life history and background and so forth. So whatever I'm telling will be sort of very short. But I may be talking more while looking towards or while trying to look towards this life biography or life story and what sort of implication or inspiration we are supposed to get out of it. Otherwise, it will be just a story. And what we are trying to do today, I'm trying to do is through his, by following his life story, by trying to understand his biography, we may probably get somehow, some kind of good inspiration, so that we can also take a, what you call, kind of a teaching, just by hearing biography. So, to do that, Before we go right into the biography, it may be a little bit difficult to understand if we just put it that way, like telling a story of a teacher, which may not mean anything to the rest of the people.

[01:18]

And within the Dharma also, the stories, or the life story, or the biography of the teachers, especially Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, are part of a very important instrument for us, for our Dharma practice. It is not itself very important, but it is very important for the Dharma practitioner how to understand, how to follow the way of the path by following their way of life. The reason I say is that because in Buddhism, there are four things we are taught to remind ourselves always. That means it's called the Four Reliances. We rely upon four things, and these four things should always be kept in the mind of the Dharma practitioner.

[02:25]

That means, we say, first thing comes, Don't rely upon person, but on Dharma. And second comes, don't rely upon the implied meaning, but rely upon the ultimate meaning, what it actually means, not just the implied meaning. Don't rely upon the consciousness or our conception and so forth, but upon the wisdom. on one's own selfish means, but we should rely upon ourselves for the means of all. So this is called Four Reliances. Now, here in our class, we're trying to talk about how to rely on the teacher. That may seem a little bit contradictory. Actually, by knowing his story, his life biography, we're not going to take it as

[03:28]

a nice story, a very wonderful story. What we are doing is, we are taking it as a kind of teaching, a kind of Dharma teaching out of that. So, from this teaching we understand that everything we do is part of our, as the instrument, as apparatus for our Dharma realization. And then, especially in the Vajrayana, Buddhism, the teacher, the living teacher, in other words, we call a root guru, who is right in presence of us, who shows the right and wrong of the Dharma, who shows the right path and so forth, is supposed to be the, literally, is more important than the Buddhas of the past, future, and present time, because The teacher is the very representation of the Buddha's Living and Tender Action.

[04:37]

He's another living Buddha, through which we can understand the Buddha's teaching. So, before we put more importance on the Dharma, we have to prove it. try to more understand on the teacher, the spiritual teachers, that is more important, which is actually another kind of path. That means we are not doing any personal, you know, feeling. We are within the, we are practicing this kind of understanding of the relationship between teacher and student within the campus of the Dharma understanding or Dharma teaching. So here we are not trying to understand the Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh as some personal thing or some person who has a little bit special story than ours.

[05:43]

What we are doing is we are taking him as something special so that we can get special inspiration, teaching from his work just by his own way of life. We're trying to do that, really. We're trying to do that. So at first, the original idea was like that. Actually, he was trying to tell me to do that, to have a class. But then I was sort of ashamed, because I have very little knowledge to tell. But then, as he wished, and as I was thinking about a student class, and something will come up. And, you know, nothing can be completed. So I thought it would be nice to put the subject in front of us, so we can have some kind of a base upon that. In our dharmic practices, the teacher-student relationship doesn't come automatically.

[06:48]

In other words, it doesn't come accidentally. It seems accidentally. But the relationship never comes accidentally. It has to do with some past relationship, always. And nothing good will come without any past relationship. Now, what we are trying to do is, we have a lot of relationships with all the great people and so on and so forth, great teachers. but we never utilize that relationship, or even though we want to utilize that relationship, we may not be able to appreciate their qualities, and so forth. So, that is one thing in the Dharma practice. Say, for example, in our tradition, we have the whole practices of Lamda, it's called Lamda, it's the teaching of path and result, path means whole teaching,

[07:54]

the Dharma itself, and it resolves the effect, the outcome of the practice of that. Now this is the whole teaching, the whole lot of teaching that passed on from the Buddha until now. Now, there is a great portion of that Lamda teaching, we call, sometimes there are 7 volumes, sometimes 13 volumes, only devoted to the life story. Now, it may mean anything, it may not mean anything, but it means a lot, because one thing it points out, the authenticity of the teaching. So, in other words, it shows the record of the teaching, who preserved the teaching, or how the teachings have came down. So, we don't really list the names, like from John to Carl and so on. We list John's name, and then put the history of John's study of the Dharma, his practice, his realization, his study, where he taught, and so forth.

