We have been looking at this text by Tsongkhapa, which he has written to his friend, a great meditator, explaining some of the most important points concerning sutra and tantra and how to practice them. In this he mentioned how it’s important to know for ourselves the various details of the path. If not — if we don’t know — to rely on a teacher who does know these. Particularly the teacher needs to know the essential nature of the path, of the various pathway minds; in other words, what is something that we need to develop and what’s something that we need to get rid of, and to not teach something which is inappropriate. Then also to know the count; in other words, not to add anything and not to leave anything out. Then also to know how to apply them at the various stages of each disciple’s spiritual path so that they are applied in a proper way. The teacher himself or herself needs to be one who has been led through all the various stages of the teachings by relying on a teacher himself, and that teacher needs to have guided him on a way which is consistent with the spiritual texts, the great scriptural texts. Because there is no separation or a huge difference between what’s so-called Dharma for study and Dharma for practice — that these two are together, that everything that is in the text is meant for actual practice.
Then Tsongkhapa said, “How do we begin our practice?” He quoted both Nagarjuna and Aryadeva, saying that the main thing to work on is our minds, and particularly the mental framework. The mental framework that we’re in is going to affect the way that we both act and speak. In terms of the motivating mental framework, we saw last time that we have to distinguish some sort of object that we are aiming for — like a better future rebirth, or liberation, or enlightenment — and have a motivating aim, which is why we want to achieve it and how to achieve it, and a motivating emotion — like, for instance, disgust with samsara, or compassion, these type of things. These are the framework or the motivating mental framework that we need.
This brings us to the next section, and Tsongkhapa already introduced this. He said:
Although the stages for working ourselves up (to a proper motivation) have been explained in many (different ways), the most commonly helpful scheme for minds of superior, middling and all (scopes of capacity is as follows).
This is leading into the presentation of the three levels of motivation or spiritual aim that was presented in the Lamp to the Path to Enlightenment by Atisha. Tsongkhapa starts first in terms of the initial level motivation. He says:
First (on an initial level), we need to have made ourselves continually mindful of our (forthcoming) death and our not staying long in this world.
That’s how he begins this. Perhaps I can read the whole paragraph, the whole initial level, and then we can go back step by step.
First (on an initial level), we need to have made ourselves continually mindful of our (forthcoming) death and our not staying long in this world. We need also to have meditated a great deal on the two ways in which we can wander to our next life (either up to one of the better rebirth states or down to one of the worse ones), together with their causes (our constructive and destructive acts). Having turned our minds, through that, away from working with keen interest for this life (alone), we need to develop as much as possible the attitude to work with keen interest for the happiness of future lives and beyond.
You recall that in introducing the topic of these three levels, Tsongkhapa had said that our motivating mental framework needs to be one which we have properly worked ourselves up to and not one that has come from mere words. We don’t just say the mere words “May I have a better rebirth or one of the better rebirths,” but we have to build up that motivating aim so that it comes from a sincere level of what we said earlier — what we’re aiming for, why we want to achieve it, some idea of how we can achieve it, some confidence that it is possible to achieve it, and a motivating emotion for it.
The Nine-Fold Meditation on Death
How do we build these things up? What are the steps? Tsongkhapa outlines it quite clearly: first, we have to make ourselves continually mindful of our forthcoming death and our not staying long in this world. This brings in the topic of death awareness or death meditation. For this, there are much more elaborate explanations of it that we can find. If we turn to the lam-rim teachings, Tsongkhapa’s longer lam-rim teachings, then we find a nine-part meditation on death.
All this, by the way, Tsongkhapa doesn’t actually mention here — a precious human rebirth that we have — but he mentioned that earlier in the text, that we have found a precious human rebirth. All of this and the spiritual teacher — that, as you might know if you’re familiar with the structure of the lam-rim, is the basis, is the foundation: you have a spiritual teacher, you have a precious human rebirth.
