedrieglijke praktijken dan is dat het zwaardwiel van karma dat terugslaat op mij voor zelfzucht, eigendunk en inhaligheid. Vanaf nu zal ik mijn zelfzuchtige houding intomen.

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43 Wanneer al wat ik leer of verkondig verziekt wordt door gevoelens van voorkeur of afkeer, dan is dat het zwaardwiel van karma dat terugslaat op mij voor het niet reflecteren op het kwaad van de demonen in mijn hart.174 Vanaf nu zal ik deze innerlijke obstructies onderzoeken en uitroeien.

44 Wanneer al het goede wat ik doe verkeerd uitpakt dan is dat het zwaardwiel van karma dat terugslaat op mij voor ondankbaarheid jegens andermans goedheid. Vanaf nu ga ik goedheid met respect en dankbaarheid beantwoorden.

45 Kortom, als rampspoed mij treft als een bliksem dan is dat het zwaardwiel van karma dat terugslaat op mij— gelijk een wapensmid die wordt gedood door zijn zelfge smede zwaard. Vanaf nu zal ik ervoor waken niet het verkeerde te doen.

46 Wanneer ik het lijden van de lagere bestaanssferen onderga dan is dat het zwaardwiel van karma dat terugslaat op mij— gelijk een boogschutter die wordt gedood door zijn eigen pijl. Vanaf nu zal ik ervoor waken niet het verkeerde te doen.

47 Wanneer ik gebukt ga onder huiselijke zorgen en problemen dan is dat het zwaardwiel van karma dat terugslaat op mij gelijk een ouder die wordt gedood door zijn bloedeigen kind. Vanaf nu keer ik met recht het wereldse leven de rug toe.

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48 Nu ik zie hoe het werkt, heb ik de vijand te grazen! Ik heb de schurk te pakken, die me in zijn strikken lokt. Aha! Het is mijn vasthouden aan een zelf, dat staat vast. Hij is de bedrieger die voorwendt mij te zijn.

49 Yamantaka, breng nu uw zwaardwiel van karma in de aanslag en draai het toornig driemaal boven het hoofd, de voeten stevig uiteen geplant—de twee waarheden; de ogen wijd opengesperd—methode en wijsheid. Ontbloot uw hoektanden—de vier tegenkrachten. [spijt etc.] Sla mijn vijand neer [egoïsme].

50 Koning der mantras, [altruïsme], overrompel mijn vijand. Ontbiedt dit onbetrouwbare sujet dat mijzelf en anderen misleidt, de nietsontziende demon van vasthouden aan een zelf, die lukraak zwaaiend met het wapen van karma als een bezetene rondrent in de jungle van cyclisch bestaan.

51 Ontbiedt hem, ontbiedt hem, Toornig Heerser Yamantaka Sla hem neer, vel hem! Doorboor het hart van de vijand, het zelf! Dans en vertrap de schedel van de bedrieger—verrader lijke ego-misvatting. Tref mijn beul en vijand, Ego,175 dodelijk in het hart!

52 Hum! Hum! Machtige Yidam,176 toon uw wonderbaarlijke kracht. Dza! Dza! Sla deze vijand stevig in de boeien.

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Phat Phat! Bevrijd me van al mijn ketenen. Shik! Shik! Hak de knoop door van mijn zucht naar een conceptueel houvast.

53 O Yamantaka, mijn yidam, kom hier. Verscheur! Verscheur! Rijt deze zak vol karma en de vijf innerlijke vergiften – die mij laat wegzakken in de drek van samsara – terstond aan flarden.

54 Al drijft hij mij de ellende van de drie lagere bestaan swerelden in, toch leer ik hem niet vrezen maar laat me keer op keer erin lokken. Dans en vertrap de schedel van de bedrieger— verraderlijke ego-misvatting. Tref mijn beul en vijand, Ego, dodelijk in het hart!

55 Al ben ik nog zo uit op een leven vol comfort, ik investeer er niet in. Al kan ik maar weinig hebben, van hebberigheid loop ik over. Dans en vertrap de schedel van de bedrieger— verraderlijke ego-misvatting. Tref mijn beul en vijand, Ego, dodelijk in het hart!

56 Al wil ik alles liefst snel, de nodige inzet ontbreekt. Al heb ik veel onderhanden, niets breng ik tot een eind. Dans en vertrap de schedel van de bedrieger— verraderlijke ego-misvatting. Tref mijn beul en vijand, Ego, dodelijk in het hart!

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57 Al ben ik nog zo uit op nieuwe vrienden, ik laat ze steeds weer vallen. Ik doe mezelf graag tegoed, liefst door anderen te benadelen. Dans en vertrap de schedel van de bedrieger— verraderlijke ego-misvatting. Tref mijn beul en vijand, Ego, dodelijk in het hart!

58 Al levert vleierij mij nog zoveel gunsten op, ten diepste blijf ik onvoldaan. Al schraap ik nog zo’n rijkdom bijeen, gierig blijf ik niettemin. Dans en vertrap de schedel van de bedrieger— verraderlijke ego-misvatting. Tref mijn beul en vijand, Ego, dodelijk in het hart!

59 Al verzet ik amper iets voor anderen, ik wens er wel prat op te gaan. Al wens ik geen risico’s te nemen, mijn ambities zijn torenhoog. Dans en vertrap de schedel van de bedrieger— verraderlijke ego-misvatting. Tref mijn beul en vijand, Ego, dodelijk in het hart!

60 Al heb ik veel leraren, ik verbind me nergens toe. Al heb ik veel leerlingen, mijn geduld en hulpbereidheid is miniem. Dans! Trap de schedel in van de bedrieger— verraderlijke ego-misvatting. Tref mijn beul en vijand, Ego, dodelijk in het hart!

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61 Al zeg ik graag veel toe, mijn daadwerkelijke hulp blijft ondermaats. Al is mijn reputatie nog zo groot, welbeschouwd schok ik zelfs goden en geesten. Dans en vertrap de schedel van de bedrieger— verraderlijke ego-misvatting. Tref mijn beul en vijand, Ego, dodelijk in het hart!

62 Als is mijn studie nog zo gering, mijn hang naar loze praat is groot. Al schiet mijn kennis van de teksten schromelijk tekort, ik schuw geen enkel thema. Dans en vertrap de schedel van de bedrieger— verraderlijke ego-misvatting. Tref mijn beul en vijand, Ego, dodelijk in het hart!

63 Al word ik omringd door vrienden en dienaren, geen is mij toegewijd. Al heb ik vele leidslieden, beschermers vind ik niet in hen. Dans en vertrap de schedel van de bedrieger— verraderlijke ego-misvatting. Tref mijn beul en vijand, Ego, dodelijk in het hart!

64 Al is mijn status hoog, mijn kwaliteiten zijn geringer dan die van een geest. Al ben ik als leraar groot, mijn zwakheden zijn erger dan die van een demon. Dans en vertrap de schedel van de bedrieger— verraderlijke ego-misvatting. Tref mijn beul en vijand, Ego, dodelijk in het hart!

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65 Al koester ik verheven ideeën, ik gedraag me erger dan een hond. Al acht ik mijn kwaliteiten niet te tellen, hun grondslag is lichter dan lucht. Dans! Trap de schedel in van de bedrieger— verraderlijke ego-misvatting. Tref mijn beul en vijand, Ego, dodelijk in het hart!

66 Zelfzuchtige verlangens vinden een welkom onthaal bij mij; conflicten wijt ik zonder grond aan anderen. Dans en vertrap de schedel van de bedrieger— verraderlijke ego-misvatting. Tref mijn beul en vijand—het ego– dodelijk in het hart!

67 Al draag ik de saffraangele gewaden, ik verlaat me op demonen. Al heb ik geloften gedaan, mijn gedrag is beneden alle peil. Dans en vertrap de schedel van de bedrieger— verraderlijke ego-misvatting. Tref mijn beul en vijand, Ego, dodelijk in het hart!

68 Al dank ik mijn geluk aan de goden, de boze machten stem ik gunstig. Al is de Dharma mijn enige redding, de Drie Juwelen ben ik ontrouw. Dans en vertrap de schedel van de bedrieger— verraderlijke ego-misvatting. Tref mijn beul en vijand, Ego, dodelijk in het hart!

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69 Al leef ik strikt in afzondering, verstrooiing gaat met mij op de loop. Al ontving ik verheven Dharma teksten, met waarzeggerij en occultisme laat ik me in. Dans en vertrap de schedel van de bedrieger— verraderlijke ego-misvatting. Tref mijn beul en vijand, Ego, dodelijk in het hart!

70 Ethische discipline, het bevrijdende pad, verzaak ik, aan het familieleven bind ik me. Mijn geluk laat ik in het water vallen; ellende jaag ik na. Dans en vertrap de schedel van de bedrieger— verraderlijke ego-misvatting. Tref mijn beul en vijand, Ego, dodelijk in het hart!

71 De poort naar bevrijding verzaak ik; ik dool in de wildernis. Al ontving ik de kostbare geboorte als mens, ik zoek het hellebestaan. Dans en vertrap de schedel van de bedrieger— verraderlijke ego-misvatting. Tref mijn beul en vijand, Ego, dodelijk in het hart!

72 Spirituele rijkdommen verzaak ik; economisch gewin jaag ik na. Mijn meester’s klaslokaal keer ik de rug toe; ik zwerf van stad naar stad. Dans en vertrap de schedel van de bedrieger— verraderlijke ego-misvatting. Tref mijn beul en vijand, Ego, dodelijk in het hart!

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73 Mijn levensonderhoud verzakend, beroof ik anderen van hun middelen van bestaan. Mijn rijke erfdeel verbrassend, plunder ik anderen. Dans en vertrap de schedel van de bedrieger— verraderlijke ego-misvatting. Tref mijn beul en vijand, Ego, dodelijk in het hart!

74 Al stelt mijn mediteren niet veel voor, scherp helderziend dat ben ik wel. Al heb ik zelfs niet de eerste stap op het pad gezet, mijn benen zijn nutteloos snel. Dans! Trap de schedel in van de bedrieger— verraderlijke ego-misvatting. Tref mijn beul en vijand, Ego, dodelijk in het hart!

75 Krijg ik van iemand goede raad, beschouw ik hem gramstorig als een vijand. Vleit iemand me met boze opzet, bejegen ik hem als een vriend. Dans en vertrap de schedel van de bedrieger— verraderlijke ego-misvatting. Tref mijn beul en vijand, Ego, dodelijk in het hart!

