The 4th of the 4 Revolutions in Outlook: Cause & Effect (Karma)

20 - Spring 2020 Impure Mind as Path: The 4th Revolution in Perspective: Cause & Effect (Karma)

[00:09] Good morning!

This morning we turn to the fourth of these four revolutions in outlook and I’d like to just repeat the reason for using this translation, especially the emphasis on revolution. Obviously, there are many kinds of revolutions, many of more violence containing a lot of bloodshed and ego and grasping for power, and so forth. And that’s absolutely, of course, not what I have in mind. With my background in history of science, philosophy of science, then the kind of revolutions I’m most familiar with [is] on the scientific revolutions. The Copernican revolution, or better called the Galilean where the shift—and I repeat just a little bit—but prior to that point, it was just widely assumed in western civilization the earth is in the center of the universe, everything else was created for us. You can see about 3,000 stars with the naked eye so all those 3,000 stars are created—I guess—as decorations for us, something to make a nice sky pleasant. And the shift from that, let alone to one-hundred billions galaxies, but even the shift to the Sun being at the center and we’re simply one of a number of planets circling around the Sun, if one understands the evidence behind that—it wasn’t just an opinion, it wasn’t my vote—it was the empirical evidence demanded that that shift take place because the earlier one was refuted unequivocally by empirical evidence, first by Galileo and then the final touches were done in the eighteenth century by an English astronomer. And then it was quite clear, the Copernican view is correct and the Ptolemaic one was completely false, it’s no longer a matter of opinion. But if you don’t just believe that, but if you view that, if you previously viewed the earth as being in the center of the entire universe and, of course, really for human beings on this planet, and shifting to that and then over the course of 400 years then shifting to one-hundred billions galaxies, that just entails a radical 180 degree turn away from the way you previously viewed planet earth, the role of humanity in the universe, and so on.

Likewise with Dharma, so I want to elaborate. But again, if you see the evidence behind this theory that it was enormously supported by empirical evidence, then the view that human beings stand all by ourselves, isolated, unconnected, with all other animals, and the notion that was fairly prevalent is that human beings uniquely are endowed with consciousness since we’re endowed with immortal souls, and the notion that human beings uniquely have emotions and feelings, that was fairly widespread. And Darwin and then further research, especially more recently the marvelous research of Jane Goodall shows that, well, we have a lot of kin in here and they are conscious and have feelings, they want to be happy, they want to be free of suffering. And this is a radical shift, it is a 180-degree view, shift of view, of perspective.

[03:09] So, that’s what I mean and now let’s look at this fourth point. But each of them entails a fundamental reversal, just around, about face from views that are very common now and presumably were very common in the past as well. And so now this view—actions and their consequences—actions, deeds performed in one lifetime, which lay or plant imprints or potentialities and so forth, habitual propensities on the mindstream, and then over the course of time germinate and manifest as consequences in a future lifetime. That view, which many people believe simply as religious view—fair enough—if they don’t understand the reasoning behind it, they see no evidence behind it, they’ll say well just some people believe. But that view, of course, is diametrically opposed, it couldn’t be more opposite than the view that’s still very prevalent in our modern world. In communist China, other communist countries, it is kind of the state religion. And that is: the universe is mindless, the universe is amoral, the universe is devoid of purpose, evolution is devoid of purpose, it is meaningless, it is materialistic, and human beings are simply biological organisms operating according to laws of physics, chemistry, biology. So there’s no morality in the universe, morality is just whatever we say it is, and the universe is just mindless, uncaring, and is grinding away. So, from that view to the Buddha’s view, which the Buddha said, he saw this with direct perception, that was his claim, his assertion. He saw with direct perception, he said, as he described what he discovered on the night of his enlightenment and he said he have discovered his own countless past rebirth from self. Second watch of the night, he discovered the countless rebirth of myriad other sentient beings and he saw the relationships from one lifetime to another, how actions give rise to effects in future lifetimes including manifesting in six realms of existence.

And so, to understand this view, because it’s not like anything we have in the west, it’s not like the world view of Judaism, Christianity, or Islam, they’re different, for all of these there is a creator, a God, who imposes his moral laws on the universe and he rewards and punishes according to whether we are obedient or not. So, that’s not the Buddhas’ view and, of course, the Buddha’s view is much further away from the materialistic view—as I described earlier that we’re very familiar with— and so here’s the view, just so we understand it and don’t conflate it with things that it’s not.