How do you take advantage of the precious human rebirth that we have? Precious human rebirth, you recall, is one in which we have all the freedoms or liberties. Actually, respite is a much better word. Respite means a temporary time off from being in these worse states of rebirth, where we really have no opportunity to improve ourselves in any sort of spiritual way: if we’re a cockroach, there’s very little that we can do to improve our state. But now that have this precious human rebirth, we’re not starving to death and being tortured, and all of these sorts of things, and we have an open mind, and the teachings are available, and there are teachers and people who support it, and so on, so it is possible to actually study the Dharma and put it into practice. This is something which is incredible, actually, if you think about it, particularly the fact that we actually have interest in it and we’re actually doing it. Because nowadays in the West the opportunities are there, but how many people actually take advantage of it? How many people actually, even if they take advantage of it, take full advantage of it? Not just come occasionally, when they feel like it, and so on. Just meditate when they feel like it, but not all the time with perseverance. Very, very rare.
If we really have that interest and that open mindedness and that strong willingness to actually study and practice in this situation in which these opportunities are available, that’s really rare and wonderful. We really need to take advantage of that. We’re not mentally handicapped and emotionally handicapped, and all the other things that would likewise prevent us from being able to do that. The meditations on that involved feeling as though we had these handicaps and shortcomings and then feeling them taken off our back. More and more of this heavy load taken off of us. How wonderful it is to have it off our backs — it’s like having our hands untied when they were tied, or the bag taken off of our head when we had a bag over our heads — and now how wonderful it is that we can actually do something.
But we need to remain mindful of the fact that death can come at any time. Now perhaps this is easier to remember as we get older and we have people our own age — people that we went to school with, our friends, and so on — who are dying, then it becomes a little bit easier to relate to, perhaps. But you don’t have to be a certain age in order to die. Many babies die, children die, young people die. There’s no reason why death only comes to old people.
We have the nine-fold meditation on death. This is divided into three points.
- The major point is that it’s definite that death will come. Death will come for sure.
- The second point is that it’s uncertain when it will come. There’s no certainty.
- The third one is, except for having built up the habits, the positive habits of the Dharma on our mental continuums, nothing else is going to really be of benefit at the time of death.
Now each of these three points has three points that are there for contemplation.
[1] The inevitability of death
[1A] The Lord of Death will inevitably come
As for being definite that we are going to die, it’s definite that — the way that it’s formulated — it’s definite that the Lord of Death will come, and nothing can turn him back. Everybody who’s been born is going to die, nobody has been able to bribe death not to come, nobody’s been able to pay off death so that it doesn’t come, and so on. There’s nothing we can do about it. At some point we’re going to die, that’s for sure.
[1B] Our lifespan can’t be extended and it’s always getting shorter
The second point is that our lifespan can’t be extended when it’s time to die, and the remainder of our lifespan is constantly getting shorter. It’s very interesting: We always count our age from the beginning, that now that I’m older, that more and more years have passed since my birth. But actually, another way of counting it would be, each year, I’m getting closer and closer to my death and there are less and less years left. That’s very, very true. Again, although it might be easier to be mindful of this when we are older…
I know now that I’m 63. It is something that’s very, very obvious to me, since I have so much work that I want to do on my website, and it’s very clear to me that the number of years left for productive work is very limited. Each year there’s less and less time that’s left before I start to become senile or get sick, or something like that, let alone die.
But this is something which is happening from the time that we are born, that we’re going closer and closer to our deaths. The clock is ticking, as we would say in English. There’s no way to extend our lifespan. When it’s finished, it’s finished.
[1C] We will die before getting round to finishing our tasks
Then the third point here is that we’re going to die even if there’s no time while we’re alive to practice Dharma. Well, basically what it’s saying is that it doesn’t matter what we’re doing, that death is going to come in any case, that death doesn’t wait for us to finish this task or that task. “Oh, just wait. Wait a little while. I want to finish writing this book or writing this article,” in my case, or “I want to finish this project or that project.” It’s going to come no matter what we are doing.