76 Schenkt iemand me zijn vertrouwen, loop ik met zijn geheimen naar een vijand. Behandelt iemand me als vriend, buit ik hem schaamteloos uit. Dans en vertrap de schedel van de bedrieger— verraderlijke ego-misvatting. Tref mijn beul en vijand, Ego, dodelijk in het hart!

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77 Ik ben uiterst humeurig, wantrouwiger dan wie dan ook, sta niet open voor vriendschap en haal het slechte in de ander boven. Dans en vertrap de schedel van de bedrieger— erraderlijke ego-misvatting. Tref mijn beul en vijand, Ego, dodelijk in het hart!

78 Wie mijn steun vraagt negeer ik; heimelijk breng ik hem schade toe. Steunt iemand mijn belangen, dan zoek ik ruzie en val hem niet bij. Dans en vertrap de schedel van de bedrieger— verraderlijke ego-misvatting. Tref mijn beul en vijand, Ego, dodelijk in het hart!

79 Adviezen stel ik niet op prijs; ik ben niet makkelijk in de omgang, voel me snel aangevallen en ben uiterst rancuneus. Dans en vertrap de schedel van de bedrieger— verraderlijke ego-misvatting. Tref mijn beul en vijand, Ego, dodelijk in het hart!

80 Ik hunker naar hoge status en beschouw hoogstaande mensen als mijn vijand. Uit ongeremde lust zit ik hartstochtelijk achter jongeren aan. Dans en vertrap de schedel van de bedrieger— verraderlijke ego-misvatting. Tref mijn beul en vijand, Ego, dodelijk in het hart!

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81 Puur uit wispelturigheid zet ik oude vrienden aan de kant. Tuk op al wat nieuw is, pap ik enthousiast aan met jan en alleman. Dans en vertrap de schedel van de bedrieger— verraderlijke ego-misvatting. Tref mijn beul en vijand, Ego, dodelijk in het hart!

82 Bij gebrek aan helder weten, zoek ik mijn toevlucht in onjuistheden en wat er niet toe doet. Bij gebrek aan compassie, tref ik anderen pijnlijk in hun ziel door hun vertrouwen te beschamen. Dans en vertrap de schedel van de bedrieger— verraderlijke ego-misvatting. Tref mijn beul en vijand, Ego, dodelijk in het hart!

83 Mijn leren stelt niets voor, toch maak ik wilde speculaties over alles. Door povere kennis van de teksten creëer ik misvattingen over alles. Dans en vertrap de schedel van de bedrieger— verraderlijke ego-misvatting. Tref mijn beul en vijand, Ego, dodelijk in het hart!

84 Uit gewenning aan gehechtheid en antipathie beschimp ik iedereen die het oneens is met mij. Uit gewenning aan afgunst, maak ik anderen zwart en belaster hen. Dans en vertrap de schedel van de bedrieger— verraderlijke ego-misvatting. Tref mijn beul en vijand, Ego, dodelijk in het hart!

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85 Door af te zien van studie veronachtzaam ik de veelheid aan disciplines. Door niet op leraren te vertrouwen, breng ik de geschriften in diskrediet. Dans en vertrap de schedel van de bedrieger— verraderlijke ego-misvatting. Tref mijn beul en vijand, Ego, dodelijk in het hart!

86 De geschriften onderricht ik niet; ik kom met eigen bedenksels. Bij gebrek aan zuivere waarneming ben ik offensief en zaai ik verwarring. Dans en vertrap de schedel van de bedrieger— verraderlijke ego-misvatting. Tref mijn beul en vijand, Ego, dodelijk in het hart!

87 Gedrag dat tegen de Dharma indruist, laak ik niet; Boeddha’s excellente uitspraken stuiten bij mij op kritiek. Dans en vertrap de schedel van de bedrieger— verraderlijke ego-misvatting. Tref mijn beul en vijand, Ego, dodelijk in het hart!

88 Zonder me te schamen waarvoor ik me zou moeten schamen, geneer ik me voor zaken die eerbaar zijn. Dans en vertrap de schedel van de bedrieger— verraderlijke ego-misvatting. Tref mijn beul en vijand, Ego, dodelijk in het hart!

89 Om kort te gaan, al wat ik behoor te doen, doe ik niet; al wat ik doe, is ondoelmatig en misplaatst. Dans en vertrap de schedel van de bedrieger—

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verraderlijke ego-misvatting. Tref mijn beul en vijand, Ego, dodelijk in het hart!

90 O Machtige, u met het dharmakaya van de Sugata, die de demon van ego-waan vernietigt, U die de knots, het wijsheidswapen der zelfloosheid, hanteert, zwaai het zonder aarzeling driemaal boven het hoofd.

91 Sla met uw grote toorn deze vijand neer. Sla met uw grote wijsheid deze misvatting aan diggelen. Beschut me met uw grote compassie tegen mijn negatief karma. Vernietig dit Ego voor eens en voor al!

92 Onder welk lijden wezens in samsara ook gebukt gaan tas het resoluut op één hoop op deze zelfwaan. Vanwaar de vijf giffen ook komen voeg ze resoluut toe aan wat in wezen één en hetzelfde is.

93 Als ik aldus de wortel van alle kwaad heb blootgelegd – door kritisch redeneren en zonder spoor van twijfel – en er toch gehoor aan blijf geven en het goed blijf praten, doodt dan deze kwade genius, Zelf.

94 Nu laat ik alle schuld terugslaan op dit ene en bemediteer de grote goedheid van anderen Alle leed en ongeluk van anderen neem ik op me. en alle goeds in mij stel ik in dienst van anderen.

95 Moge, zoals het gif een pauw zijn kleurenpracht schenkt, mijn zwakheden mijn factoren tot verlichting worden

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door al het negatieve van anderen op me te nemen via hun drie poorten in alle drie tijden begaan.

96 Moge, zoals tegengif een vergiftigde kraai het leven redt, mijn verdiensten tot heil van anderen strekken. Moge ik aldus ieder wezen redden en weldra sugata-boeddhaschap bereiken.

97 Moge ik en allen ooit mijn moeder, tot wij in Akanishta de verlichting bereiken177 diep in ons hart met elkander verbonden blijven zolang we, gedreven door karma, zwerven door de zes bestaanswerelden.

98 Moge ik dan, omwille zelfs van een enkeling, mezelf in de drie lagere bestaanswerelden begeven. Moge ik nimmer mijn bodhisattvaschap verzaken en het lijden van ieder in het lagere bestaan verlichten.

99 Als het zover is, mogen de hellewachters me dan zien als hun spirituele leraar. Moge hun wapentuig veranderen in een bloemenregen en moge op geweldloze wijze vrede en geluk zegevieren.

100 Moge ook de wezens in de lagere werelden de kwaliteiten verkrijgen van helder zien en mantra. Mogen zij een menselijke of hemelse geboorte verwerven en de aspiratie tot ontwaken178 ontwikkelen. Mogen zij mijn goedheid beantwoorden door de Dharma tot weg te nemen, mij aannemen als hun leraar en zich onder mijn hoede stellen.

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101 Mogen vervolgens alle wezens van de hogere werelden evenals ik in diepe meditatie op zelfloosheid gaan en vrij van conceptualiseren diepe verzonkenheid beoefenen op het identiek-zijn van samsara en nirvana. En moge zij hun eigenlijke identiteit herkennen als volmaakte staat van gelijkmoedigheid.

102 Hierdoor wordt de vijand [zelfzucht] overmeesterd. Hierdoor worden misleidende concepten [zelfbestaan] bedwongen. Dus ga ik mediteren op de non-conceptuele wijsheid van zelfloosheid. Waarom zou ik niet aldus het karma creëren voor het verwerven van een boeddha-lichaam?

103 Let wel, dit alles is slechts afhankelijk ontstaan: afhankelijk en leeg, dus vrij van zelfbestaan. Het komen en gaan der dingen is als een zinsbegoocheling, zoals een vuurwerveling [gecreëerd door een toorts rond te zwaaien].

104 Zoals bamboe mist levenskracht een substantiële kern. Zoals een luchtbel mist het leven een substantiële kern, Zoals nevel lost het op wanneer men het nader beschouwt. Zoals een fata morgana fascineert ons het ons van een afstand. Zoals een spiegelbeeld is het bedrieglijk echt en tastbaar. Zoals een wolk of mistbank lijkt het heel present.

105 Precies zo is het gesteld met onze vijand, Ego, die sluipmoordenaar.

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Al bestaat hij ogenschijnlijk, hij bestond in feite nooit. Al lijkt hij nog zo echt, dat was hij nergens ooit. Al neemt hij verschijningsvorm aan, hij is noch te identificeren noch te negeren.

106 En ook met het wiel van karma is dat niet anders. Hoewel ook dat zelfbestaan ontbeert, zoals het spiegelbeeld van de maan in water doen daden en hun gevolgen zich voor als een aaneenschakeling van drogbeelden. Al is dit alles maar schijn, het is maar beter me te richten naar de norm van goed en kwaad.

107 Als ik droom van het vuur aan het einde der tijden word ik bevangen door vrees, al bestaat het op zich niet echt. Hoewel ook het hellevuur op zich niet bestaat sidder ik desondanks voor zijn pijnen, dus mijd ik kwalijk gedrag.

108 Als ik ijl, voel ik me, ook al is het niet donker, alsof ik in een duistere afgrond vast ben geraakt. Hoewel ook onwetendheid en zo op zich niet bestaan, wil ik die verduistering verdrijven door de drie wijsheden.179

109 Als een muzikant aan zijn viool een melodie ontlokt, blijkt na analyse die klank niet iets dat op zichzelf kan staan. Toch weet de melodie, mits we die niet analyseren, het bedrukt gemoed van mensen te verlichten.

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110 Als ik oorzaken en gevolgen [karma] evenzo analyseer bestaan deze niet op zich: noch als één, noch als onderscheiden. Ontstaan en vergaan van fenomenen tonen zich zo levensecht dat ik daarbij vreugde en leed ervaar alsof zij werkelijk bestaan. Al is dit alles maar schijn, het is maar beter me te richten naar de norm van goed en kwaad.180

111 Als waterdruppels een kruik vullen dan zijn het niet de eerste noch de laatste druppels noch elke drup op zich die de kruik hebben vol gemaakt. Alleen de totaliteit vulde de kruik.