[09:01]

Every teacher is given a brief history of his Dharmic career. So that means the whole biography, the whole 7, or 12, or 13 books, it just shows to preserve the authenticity of the teaching. Otherwise, you know, teaching might come from anywhere, and somebody just puts the teaching and puts it inside, and selects it, you know, collects a set of forms, and so forth. And then, not only that, we can also copy their life story, how to practice our Dharma, how to apply the Dharma teaching within us. And there is one thing, for example, in Tibetan history, the Milarepa's the great yogi of Tibet, Milarepa, is the greatest inspiration to all the Tibetans in Tibet. Not only that, after 1959, it is supposed to be the greatest biography that inspires millions of people all over the world.

[10:10]

It is not that because this is a wonderful fiction or a wonderful, unusual story, but the blessings, the truth of how you serve the Dharma and so forth. The, what do you call, the reality of another world. The story itself is nothing sophisticated. It's just simple, you know. Doing the Dharma practice, striving, studying hard, meditating hard, and so forth. It's just normal story, but it has great quality of inspiring. And it's just, it's now how many years? 900 years and still, instead of taking it as an old story, the story is coming up more and more to the minds of people. So, that is, out of millions of people that inspired the story of Milarepa, Rinpoche is the one who is inspired by Milarepa's biography. And from the very beginning, when he was still a young age, he is really inspired by the biography of Milarepa.

[11:20]

a lyrical biography or a lyrical book of 100,000 songs, through which you can learn his life story, his teachings and songs and so forth. And then, as I've talked before, the dharma relationship with the teacher and student never comes along. And at the same time, the connection with the dharma also doesn't come accidentally. It has to do with past relationship. Something has to be. If not right, something exactly right. Something is connected. Chandrakirti is the greatest philosopher in India, like 6th century. And he teaches us, by following the sutra, he says that try to give, you know, If you cannot practice anything, don't do it.

[12:24]

Just try to learn to give something. That means, if a person gives something, he might give a little bit to a poor person. And sometimes, just by a benevolent part of giving, he gives a chance to meet a good person. And that leaves a relationship. And that is what I'm talking about. the past life, future life, and so forth, that is a little bit difficult to understand. But the actual example can be taken like, say, sometimes I used to go to subway, and then I see millions of people, but nobody knows me. And I know nobody. I see actually millions of people every day. But sometimes I knock a person, and he sees me, I see him. And he might say, sorry. I might say, sorry. It's actually a bad meeting. But next time, he sees on the street and he knows me.

[13:26]

So, you see the relation, how it makes? So, in the Dharma, there is nothing that comes accidentally. It has, and the relation can be developed from a very simple invitation of having a cup in the tea shop to the best friend later on. So our understanding of Dharma can be developed. And our meeting with the Dharma, whether it may mean a lot or whether it may not mean anything, it has to do with the creation of the past that somehow connects us. And that is one of the greatest influences in Tibetan life. And Tibetans have a lot of great inclinated lamas. Many, many lamas, inclinated lamas. And these inclinative lamas, some are recognized by the great teachers who enlightened themselves and say that you should recognize that this is the former life of that teacher.

[14:31]

And some Rinpoche, they prove themselves that I am the former life in such and such. Like you might have read the story of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who really proved himself that he was the form of Dalai Lama, 13th Dalai Lama, and so forth. And then, there are other beings, even though they are not recognized formally, they just show from their own characters and behaviors, they show it. For example, if you bring a hundred children, you will see a hundred different types of manners and behaviors. interests and their likes and dislikes. Each has their own different kind of thing. Now this shows that they have great influence of the past life. Some children are very shy, no matter how much you try to encourage them.