These are very profound points to think about and to really have it sink in, so that it’s not just something that occasionally, if we sit down and force ourselves to read these points, then we think about it, but it’s something that is totally out of our mental framework during the rest of our time. That’s why Tsongkhapa uses the term continual mindfulness, that this has to be part of… Mindfulness, you remember, is mental glue; it’s remembering. You have to remember. It doesn’t mean that we are consciously, every moment of the day, thinking “Death, death, death, death.” That would be rather grim, wouldn’t it? However, it means that there’s an underlying appreciation that time is short, it definitely is going to end, and there’s nothing I can do to prevent it, and every minute is getting closer and closer to death, and it doesn’t matter what I’m doing — right in the middle, all of a sudden, death will come. That’s a very sober thought, isn’t it? But it’s one which is real. It’s not something which is artificial. It is the truth. It is a fact.
If we deny these facts of life concerning death, then who are we fooling? What it tends to lead to is that we just waste our time on trivial types of things, and then at the time of death — as we get with the last, the third set of three points — we find that we’ve done nothing to prepare for death and we’re not going to make any difference; we’ve just wasted all of our time.
These are the points concerning the first aspect here, that death will come for sure.
[2] There’s no certainty of when we will die
Then the second point is there’s no certainty of when we will die.
[2A] There’s no certainty of lifespan on the Southern Continent
The first point here is that in general there is no certainty of lifespan on the Southern Continent. That’s referring to where we live now. In some of the realms described in Buddhism, lifespan is definite — it’s a certain period of time — everybody lives for a certain period and then dies. But in our human realm there is no certainty. Some people die while they’re still in the womb, in a miscarriage or an abortion; I mean, talking about the fetus. Other people die as babies. There’s no certainty whatsoever as to how long we’re going to live.
It’s very interesting. People usually consider the age that they’re at as not old. It’s only older people… I mean, it’s really quite amusing: If we’re in our twenties, somebody who is in their sixties seems absolutely ancient. I certainly felt that way — my teachers and parents and grandparents, and so on. I mean, they were in their forties and fifties, and they seemed really old. Now that I’m 63, that doesn’t seem old at all. What is old? Well, in your eighties, you’re old. You’re not old in your sixties. The perception of our age, and how much time is left, and who are the really old ones is quite different. I mean, I find it amusing. My aunt is 96 and my uncle is 97, and they refer to people in their eighties as young.
Everything is relative. But there is no certainty as to when we will die.
[2B] Many factors contribute towards our death, but few towards our life
Then the second point here is that there are more chances of dying and less chances of remaining alive. Well, you look at the global warming, you look at the pollution, you look at the various types of diseases that are there — although cures are found for some diseases, other diseases are still around. We travel in cars. The more you travel in cars, the easier it is to have an automobile accident. When everybody was walking and riding on horses there were probably less traffic accidents than there are now. There’s all this terrorism going on now. Many more chances of dying. The various things that are around to help us stay alive are fewer. Despite so-called homeland security and all that sort of stuff, the dangers of dying and the chances of dying are far greater.
[2C] Our body is extremely fragile
Then the third point here is that our body is extremely fragile. That’s really, really true. If you think how easily our bodies get damaged. All you have to do is bang into something or something hits us, and it breaks a bone. Our bones are very fragile. The skin cuts very, very easily. We get burned… you stay out in the sun too long, and you get burned and you get sunstroke. We can’t withstand the cold very well. Even hunger we can’t deal with very well for very long. The body just breaks, and we get sick.
The body is something which is very fragile, and it’s not something that we can depend on as something that’s always going to be around that is going to support us. When we are late teenagers and early twenties, it’s quite common to think that you can do anything with your body — abuse it to any level with drugs and partying all night, and staying out all night, and so on — and we are supermen and superwomen: the body is never going to break. But that is merely self-delusion, self-deception, because in fact the body does break, and it easily gets very damaged.
Because of all these points, then, our lifespans are not certain at all.
[3] Nothing can help us when we die except the Dharma
Then the third point of the nine points here, of the three groups of three (making nine points), is that nothing is going to help at the time of death except the Dharma.
[3A] Our wealth can’t help us
If we think of our wealth… certainly not going to make any difference when we die, how much money we have in the bank. Maybe it will help our descendants, our children or whoever we leave our money to, but it’s certainly not going to help us in terms of our future lives or dealing with death, how much money we have. It’s not something that we can take with us. This is something that you have to think about.