112 Als ik als gevolg van karma vreugde of leed ervaar, is het net zo: niet terug te voeren op het begin noch op het einde van de oorzaak. Alleen door de optelsom, het totaal, ervaar ik vreugde of pijn. Al is dit alles maar schijn, het is maar beter me te richten naar de norm van goed en kwaad.

113 Al mag ze zonder analyse aangenamer lijken, deze wereld der verschijnselen mist eigenstandigheid. Desondanks lijkt ze echt te bestaan. Hoe diepzinnig is deze waarheid, hoe moeilijk te vatten voor de oppervlakkigen van geest.

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114 Als ik me in diepe meditatieve verzonkenheid [samadhi] op deze waarheid richt, welk verschijnsel houdt dan nog stand? Wat bestaat? Wat bestaat niet? Wie ter wereld zou ooit het ‘zijn’ of ‘niet-zijn’ aantoonbaar kunnen maken?

115 Van object noch subject, noch absolute realiteit is dan nog sprake. Vrij van normen als goed en kwaad, vrij van conceptualisering, wordt het bewustzijn door niets beroerd. Door in deze immer aanwezige oorspronkelijke staat van geest te verwijlen, word ik een Verhevene [arya].

116 Moge ik aldus, door meditatie op zowel conventionele als absolute bodhicitta, de twee verzamelingen moeiteloos voltooien en mijn beide doelstellingen op volmaakte wijze realiseren.

Colofon Deze tekst, getiteld, ‘Het zwaardwiel dat de vijand feilloos in het hart weet te treffen’, werd getrouw aan het onderricht van de Verheven Leraren, op schrift gesteld door de grote Dharmarakshita, een yogi die beschikte over schrift- kennis, logische argumentatie en realisaties. Hij schreef dit werk in een jungle waar angstaanjagende roofdieren vrijelijk rondzwierven, en nam de beoefening ervan ter hand in de schrikwekkende jungle van onze gede- genereerde tijd.

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Dharmarakshita onderwees het aan Atisha, die dit overal waar hij kwam, in praktijk bracht om moeilijk te discipli- neren wezens tot ander gedrag te brengen. Toen Atisha de realisaties van deze beoefening ervoer, sprak hij de volgende woorden:

Toen ik mijn koninklijke status opgaf en koos voor een hard bestaan, kwam ik door opbouw van verdienste in contact met mijn onovertroffen goeroe. Door me de nectar van dit verheven onderricht te geven schonk hij mij heerschappij over mijn geest181 zodat ik nu over alle krachtige tegengiffen beschik. Zijn woorden heb ik in mijn hart gesloten.

Open van geest en onbevooroordeeld heb ik diverse filosofische scholen tot in detail bestudeerd en ook al kwam ik er de meest fascinerende zaken tegen toch vind ik juist dit onderricht de aangewezen hulp voor deze tijd van verval.

Uit de vele leerlingen in India en Tibet, verkoos Atisha dit onderricht over te dragen aan de leek Dromtönpa. Dat deze daartoe het meest geschikt was, was door meerdere van Atisha’s yidams, waaronder Tara, voorspeld. Atisha gaf dit onderricht aan Dromtönpa om de moeilijk tot discipline te brengen bevolking van het achtergebleven Tibet te helpen. Atisha, de geestelijk vader, en zijn geestelijke zoon Drom- tönpa fungeerden als leraar en vertaler van deze tekst. De overleveringslijn ervan gaat van Atisha via Drom- tönpa naar Potowa en dan in een rechte lijn naar Sharawa,

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Chekawa, Chilbupa, Lha Chenpo, Lha Drowäi Gonpo, Öjopa, Khenpo Martön, Khenpo Sherap Dorje, Buddha- ratna, Kirtisila, Gyalwa Sangpo, Nup Chölungpa Sönam Rinchen, en vandaar naar mij, Shönu Dönchok Bang. Dit werk hoort tot de cyclus van Dharmarakshita’s gees- testrainingen—Lojong.

Nederlandse vertaling: Piet Soeters

355

NOTES

1. blo sbyong. 2. 10th cent. Abbot of one of the great Indian monastic univer- sities who agreed to visit Tibet to help revitalize Buddhism. See Gelek Rimpoche, Lam Rim Teachings, vol I, index entry: Atisha. 3. Tib. lam rim bdus don. 4. Transl. R. Thurman, Life and teachings of Tsongkhapa, p. 57–58. 5. See Gelek Rimpoche, Lam Rim Teachings, chapter VIII. 6. Ch 1, vs 4: Transl. S. Batchelor 7. 1. functional reasoning; 2. relational reasoning; 3. logical reasoning; 4. reasoning from the nature of things. Also see note 53. 8. Referring to the level of death 9. Tson-Khap-Pa, Tantric Ethics. 10. Lam rim bdus don. In: Thurman, Robert A.F. ed. Life and teachings of Tsongkhapa. 11. How sad when I look at my friends. From the moment you are born, you don’t have a single minute to stay. You are run-ning like a galloping horse towards death. We may call you living beings but you are all on death row. Songs of Spiritual Change, p. 136: Melancholy Visions of Imperfection. 12. gsal zhing rig pa

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13. Three Scopes in Lamrim: Common with the lower level, Common with the medium medium, and Mahayana. 14. 1708-1757. 15. sems kyi rang bzhin 16. See List of Literature. 17. Skt bodhicitta. Tib. byang chub kyi sems 18. Commentaries used: a) Trichen Tenpa Rapgye’s Notes on the Wheel of Sharp Weapons. b) Topical outlines found in Lop- sang Tamdrin’s Annotations of the Wheel of Sharp Weapons 19. 1759-1815. One of the early Ganden Tripas. 20. 1867–1937. 21. Lhatsun Rinpoche was a very old lama who received many teachings from Mongolia. He is considered to be a mani- festa-tion of Tara and was a treasure holder of teachings of all sects. He died in Tibet during the Cultural Revolution. Ref. Sandy’s Notes in the Yamantaka Teachings. 22. 1923-2006. 23. slob sbyong —study, training, studies 24. blo sbyong—mind training 25. In: Geshe Lhundup Sopa, Peacock in the Poison Grove. 26. Gelek Rimpoche, Lojong; Training of the Mind in Seven Points. 27. Gelek Rimpoche, Training of the Mind in Eight Verses. 28. Tib. thekpa chenpo lojong gyatsa. E. Thupten Jinpa, Mind Training; The Great Collection. 29. kun rdzob byang gyi sems—relative or conventional bodhimind (Skt. bodhicitta), relative compassion 30. don dam byang chub gyi sems—absolute bodhimind (Skt. bodhicitta), compassion combined with wisdom, alsolute compassion

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31. Hearers. Tib. nyan thos pa 32. Tib. rang gya or rang sangs rgyas 33. Period of an official Buddha being in this world. 34. The last one Tantra buddhayana is also called Vajrayana. 35. Division based on the practitioners’ development; here Hinayana includes the categories of sravakayana and pra- tyekayana. 36. For more details see p. 24. 37. Theravada and Hinayana are synonymous here. 38. 7th century 39. sbyong—to cleanse, purify, practice, train. 40. blo—mind, understanding, intellect, mental states, thought, attitude 41. gsal rig 42. Feeling, discernment, intention, contact, attention 43. Aspiration, appreciation, recollection, concentration, intelligence 44. Skt. hina = small; yana is vehicle. Tib. theg pa chung ba 45. Skt. maha = big; yana is vehicle. Tib. theg pa chen po 46. Literature: Gelek Rimpoche, The Four Noble Truths— forthcoming 47. See Gelek Rimpoche, Lam Rim Teachings, Chapter: IX The nine-rounds meditation on death. 48. Tib. Theg-pa chen-po’i: mahayana, blo-sbyong: lojong mtshon-cha: weapons, ‘khor-lo: wheel. 49. Skt. [Tib.: Serlingpa] A renowned 10th century Sumatran Buddhist teacher. 50. 982-1054. For the life story of Atisha see See Gelek Rim- poche, Lam Rim Teachings, vol. I, Index entry: Atisha.

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51. Tib. byang chub: ‘purified and perfected’, ‘free and perfect’; awakening; enlightenment. 52. The two enlightened holy bodies: rupakaya and dharmakaya. 53. From Gelek Rimpoche’s teachings on The Inner World of Mind, transcript in process. Terminology John D. Dunne in Foundations of Dharmakirti’s Philosophy, 2004. Alterna- tive terminology: 1. awareness of what must be done; 2. awareness of relationship; 3. awareness of attaining proper validity, 4. awareness of the absolute real. H. Guenther & Leslie S. Kawamura, Mind in Buddhist Psychology, pg 37ff. 54. ‘nying: self, own, innermost; snying: heart, mind, wish, desire 55. Also see Gelek Rimpoche, Lam Rim Teachings,Chapter xxi. 56. For the stages of development of the bodhimind see p. 52-54. 57. Tib. bdag gces ‘dzin—holding oneself dear 58. Tib. bdag ‘dzin.—holding to a self. In this transcript the words ego, ego-grasping and self-grasping are synonymous. 59. Literally ‘enemy of Yama’, who is the lord of death in the Buddhist pantheon, Yamantaka refers to a meditation deity who is seen as a wrathful manifestation of Manjushri, the Buddha of Wisdom 60. Tib. gshin rje dmar nag 61. Yamaantaka. The Lord of Death is called Yama; antaka = destroyer. 62. Skt. Manju = gentle; shri =Lord. Tib. ‘jam dpal dbyangs 63. For the text see, Gelek Rimpoche, Guru Devotion; How to Integrate the Primordial Mind. 64. For the text, see Gelek Rimpoche, Ganden Lha Gyema; Lam Rim Teachings, vol. II.