[15:32]

Some are very reckless. Some are very naturally, what you call, a kind of true, a kind of very gentle children. even though they're very young, it seems like much older than the 20 years grown-up man or something. It has to do. And that is one thing, when Rinpoche was not recognized as a, what do you call, as Rinpoche, within a year of life, for example, when he was two or three, he just showed from his own will that he always wanted to go to the Thailand Monastery, where he He was born the year they pledged. And he always wants to go there, and so on and so forth. Without teaching him, it just shows a totally different character that you want to go to that monastery. Always. Even though he barely walked, his whole interest is going to that monastery.

[16:34]

And then later on, when he was five years old, his teacher, Gatun Maung Leper Rinpoche, He's supposed to be the first teacher, and last teacher, and lifelong teacher, in other words. And he knew something, that this child is something special. So he put him in the monastery until at the age of 10. And then later on, he sent Rinpoche to the eastern part of Tibet. Now, that means, at that time, it is just more like America. If you want to do anything, you can do it in Tibet, in their own way. If you want to study Dharma, you can go to monastery. You can do anything, whatever they have, in Tibet. And especially with guidance of the teachers, they have a lot of opportunities. It's like a world of, you know, what do you call, a Satyuga, another world, a world where you can do anything, whatever you want.

[17:45]

And then, at that time, the guardian Rinpoche knew that he is the incarnation of the former Daishon Rinpoche. And he sent him to... he told that instead of recognizing him as Rinpoche, before that, he should be trained as... he should be trained in every art of learning. So Rinpoche went to the monastery, which is called Dongsa. Now, this is the only monastery that has the biggest printing press in Tibet. And right now, it is supposed to be, still these days, has the largest amount of the manuscripts in wooden blocks. They have several, I think several, some people say several million, I don't know how much. So this is supposed to be one of the greatest monasteries in Tibet, and the biggest place in later time, the printing place for the sacred text.

[18:58]

And it has the original, what it called, original wood blocks for the whole Kanyurin Tengyur. That means Kanyurin Tengyur comprises 300 to some 25 books. And it is completely set. of the Black Fence, which may be 200 years old or something. Whatever. So Rinpoche went there and then... Rinpoche was asked by Kaden Rinpoche to go there to study. And then Rinpoche studied... Now the... Now the... The way of studying in Tibet, Dharma study, is totally different. And here, We have a totally different process in our center and also in other centers too. Here, everything is brief, you know, clear-cut, brief. You do this and you do next, you know, that kind of things. Now in Tibet, I think that is actually different. The rest of the people... In Tibet, when you want to study Dharma, you totally gave up your life to that purpose.

[20:08]

So here, we won't be able to do that anyhow. So, that is the difference. So, before you enter into anything, most of the time, the student is supposed to study all the major texts or philosophical texts, beginning from the Bodhisattvas' Way of Life, the texts we have, Bodhisattva Way of Life. That is, for the student, it's the beginning book, and that really subdues the, what you call, unruly mind, or that really tells us our nature, of our personality, and that really subdues the person to the... and that brings forth a kind of dharmic flavor when we begin on that text. And usually you start with eighteen famous texts that are called... different types of like the texts on the Madhyamic philosophy, the texts on the

[21:10]

the Prajnaparamita, that means the wisdom, the book of wisdom, or the texts on the Abhidharma, the texts on the Logics, the texts on the Medicines, and so on and so forth. So you have to learn the complete science of learning, actually, whatever you have in Tibet. Usually, you have the learning of Horikon. The science of medicine, the science of arts, the science of logic, the science of metaphysics, that means Buddhism itself. The science of language. You have to measure those five signs as part of your study. So within that Rinpoche's study,

[22:14]

Guru Rinpoche didn't study, Guru Rinpoche haven't had time to study art, Guru Rinpoche haven't had time to study, what do you call, the medicines. But he studied logics, he studied metaphysical Buddhism, all Buddhism itself, and he studied the language. Now, here is language, actually here it means, not just Tibetan language, usually a language that has to do with Buddhism, that means Sanskrit at that time. So, Rinpoche studied the prevalent Sanskrit teachings, Sanskrit grammars, usually in famous, in Tibet are called, pre-Sanskrit commentaries are very famous in Tibet. So, I think Rinpoche is supposed to be the only person right now all over Tibet, who have the complete, what do you call, the complete, what do you call, receipt, or whatever the teaching is, receipt, transmission of the science of language on Sanskrit, actually.