I suppose if we don’t think in terms of future lives… You see, all of this is based on the belief in future lives and being convinced of that. If you don’t think of future lives… Perhaps when we die, if you think “Well, I have made a lot of money, and I’ve taken care of my family” — so you get some sort of satisfaction from it, “I’ve been a success” — maybe that can give us a little bit of comfort. But if we think in terms of future lives, then it makes very little difference. Maybe we get a little bit of an inkling of this when we’re very, very sick. When you’re very sick and you’re lying in bed and you’re confined in bed, or you have an accident, or something like that, and you’re really injured and, in the hospital, — at that time, we have to face our pain and our sickness ourselves, and it doesn’t matter how much money is in our bank. Maybe we get a little bit better care, but still the pain is the same. The fear, how we’re going to deal with it, and so on, is the same. This is of no comfort and no help to us.
[3B] Our friends can’t help us
The same thing with friends. All the friends around us are not going to prevent us from dying. In fact, all they’re going to do is probably, in most cases, cause us a great deal of attachment and sadness that we have to leave. Now I don’t know. Some people feel great comfort if they’re dying in the arms of loved ones, and so on. From a Buddhist point of view, it just increases your attachment and brings about more suffering. I don’t know. What’s your experience? Do you have any experience with this? I suppose when we’re sick…
Participant: I have experience of this.
Dr. Berzin: You have experience with that? I mean when you’re sick, do you like to have friends and relatives around? Does it help?
Participant: No.
Dr. Berzin: Not really. Because then you have to engage with them. They’re worrying how do you feel, so they’re fretting over you; they’re carrying on, many of them. It just makes us feel more terrible because you have to try to comfort them.
Participant: You become distracted.
Dr. Berzin: You become distracted. That’s very true.
From a Buddhist point of view, it’s better to die in peace, without people making a big scene around us that we’re dying. It takes very, very mature people to be around somebody who’s dying and not cause them some sort of mental disturbance or emotional disturbance.
Friends are of no help.
[3C] Our body can’t help us
Our body is of no help. It doesn’t matter that we have lost weight, that we have built up muscles, that we have applied make-up, or we’re wearing a really nice dress or costume to die in. That doesn’t make any difference whatsoever. It doesn’t give us any comfort or relief.
Only the Dharma can help us.
The only thing that’s really going to be of help at the time of death are the positive potentials and forces that we’ve built up on our mental continuum.
It is very interesting, because His Holiness the Dalai Lama speaks about a related topic very much in terms of strengthening the immune system. His Holiness says that the best thing to strengthen our immune system is compassion. Now on this level, the initial level, he doesn’t speak so much about specifically compassion; he just speaks about Dharma practice in general. But if we have compassion — compassion is not just a wish for others to be free of their suffering and problems, but it is taking some responsibility to actually do something about it — that gives a great deal of strength. Because we’re taking voluntarily on to ourselves the task, and the suffering that’s involved with it, of helping others. No matter what, I’m going to continue to try to help alleviate their suffering. Because their suffering is intolerable. Because I understand it for myself; I’ve had that type of suffering, and I still have that suffering also. I’m going to try to help others to overcome their ignorance, their naivety, their greed, their anger, and so on. Not just help others to get something to eat but, in addition to something like that, something much deeper. I have the strength to do that, the perseverance — the armor-like perseverance — that I’m never going to give up, no matter how difficult it is, and that gives great strength.
His Holiness says it’s like having a strong immune system biologically, that then your body doesn’t react so strongly to other dangers, to sicknesses; you’re able to fight it off. When difficulties come, whether it’s difficulty with sickness, whether it’s difficulty with finances, whether it’s difficulty with family — whatever it is, you have this great strong emotional and spiritual immune system, and so you are not thrown by that. You are able to maintain your strength. You are able to maintain your equanimity. You don’t get upset. Because you have this very strong conviction that “I don’t care how difficult it gets; I’m never going to give up. Because of compassion, I’m never going to abandon others. I’m never going to abandon what I’m doing, what I am involved with in trying to help others, no matter how difficult it is.”
We can apply the lojong type of teachings — changing mental attitudes, transforming mental attitudes — that we make even offerings to… you know, you personify the obstacles as demons, and you make offerings to them. “Give me even more. I don’t care. I’m going to go on. Not going to get upset by you. I am not going to get angry with you, with my obstacles, but I will continue.”