[05:51] So, again the first type of understanding to be gained, when we’re venturing into Buddhism or frankly, many other things, is: do we understand clearly what was said? What is the Buddhist view when it comes to karma? Now granted it is an immensely complex subject, the Buddha said in fact, of all of his teachings, there are none that are more complex than the intricacies of actions and their consequences or the laws of karma. But one can draw out central themes, essential themes, that really get the gist of it. And so the overall theme is virtuous behavior over the long term as the karma germinates and comes to fruition, virtuous behavior gives rise to well-being, to happiness, to good fortune, and non-virtuous behavior gives rise to suffering within the human realm or the lower realms of the animals, pretas, and the hell-beings. So, there it is, very straightforward. It is the theme of “as you sow, so shall you reap” that is, if you sow toxic seeds, you reap a toxic harvest, if you sow good seeds, you will reap a bountiful and good harvest. But what’s the reasoning behind this, can we fathom it or is it simply an act of faith? Clearly, faith is involved, but as I’ve looked into this, there’s a bit more than simple faith, actually I see this is actually very reasonable, but it is a fundamentally different way of viewing reality as a whole, the universe. So, consider this: that all non-virtuous deeds, evil deeds, sinful deeds, however you want to choose, call them, every single one that are ever committed by human beings or, for that matter, any other kind of sentient beings, all non-virtuous deeds are always aroused without exception, they arouse by the activation of mental afflictions, of kleshas.

Now, there are 84,000 of them if you wanted a big list, there are six primary ones, there are twenty derivative ones if you want a smaller list, but for the time being, I’m quite content with the three root poisons, the three fundamental afflictions of the mind. And bear in mind the term affliction, it is a pretty close translation, certainly much better than emotional afflictions and so forth, and so on. Most kleshas are not emotions, so all of those definitions of afflictive emotions, destructive emotions, and so forth, they’re just, they’re really wrong translations for the very simple reason, most mental afflictions are not emotions. Ignorance is not an emotion, attachment is not an emotion, it’s cognitive, not affective. So, setting that aside, klesha, the very definition of klesha is that which afflicts the mind, disturbs the equilibrium of the mind, distorts our perception and way of apprehending reality. So, it’s not… when we speak of an affliction of the body—we may say “oh, I’ve got a really bad itch”, that’s my affliction, I really itch a lot—but that’s a symptom. Kleshas are not a symptom, they’re the cause of all manner of mental distress. That’s a big statement. So, more technically, it’s kind of an awkward translation, kleshas are the afflictors of the mind, they are that which afflict, they’re not the symptoms. Depression is not an affliction, fear is not an affliction, anxiety is not an affliction, they are symptoms of kleshas, but they themselves are not kleshas, not in the Buddhist’s view. So, the kleshas are not what we experience as the unpleasant effect, for which we may take drugs to suppress the effects without ever getting to the root or curing any mental disease. Mental afflictions are the mental diseases, and they come in a wide variety, but three are pretty sufficient to get the gist of it.

[09:43] And so, all unwholesome behavior, harmful behavior, stems from either craving and attachment, hostility and anger or from ignorance, delusion. So, I hyphenated three translations of these three root afflictions. But the affliction, the affliction, the klesha of attachment or craving is by definition rooted in ignorance and misapprehension of reality. If we desire something very strongly but it is not rooted in ignorance or delusion, then the desire maybe immensely strong, the yearning to free all sentient beings from suffering, the yearning to achieve enlightenment, the yearning to be of service to others, the yearning may be very, very, strong but that doesn’t make it a mental affliction. And in a mental affliction, you might have a mild craving of something that is rooted in delusion and it’s still a mental affliction. And likewise not all manner of anger are necessarily toxic or afflictive. Most are, most are, but when the anger, the ferocity, the aggression, and so forth, when they’re rooted in ignorance and delusion, then whether they’re mild or whether they are fierce, they are mental afflictions. So, it all boils down to a mental affliction is a mental affliction if and only if it’s rooted in ignorance and delusion, not knowing the nature of reality and getting the nature of reality wrong. And above all with regards to ourselves. Not knowing, who am I? What is my nature? Not knowing the referent of the word me or you. Not knowing, avidya, unaware, and then getting it wrong, identifying with the body as me, as the mind as me, or thinking I somehow stand independently of my body and mind and I’m in charge of them. All of those are delusions and this reified sense, this concrete high sense of self, then see—my hand always does that, then creates this absolute dichotomy or separation with the other, because we grasp on to others in the same way as being autonomous over there, inherently existent., And then as soon as we feel this absolute separation between self and other, then naturally out of that will come craving and attachment and greed for others that seem conducive to one’s well-being. And anger, hatred, hostility, to others who seem to be in the way of, or antagonist to one’s well-being. So, consider for yourself, we all have a sense of what is unwholesome behavior, start with the ten non-virtues if you like: killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, abuse, slander, idle gossip, mentally ill will or enmity, avarice, false views, views that are out of accord with reality, and so all of these give rise to suffering.