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65. Skt. bodhi = awakening, chitta = mind. Also see note 29 and 30 on p. 66. 1903–1983. The 97th Gaden Tripa and senior tutor to HH the XIVth Dalai Lama. 67. Pride, symbolized by a lion: ignorance, symbolized by an elephant, anger by fire, jealousy by a snake, wrong view by a thief; miserliness by chackles, desire by a water flood, doubt by a ghost. See Gelek Rimpoche, Healing and self- healing through White Tara, ch. IV. 68. Khedrub Je, Song of the Tricosmic Master. In: R. Thurman, Life and Teachings of Tsong Khapa, p. 232–237: ‘If each breath you release acts only as medicine to beings, Why try to describe the effect of your stores of merit and wisdom? ‘To you, friend of the three worlds, I offer my spiritual aspirations. 69. Lundhup Pandita, Jewel Treasure House of the Three Bodies, Instructions on the two stages of the 13–Deity Vajrabhairava. 70. Nirvana, liberation from suffering. 71. Quote from Gungtang Jampelyang, (or Gunthng Tenpey Dronme) a 17th century teacher from Amdo. 72. Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, was a chartered flight carrying 45 rugby team members and associates that crashed in the Andes on October 13, 1972. The last of the 16 survivors were rescued on December 23, 1972. More than a quarter of the passengers died in the crash and several more quickly succumbed to cold and injury. Of the 29 who were alive a few days after the accident, another 8 were killed by an avalanche that swept over their shelter in the wreckage. The crash survivors, thinking they would be found and rescued within days, had little food and no source of heat in the harsh climate, at over 3,600 metres altitude. Faced with starvation and radio news reports that the search for

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them had been abandoned, the survivors fed on the dead passengers who had been preserved in the snow. Rescuers did not learn of the survivors until 72 days after the crash when passengers Nando Parrado and Roberto Canessa, after a 12-day trek across the Andes, found a Chilean who gave them food and then alerted authorities about the existence of the other survivors. 73. The Garrison Institute NY where these teachings were given. 74. Refers to liberation, nirvana. 75. Vajrayana. 76. See Glossary: Four major Buddhist schools of philosophical thought. 77. ‘jig lta - wrong view of the personality, believing in the real ‘I’ in the perishable aggregates, belief in the transitory collection. 78. You open a Russian doll and there is a smaller one inside. You open that one and there is another smaller one inside. Etc. 79. Vajrayana terminology. 80. Hatred, anger, aggression, aversion. Tib. zhe sdang. 81. Obsession, attachment, desire. Tib. ‘dod chags. 82. Self-grasping: dag zhin (to hold oneself ) or rang zhin. Self- cherishing: bdag che dzin (to hold oneself dear) or rang che ‘dzin. 83. See Glossary: Five Paths. Also see, Gelek Rimpoche, Perfec- tion of Wisdom. 84. Ego is a process a reifying process in that ‘creates a ‘me’. 85. Ma rig pa is usually translated as ignorance—rig-pa is clarity; ma is the negation. 86. Referring to the eight types of suffering of human beings. For those see Gelek Rimpoche Lam Rim Teachings, vol. III

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87. For different Lojong-meditations, see Gehlek Rimpoche, Lojong : Training of the Mind in Seven Points. Point Two. 88. Tib. Nyung ne. Also see, Geshe Dhargyey The Wheel of Sharp Weapons, p. 46, verse 12. 89. See p. 26. 90. Gelek Rimpoche, The Four Mindfullnesses. 91. Gelek Rimpoche, Lam Rim Teachings vol. I, ch. VI. 92. Bodhi [Skt] means awakening or awakened. 93. Without any sense of loss, I shall give up my body and enjoyments, As well as all my virtues of the three times, For the sake of benefiting all. S. Batchelor, A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, ch III, v. 11 94. See Literature. 95. ngo tsha—shame, and khrel yod—embarrasment. Shame is avoiding bad behavior from one’s own perspective. Embar- rassment is avoiding bad behavior from the perspective of others, such as the Buddha, guru, and so on 96. Tib. dkor; religious property. 97. chos—dharma; sdig pa—negative action. 98. See commentary on verse 28. 99. Garma C.C. Chang, in The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa, p. 585: Listen with care, my son Rechungpa! Your old father, Mila, sometimes sleeps, But in sleeping he also practices, For he knows how to illumine blindness; But not all men know this instruction. I shall be happy if I can share this teaching. Your old father, Mila, sometimes eats, But in eating he also practices, For he knows how to identify his food and drink with the Holy Feast; But not all men know this instruction. I shall be happy if I can share this teaching. Sometimes your old father, Mila, walks, But in marching

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he also practices, For he knows that walking is to circle round the Buddhas; But not all men know this instruction. I shall be happy if I can share this teaching.Rechungpa, you should also practice in this way. Get up, Megom, it is time to make some broth. 100. The ordinary ‘me’ we refer to without analyzing. 101. See p. 36. 102. Quotation not yet found. 103. If you are a Vajrayana practitioner, having received the inititation of Yamantaka.. If not, you can visualize Yaman- taka in front of you. 104. Verse 111. 105. dam nyams 106. yid is mind; dam is commitment. 107. Ignorance, attachment, anger/hatred, pride, jealousy. 108. Alex Berzin 109. Tibetan divination system 110. Nagarjuna’s four logical pillars. 111. From a teaching on wisdom by Gelek Rimpoche: “The four keys is a traditional method designed by Nagarjuna, Chandra-kirti and their followers used to establish that an intrinsically existent ‘I’ cannot be found. The first key identifies the object of nega-tion, the intrinsically existing ‘I’. The second key confirms that such an ‘I’ could only exist in two ways: as one with the psycho-physical aggregates of a person or separate from them. The third key establishes that this ‘I’ cannot exist in oneness with these aggre-gates. The fourth key verifies that it cannot exist separately from them. The conclusion is that such an ‘I’ does not exist at all, which is the famous emptiness everybody talks about.”

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112. The weapon of no-self wisdom is represented as having a handle made of human bone, with a skull on top, representing impermanence. Ref. Geshe Lhundup Sopa, Peacock in the Poison Grove, p. 171. 113. Also see verse 49. 114. For a guided meditation. see p. 42. 115. See meditation on pg. 42. 116. Inspire me to perfect transcendent joyous effort, By striving with tireless compassion for supreme enlightenment, Even if I must remain for many aeons In the deepest hell fires for the sake of each being 117. It has no self-existence; it does not exist by itself. 118. Example used and commented upon during teachings in Nijmegen. 119. Gelek Rimpoche, The Three Principles, root text vers 9ff. 120. With his great white wings of the conventional and ultimate outstretched. The goose king glides at the forefront of a multitude of geese Towards that supreme, far shore of the Victorious Ones’ ocean of good qualities, Carried along by the swift currents of virtuous activities. (Madhya- makavatara, Ch. VI. 226.) 121. Who intentionally created all the weapons for those in hell? Who created the burning iron ground? From where did all the women (in hell) ensue? The Mighty One has said that all such things are (the workings) of an evil mind. Hence within the three world spheres there is nothing to fear other than my mind. (Bodhicaryavatara ; ch. V vs. 7.) 122. sgra spyi; understanding following the sound, verbal generality; sound-image 123. don spyi; understanding following on a glimpse of meaning; conceptual generality, mental image

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124. See p. 21. 125. Empty of inherent or or true or self-existence. 126. See Glossary: Four major Buddhist schools of philosophical thought 127. Meaning: ‘Because I saw it, it is not intrinsically or inherently there’ 128. Absolutism. 129. Nihilism. 130. See Glossary: Five Paths. 131. gnyug ma - genuine, innate, on-going, perpetual, primordial, original, natural, original untouched nature. 132. skyes bu chen po. 133. Skt. arya; Tib. ‘phags pa. 134. See pg. 94ff. 135. Tib. Serlingpa 136. See note 67 on p. 137. B. 1886/ 138. W.Y. Evans-Wentz, Tibet’s Great Yogi Milarepa. Ch. XII. Oxford University Press 1969. 139. Verse 96 140. Verse 3 141. Also called ‘King of Prayers’ 142. The Buddha Jewel, Dharma Jewel, and Sangha Jewel. In Buddhism, these three, which are likened to wish-fulfilling jewels, constitute the refuge of a spiritual aspirant. 143. Literally meaning ‘enemy of Yama’, who is the lord of death in the Buddhist pantheon. Yamantaka refers to a meditation deity who is seen as a wrathful manifestation of Manjushri, the Buddha of Wisdom.

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144. Sopa et al. (Peacock in the Poison Grove, p. 61) reads this line as ‘If they involve themselves in other afflictions as well . . .’ However, it seems fairly clear from the context that the author meant to extend the same analogy to other afflictions, such as anger. This is particularly clear from the use of the verb jarwa (spelled sbyar ba), which literally means ‘to connect or to link’ and there is translated as extend. Furthermore, Trichen’s Notes (p.11:2) also reads this line in the manner suggested here. 145. Trichen (p.15a:5) reads this line as ‘From now on I shall condemn all my flaws.’ However, he acknowledges that other ver-sions give the present reading. 146. The original Tibetan terms I have translated here as ‘deceit and guile’ are, respectively, mukyo (spelled mug skyo) and gyu-nam (spelled rguy nam), which Trichen (p.20b:3) identifies to be archaic Tibetan foryo (spelled gyo) and gyu (spelled sgyu).g 147. ‘Insights of learning and so on’ refers to the three levels of understanding as described in classical Buddhist texts: understanding derived from (1) learning, 2) reflection, and (3) meditation. 148. Both Tenpa Rapgye (p 24b:6) and Lopsang Tamdrin (p.3a:7) have ‘all conceptualization’ in the place of ‘all negative con-ceptions.’ 149. In Tibetan Buddhist practice, these two – giving material things to the poor and making offerings to the Three Jew- els – are known as the twin activities of giving. 150. Here I have followed the reading of Tenpa Rapgye and Lopsang Tamdrin. In the original Tibetan of the text the final line reads: ‘From now onI shall extirpate you, the ‘I’.’ 151. Tenpa Rapgye (p.28a:6) gives the following reading for the last line: ‘From now on I shall minimize attachment towards everything.’