That gives great strength. If we have that as a strong potential, as a strong force on our mental continuums, and we’ve built that up over our lifetimes, then death doesn’t upset you. Because there’s this strong conviction that “I will continue” — I mean, this in terms of future lives — “I will go on and I will never give up.” This is bodhichitta — now we’re going from compassion to bodhichitta — this aim for enlightenment, my own future enlightenment, and we understand what that is and what we’re aiming at.
What are you aiming at with this? We’re aiming at, on our mental continuums, the third and fourth noble truths. In other words, the absence of all the disturbing emotions and karma — that the mental continuum is not only free of any true existence and stuff like that, but because it’s free of that then also it is free of the unawareness that brings up the confusion, the ignorance that would obscure it. That third noble truth is not only the voidness of the mind but the absence of the mind of being stained in its nature. You’re aiming at the purity of the mind and, because of that purity of the mind, the full understanding that the mind has. We are aiming at that. That has not yet happened, but the mental continuum has the ability to be like that. That’s Buddha-nature; there’s the ability to understand, and it is by basic nature unstained. That’s what we’re aiming for on the basis of compassion.
That’s what you’re focusing on. The purity of the mind, the ability to understand, that I have, even though maybe now it’s obscured. I need to really actualize and manifest that in order to benefit others the most. This gives you strength, the most strength. That’s why bodhichitta is praised more than anything else; it gives you the most strength. I’m never going to give up. How could I give up? Because that is reality. How can you turn your back on that? That’s completely… I mean, that’s why they say giving up bodhichitta is so devastating, so horrible. How can you give that up? Because that is true. True stopping, true pathway of mind — third and fourth noble truths — it’s true. If we have that as our aim, and we have built up that as a strong habit, then death is no problem, because I will continue. Bodhisattva vows are until enlightenment. I will continue.
His Holiness says this is the main, most important thing to focus on when we are about to die. Don’t worry about all these complicated tantric visualizations. Sure, you practice them if you’ve done tantra, with the eight stages or ten stages (depending on which practice we’re doing) of the dissolution of the elements, and all of that, and the visualization “Then I arise as this deity, with these many arms,” and all of that. He says, “Forget about that.” Why? Because you’re going to get confused. Because you’re going to worry that “I’m not doing it properly. I’m not doing it correctly.” You’re going to get uptight. You’re going to die in a state of doubt and confusion and being nervous that “I’m not doing it well enough, not doing it properly.” You do those practices while you’re alive, sure. That will help in terms of future instincts and so on. But for the vast, vast majority of us — if we can — the best thing: focus on bodhichitta.
Understand what bodhichitta means. If you don’t understand — as Tsongkhapa says later in the text — what you’re focusing on and what is the way in which the mind is taking that as an object, then you don’t know how to do the meditation. Meditation on bodhichitta is not just compassion. It is much, much more. It has compassion as its underlying emotion — that’s there — but it’s not the totality of it at all.
If we have all of this, this is what is the best help at the time of death. It gives us the most strength. We understand of course we’re going to die, but that does not change the nature of the mind. The mind will go on; the mental continuum will go on. As long as I have this aim and the proper compassion, I don’t care how difficult it is. Even if I’m reborn as a cockroach a couple of times — a million times — before the opportunity comes back to have a precious human rebirth, I’m going to continue. Nothing is going to stop me. That gives you strength. There’s no fear. There’s no regrets.
This death meditation is something which is very, very powerful. Are there any questions about it? Okay.
Analysis of Tsongkhapa’s Text
Tsongkhapa says:
First (on an initial level), we need to have made ourselves continually
He uses past tense, which is interesting. That’s because in the previous paragraph he says, “In order to get the actual level of motivation we have to have built it up in stages.” That’s why he uses the past tense here. Having done this, then having done that, and then having done that, then you get the actual motivation. His grammar, his use of tenses, indicates it quite nicely. We need to have already
made ourselves continually mindful of our (forthcoming) death and our not staying long in this world.