[23:32]

And that means, Rinpoche studied under the Kuno Rinpoche, who was supposed to be one of the greatest living teachers in those days. And he is also a teacher of His Holiness Dalai Lama in later time, in 1960s, in India too. So Rinpoche studied all the things, but then Rinpoche didn't really continue after that. So he just completed. And then at the age of 17 or 18, he returned back to his own local place. Then after that, he received all the different esoteric teachings from Gautama Rinpoche. And he is also, he is the greatest teacher amongst the Tibetans. He is the greatest teacher among Tibetans who has the, what do you call, who has the almost

[24:41]

complete transmission of all the teachings of the different traditions that is prevalent in Tibet. For example, in Tibetan Buddhism, we always speak about the Tibetan Four Traditions. And these Four Traditions, usually we call Sakya, Yama, Karya, and Nirvana. That is only prevalent right now. But there are other many traditions, too. Like, there used to be some time before in the 19th century, four or five other traditions which came up and which has declined and nothing more continued. And these four traditions are supposed to be the existing traditions that we have right now. So, he being the teacher of the Sakya lineage is actually more like embodiment of the of the older recipe traditions also.

[25:47]

That means he has great influence from the Kenji Rinpoche. Now, Kenji Rinpoche is one of the greatest teachers who brought into all the teachings, no matter who brought all the practices and transmissions into a complete set. In other words, he's more like a collector of the teachings into one set. Because he can foresee that if he don't collect it, there may be some kind of distortion or missing or maybe the teachings might decline and no longer and so forth. Rinpoche and all the teachers who are more kind of, really they bring the spirit of preserving the Dharma as a whole, not just whatever practice they have.

[26:59]

So Rinpoche actually represents right now those teachers who have the same responsibility, not just the Sakya tradition. whole responsibility. At the same time, he has his own, maybe 30 or 20, maybe 40 teachers, I don't know exactly, from all the different traditions. So he has his teachers from the many teachers. Not minding of tradition, whatever, it is here. That means, now it seems that when we are talking about his learning, it seems that he just spent his time in just learning, just like we do. But actually that is not true. He... He's been taking the vow to be like Maitreya, great yogi.

[28:04]

He's right now following the process of When you study Dharma, we always say, study reflection and meditation. So then, these are just part of his study. And then the reflection and meditation, he always continued, since he was still like five years old. He always continued. That means, now he is seventy-nine. That means, for seventy-five years, he had, he spent the same day, same time, same practice. In other words, he's sort of a modern Madhudeva or something. He may not have lived in the caves for many years, but he is more like the embodiment of Madhudeva, who really shows us the example of how to carry the Dharma in practice. In other words, when you will see me, you will never spend a single minute talking idle or doing something else that is meaningless, then this whole 24 hours is mindful of what he is doing in the Dharma practices.

[29:19]

And later on, when he becomes age, like around 37 or something, by that time he almost has received all the teachings of the Lamrim, and all of the teachings all the major teachings he received from many teachers all over Tibet. And he traveled all over the important places in Tibet. And now it is the time for him to teach to the other people. And from 37 until 60, he spent his life on teaching. So, all throughout his stay, reflection and teaching and so forth, His meditation and practice is always accompanied. He never left it. For example, we never do that. We just study and we can't really meditate and do that when we do the study. But he is really an example, if we can, to follow his path, how you carry on studying, how you carry on this meditation.

[30:28]

Not only that he did years and years of meditation on different types of rock, sadhanas, that means, for example, to tell you the very simple thing, that we do the chenrezig here every Tuesday in central. Now, that is part and parcel of his teaching. But it doesn't mean that he's just teaching us because he wants us to do. It is because this is his lifelong practice. He generates it as one of his lifelong practice. And this is his main practice, main study, one of the main study and main practice. And in the main... Rinpoche, at that time, he also, and when he started teaching, he always has a sort of a hundreds and hundreds of students. He taught many different types of sadhanas.