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152. Tenpa Rapgye writes this line as follows:’ From now on I shall honor the embodiments of great kindness with my crown.’ 153. Although the Tibetan text gives this last line as follows: ‘From now on I shall be heedful against negative acts,’ here I have followed the reading of Tenpa Rapgye and Lopsang Tamdrin, which is more consistent with the rest of the text. 154. My reading of this line, substantially different Geshe Lhun- dub Sopa at el., is based on Notes (p.36a). Tenpa Rapgye reads the line to demonstrate the contradiction between someone who aspires for resources, which according to Buddhist teachings come about as a consequence of giving, yet indulges in such negative acts as stealing and extortion. 155. The Tibetan terms I have translated here as ‘divination’ and ‘shamanism’ are mo and bön. Although the term bön later be-came established as the name of Tibet’s pre-Buddhist religion (Bön), the term can also simply refer to some form of village shamanism or animism. This idea of not relying on mo and bön appears to be an important theme in the early Kadam writings. For to do so is, according to the Kadam masters, to contradict the Buddhist practice of seeking refuge only in the Three Jewels. 156. Tenpa Rapgye p.41b:1): ‘Forsaking ethical discipline, the liberation path, I uphold the household.’ 157. The Tibetan word satha (spelled sa mtha), which literally means ‘remote areas,’ connotes areas that are outside the bounds of Dharma civilization. The connotation of remoteness is thus primarily in terms of the area’s distance from Dharma and not in geographical terms from some ‘central land.’ Hence my choice of the term ‘wilderness.’ 158.The Tibetan expression phase (spelled pha zas) iterally ‘one’s father’s food’, refers to one’s inheritance. 159. This is a sarcastic remark that turns on the contradiction between not having any endurance for long-term

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meditative practice and professing powers of accurate clairvoyance, for in actual fact, clairvoyance can only arise from prolonged meditation practice. 160. Here ‘well-spoken words’ (legs bshad) refers to the teachings of the Buddha and their subsequent commentarial treatises. 161. Tib. dhe sheg. Skt: sugata. An epithet of the Buddha, the fully awakened one. 162. The Tibetan original has the following reading: ‘O wielder of club, the weapon of no-self action.’ Here I have followed Tenpa Rapgye and Lopsang Tamdrin, since this reading appears clearer. 163. These two lines resonate very closely with the two very famous lines from Root Lines and Seven-Point Mind Train- ing. 164. ‘Existence and pacification’ refers to the well-known Bud- dhist dichotomy of samsara (cyclic existence) and nirvana (its pacification). 165. In Tenpa Rapgye this line is missing, which ensures that the stanza has four lines just like others and seems also to give a better reading of the stanza. Here, however, I have chosen to leave the original Tibetan text as it is. 166. This line is missing in the Lhasa edition and has been supple- mented from the editions found in Tenpa Rapgye, Lopsang Tamdrin, and Treasury of Instructions. 167. Here I have chosen to follow the readings of Tenpa Rapgye (p.56a:6) and Lopsang Tamdrin (p 7a:4) 168. The three wisdoms or understandings are: (1) understanding derived from learning, (2) understanding derived from reflec-tion and (3) understanding derived from meditation. 169. Here we follow the reading of Tenpa Rapgye (58a:6) and Lopsang Tamdrin (p.7a:6).

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170. In the Tibetan original, the verb spyad pa, which means ‘to experience’ or to ‘enjoy’ is used here instead of dpyad pa, ‘to ex-amine,’ which is most probably an error. Here, I have chosen to follow Tenpa Rapgye (p.58b:3) and Lop- sang Tamdrin (p.7a:7). 171. E. afflictions; Skt kleshas, Tib. nyong mong: negatieve emoties, obsessies, driften, vergiften, [innerlijke] giffen, zwakheden, hartstochten, verduisteringen. 172. Zelfbestaan is in deze tekst de handlanger van de duivel. (E: self-grasping; Tib. dag zhin—‘to hold oneself’. Synon- iemen: vasthouden aan een zelf, zelfwaan, zelfmisvatting, eigenstandigheid, op zich bestaan). 173. Zelfzucht is in deze tekst de duivel. E: self-cherishing; selfish craving; Tib. bdag che dzin—to hold oneself dear. Synoniemen: eigenliefde, egoïsme. 174. Verwijst naar de kleshas. Zie noot 171. 175. Combinatie van zelfzucht en zelfbestaan 176. Meditatieve boeddhavorm 177. Akanishta is de hoogste vormsfeer. 178. Skt. Bodhicitta; Tib. byang chub sems. 179. Leren denken en mediteren. 180. In dit vers Geshe Lhundup Sopa gevolgd 181. Hier de vertaling van R. Thurman gevolgd.

370 VI GLOSSARY

Abhidharma (Skt; Tib, mngon chos). The systematized philosophical and psychological analysis of existence that is the basis for the buddhist systems of tenets and of mind-training. As one of the branches of the Buddhist canon, the Tripitaka, the Abhidharma corresponds to the discipline of wisdom, whereas the sutras correspond to the discipline of meditation and the vinaya to the discipline of morality. Abhidharmakosha (Skt; Tib. mngon pa mdzod. Treasury of Metaphysics. An important Hinayana work written by Vasubandhu, probably in the fourth century C.E., as a critical compendium of the Abhidharmic science. A similar text in Mahayana is Asanga’s Abidharmasamuccaya (Tib. Ngonpa kundu). Arhat (Skt; Tib. dgra bcom pa) ‘Enemy destroyer’ or ‘foe destroyer.’ One who has overcome the forces of karma and delusion and attained liberation from cyclic existence and thus has obtained arhatship, the spiritual ideal of Hinayana Buddhism. It is the culmination of the four stages of perfection: in succession one becomes stream- enterer, once-returner, non-returner, arhat. The arhat has achieved nirvana, but not buddhahood, because he

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does not return out of compassion to teach others as the Mahayana bodhisattva does. Arya (Skt; Tib. ‘phags pa) Title meaning ‘noble one.’ It indicates one who has attained the third of the five paths, the path of insight/seeing (Tib. tong lam) and so through an understanding of emptiness, has gone above the world. Atisha Dipamkara Sri Jnana. Tib. mar me mdzad dpal ye shes (982-1054). Also called Jowo Palden Atisha. A great Indian pandit, perhaps the last of the universally acclaimed masters of Indian Buddhism. He spent the last seventeen years of his life in Tibet, bringing many impor tant teachings. Well-known is his short treatise Light on the Path to Enlightenment (Skt. Bodhipathapradipa; Tib. Lam sgron) which points out in a concise manner the path to enlightenment. This work became the foundation for what was to become the Lamrim literature. Avalokiteshvara (Tib. Chenrezig) The great bodhisattva of compassion, chief disciple of Amitabha. The Dalai Lama is considered to be a incarnation of Avalokiteshvara. In China he is (in combination with his female counterpart Tara) known in female form as Kwan Yin. Bliss (Tib. bde ba) An extremely pleasurable feeling; in maha annutara yoga tantra the very subtle clear light mind experiencing great bliss is focused on emptiness. Bodhicitta See bodhimind Bodhimind (Skt. bodhicitta; Tib. byang chub kyi sems). ‘Altruistic aspiration to enlightenment’, ‘awakening mind’, ‘awakened heart’ or ‘mind of enlightenment.’ Bodhimind or bodhicitta is the altruistic motivation of a bodhisattva: a

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mind that is directed towards the attainment of buddha hood, for the sake of all living beings; the fully open and dedicated heart. Once one has generated the bodhi-mind, one enters the first of the bodhisattva paths, the accumula tion path. The bodhimind is of two main types: relative or conventional and absolute or ultimate. The former is also of two types: that which aspires to highest enlightenment as a means of benefiting the world, and that which engages in the practice leading to enlightenment. Ulti- mate bodhimind is the latter of these placed within an understanding of emptiness. Bodhisattva (Skt; Tib. byang chub sems pa) Also referred to as ‘child of the Buddha’, ‘spiritual hero’, or ‘fortunate one.’ A bodhisattva is a living being who has produced the spirit of enlightenment in himself and whose constant dedication, lifetime after lifetime, is to attain the unex- celled, perfect enlighten ment of buddhahood for the sake of all living beings. The term bodhisattva refers to those at many levels: from those who have generated aspiration to enlightenment for the first time to those who have actually entered the bodhisatt va path, which is developed through the ten stages (Skt. bhumis) and culminates in enlightenment, the attainment of buddhahood. Those who have embarked on the path but have not yet gained direct perception of the meaning of emptiness are called ordinary bodhisattvas; those who have attained the path of seeing and can in meditation directly perceive emptiness are called extra-ordinary or superior bodhisattvas or arya bodhisattvas.

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Bodhisattvacaryavatara: see Shantideva Bodies of a Buddha (Skt. kaya; Tib. sku) There are several divisions. If three kayas: (1) dharmakaya or truth-body or ultimate body, (2) sambogakaya or enjoyment-body or beatific body, (3) nirmanakaya or emanation-body or incarnational body. The last two ones together are called form-body or rupa-kaya. If two kayas: (1) truth-body or dharmakaya and (2) form-body or rupakaya. If four kayas: truth-body divided into (1) svabhavikakaya or nature- body and (2) jnanakaya or wisdom-body; the form-body divided into (3) sambogakaya or enjoyment-body and (4) nirmanakaya or emanation-body. Buddha (Tib. sangs rgyas) Lit. ‘awakened one.’ Title of one who has attained the highest attainment for a living being. It refers to one who has completely purified sang( ) all the defilements, the two obscurations, and completely expanded (gye) or perfected his mind to encompass all excellences and knowledges. A fully enlightened being is perfect in omniscience and compassion. Every being has the potential to become a completely enlightened buddha. There are countless buddhas. Buddhapalita (circa. 470-550 C.E.) A great Madhyamika master. His great achievement was the elucidation of a main work of Nagarjuna. Because of this work he was later regarded as the founder of the Prasangika sub-school. Chandrakirti (ca. sixth-seventh century C.E.) The most important Madhyamika philosopher after Nagarjuna and Aryadeva. He is regarded the ‘ultimate’ disciple of Nagar- juna as he is the elucidator of the essence of Nagarjuna’s

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message. He wrote famous commentaries on Nagarjuna’s work, such as Guide to the Middle Way (Skt. Madhyamaka- vatara). So he is considered one of the highest authorities on the subject of the profound nature of reality. Commitments (Skt. samaya, Tib. dam tshig) Promises and pledges taken when engaging in certain spiritual practices. Dependent arising or dependent existence or interdependent origination or interdependent relationship. (Skt. pratityasamutpada; Tib. rten ‘brel) Any phenomenon that exists in dependence upon other phenomena is a dependent-related phenomenon. All phenomena are dependent-related because all phenomena depend upon their parts. Sometimes dependent-related is distinguished from dependent-arising with the latter meaning arising in dependence upon causes and conditions. However, the two terms are often used interchangeably. Dharma (Skt., Tib. chos) Buddha’s teachings and the realizations that are attained in dependence on them. One’s spiritual development. ‘That which holds one back from suffering.’ Also, any object of knowledge. Emptiness (Skt. shunyata, Tib. tongpa nyi) The absence of all false ideas about how things exist; specifically the lack of apparent independent self-existence of phenomena. Enlightenment (Tib. byang chub) Full awakening, buddhahood. The ultimate goal of buddhist practice, attained when all limitations have been removed from the mind and all one’s positive potential has been realized; a state characterized by unlimited compassion, skill and wisdom.