He goes on:
We need also to have meditated a great deal on the two ways in which we can wander to our next life
Tsongkhapa just says that. We have to add in what these two ways are; it’s either up to one of the better rebirth states or down to one of the worse ones. Then Tsongkhapa continues
together with their causes
What are their causes? They are constructive and destructive acts.
Now rebirth. Mental continuum goes on. There’s a great deal of discussion that one could have. I don’t know how deeply we want to go into this. We’ve discussed this many times in the past. But the main point with the mental continuum going on has to do with cause and effect. If we understand cause and effect, then it makes no sense that something arises from nothing. Something that changes from moment to moment, and then it ends with nothing. That doesn’t make any sense. Things continue in the same category of phenomenon. Matter and energy are on one side of the law of conservation of matter and energy — can neither be created nor destroyed, only transformed. Then when we talk about mind, mental continuum, we’re talking about subjective experiencing. Subjective experiencing, individual subjective experiencing, can neither be created nor destroyed; it only can be transformed. Each of these is continuing on the basis of previous moments. In terms of cause and effect, it can’t arise from nothing, and it can’t just go to nothing. A nothing can’t become a something, and a something can’t become a nothing.
Now when we talk about the mental continuum, however, mental continuum has… there are certain fleeting stains. Then there’s the essential nature. The essential nature of the mental continuum is something that will go on forever. The essential nature is as an individual subjective experiencing, which means the making of mental holograms, which is equivalent to experiencing something — being aware of something, knowing something — and that just goes from moment to moment, what’s called clarity and awareness in some translations. That’s the essential nature. There is nothing which is the opponent to that, which is the exact opposite, that is mutually exclusive with that, in terms of a way of being aware of something. Nothing opposes that, so it will go on.
Whereas if we talk about the fleeting stains — like our unawareness, our confusion, either not knowing what reality is or knowing it incorrectly — then there is something which is the exact opposite of that, mutually exclusive with it. The continuity of that can end, of that confusion, when it is replaced by what is mutually exclusive with it, especially if what’s mutually exclusive with it (which is correct understanding) is verified by reality, corresponds to reality, and you can check it, and it fits with reality. What is verifiable can replace what’s not valid. Confusion can come to an end. But the essential nature of the mental continuum — making holograms, being aware of things, clarity and awareness — that cannot be replaced or opposed by anything, and so it goes on and on and on. There is nothing that stops it. Based on that, there is mental continuum with no beginning and no end. Obviously, it’s more complicated than that and entails an understanding of voidness of the mental continuum and voidness of the person, and so on, but no need to go into tremendous depth and detail about that at this point.
But for any of this stuff to make sense on this initial level, one has to be firmly convinced of past and future lives. That’s not so easy for us if we are not instinctively drawn to that or come from a culture that teaches that and widely accepts it. But in any case, mental continuum goes on. If it goes on, either we’ll be in one of the better situations or one of the worse situations. Only two ways of going. In terms of the better situations… I mean, it’s described in these various realms: the human and the demigods and the gods. Or the worse are the animals and the clutching ghosts and the trapped beings in the joyless realms (the so-called hell beings). You don’t have to go into a big discussion of these various realms.
But in any case, things can either be conducive or non-conducive for spiritual practice. What are the causes? You have to think about that. If I have built up… if I have acted in a destructive way, then what is the result? If you act in a destructive way, you create suffering. That’s the whole definition of acting in a destructive way: causing harm. It may be directed at others; we intentionally try to cause harm to them — killing, stealing, etc., sexually abusing them, lying. Or we can have that harmful intent directed at ourselves. But in either case, if we are creating suffering, inevitably what is left as the aftermath of that is the potential to experience suffering ourselves. We’re going to experience more and more unhappiness, more difficult situations, as the result of our destructive force. If on the other hand, we have acted constructively — which is to refrain from acting destructively, or it could be in actually trying to help others — then that builds up some positive force, the causes to have happiness.
We think about that, that what I’m going to experience in future lives is totally dependent on my behavior. How do I act? What do I do? Am I acting in ways which are destructive to others and self-destructive? Or am I acting in ways that are attempting to avoid causing harm and trying to help others. This is the major thing. We think about that and try to become very, very convinced of that: That it does matter what we do. It does matter how I act. It does matter how I interact with others, how I speak with others, how I treat others. It does matter very much how I treat myself. What’s going on in my mind? It matters.