[12:42] But now, here’s what we can draw from that and that is: if all harmful behavior, non-virtuous behavior stems from mental affliction and they all stem from ignorance and miss apprehension of reality, then it naturally follows that all non-virtuous behavior is behaving out of accord with reality, and when we behave out of accord with reality, then over the long term, as the karma comes to ripening, to fruition, then we experience it as suffering, because our behavior is out of accord with what is true. Whereas virtue is fundamentally, compared to non-virtue, is rooted in reality, altruism, wisdom, compassion, mindfulness, the whole list of virtues, these are rooted in reality, to varying degrees, but they’re not antagonistic reality as are all kinds of behavior and attitudes that are rooted in mental afflictions.

[13:47] And so simply put, in terms of this world view, there’s a moral fabric in the very nature of the universe as a whole, and it’s not made up by people and is not invented by the Buddha and it is such that, when we act in accordance with reality, then overtime, this turns out well for us, we reap a good harvest. And when we act out of accordance with reality, grasping onto oneself as autonomous, grasping on to one ‘s own well-being as more important than everybody else’s, which is obviously not true, then the repercussions from that come back to us and it is suffering. But there’s nobody out there in the Buddhist worldview, there’s nobody out there rewarding us or punishing us for good or bad behavior. The closest analogy I consider this, which is not the same, it’s simply an analogy, is that when we violate the natural environment, which we’ve been doing to an unprecedented degree over the last 150 years, when we violate, when we toxify, we put pollutants into the water and into the soil and into the air and we exhaust natural wildlife, we wipe out natural habitat, we fill the sky, you know, with carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, the carbon imprint. Then this is all violating our environment, it’s polluting, it is not acting in accordance with the echosphere, maintaining its equilibrium and supporting life on the planet. We as the human species, we have been acting, especially over the last 150 years, in ways that are, violate the laws of nature in terms of ecosphere and the preservation and cultivation of life on this planet. So, this is environmental non-virtue, unethical behavior with respect to the inanimate environment. Oceans, the mountains, and so forth, and so on.

[15:48] And so what happens when we behave that way? Well, we don’t need to think of the earth as Gaia, as some spirit that comes and punishes us. We don’t need to go to earth spirits and all those kinds of spirits—they may well exist—I’m not refuting them, questioning them, it is not what I’m getting at here, it is just speaking as a person who would have devoted my life to environmental activism. We don’t need to call upon supernatural agencies here, because it’s in the very fabric of nature itself. When we behave in such a way then the echosphere responds over time and often we don’t have to wait too long, not for multiple lifetimes to find that this environment is now becoming increasingly hostile to our survival and flourishing. So, we experience the effects of environmental non-virtue and we experience it as seeing our fellow species being depleted, vanishing off the face of the earth. Balances of the ecosphere of the climate, and so forth, being thrown out of whack. We find that we’re emptying the oceans of fish and filling them with plastic, and so forth. And how that comes back to us as we send that out in the fabric of nature, then it comes rippling back and lo and behold the harvest that we reap from the way we’ve been violating, polluting, desecrating the environment, we experience as hardship. And so that’s a close analogy.

[17:16] So, I think with that I would like to go to the meditation to reflect upon, to investigate first of all, first of all to understand, to investigate: is this possible—we can’t prove it—but the materialists can’t prove that it’s a mindless universe either, and it would be difficult for the theist to prove God is actually punishing some and rewarding others, and so forth. These may be true but none of these lend themselves to empirical testing. But this one is said to be rooted in the Buddha’s own realization and other great contemplatives have corroborated this. Is it true or not? Well, once again we have to do the research ourselves if we want to go to the point of knowledge. But that’s what the whole Buddhist path is about. So, actions and their consequences. It’s such a profound departure from the widespread assumption “if nobody finds out about it, I get away with it, there’s no repercussions for me if nobody knows’'. That morality is just whatever we say it is, that it is purely subjective. This is a notion very common in something called the non-overlapping magisteria that science describes the nature of objective reality, which is mindless and amoral, runs according to the laws of physics, and so forth. Whereas, there’s subjective experience and this is what we humans bring to reality but it’s purely subject and it’s our creation, it is a kind of a fundamental ethical—what’s that term— relativism, relativism, that, well, it’s whatever we say it is, make it up as you go.