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Five Paths According to dharma a path is necessarily an internal path. There are mundane and supramundane paths. A supramundane path is any path leading to liberation or enlightenment, for example, the realizations of renunciation, bodhicitta and the correct view of emptiness. Strictly speaking only superior beings, aryas, posses supramundane paths. The five paths are: 1. path of merit or path of accumulation (Tib. tshogs lam); 2. path of preparation (Tib. byor lam); 3. path of seeing or path of insight (Tib. thong lam); 4. path of meditation (Tib. gom lam); 5. path of no-more-learning. The first two paths are the paths of ordinary bodhisattvas, the following two paths are the paths of arya bodhisattvas or superior bodhisattvas, on the fifth path the bodhisattva has become a buddha. The paths in Hinayana carry the same name but differ in the practice. Five wisdoms The five wisdoms of a Buddha: the mirror- like wisdom, the wisdom of equality, the wisdom of individual analysis, the wisdom of accomplishing activities, and the wisdom of dharmadhatu, i.e. the wisdom of the dharma sphere. Four Noble Truths (Skt. catuh-arya-satya, Tib. pakpei denpa zhi) 1. The truth of suffering; 2. The truth of the causes of suffering. 3. The truth of the cessation of suffering. 4. The truth of the path to the cessation of suffering. They are called ‘noble’ truths because they are supreme objects of meditation. Through meditation on these four objects we can realize ultimate truth directly and thus become a noble, or superior being.

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Four major Buddhist schools of philosophical thought. These are: 1) Vaibashika (Great Exposition school, chettra mawa) 2) Sautantrika (Followers of sutra, do de pa) 3) Cit- tamatra or Mind Only school (sem sampa) 4) Finally there is the Madhyamaka, the Middle Path school (u ma) Each one is deeper than the previous one. Then within that, there is (a) the Svatantrika Madhyamaka and (b) the Pra- sangika Madhyamaka, the latter being the ultimate viewpoint. And it is all about recognizing the object that you are going to refute. Four powers of purification Four practices of purification used to counteract the karmic imprint of negative actions. 1. Power of the base: if enlightened being then take refuge; if non-enlightened being then meditate love-compassion. 2. Power of action: generally any virtuous [anti-dote] action. 3. Power of regret. 4. Power of repentance or promise. Gelugpa The tradition of Tibetan Buddhism established by Je Tsongkhapa as a fusion of older sects, sometimes named Ganden Kargyu, also known as the New Kadam, The name Gelug means: wholesome way or: virtuous tradition. The three great Gelug monasteries are Ganden, Drepung and Sera. The other main traditions of Tibetan Buddhism are the Nyingma who go back to Guru Pad- masambhava, Sakya going back to Sakya Pandita, and the Kargyu going back to Marpa-Milarepa-Gampopa. Hinayana Sanskrit term for ‘Lesser Vehicle’ or ‘Lower Yana.’ The Hinayana goal is to attain merely one’s own liberation from suffering by completely abandoning delusions. (Also called Theravadayana)

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I or self or ego (Tib. nga) Buddhism does not accept the existence of an independent, self-existent, unchanging ego or self, because if such were to exist, a person would be unchanging and would be unable to purify himself of fet- tering passions and attain buddhahood. Rimpoche often refers to this one as ‘I Rimpoche’, ‘the Big Boss inside’, the ‘Queen Bee’ or ‘Dictator I.’ There is acceptance of a relative, impermanent, changeable, conscious entity, which is the continuation of life, linking one’s former life to this life, and this life to future lives. Ignorance (Skt. avidya Tib. ma rig pa) The root cause of cyclic existence; not knowing the way things actually are and misconstruing them to be permanent, satisfactory and inherently existent. The delusions that give rise to all other delusions and the karma they motivate. Ignorance can be eradicated by the wisdom of emptiness. Karma (Skt.; Tib. las) Deeds. Term referring to actions and their effects. Through the force of intention we perform actions with our body, speech, and mind, and all of these actions produce effects. The effect of virtuous actions is happiness and the effect of negative actions is suffering Lamrim (Tib.) Stages on the spiritual path to enlightenment in Sutrayana. In Tantrayana the stages of the path are called Ngag Rim. Lama Chöpa (Tib.) A tantric guru-yoga practice. Liberation (Skt. moksha, Tib. tharpa) Release from the bondage of samsara, cyclic existence. Freedom from com- pulsive karmic patterns and the mental and para-mental obscurations.

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Lojong (Tib. blo sbyong) Mind training, system of mental discipline, self-cultivation, training/refining the mind. Blo is mind and sbyong is training. The Mahayana meditation system of the early Kadampa School as brought to Tibet by Atisha Dipamkara. Lung (Tib.) Air, energy, wind; oral transmission. Madhyamika (Skt.; Tib. dbu ma) One of the two main schools of Mahayana tenets. A system of analysis founded by Nagarjuna, based on the Perfection of Wisdom sutras of Shakyamuni buddha, considered to be the supreme presentation of the wisdom of emptiness. There are two divisions of this school, Madhyamika-Svatantrika and Madhyamika-Prasangika, of which the latter is Buddha’s final view. Mahayana (Skt.; Tib. tegchen) The ‘great vehicle’; called ‘great’ because it carries all living beings to enlightenment or buddhahood. It is distinguished from Hinayana, which only carries each person who rides on it to their own personal liberation. It is the vehicle in which refuge is taken in the scriptures revealed after Buddha’s death (and prop- agated by masters such as Nagarjuna, Asana, etc.), as well as in the earlier scriptures accepted by Hinayana. Also, unlike the Hinayana, whose basis is renunciation, the basis of the Mahayana is great compassion; and its aim, rather than personal nirvana, is fully omniscient buddha hood. The practices of a bodhisattva. Mahayana includes both the vehicle of perfections (Skt. paramitayana) and vajrayana.

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Maha-anu-yoga tantra (Skt) See Highest yoga tantra Mahasiddha Sanskrit term for ‘greatly accomplished one.’ Used to refer to Yogis with high attainments. Maitreya (Tib. Jampa; byams pa) The embodiment of the loving-kindness of all the Buddhas. At the time of Bud- dha Shakyamuni he manifested as a Bodhisattva disciple. In the future he will manifest as the fifth universal Bud- dha. Mala (Tib.) Rosary. Manjushri (Tib. Jampelyang—‘jam dpal dbyangs) Male meditational deity. The eternally youthful crown prince, the embodiment of the wisdom of all enlightened beings. From Manjushri the lineage of the profound view of emptiness was handed down to Nagarjuna. Manjushri incarnated in human form is called Manjunatha (‘Jam mgon), an epithet for Tsongkhapa. Mantra (Skt.; Tib. ngag) Literally, ‘mind protection.’ San- skrit syllables recited in conjunction with the practice of a particular meditational deity and embodying the qualities of that deity. Mantra protects the mind from ordinary appearances and conceptions. Mantrayana (Skt.) The vehicle of mantras; a synonym for Vajrayana. Meditation (Skt. bhavana, Tib. gom) Literally ‘getting used to.’ The process of controlling, training and transforming the mind that leads one to liberation and enlightenment. The process of becoming thoroughly familiar with beneficial states of mind through both analytical investigation

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and single-pointed concentration.Merit The wholesome tendencies implanted in the mind as a result of committing skillful actions. That positive wholesome tendencies or energy has the power to create happiness and good qualities. Method Any spiritual path that functions to ripen our buddha seed, i.e. our growing buddha nature. Training in renunciation, compassion, and bodhicitta are examples of method practices. Middle Way See Madhyamika. Milarepa, Jetsun (1040–1123) A Tibetan yogi who achieved buddhahood in one lifetime. He was the foremost disciple of Marpa, famous for his intense practice, devotion to his guru attainment of enlightenment and his many songs of spiritual realization. His biography is a favorite example of hardship undertaken in order to attain enlightenment. Mind (Tib. Shes pa) That which is clarity and cognizes. Nagarjuna Saint, scholar and mystic of Buddhist India, born about four hundred years after the Buddha, who revived the Mahayana in the first century AD by bringing to light the teachings on the Perfection of Wisdom, the lineage of wisdom, according to the myth handed over to him by the nagas. He is author of the fundamental Madhyamika work and founder of the Madhyamika or Middle Way school of tenets. He is said to have lived five hundred sixty years due to his alchemical ability. Oral Transmission (Tib. lung) The passing of a pure, unbroken oral lineage. All the root texts and their com-

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mentaries have been passed in a pure, unbroken lineage from teachers to disciples from the time of Buddha down to the present day. It is customary at the end of a teaching for the teacher to recite all the words of the text, just as he heard them from his own teacher. A disciple is not considered to have received a teaching until he or she has heard all the words from the mouth of a qualified spiritual guide. A teaching that has been received in this way is completely pure and it carries the blessings of all the lineage gurus who transmitted the same teaching in the past. Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo (1878–1941). He is regarded the most influential Gelugpa teacher of this century. He was the root-guru of both the Senior and Junior Tutors [Kyabje Trijang Rimpoche and Kyabje Ling Rimpoche] of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and holder of many sutra and tantra lineages. Prajnaparamita (Skt.; Tib. shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa) Perfection of wisdom. Transcendental wisdom, being the profound non-dual understanding of the ultimate reality, or the voidness, or relativity, of all things. Personified as a goddess, she is worshipped as the ‘Mother of all buddhas’ Pratyekas Solitary realizer (Skt. pratyeka buddha) The higher of the two types of arhats of the hinayana. The hinayana practitioner who attains nirvana by following his personal path and living in solitude, but who lacks the complete realization of a buddha so cannot benefit limitless beings as a buddha can. He is contrasted to the sravaka arhat who attains nirvana largely by listening to teachings and living in groups.