[31:31]

For example, There's one group of sadhanas which is called a collection of sadhanas. That means there is seven or eight hundred sadhanas collected in maybe sixteen volumes. And he gave initiation, he gave the teachings and instruction, meditation and practice. He just didn't give that way. He studied it, he mastered it. And he has his own practice and so forth. And he gave the teaching to several hundreds of the monks. Now, in the beginning of, in the midst of his highest-risk career, the time has come for the Dechen Rinpoche, or his teacher, Gautama Rinpoche, who is becoming very old, and who is supposed to pass away very soon, and who is actually, at that time, Dechen Rinpoche's monastery is the greater part.

[32:36]

Having many students at that time, Rinpoche is supposed to be the best student, even though there are many senior students, more learned students and so forth. And as we always say in Dharma, that nothing remains forever, Rinpoche also knew that nothing was going to remain forever. And then Rinpoche's teacher also knew that nothing was going to remain forever. So Rinpoche's teacher asked Rinpoche to come back to the monastery since he was going to pass away. And by the time Rinpoche left for the monastery to meet his teacher, his teacher had already passed. and he left his word or will that Rinpoche should be the next abbot to preside over the Tao Monastery.

[33:45]

Now, when Rinpoche was in the middle of trying to get organized the matters in the monastery and the time has come to leave Tibet, that means There was not much time for Rinpoche to really preside over the Dharma and to really propagate the Dharma as a part of the Dharma Monastery. And that is around when he was 60 years old. He being there, when he came home, For two years, he wandered in Tibet trying to flee the Chinese. And he knew exactly what was going to happen. So he left his hometown to the center of Tibet. When he left the center of Tibet, before the center of Tibet, he left the center of Tibet in 1959 with the Dakshin Rinpoche and Dakshin Rinpoche's wife, who is Rinpoche's niece, towards Bhutan and fled Tibet.

[35:04]

So in other words, to us, it seems Rinpoche's lifelong efforts in the study, reflection, meditation, or whatever he did, seems now effortless. Nothing remains. No student, no teacher, no monastery, no country, nothing. No hope. And Rinpoche doesn't know, nobody knows where people are going. and so forth. But then, Rinpoche has his complete knowledge of what he is going to do. So, within staying one or two years in India, Rinpoche is supposed to be the first Tibetan who came to the United States and who is invited by the University of Washington or something like that. And then, you can see the link That means, at that time, almost nobody in our state even heard of Tibet, one thing.

[36:14]

Not to mention the name of Dharma and so forth. And he knew exactly what he was going to do. He knew that his lifelong practice and so forth was not going to keep him away. He knew that something was going to happen. So he's one of the first persons which is representing all Tibetan Buddhism, and trying to tell something, even though he don't know a single English, to professors and the rest of the students in United States in 1960s. And he never gave hope, and he never is frustrated, even though he lost all, everything, the monks, the monastery, the country, and everything. That means it shows he's actually, if nothing else, he's really a special teacher. He knows what he's doing, and nothing can affect.

[37:15]

And he's more like a great bodhisattva or, in other words, a great warrior who's not going to be discouraged or frustrated. And we can see how he's doing. That means when he left Tibet, he has around 100 hundred monks together, three of them together. And for two years, after two years, when they reached the border of Bhutan, and they slept ten or twelve monks, that's all. Either scattered, or they're pure, or they're, you know, lost. So, if, say, if we are like him, we may just die of frustration or depression or something. We do something. But he's more like a great warrior in Dharma. more like great bodhisattvas, who know exactly what is going to happen, who is fully trained to his dharmic practice, that no matter whatever happens, nothing is going to happen.

[38:17]

For us, if something happens, you know, even if we lose a little bit, a small job, we feel frustrated. That is our natural feeling. If I lose, for example, my bag outside, I may be frustrated for hours, and so forth. good or bad, you know, happy or unhappy. For the enlightened beings, it's nothing. It's just like that. That is true. Rinpoche's life period of 75 years, like that. You know, just all the way, no longer. You spend 10, 20 years with happy God, no more. You spend 10, 20 years with unhappy God, no more right now. Whatever. So, for them, the past, present and future, or the good or bad, or the happy or unhappy, it's almost the same taste of great happiness itself, not the kind of happiness we have, the kind of enlightened happiness.