So, this is a profoundly different way of viewing reality, the whole of reality, and our role in nature and the significance of our actions not only what other people can see, our physical behavior that can be measured objectively, our verbal behavior that people can hear or record but also our mental behavior. As soon as there’s intention, mentally, we’re intending to do something, that is already in action and karma is being accrued. Nobody else may know about it. It doesn’t matter whether they know about it, action is already being engaged in and there are imprints from that and we will sow the seeds, harvest the seeds we have sown. So, the impact of this—because I’ve been meditating on this for quite some time—is a sense of extraordinary moral responsibility, that each of us is responsible for every deed we’re engaging in private and public, and we must be the primary witness. We have to be wise, we have to develop ethical intelligence to be the wise primary witness of our own conduct of body, speech, and mind and know for ourselves is this wholesome, is it unwholesome? Or it might be neutral.

[20:18] Final word before we go to meditation. One of the great implications to this is shared by Shantideva, and he writes about this in the fifth chapter of his great work “Guided Bodhisattva Way of Life” on introspection and that is: we have the ability, we human beings especially, if we cultivate and refine our faculty of introspection and mindfulness to monitor our minds and to recognize when on occasion the mind becomes dominated by mental affliction. It’s not always equally dominated, it’s kind of like malaria, apparently I never had it, but then you can get it and then for a long time have no symptoms and then you get another bout of malaria and then you don’t, and then you get it again, and so mental afflictions are kind of like that, we have them they’re in our mind stream, we have been infected since beginningless time, we’ve been infected with the bacteria, the toxic viruses of mental afflictions. But they’re not always active, they don’t always dominate the mind but on occasion they do. So, we can watch. This is the central theme of Buddhist practice. We can watch and see when does a strong sense of ego arise? Me, me, something robust, separate, independent, or even me as superior to other people, then we call it pride or arrogance, when this craving comes up that I, I want that, that will give me happiness, I got to get that, I got to hold on to that. That’s a mental affliction or that person, that situation, that’s the cause of my suffering, that I have to overcome, that I have to run away from or dominate or exterminate. All of these rooted in me, me, me, me, I, me, mine.

So, these core afflictions, they come and they go, but Shantideva’s pith advice, this is the key to world peace and I’m actually speaking literally here. If we all do this simultaneously, you know so many waves of magic wand and all 7.8 billions of us regardless of world view, come to recognize mental afflictions when they arise, we recognize them for what they are: this is an afflictor, a destructor, a harmor of my mind—ignorance, craving, hostility, jealousy, pride, etcetera. See them when they come up, like an enemy who is attacking your castle. See when they come up and when they come out and they’re assaulting, they’re seeking dominion over your mind or they’re even gaining dominion, you are immersed in, your awareness is sucked up into a mental affliction, and your mind is afflicted. When you note that, you can note that with introspection, you can recognize: ah! I see now a lot of egos coming up, or greed or hatred and so forth, I see that coming up. And then Shantideva’s advice, so simple and so wise: when you see that your mind is dominated by any of the mental afflictions, there’s probably going to be some strong impetus, some kind of incentive to push, express it, express it. Don’t! He says: when you see that your mind is dominated by mental afflictions, be like a piece of wood. Now, this is extremely relevant to where we are right now in the pandemic. If you recognize that you have symptoms of the coronavirus, mild or strong, but if you see you have contracted that virus, what’s your responsibility to yourself and everybody around yourself? Quarantine yourself! Don’t interact. Quarantine yourself, social distancing, do not let it spread. It may be very unpleasant, it may even kill you, but you have a moral responsibility to do everything you possibly can not to infect anybody else, we all know that, right? Well, far more deadly than the coronavirus, far more detrimental over all of recorded history and unrecorded history, mental afflictions are far more destructive than the coronavirus. They are afflicting us, they are at the root of all wars, of all aggression, all greed, all evil in the world, all of it.

[24:44] And so, when we see our minds are infected and dominated by mental afflictions, that’s the time to not do anything at all, don’t send email, don’t talk, don’t speak, don’t act, don’t express it. It will pass, especially if you have some skillful means to attenuate the symptoms and get them to calm down, restore to balance. But don’t express them, be like a piece of wood. Just like a person who’s contracted the virus, quarantines in his/her room him/herself. In most cases they do survive and once they are free of the virus and no longer contagious, then go out for social interaction and everything else you want to do. It’s really a very close parallel. If we would all follow just that, there would be no more war, no more manifestations of greed, and imperialism, and so forth, and so on. We can actually live in harmony with each other and with our many other fellow creatures the twenty billion-billion animals that we share this planet with. So, on that note then let’s go to the meditation, see how we can immerse ourselves in this view and practice accordingly.