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Renunciation (Tib. nges ‘byung) The realization of detach- ment from all of samsara, having understood its faults. Also called: determination to be free. Sadhana (Skt.) Method of accomplishment. The step by step instructions in Vajrayana for practicing the meditations related to a particular meditational deity. A method for attainment associated with a Tantric Deity Samsara (Skt; Tib. ‘khor ba). Cyclic existence; the recurring cycle of death and rebirth under the control of ignorance and fraught with suffering. Sangha (Skt.) As object of refuge it is the community of arya beings or saints, those who have achieved spiritual aims -have attained a direct realization of emptiness- and are able to help. According to the vinaya any community of four or more fully ordained monks is also a sangha. Any being, lay or ordained, who has taken bodhisattva vows is also a sangha. In daily life we regard the community of those on the spiritual path as a sangha. Self See: I Self-existence The mistaken conception that things exist independently from their own side rather than being dependent upon causes, conditions, parts and the process of conceptual imputation; the wisdom of emptiness is the understanding that all things lack, or are empty of, even an atom of such self-existence. Selflesnesses (Tib. bdag med) Two selflessnesses: personal selflessness and phenomenal selflessness, both being descriptions of the ultimate reality, which is the absence

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of the two ‘selves’, the realization of what is called ‘transcendental wisdom’ or prajnaparamita Shantideva (687–763) A great Indian Buddhist teacher, meditator and scholar, most famous for his masterpiece, Bodhisattvacaryavatara, Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life. Shamatha (Skt.; Tib. zhiné) Mental quiescence or meditative equipoise. The tranquil, single-pointed settling of the mind on an object of meditation for a sustained period of time. A degree of concentration characterized by mental and physical ecstasy. The nine stages leading to shamatha are degrees of concentration Spiritual master (skr. guru, Tib. lama) A spiritual guide or teacher. One who shows a disciple the path to liberation and enlightenment. A direct guru is any spiritual guide from whom we have received teachings in this life, a lineage guru is any spiritual guide who has passed on the lineage of teaching received by our own direct gurus. One’s principal spiritual guide is also known as one’s root guru (Tib. tsewei lama). In tantra, one’s teacher is seen as inseparable from the meditational deity and the essential nature of one’s mind. Sravakas (Skt. sravaka; Tib. nyan thos) Hearers, literally ‘those who listen to the teachings.’ Hearers are disciples in hinayana. Their goal is nirvana, liberation or arhatship to be reached along the five paths of a hearer. They are of eight types according to the level of delusions they have abandoned: approaching the state of a stream-enterer, abiding in it; approa ching the state of a once-returner,

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abiding in it, approaching the state of a never-returner, abiding in it, approaching the state of a foe-destroyer, abiding in it. A stream-enterer is on the path of seeing and will never again be reborn in the three lower realms; a once-returner will return to the desire realm only once more, and a never-returner will never again return to the desire realm. Sutra (Skt.; Tib. do) The teachings of Buddha that are open to everyone to practice. This pre-tantric division of buddhist teachings stresses the cultivation of bodhicitta and the practices of the six perfections. Sutrayana The pre-tantric vehicle or path of Buddhism, leading to the attainment of full enlightenment over three countess eons through the practice of the six perfections; hence also called the perfection vehicle (paramitayana) Tathagata An epithet of Buddha ‘One who has thus gone.’ Theravada ‘Vehicle of the Elders.’ Tradition of buddhism following its earlier style of practice and understanding of scripture. Sometimes called Hinayana. Its final goal is arhatship. Three Principles of the Path: 1. Seeking Freedom. 2. developing bodhimind, the altruistic intention. 2. developing wisdom Trijang Rimpoche Yongdzin Trijang Dorje Chang (1901–1981), Losang Yeshe. Was the junior tutor to His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama and holder of the many lineages in sutra and secret mantra. Disciple of Pabongka Rimpoche. The senior tutor to the Dalai Lama was Yongdzin Ling Dorje-Chang (1903–c.1984),

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Thubten Lungtog, ninety-seventh holder of the throne of Ganden. Both Trijang Rimpoche and Ling Rimpoche were teachers of Gelek Rimpoche. Tripitaka (Skt). Lit. the three baskets. It are the collections of the Buddha’s teachings, the three scriptural collections corresponding to the three higher trainings: vinaya, the collection of teachings on the discipline of morality; sutra, the collection of scriptures on transcendental method and transcendental wisdom both, corresponding to the higher training of meditation, and abidharma, the collection of teachings on metaphysics, corresponding to the training of wisdom. Tsongkhapa (1357–1419) Lit. ‘The man from the onion land (Tsong).’ Je Tsongkhapa was a great fourteenth- century scholar and teacher who reforming the Kadampa tradition restored the purity of buddhadharma in Tibet, thus founding the Gelug tradition. His many treatises finalized the work begun by Atisha officati clari on and synthesis of the vast body of Indian scriptures and schools of practice into a unified exposition of Sutrayana and Tantrayana paths. He wrote several Lamrims, the most well-known one is Great exposition on the Stages of the Path, Lam rim chen mo. On the stages in tantra he wrote the Great exposition of secret mantra, sNgags rim chen mo. He is regarded a full enlightened being and along with Longchen Rabjampa (1308–1363) and the Sakya Pandita (1182–1251 an emanation of Manjushri. That is why he is called Jamgon, ‘gentle lord’, indicating that he and the deity Manjughosa—form of Manjushri—are of one essence. He is regarded as the synthesis of Manjushri,

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Avalokiteshvara and Vajrapani and therefore regarded as the embodiment of the wisdom, compassion and power of all the buddhas. Two Accumulations Also called the two collections. The accumulation or store of merit and of wisdom; all deeds of bodhisattvas contribute to their accumulation of these two stores, which ultimately culminate in the two bodies of a buddha, the body of form or rupakaya and the ultimate body or dharmakaya Two truths All objects of cognition have two modes of existence, called ‘truths.’ The truth of appearance or relative truth or conventional truth (skr. samvrtisattya) is the aspect of existence according to worldly convention and expression. And the absolute truth or ultimate truth (skr. paramarthasatya) is the voidness of all phenomena, the mere absence of inherent existence, the reality of existence. So, the absolute or ultimate truth is emptiness; all other levels belong to the relative or conventional truth Vajra (Skt.; Tib. dorje) Diamond scepter. Generally the Sanskrit word ‘vajra’ means indestructible like a diamond and powerful like a thunderbolt. In the context of tantra it means the indivisibility of method and wisdom. Vajradhara (Skt; Tib. Dorje Chang) ‘Holder of the diamond scepter.’ Conqueror Vajradhara is the source of all secret mantra, vajrayana. He is the same nature as buddha Shakyamuni but displays a different aspect. Bud- dha Shakyamuni appears in the aspect of an emanation body, nirmanakaya, and Vajradhara appears in the aspect of an enjoyment body, sambogakaya. He symbolizes the

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attainment of enlightenment through the union of simul- taneous great bliss and emptiness. Vajrayana (Skt.) Tib. rdo rje theg pa—Vajrayana. The ‘vajra vehicle.’ The practices of taking the result as the path. Same as Mantrayana—sngags kyi theg pa. The advanced means to quickly achieve buddhahood -within one lifetime- for the sake of all sentient beings. Its method is bringing the result into the path. It is also called: tantrayana. It is part of the Mahayana, which is divided into sutrayana and tantrayana Vajrayogini (Tib. Dorje Neljorma ) Female meditational deity of the maha-annutara yoga tantra, who is the embodiment of indivisible bliss and emptiness. She is the same nature as Heruka Chakrasamvara. It is a mother tantra. Vasubhandu (4th or 5th century) Younger brother of Asanga. He wrote the Treasury of Abidharma (skr. Abhid- harmakosha) and commentaries on work of Maitreya and Asanga. Abbot of Nalanda university. Vasubhandu A great Buddhist scholar who was converted to the Mahayana by his brother, Asanga. Vinaya (Skt.) The first of the three major collections of scriptures or ‘baskets’ of the buddhist canon, the Tripi- taka. It contains the narratives of how the Buddha established the monastic life and rules. It also refers to the code of behavior contained in this vinaya basket, followed by those who have taken the vows of the buddhist order. Vinaya Sutras are sutras in which Buddha princi- pally explained the practice of moral discipline, and in particular the Pratimoksha moral discipline.

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Visualization The use of creative imagination in meditation. Despite the term used it is not limited to vision, but involves the full creative sphere of one’s imaging abilities Void or Voidness See: Emptiness Vows Promises to refrain from certain actions. The three sets of vows are the Pratimoksha vows of individual liberation, the Bodhisattva vows, and the Secret Mantra vows. Winds See Air. Wisdom being (skr. jnana-sattva; Tib. yeshe sempa) An actual Buddha, especially one who is invited to unite with a visualized commitment being. Wisdom (Skt. prajna, Tib. sherab) The sixth of the six tran- scendences or paramitas. The unmistaken understanding of things; specifically the insight into emptiness: the actual way in which things exist; Wisdom is the antidote to ignorance. It is symbolized by Manjushri Wosung See Mahakasyapa Yab yum yab is father (male buddha); yum is mother (female buddha) Yama (Tib. Shinje) The Lord of Death. Personification of uncontrolled death. Although he is not actually a sentient being he is depicted as a being and known as a lord because death has dominion over our lives. In the dia- gram of the wheel of life he is depicted clutching the six realms of cyclic existence. Yamantaka A yidam; in maha-annutara-yoga tantra a wrathful manifestation of Manjushri, to overcome hin- drances; it is a father-tantra. Many names refer to him:

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First of all ‘Terminator of Death’ in Sanskrit Yamantaka (Yama-antaka) in Tibetan Shinje She; Then ‘Vajra Terri- fied’, in Sanskrit Vajra Bhairava, in Tibetan Dorje Jigje. He is also referred to as ‘King of the Yamas’, in Sanskrit Yama Raja, in Tibetan Shinje Gyelpo. There are many forms of Yamantaka. The Yamantaka referred to in this teaching is the Red Yamantaka, Shinje Marnag. Yidam (Tib). Mental commitment (yid = mind; dam = commitment) Also called personal meditational deity. A male or female figure embodying a particular aspect of the fully enlightened experience and used as the focus of concentration and identification in Vajrayana. Yoga (Skt.; Tib. neljor) A term used for various spiritual practices that entail maintaining a special view, such as Guru yoga and the yogas of eating, sleeping, dreaming, and waking. ‘Yoga’ also refers to union, such as the union of tranquil abiding and superior seeing. Yogi, Yogini (Skt.; Tib. neljorpa) Male resp. female practitioner. Zhiné (Tib.) See Shamatha. Zung juk (Skt yuganaddha) Union, ultimate goal of inte- gration

390 VII Literature

Wheel of Sharp Weapons Dhargyey, Geshe Ngawang. The Wheel of Sharp Weapons, by Dharmarakshita. Dharamsala, LTWA, 1981. Sopa, Geshe Lhundub. Peacock in the Poison Grove, Boston, Wisdom Publ. 2001. Thubten Jinpa, Mind Training: The Great Collection, Libr of Tib. Classics, vol i. Boston, Wisdom Publ. 2006. Thurman, R and Wise, T. Circling the Sacred Mountain. Bantam Books, NY 1999.