[39:19]

That means Rinpoche is not in the beginning a special person. He is a special person in some way, but He is not a special person from the very beginning. He started the same thing as we do. In other words, he lost all his monastery and monks. Now here we can see him actually without any hope. To us, it's without any hope, without any cravings and so forth. Everything happens for him. Now he has several hundreds of students all over the United States. And every time, he has no time. for himself, and that is, for us, it may be frustrating, but for him, it doesn't make a difference. And he's known almost all over the world, in certain ways, and so forth. So, his life story gives us, what do you call, brave, plain truth, what do you call, some kind of truth, which seems interesting,

[40:32]

but it also can be applicable to our own life. That once you have the aim, once you know what you're doing, once you understand Dharma, once you practice Dharma, there's nothing going to stop us. There's nothing going to frustrate us. There's nothing going to be devoid of anything else. So, there is one thing even though Rinpoche lost everything. In other words, let us say, Rinpoche has, physically, to us Rinpoche expresses, usually expresses, his hope of rebuilding the Tathagata Monastery. That is true. But he's doing just, he's doing one thing for the Dharma. He's doing it because he has a responsibility to bring up that center of learning, another shape, another new center of learning.

[41:44]

But to us, he's not building, he already has built, or he already built wherever he goes. And there is no shortage of students, and he has no shortage of his teachings. And there is no hardship, no frustration, no hardship for anything, whatever he does, whatever he does. One time, one of the, I think most of you remember, when Deshru Mitra was asked, one of our students, like, oh, my son is very interested in Dharma and so forth. I like that Rinpoche, but my son doesn't listen to me because he's not going to take a, what do you call, family life. And Rinpoche asks him, if you don't take family life, what happens?

[42:46]

And they say, oh, he won't have children. And then they also say that if he's not going to have family life, he's not going to have children. But to me, I don't have any problem, you know. I never married, but I have hundreds of children with me. And it is actually very, you know, tricky. But at the same time, it is true. It is true that he has hundreds of children. So we always see in our physical terms, you know. We always see in our own... wishes, and so forth. For Rinpoche, he never has any shortage of children, never has a shortage of students. Now, what we can get out of it is, now, this whole story is just a story.

[43:47]

Now, what we can do is, there are many other esoteric stories, which may not be too useful for us. which may not be necessary for us to understand it. In other words, for us, what remains to do is, he is actually living, he is not a Shakyamuni Buddha who came like two hundred, five hundred, two thousand years ago. He is actually living and he is right in front of us and he is really a source of great blessings and teachings and he really is embodiment of the are the buddhas himself. So that means, instead of trying to worship or praise him personally, for us, if we understand the importance of his presence, the importance of whatever dharma teaching he gives us, just one sentence maybe, just maybe two lines, how are we going to take advantage of that?

[44:55]

For example, Personally, I also regret many times, for example, all throughout years, what I have done, so far. Such great teachers living here and there, and we are more like, just like a, what do you call, a kind of pig that you always think of food and place to sleep. That much we know. I mean, not all of us, I'm something like that. So it's more like my mind is limited. I can't think of anything else. But it's not that we should say that we are limited, but we should realize the importance of such living teachers. We know that Tibet is lost. That doesn't make a difference. But together, we lost the whole wealth of Dharma that we have in this world.

[45:57]

Almost, almost 50% of the living teachers have gone physically. Almost 50% of teachings have gone physically. Now we have about 50. Out of that 50, it is not for the teacher. Now it is up for the students how they're going to take it and they're going to sustain the teaching. They're going to, what do you call, bring the teaching. they are going to, how they are going to, what do you call, take it and then, what do you call, sustain it at life, that is for us. And for the teachers, their job is finished. They sustain. They gather teachings and hundreds and hundreds of teachers, hundreds of teachings and instructions, practice all through our life, same day, same time. Spends years and years in meditations and caves and so forth. They did what they have to be done, whatever the time permits, whatever the opportunity permits.