[Meditation]

[26:51] This time I will recite the verses of refuge and bodhicitta in English followed by the seven-line prayer also in English. Reciting each one just once.

In the Buddha, the Dharma and supreme community, I take refuge until my enlightenment. With the collections gather to my cultivation of generosity and so on, May I achieve Buddhahood for the benefit of all beings.

Hūṃ In the northwest frontier of Oḍḍiyāna, in the heart of a lotus sits the one renowned as Padmasambhava, who achieved the wondrous supreme siddhi, and is surrounded by a host of many dākiṇīs. Following in your footsteps, I devote myself to practice. Please come forth and bestow your blessings. Guru Padma siddhi hūṃ

[28:41] With your practice, the remainder of the session then imbued with the sense of taking refuge and imbued with a profound aspiration and resolve of bodhicitta, imbued with blessings. And we settle body, speech and mind in their natural states.

[30:54] As you rest in that sense of ease, stillness, and clarity of awareness, awareness resting in its own place, let your eyes be at least partially open. Bring your awareness out into space. It is always spacious, it’s actually coextensive with the space of awareness in which all manner of appearances arise, sensory and mental. Let us never have the notion that awareness is something small, contained within some dark container like the skull.

And as a brief preliminary exercise to calm the mind, to soothe the turbulence of the conceptual mind, let’s count just seven breaths, one stacatto count for each cycle of the respiration and between counts let your mind to be silent and as mindful as possible.

[33:28] And now, continuing to rest in this simple, quiet, stillness of awareness, self-knowing, self- illuminating, observe the activities of the mind. Can you detect introspectively when your mind is relatively unperturbed, balanced, relaxed, still and clear? Can you recognize it when the mind is relatively uninfluenced by the rising of mental afflictions, calm, clear, undistorted, unafflicted, balanced?

This can be an enormously helpful exercise to establish in terms of your own experience the baseline of your mind, what it feels like, how you experience your mind, when it’s not being overtly and explicitly afflicted. Not by ego, greed, craving, hostility, jealousy, or any other of the afflictions of the mind. There’s a serenity there, a balance. The mind is healthy. And then even in the course of this session you may find you lose that balance, something arises that collapses your mind, torques your mind, disturbs the balance of your mind. The ability to recognize mental afflictions when they arise is of the utmost value to our well-being. It’s like knowing when you’re sick, knowing when to rest, when to isolate yourself and not continue to behave as if you’re well, thereby potentially injuring yourself, exacerbating the disease, let alone the harm you may wreak upon others.

[36:37] When you’re resting in the stillness of awareness, can you detect when an intention arises? It could be the intention to bring back your attention if your mind has wandered, it could be the intention to move your body, that some part is feeling uncomfortable, or there’s an itch, any type of intention. Can you see when it arises? Can you recognize wholesome or virtuous, unwholesome, non-virtuous and ethically neutral intentions?

Can you recognize the emotions when they come up? Happy, sad, can be agitated or peaceful, afraid or serene, angry, resentful, and so on? Can you observe emotions rather than simply being caught in their grip as soon as they arise? And having your attention focused on that which arouses the emotions, can you observe emotions without being caught in their grip? Resting in the stillness of awareness observing the movements of emotions without expressing them, without necessarily acting upon them. Herein lies your freedom to make wise choices.

[39:08] Either wholesome emotions, afflictive emotions, emotions worthy of being expressed, another one’s worthy of being quarantined, contained without expression. And likewise, for desires. Can you observe them rather than simply being absorbed by them and focusing on the referent?

Can you observe thoughts not simply thinking them with your attention riveted on the object of the thoughts? Can you observe thoughts as they arise especially the inner conversations, the commentary of the mind, the speech of the mind, can you observe it and recognize some thoughts maybe quite afflictive, toxic, others neutral and others beneficial?

[41:07] Some of the most valuable knowledge you’ll ever gain in terms of its practical benefit is the ability to discern in your own experience, afflictive versus non-afflictive, thoughts, desires, emotions, intentions. And afflictive or non afflictive ways of viewing reality, ways of viewing others that are harmful in the very nature of the viewing itself, in others with contempt, condescension, aversion, hatred, and so on. Viewing others as simply objects of one’s own gratification, of craving and attachment, viewing others with jealousy. Recognizing these mental afflictions when they arise in the mind and knowing, for the sake of your own benefit, let alone others, which ones are worthy of expression and which ones are not.