Other Lojong literature— Seven-point mind training Chödron, Pema. Start Where You Are. London, Shambhala, 1994. Chödron, Pema. Tonglen. Halifax, Vajradhatu Publ. 2001. Dalai Lama xiv. Awakening the Mind, Lightening the Heart. New York, HarperCollins 1995 Dalai Lama I, Gendun Drup. Bridging the Sutras and Tan- tras, Ithaca, Snow Lion Publ, 1981. Ch. II

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Dalai Lama I, Gendun Drup.Training the Mind in the Great Way. Ithaca, Snow Lion Publ. 1993. Dalai Lama III. Essence of Refined Gold. Snow Lion Publ. 1983. Gelek Rimpoche. Lojong, Training of the Mind in Seven Points. Jewel Heart Transcripts 2000. Gomo Tulku. Becoming a Child of the Buddhas. Boston, Wisdom Publ. 1998. Khyentse Rimpoche, Dilgo. Enlightened Courage. Peyzac- le-Moustier, Editions Padmakara 1992. Kongtrul, Jamgon. The Great Path of Awakening. Boston, Shambhala, 1987. Nampkha Pel. Mind Training Like the Rays of the Sun. Dharamsala, LTWA 1992 Rabten and Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey, Geshe. Advice from a Spiritual Friend. London, Wisdom Publ. 1984. Tharchin, Geshe Lobsang. Achieving Bodhicitta. Howell, Mah Sutra & Tantra Pr. 1999, pg 61-253. Trungpa, Chögyam. Training the Mind. Boston, Shamb- hala, 1993. Wallace, Alan B. A Passage from Solitude. Ithaca, Snow Lion Publ. 1992

Eight Verses of Mind Training: Dagyab Kyabgon Rimpoche. Aus dem Leben der alten Kadam-Meister. Heft 3

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Dalai Lama xiv. Kindness, Clarity and Insight. Ch. 13. NW Snow Lion. 1984. Dalai Lama xiv. The Union of Bliss and Emptiness, pp. 161– 165 Gelek Rimpoche. Lojong, Training of the Mind in Eight Verses. Jewel Heart Transcripts 2000. Leisner, Regine. Das Denken Umwandeln, Chödzong, Lan- genfeld, 1994. McDonald, Kathleen. How to Meditate, Wisdom Publ. London 1984. Sonam Rinchen, Geshe. Eight Verses for Training the Mind, Ithaca, Snow Lion 2001 Tharchin, Geshe Lobsang. The Essence of Mahayana Lojong Practice. Mah. Sutra & Tantra Press 1998. Tsultrim Gyeltsen, Geshe. Keys to Great Enlightenment LA, Thubten Dhargyey Ling, 1989. (pp. 43–64)

General Literature used or referred to: Dalai Lama III (1543–1588). Essence of Refined Gold. Lam rim gser zhun ma. (A commentary on Tsongkhapa’s Small Stages of the Path to Highest Enlightenment ). Translation by Glenn Mullin with a commentary of Dalai Lama XIV in: Dalai Lama III, Selected Works of the Dalai Lama III; Essence of Refined Gold. Ithaca: Snow Lion Publ. 1983. Gehlek Rimpoche, Lam Rim Teachings; Teachings 1987–1991 4 volumes. 1993; revised 2005. Comprehensive teachings on the Graduated Path to Enlightenment in the tradition of Je Tsongkhapa.

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John Dunne. Foundations of Dharmakirti’s Philosophy. Wis- dom Publ. 2004 Herbert Guenther & Leslie S. Kawamura. Mind in Bud- dhist Psychology, Dharma Publ. Pabongka Rimpoche (1878–1941). Liberation in the Palm of your Hand, Tib. Lam rim nam grol. (oral 24-days meditation course, written down and edited in Tibetan by Trijang Rimpoche). Translation by Michael Richards. Boston: Wisdom Publ. Pabongka Rimpoche. Liberation in Our Hands, Translation by Geshe Lobsang Tharchin and Artemus Engle. Howell New Yersey: Mahayana Sutra and Tantra Press, 1990. Shantideva. A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, (Bodhi- sattvacaryavatara). LTWA, 1988. Tsong-kha-pa. The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment; Lamrim Chenmo. Transl. Comm. Ithaca: Snow Lion Publ. 3 Volumes. 2000-2004. Tson-Khap-Pa. Tantric Ethics: An Explanation of the Pre- cepts for Buddhist Vajrayana Practice. Transl. Gareth Parham. Wisdom Publ. 2005 Thurman, Robert A.F. ed. Life and Teachings of Tsongkhapa, p. 57-58 Dharamsala: LTWA 1982.

394 About Gelek Rimpoche

Born in Lhasa, Tibet, in 1939, Kyabje Gelek Rimpoche was recognized as an incarnate lama at the age of four. Carefully tutored from an early age by some of Tibet’s greatest living masters, Rimpoche gained renown for his powers of memory, intellectual judgment and penetrating insight. As a small child living in a monk’s cell in a country with no electricity or running water, and little news of the outside world, he had scoured the pictures of torn copies of Life Magazine for anything he could gather about America. Now Rimpoche brings his life experience and wisdom to both the east and the west. Among the last generation of lamas educated in Dre- pung Monastery before the Communist Chinese invasion of Tibet, Gelek Rimpoche was forced to flee to India in 1959. He later edited and printed over 170 volumes of rare Tibetan manuscripts that would have otherwise been lost to humanity, many of them only retrieved due to his memorization as a young man. Rimpoche was also instrumental in forming organizations that would share the great wisdom of Tibet with the outside world. In this and other ways, he has played a crucial role in the survival of Tibetan Buddhism. He was director of Tibet House in Delhi, India and a radio host at All India Radio. He conducted over 1000 interviews in compiling an oral history of the fall of Tibet to the Communist Chinese. In the late 1970’s Rimpoche

395 Gelek Rimpoche was directed to teach Western students by his teachers, the Senior and Junior Masters to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Kyabje Ling Rimpoche and Kyabje Trijang Rim- poche. Since that time he has taught Buddhist practitioners around the world. Rimpoche is particularly distinguished for his thorough knowledge of English, familiarity with modern culture, and special effectiveness as a teacher of Western practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism. He has brought Buddhism into strong dialogue with science, psychology, medicine, metaphysics, politics and the arts, skillfully addressing the dilemma of living a spiritual life in a material world. In 1989, Rimpoche founded Jewel Heart, a Tibetan Buddhist Center. His Collected Works now include over 32 transcripts of his teachings, numerous articles as well as the national bestseller Good Life, Good Death (River- head Books 2001) and the Tara Box: Rituals for Protection and Healing from the Female Buddha (New World Library 2004). Rimpoche is a U.S. citizen and lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

What I like about Gelek Rimpoche is that he has consistently shown resiliency and flexibility of character. I have also seen him sound understanding of selflessness, the hallmark Bud- dhist teaching. He can be an elegant lama in a formal setting, a truly worthy representative of his illustrious lineage. He can be a wise advisor in another setting, placing responsibility for growth wherever it belongs: on the individual. He can be a loyal and creative colleague, in the endless work of seeing to the long duration and continuing usefulness of the Dharma.

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Throughout it all, he remains a cherished and jolly person, a good friend. —Robert A.F Thurman Gelek Rimpoche is one of the wisest, most cheerful people I know. He is a beautiful and gracious spirit who carries the great wisdom of Tibet. We are fortunate to have him teaching in the West. —Jack Kornfield Gelek Rimpoche constantly shows wisdom, gentleness, depth, rascality, humor, spaciousness, and the spiritual side to everyday life. —Ram Dass

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About Jewel Heart

Jewel Heart Tibetan Buddhist Center is dedicated to helping individuals live the most productive, peaceful, wise, and compassionate life possible. By putting into practice methods for freeing oneself from jealousy, hatred, obsession and pride, participants discover an unlimited source of energy, strength and compassion that is available to each of us. Jewel Heart programs are based upon Buddha’s path, blazed into the present-day by the internationally recognized teacher and bestselling author, Gelek Rimpoche. Rimpoche’s teachings address current questions of identity and purpose as well as bridging the dilemma of having both spiritual and material ambitions. Jewel Heart’s graduated program of study and practice program is based on the teachings of Gelek Rimpoche and facilitated by Jewel Heart instructors. These courses, available throughout Jewel Heart chapters and study groups, are open to all and range from questioning the need for spiritual development, to serious and engaged study of the Tibetan Buddhist path. Taking a creative approach to learning, Jewel Heart programs engage the arts, the sciences and multiple media platforms to maximize the ability to absorb knowledge to a level that changes the way we think and live. The complete program provides a foundation for entering the Vajrayana path, transformative practices designed to quickly unlock the mystery of life and end all forms of suffering.

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Jewel Heart presents annual open and vajrayana retreats in the U.S., the Netherlands and Asia; regular teachings by Rimpoche in Ann Arbor and New York as well as frequent events in Chicago, Cleveland, Nebraska, San Francisco, Northern Michigan, and Philadelphia; weekly member webcasts; teachings and workshops by guest speakers; and meditation and practice retreats. In addition, Jewel Heart’s Buddhist-inspired introductory talks, open meditation sessions, film and discussion evenings, various workshops, and yearly pilgrimage offer diverse levels for participation and service to surrounding local communities. Jewel Heart Tibetan Buddhist Center offers a wide variety programs for spiritual development, supports senior lamas and the training of young monks, a children’s school and orphanage, and Buddhist performing arts tours. Sales from the Jewel Heart Store support Tibetan refugees and monasteries in India and Nepal.

For more information on national and international programs, classes, webcasts, recordings and books, visit www. jewelheart.org

CONTACT INFORMATION Ann Arbor, MI 1129 Oak Valley Drive Ann Arbor, MI 48108 734 994 3387 734 994 5577 FAX [email protected] [email protected]

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Chicago, IL 773 784 5460 [email protected]

Cleveland, OH 216 687 1617 [email protected]

Lincoln, NE 402 467 2719 [email protected]

Malyasia +0162108378 [email protected]

The Netherlands +31 24 322 6985 [email protected]

JEWEL HEART STUDY GROUPS Northern Michigan Area 231 881 6711 [email protected]

Philadelphia, PA [email protected]

To add your contact information to the Jewel Heart mail & email lists, please write [email protected].

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