This is this whole topic… I mean, all of this is bringing in ethical self-discipline, to refrain from acting destructively. As Shantideva emphasized, what do we need for ethical discipline? We need the caring attitude. We had that in the sensitivity training. “I care about what happens. It makes a difference to me. I take it seriously.” We have to have that caring attitude. “I really take seriously what I’m going to experience and what the effects of my behavior are going to be on me, let alone on you.”
I’m going to remain mindful — this second chapter of Shantideva, in which he presents ethical self-discipline — going to remain mindful and alert. Mindful to remember to control myself. Self-control not to act destructively. Because I know what the consequences are. It’s just creating more and more suffering. It’s not that I’m going to be punished. It’s not that I’m a bad boy or a bad girl. I’m just producing more suffering and I’m going to have to experience that. I’m creating it on my mental continuum.
This we take very, very seriously. We are mindful — continual mindfulness of this. It doesn’t mean to be so self-conscious I’m afraid of making a mistake and all of that, so that we become really uptight. Throughout all of this you have to be relaxed. It has to be a natural part of ourselves. Not uptight, not on the basis of a strong me, me, me. Strong me, me, me makes us “Ooh, I’m afraid that I’ll make a mistake,” and like that. Makes us very uptight and, what we say in English, self-conscious. We don’t want it that way; we want it to just be “this is a natural fact,” so we’re careful.
It’s like, for instance, if I stick my finger in the fire it’s going to get burned. I’m careful about that. I am not uptight about it. I just am naturally careful when I light a match or a cigarette lighter or whatever. I’m just careful. It’s the same thing. Not on the basis of being uptight: “Ooh, I’m going to be punished if I stick my finger in the fire.” It’s not like that. It just becomes a natural part of ourselves. This is what it means to have this as really our motivating mental framework in a healthy way. We want all of this to be in a healthy way, not in a neurotic way.
Tsongkhapa says:
We need also to have meditated a great deal
Meditated, that means to build it up as a beneficial habit, integrate it.
on the two ways in which we can wander to our next life (either up to one of better rebirth states or down to one of the worse ones), together with their causes (our constructive and destructive acts).
Then
Having turned our minds, through that, away from working with keen interest for this life (alone), we need to develop as much as possible the attitude to work with keen interest for the happiness of future lives and beyond.
We stop just thinking in terms of this lifetime, and on the basis of this, “Well, yes, I have a precious human rebirth. It’s going to end. I don’t know when it’s going to end. The way that I have acted is going to affect what’s coming next. Therefore, I’m not going to focus just totally on this lifetime and accumulating as much money and as much influence and as much power and fame, and things like that. That’s not going to be my main interest” — this term keen interest, my main interest — “But I’m going to really focus on long term: future lives.”
With future lives, the main focus — it’s not said explicitly here — is to continue having precious human rebirths so that we can continue on the spiritual path. We’re not just aiming — although it could be included here — to be reborn in one of the heavenly realms, the god realms; that’s not going to get us anywhere. We want to continue having a precious human rebirth. If you think in terms of realism and bodhichitta, that precious human rebirth is going to continue to have all the samsaric garbage that’s associated with it: going to be a baby, and going to have to learn to walk and talk, and I’m going to go to the toilet in my diaper and pants, and I have to go to school — all these sort of things, which are no fun. But I’m willing to do that because of bodhichitta, this final aim. I’m willing to endure all of that because I will go on. I want to go on to be able to benefit others.
We are taking very seriously future lives and not have our interest be just limited in terms of this lifetime alone. That’s going to be a very important foundation for the next levels of motivation. Because unless we think in terms of mental continuums — no beginning and no end — then on the next level, we won’t be able to understand that if I just continue like this, it’s going to be constant samsaric up and down. I want to get liberated from that. We won’t be able to really get the advanced level, in which we recognize everybody else like that — everybody else is like that — which is the basis, then, for having equanimity, which is the basis for great compassion, that we want equally to help everybody. Because we all are these beginningless, endless mental continuums. Same, same. Just in this particular lifetime there’s this particular configuration, but that’s just temporary.