And being like a piece of wood when you see that your mind is afflicted. This is your freedom. We don’t have freedom now for afflictions never to arise again. But we do have the freedom to limit the harm they inflict by not expressing them, and not identifying with them, observing them, applying antidotes if you find it helpful or otherwise simply observing them and watching them release themselves.

[43:47] The most foundational wisdom and understanding and intelligence that we have is our ability to distinguish wholesome and unwholesome behavior and the will to cultivate the wholesome and counteract the unwholesome. This is the key to genuine well-being from the bottom up.

As we come to the remaining minutes of this session, let’s move now back to the practice of tonglen, visualizing once again symbolically our own pristine awareness as a radiant orb of light at the heart. And now, let your awareness grow large, expand the field of your awareness, the field of caring to all these beings around you, each one wishing for happiness just like we do, each one wishing to be free of suffering.

[45:02 ] But attend with compassion to all those beings [who] have no idea what mental afflictions are. They don’t know how to distinguish between afflictive and non-afflictive mental states, not clear about what is wholesome and unwholesome behavior, not knowing what are the true causes of genuine well-being and the true causes of suffering.

For those of us who are ignorant, as Shantideva says “while seeking to be free of suffering, we hasten after the very causes of suffering, and out of delusion, while wishing to find happiness, we destroy the causes of our own happiness as if they were our foes.” Are we not prone to doing this on occasion ourselves, and is it not also common—ever so common in the world around us? We engage in harmful behavior because we don’t know better, we are ignorant to view all sentient beings with the eyes of compassion, the heart of loving-kindness.

And as you breathe in, arouse the yearning may each person, every sentient being like myself be free of suffering and its causes and imagine breathing in and drawing in the darkness of ignorance, of mental afflictions, and the resulting suffering, draw it all in, and extinguishing the darkness in your heart, taking it upon yourself and then extinguishing it.

[47:29] With every out-breath, breathe out this light from your heart with the aspiration, may all beings be imbued with the eyes of wisdom. Recognizing the true causes of suffering and those causes of genuine well-being and may each one with such wisdom, such vision, cultivate the causes of happiness and find the well-being that is their heart’s desire and breathe out the light of loving-kindness embracing each one. Then release all appearances, all desires, all activities of the mind, and for just a few moments rest in the utter simplicity and natural purity of your own awareness.

[Meditation ends]

[51:04] I’d like to take time for one question, it lingers, and this is from Mark, and he asks: “after listening to your teaching about prophecy received by Dudjom Lingpa, I was left with the impression that lama Alan firmly believes that a sufficient number of disciples achieving rainbow body and manifesting spontaneously in Samboghakaya and Nirmanakaya will be greatly beneficial to stop the degeneration of our world and humanity. Can you elaborate a bit more?”

I guess so. If we should just imagine it, and imagine it’s not confined to one religion or Tibetan Buddhism or the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Imagine that it’s not sectarian, that it’s not just for an elite—few belonging to one religious group or ideological group. I think there are grounds for believing that could happen. I spoke about that earlier. But imagine people achieving not only rainbow body, because there are different gradations of that. The most common one, as I mentioned before, that continues to happen—this happened just recently within the last 20 years, at least once—is where, when a person dies, a highly accomplished Dzogchen master, man or woman, of course, dies then the body simply dissolves into rainbow light, leaving only hair and nails behind. That’s quite impressive but then you don’t know what happens after that, they just… they left the stage. So, within this world view, they didn’t just disappear, of course, they’ve achieved, many believe, perfect enlightenment of a Buddha, others believe, well, at least a very high state of realization if not perfect awakening itself. But then with that transformation, then they can manifest in myriad ways, but you might not recognize them, they might manifest in an entirely different form. And so, they continue serving the sentient beings.