[47:04]

And they have nothing more. They've taken full responsibility to live this Dharma. Now it is for the students to ask the teacher to give the teachings. It's not that the teacher is important. The teachings are like a person who's taking almost a last breath, you know. If you do, don't do something, it's going to die anyway. So, the teachings are not preserved in a book. They are not preserved in a type of quorum. They cannot never be preserved in television. It can only be preserved in our practice and realization. That is the only way. And that means we know the importance of teaching. We know the importance of the presence of the teacher.

[48:05]

Now, it is all up to us. We know everything. To really get the teachings and utilize the opportunity and take advantage with the teachers, the teachings the teachers can teach us. That means we may not be able to exactly like Rinpoche, we may not be able to follow exactly like Milarepa, but we can still follow a lot of things that they have done. So, by the end of our life, in other words, say, if I'm going to die, say 80, I don't care when I die, because I know I'm going to die. But what we care is if we free misuses our life for something trivial matter, you know. And that is really the thing we care. Now what we are going to do is we utilize this chance and the opportunity for something greater, more beneficial, more purposeful, more meaningful.

[49:16]

That is what we are trying to do. So that means for Rinpoche, as we always say, samsara and nirvana. So one of the philosophies of Sakhya tradition is the non-differentiation of samsara and nirvana. And that actually comes, acts directly from Buddha. That means, for example, if you praise Buddha, it doesn't make any difference. If you hurt or if you harm Buddha, it also doesn't make any difference. They're totally in line, so it doesn't make They are not moved by any pains, not moved by any praises. That means they are not moved by any of the worldly trivial things. So, for example, we are moved by one of the worldly... eight worldly... what do you call it? What do you say? Worldly... Yeah, we use the word worldly, and that is... it sums up our attitude, how we react. For example, if somebody says nice thing to me, I like it.

[50:20]

If somebody says bad things, I dislike it. If I get something, I like it. If I gain some, any material or something. If I lose it, I have DR. What do you call it? I feel unhappy. Then at the same time, what do you call it? Then there's another thing. And there's praises. What do you call it? Or if somebody says great, even though they don't praise, but they might say a very sweet sound, you know, and we like it, we're pleased by that. And somebody says, even though they don't blame it, but they say it in a harsh word. We dislike it. So, our life, one way or another, is whole life that much, or just that much. It's called worry, darn, we're involved that much. Now, for the Great Teachers' Association, They're away from this trivial thing.

[51:23]

If they get something like that, say, get some mala, they don't care. They're not moved by that kind of small things, in other words. If they lose anything, they're not influenced by that. So in other words, away from all the extremes, away from all the worldly trivials, that means They have nothing to lose, nothing to gain. When the time to come to go into Nirvana, they have nothing to regret. They don't feel that, oh, I didn't finish that much. They have nothing to regret that they did something wrong. So their mind is so completely free in our world. For example, if a student in Columbia University didn't study that way, And he might think, oh, the examination is coming near, and he's so much moved, you know, I have to work hard. Or I might get failed, I might get shamed, and so on and so forth.

[52:28]

That means it shows that either he didn't do anything, either he don't have time, either he did wrong, so the mental effects come at the time of the examination. And that happens to the 99% of the human beings in the world at the time of dying. And for enlightened beings, whether death or life, it doesn't make a difference. That means, when we're going through the old age, for example, we always regret. We always regret because we did something wrong in the past. We always feel remorse or feel sorry because we enjoyed our young life and now we no longer can enjoy that way, and so forth. So, whatever things we have done, in our young time, or in our youth time. To the old people, it is just like a mirror. They see everything all the time. That means their only mind is filled with the kind of trivial things inside it, and that much.

[53:38]

Now, for the people, great beings, they're free from all this kind of... In other words, when we attribute Buddha, we always say, um... To the Buddha we say, the one who has completed his works, the one who has unloaded his load, that means he has not loaded, he has manually loaded. The one who has completed his purpose, and so forth, many attributions we have. So, in our life here, even if we cannot do exactly right in the chair, we can apply whatever we are doing, so that whatever the activities we do can be transformed, or can be used as something purpose, meaningful, something for greater purpose.