We’re not focusing on just this lifetime alone, either in terms of ourselves or in terms of anybody else. We can develop the full equanimity, the full compassion, the full bodhichitta of a Buddha to benefit everybody equally, with no favorites. This is a very important step.
Now we’re running on battery today in our recording and that’s going to finish fairly soon, so we are going to have to cut the class short.
Are there any further questions? I mean, having reached the end of this initial scope, that’s a good place to stop. Are there any questions?
Participant: Can you explain in more detail this awareness clarity?
Dr. Berzin: The awareness of what?
Participant: Awareness clarity.
Dr. Berzin: Awareness clarity? Oh, clarity and awareness, the nature of the mind. The nature of the mind. The mind is speaking about mental activity. It’s not just a thing that’s in our head. It’s an activity. It’s experiencing. What does it mean to experience something? To experience something is the action of the arising of a mental hologram. There’s a mental hologram, in terms of the eyes and so on — just electric impulses and dots of light, and stuff like that. There’s a mental hologram. That’s appearance-making (snang-ba). It’s not that there’s a machine in our head doing that; it just happens.
There’s the arising of a mental hologram, and that arising of a mental hologram itself is what it means to be aware of something — to know something, to see something, to think something. That mental hologram of a thought is what it means to think something. This is the activity. It’s sort of boom, boom, boom. Each moment, a mental hologram arises. That’s what clarity means. Clarity doesn’t mean that it’s in focus; it just means that something is arising.
Participant: This continues?
Dr. Berzin: It goes on from moment to moment. Will go on forever, even if it’s a darkness that’s arising — a mental hologram of darkness, a mental hologram of silence, mental hologram of deep sleep. Constantly. A mental hologram of a coma and being sunk in it; the awareness of that is just being sunk, not knowing anything, but it’s still functioning. There’s a mental activity. That goes on. That’s the nature of mind.
Participant: Never stops.
Dr. Berzin: Never stops.
Participant: How do we know it never stops?
Dr. Berzin: How do we know it never stops? Because there is nothing that could oppose it. There is nothing that’s the exact opposite of it, like there is for ignorance, that could replace it. It continues because there are all the various causes and conditions for it to continue, in terms of focal objects, in terms of a momentum of what comes before (the moment of awareness before it), all these sorts of things. The whole list of conditions that are responsible for its arising from moment to moment.
If moment one produces moment two, and two three, there’s no reason why three shouldn’t produce four. It’s not that it’s something which is like the body getting weaker. Intelligence might be getting weaker, memory might be getting weaker, but not the mental activity itself. Mental activity is the same. Okay?
Participant: But they say that when Buddha went into Parinirvana it was just like a candle…
Dr. Berzin: Right. That’s true. In the Theravada presentation and some of the other Hinayana schools, it says with Parinirvana an arhat and a Buddha goes out — the mental continuum goes out — like a candle. I spoke with a great Thai master. I don’t know if this was the original interpretation, but one of the more famous Thai masters, modern Thai masters, said that this is to be understood in terms of the samsaric mind comes to an end, and not that the mind itself ends. Now I don’t know if that was the original interpretation and how they would explain why it ends; this I don’t know. But you don’t have a presentation of voidness in these Hinayana schools, in terms of the understanding of voidness of cause and effect. The fact that it goes on with no beginning and no end is because of cause and effect, the understanding of the voidness of cause and effect, how cause and effect actually work.
Participant: There is the voidness of self, no?
Dr. Berzin: Pardon?
Participant: There’s the voidness of self.
Dr. Berzin: There isn’t the voidness of the self in Hinayana. There is the lack of a self which is unaffected, monolithic, and separate from the aggregates (that’s the gross level). They’re negating the atman in the non-Buddhist Indian schools, or this more subtle one — a self which can be known on its own, a self-sufficiently knowable self. But not in terms of the presentation of voidness that you have in either Chittamatra or Madhyamaka.
Anyway, our battery is just about to end. Let us end here with a dedication. We think whatever positive force has come from this, may it go deeper and deeper and act as a cause to reach enlightenment for the benefit of all.