But this highest form of manifestation of rainbow body, this great-transference rainbow body, in Tibetan [Tibetan 53:22] as I mentioned before, it is very rare. In the history of Tibetan Buddhism—you can count the numbers on the fingers of one hand—that have manifested that while they’re still alive and well. Their bodies dissolve entirely into this…, they simply vanish, but what they’re dissolving into is this energy of primordial consciousness, while their mind dissolves into Nirmanakaya and there’s nothing left there of any sentient being, there’s no one to die. And yet that person in one instant can achieve this great transference rainbow body. And then the very next instant, if that person chooses, re-manifests in the same appearance, looking just like before. But now it’s purely an appearance of this energy of primordial consciousness, which you may be able… that body that you see like in a dream, very close, like in a dream, if you meet somebody in a dream, of course, there is no one there right? And there’s nothing material at all, in a dream, there’s nothing physical. So, you encounter somebody in a dream and they may be wearing perfume and you may pick up their scent, and you may come over and give him a hug and feel, feel the sensations of embracing them. Anyway, listen to them and hear them talk and so forth, and yet there’s nothing material there at all, right, In the dream? And yet it certainly looks like it and in fact, of course, if you’re not dreaming lucidly, if you don’t know you’re dreaming, you think you’re encountering a real person. And you potentially see them and hear them, smell them, taste them, probably a little bit of sweat, and touch them, and yet there’s nothing there physical at all. In fact, there’s nothing there at all, it is a pure expression of your own substrate consciousness, a creation, a figment of your imagination. And yet, for you it looks all the world like a real person, and that person can talk to you, soothe you, do all kinds of things, interact with you. Well, something like that… But this re-manifestation of a person that achieves that state is now perfectly enlightened, is a Buddha and will be manifesting not in just one place or in one manner, they can manifest in numerous places.

[55:37] So imagine there were hundreds of such people and they’re coming from multiple ethnic and religious backgrounds, as I mentioned before, and they are manifesting, and displaying the siddhis, displaying the siddhis, the extraordinary abilities. Jesus manifested siddhis, Padmasambhava manifested siddhis, and I did get two sources in my notes just recently and there [is] there and I’m sure Sangay has already sent them to you. But to give you some idea here, let’s see if I can find them—there they are—no, it’s a little bit lower, it’s two books, I’m going to find them very quickly here—there it is. So two lovely books, one is written by a westerner and is an original work by Matteo Pistono “Fearless in Tibet: The Life of the Mystic Tertön Sogyal”. It’s a wonderful book and it tells the life story of Lerab Lingpa, tertön Lerab Lingpa or tertön Sogyal, they are same, who is the Dzogchen lama of the thirteenth Dalai Lama and hearing his life story and the very siddhis that he manifested, it’s a glimpse into another reality. Wherein nineteen-century early twentieth-century Tibet, yogis who display siddhis were simply not uncommon at all. And it’s described here, tulku Urgyen Rinpoche writes Blazing Splendor: The Memoirs of tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, is an autobiography. And he passed away just some decades ago, and he describes life in Tibet before the communist invasion, and again siddhis were demonstrated again and again, they were not uncommon at all, people achieving rainbow body, dissolving into light, not uncommon at all. And so, in a culture like that, where people can see, wow! if you achieve enlightenment, yes you’re very compassionate, yes you’re very wisdom, you’re very wise, yes you’re very effective in leading others along the path to enlightenment. But you also have extraordinary abilities of mind, of clairvoyance, precognition, remote viewing, and so forth, and they would demonstrate that, and then siddhis. We would call them miracles, but in Buddhism, they’re not miracles, they’re the natural abilities that can be manifested when you achieve such exalted states of consciousness.

[57:53] So, when for—let’s say—one-thousand years going back to the time of Atisha, now no one’s suggesting that Tibet was a utopia, everybody just would luxuriate in Dharma, there was… nobody believed that nonsense. So, yes, of course, this is human civilization and of course people have mental afflictions and there was corruption, there was strife, but we shouldn’t overlook the fact that for a thousand years Buddhadharma really did flourish in Tibet and it transformed an entire civilization. There was no other culture on the planet where there were six thousand monasteries for six million people, and the highest profession, by and large people viewed the highest profession you could adopt, would be to become a fulltime Dharma practitioner, whether is a monk or nun, as a yogi or yogini. And so, when Dharma is flourishing in that way, as it was in the nineteenth century for all the problems there were in the nineteenth century, it did transform an entire civilization for thousand years.

My mentor Robert Thurman, under whom my studies in Sanskrit when I was at Amherst [Amherst College], he referred very lovingly to Tibet, to Tibetan people, the society before Buddhism was brought in as a rogue militant nation, and it was true! They were tough people, they were warrior-like people and they had no problem invading China and sacking the capital of China, coercing the emperor of China to give one of his brides, to become the king of something Gampo and so forth. They were tough, they were war like. And then Padmasambha, Shantarakshita, the second wave with Atisha and so forth, Rinchen Zangpo, Milarepa, Marpa and so forth, Sakyapandita, the second wave comes in and it just transformed an entire society, still with problems of course because they are people. But I think we should not overlook the astonishing impact of Buddhadharma on this civilization especially over the last thousand years. And imagine if there were a hundred of different faces, I’m not trying to convert anybody to one religion or another but showing humanity, the potential of human existence. If you apply yourself to fathoming the depths of reality, the nature of consciousness and awakening to your own nature, and then manifesting with siddhis, and with paranormal, psychic abilities and so forth, and above all, with compassion and wisdom above all, the ability to lead others effectively on the path to genuine well-being, to liberation, to awakening. If one-hundred people and not just one, then I can imagine millions and potentially even hundreds of millions of people being so inspired, they would shift their priorities, shift their way of life, and recognize what we’re doing now is destructive to our own civilization and to other species. Frankly, I can’t think of anything else that would turn it around.