[54:49]

This afternoon I was talking with Liz, and Liz was trying to say, This has the Bodhisattva as the Pratig buddha and Shravaka buddha. These are called the enlightened beings who are not like the Bodhisattvas. And do they have compassion? And we say that there is a compassion too. And they also teach, they also help sentient beings too. But then what makes difference between Pratig buddha and Bodhisattvas? So I was thinking the best ways to explain is, say, what we are trying to do is, we're always trying to accomplish something, trying to build our territory perfect, you know. First, make a little space. If you have a little space, you want to clean it near about, you know. When you clean it, you want to make a fence, you know, that nobody will come, you know. And so on and so forth, you know, we make our own territory and so forth.

[55:50]

You have house and you want to make it, You have a painting, you need some other hangings. So you always go on building and building. That is good too. But what happens is, that doesn't make much sense. For example, if I'm completely perfect in worldly prosperity, say I'm living in a very nice house, a great palace, and then the inside is filled with wealth and food and everything. If somebody is waiting at my door, I'm starving. I'm starving. If I'm really a true Dharma practitioner, I won't have a single taste of my prosperity. You see the contrast? I won't have taste. If I'm really a Dharma practitioner, I won't really have taste of having all the wealth.

[56:53]

and even some person who's starving, not to mention without housing, a person who doesn't have mouthful to eat, I won't have a chance or a moment to enjoy my wealth, if I'm really a Dharma practitioner. So that means it shows us the futility of self-preservation with trying to preserve ourselves and so forth. But that self, But the same prosperity can be very meaningful if you use it for a great purpose. If you use it for helping the poor, if you use it for many... here we say all these projects, you know, say use it for projects and so forth. At that point, we need wealth, that's true. We need wealth to help, to bring them, to develop, and so on and so forth. So, on both sides, we always need wealth. But as long as the world is used for just one's purpose, it is just like a rotten fruit, that you can't actually use it.

[58:03]

That means, at that point, our Dharma teaching always tells us, don't use, don't collect Dharma, don't collect wealth, it will just go away and so forth. Don't attach to your life, it will die, it will decay. That means, If we don't use it for good purpose, we're showing the futility of the existence. Now, the same life, the same kind of good condition, the same kind of prosperity can bring the happiness and prosperity all over the world. At that time, we really have to see the preciousness of our life instead of seeing the body as futile, instead of seeing the body as something impermanent or something that will decay or something. At that point, the body is more like a precious jewel. So we see the differences, how we are going to apply those attitudes within us. So that means, let's go back to Rinpoche.

[59:10]

So, to Rinpoche, nothing makes a difference. He has done everything, completed his work. No remorse, nothing. And to me, for example, He is an enlightened person, so he is totally free from the world of trivials. No gain, no loss, nothing affects him. The only thing that he has is to teach us Dharma, to help sentient beings. That's all he has, that much. So, having had such a great living teacher we have in present us, One thing I want to remind all of us is trying to use as much as the time that Rinpoche is going to stay in New York. I'm sure that it is a great burden for Rinpoche's age.

[60:12]

He is now turning 79. But whatever the teachings he can afford to give us, in its time wise, whatever. It is very, very important for us to take the teaching and preserve it because I'm not telling this vociferously. It is true that whoever gets the teaching, even five people, ten people, twelve people, those are the real people who are going to do something. If they don't do it, then who is going to do? So we have to If we are going to preserve the teaching for the coming centuries, this is the time and this is our responsibility in this century to preserve that. That means, Rinpoche can't give the teaching to the next generation or next century. He can't do that.

[61:13]

For the next generation, next century, it is up to us. And it is not just simply pretending to be listening to Dharma. We have to take advantage first. Whatever teaching we got, we try to preserve it. And whatever teachings we preserve, then only we can practice and we can impart it to the next generation. So, for example, one of his very common teachings very common, very important teaching is great compassion, generosity. That means his lifelong practice of meditation. And that will be very beneficial for all of us. And like there are other teachings he did, like he has like Vajra

[62:14]

You have to know one thing, how far, how it is, so forth. And then there are hundreds and hundreds of teachings.

[62:32]

@Transcribed_v004
@Text_v004
@Score_JJ