[1:00:58] As I mentioned before the site has done their job, people working in technology have done their job, politicians sometimes try to pass legislation, but by and large there is just too much inertia and great beings like His Holiness the Dalai Lama, he just says all the wise things, what do we need to do, but how many people are really listening? His Holiness Pope Francis, one wise statement after another, I so admire him. He’s saying all the right statements, the wise statements, the wise counsel: we should stop violating the environment. Who’s listening? There are statesmen saying this. Who’s listening? Last year we burned more carbon from fossil fuels than ever before and that’s when we know everything. So, if any of you can think of something that would be more effective than having a large number of people achieving enlightenment and many more becoming vidyadharas, not just a hundred, like the hundred chosen as if there’s an elite of few, this is the prophecy. I do actually believe it. But how many more might become vidyadharas. Saints and sages, beacons to all of humanity. This is the way we can be alive.

[1:02:11] So, if there is some other scenario that would work better than the one that’s suggested by this prophecy, I’d love to hear it. But that’s what I can see. And then, finally, are there any reports about the students of Dudjom Lingpa that achieved rainbow body and how they manifested to do great benefit of the ordinary world? Well, there were 13 by all accounts, 13 of his disciples that achieved rainbow body but not great transference rainbow body. So, they’re out there in the highlands of eastern Tibet, out in Amdo precinct of Golok. I’ve been to that area, Sertar. But when they achieve enlightenment, they just vanish. So what they did after that we don’t know. But we do know the impact of Dudjom Lingpa and other great beings of the nineteenth century, I mean, they were extraordinary beings. And so, they preserve the vitality, the power of Dharma.

[1:03:07] And so, then, final question: “if in the coming years more disciples can achieve rainbow body, do you expect this happening to have a greater influence than, for example, all efforts undertaken by the Dalai Lama?” Well, for that I’d have to know what is the scope, the depth, the repercussions, of the efforts by the Dalai Lama and I can’t even imagine that. I really can’t. We can see what everybody can see. We can see the tremendous benefit to humanity, but I strongly suspect we can only see the most superficial. He’s a being of such depth, but I would not even imagine trying to calculate or measure what’s the impact of the fourteenth Dalai Lama on the world today, I don’t think I can estimate that, so I don’t know. But the point here is not just achieving rainbow body where you [shhh]. It’s a vanishing act you’re gone. The people achieving and manifesting bodhicitta, achieving and manifesting realization of emptiness, achieving shamatha, achieving direct realization of their own pristine awareness.

And you might recall Yangthang Rinpoche’s words that if you ascertain the empty essential nature of the mind and see it as Dharmakaya, and you realize the luminous manifest nature of pristine awareness and recognize it as Sambhogakaya, and the luminosity of your awareness, the subjective luminosity of pristine awareness, knows non-duality the empty essential nature of awareness., And you dwell in that bliss, the bliss of the union of subject and object, Sambhogakaya and Nirmanakaya, then when you step off the cushion, you come out into the world, what do those great beings like Yangthang Rinpoche report? How do you come out in the world? And you attend to the sentient beings in your environment, you attend to the environment itself, and what they say is what flows out of that realization is just spontaneously unconditional, all encompassing compassion. And it’s not just a mind state, it manifests in behavior. So, imagine a hundred people achieving great transference rainbow body, and ten-thousand people achieving rainbow body of a lesser level and a hundred-thousand people becoming vidyadharas and manifesting effortlessly unconditional, all-encompassing compassion. If anything can transform and save this world, I do believe it will be compassion. Compassion imbued with wisdom. That’s my hope. I’ll devote the rest of my life to that at least that much, at least for the rest of this life. But actually, probably the work won’t be done, so I’ll have to come back. So that’s my answer. I wish you all well. See you later today.

Transcribed by Walter Morita

Revised by Sueli Martinez

Final edition by Rafael Carlos Giusti

Discussion

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