LPA6: Intermediate Level Motivation

The underlying assumption, of course, in this initial scope (and which will carry on for the intermediate scope and the advanced scope of motivations) is the basic understanding of the mind and the mental continuum, and that mental continuums, our individual mental continuums, have no beginning and have no end. That sort of is an underlying assumption here and is a very, very important one. Because when Tsongkhapa… Tsongkhapa didn’t make this up, because he quotes Nagarjuna and Aryadeva, and they go back to Buddha’s statements. The most important thing is the mind and to tame our mind. Well, in order to tame the mind, it’s necessary to understand what the mind is. How can you tame something if you don’t know what it is? That’s very true, isn’t it? You have to know… Like if you’re going to tame a wild animal, you have to know the customs of that wild animal and what is possible and what’s not possible in terms of taming that animal, and we have to know the basic nature of that animal. The same thing with our minds: we have to know, and Tsongkhapa pointed this out, the nature of — the essential thing — of what are the types of… What is the mind, to start with? Then how do we train it — how do we tame it? What are the things you have to develop? What are the things you have to get rid of? Not add anything, not subtract anything, and know how to apply it for any individual person. 

Well, what is the mind? What is the mental continuum? Mind is talking about mental activity. It’s not talking about a thing that does that mental activity; of course, there’s a physical basis, but that mental activity itself is the giving rise… there is a mental activity which occurs, and that mental activity is giving rise or making appearances of various objects that can be known. These appearances are cognitive appearances, so they’re like mental holograms. 

Making that mental hologram, the actual arising of that mental hologram, is, from another point of view, the act of knowing the object: You know the object by making a mental hologram of it. You see something by making a mental hologram of it. You hear something by making a mental hologram of it. You think something by making a mental hologram of it. That’s the way it works. If we want to bring this into… in terms of Western science, there’s all sorts of transmission of waves, whether we’re talking about photons, we’re talking about sound, or stuff like that. That gets transmitted through electrical impulses and chemical things through the nerves, and then — although it’s not described from a Western scientific point of view, other than saying that somehow this information all gets together and is translated into something you know — we would subjectively describe it as the making of a mental hologram out of that, hearing a sound or seeing a sight or thinking a thought. 

This is the activity that goes on moment to moment to moment, and there’s no break, and there’s no beginning and no end to that, and it’s individual and it’s subjective. There’s no me or agent that is separate from it doing that; it just is happening — on the basis of subtlest energy, which is maintaining the continuity, and then (depending on the life form in which this occurs, which is generated through the karmic impulses that are built up on that mental continuum) there will be a physical basis supporting it as well, whether we’re talking about a nervous system, a brain, eyes, ears, whatever.

Then there’s the whole discussion of voidness of cause and effect and so on — and we don’t need to get into that — for demonstrating that it’s illogical for it to have a beginning or to have an end, an absolute beginning and an absolute end, so there’s continuity of this. 

Now, that’s something which is very, very crucial, I think — and not just I think, but it’s very crucial for really working with the Dharma, to have this understanding, this vision as it were, to have some sort of mental image or feeling of an infinitely long continuum of moment-to-moment mental activity that’s individual. If at all possible, to have that without there being… although you can label me on top it and the me will refer to an individual being, me, that’s not something which is separate from it, not something which owns it, not identical with any part of it, not the sum of it, etc. It is just what a label would refer to on the basis of that. OK? We don’t identify it with Alex or Daniel or Renata or whoever. 

There. Now we have this continuity. Now we want to focus on it with motivation. Motivation means a goal and something that’s driving us to the goal. One of the ways of working with a motivation is to — and this is, we find, a pattern repeating in the Dharma — is to turn away from something that’s disadvantageous and turn towards which is more advantageous. We find this description, for instance, in the different stages of the dhyanas, these absorbed concentrations that are described in the higher and higher levels of concentration. Each of them has a preliminary state, in which you look at the disadvantages of the lower state and you look up to the advantages of the state that you’re wanting to attain; and on the basis of that, you attain it. 

Here with this initial scope, what we’re doing is looking at the disadvantages of just focusing on this lifetime and looking ahead at the fact that that mental continuum is going to continue. Based on the karmic tendencies that we build up through our karmic impulses and acting on them, further experience is going to happen. That experience is going to be not just an experience of seeing something, hearing something, feeling physical sensations, thinking something, but it’s going to be accompanied by a feeling of a level of happiness or unhappiness. It’s going to be an experiencing of this or that, which is going to be similar to what we’ve done before. If we’ve acted destructively in any sort of situation, then — if that’s the predominant thing — that’s going to ripen into our experiencing of whatever it might be with unhappiness. If we’ve acted constructively, it will ripen in happiness when we experience this or that. We have a vision of that. We’re able to focus, we are able to see that, to understand that, to see that in the mind’s eye. We see the advantages of the experience being a happier one, an experience of conducive circumstances and things for further spiritual progress. 

We’re looking back at this lifetime. Just focusing on this lifetime, then we don’t really care, we’re not thinking ahead, we’re not thinking of the consequences of our behavior. What are the disadvantages of that? The disadvantages are that that mental continuum in the future is going to be miserable, because we will not have guarded against acting destructively. We look ahead at the experiences. It’s not just that we want to be happy. “I want to be happy, but I want to be able to continue going further and further on the spiritual path so that eventually I gain liberation and enlightenment.” 

This is the type of mentality that we have when we have this initial scope of motivation in terms of that mental continuum, seeing that that mental continuum, our individual mental continuum is capable of experiencing intense suffering or intense happiness. It’s not just in this lifetime, but it’s going to continue and it’s going to go on and on and on, and so we want to do something about that. We need to have a longer-term vision. Future lives. Not just the immediately following future life but continuing future lives — future life and beyond. 

That’s the initial scope. It needs to become part of us, so that we don’t have to force it. Unlabored (rtsol-med) is the technical term. You don’t have to… Initially you have to think about it. We have to remind ourselves and think about all of this and think about each of these points, but eventually it needs to be so digested that we just do it. If we’re just aiming in that way, we’re just automatically going to refrain from acting destructively. Our whole life is shaped in terms of long-term planning — not just short-term planning, long-term planning. Of course, we have to take care of things in this lifetime, because in this lifetime we can make spiritual practice and we can make spiritual progress. We do have a precious human rebirth. 

When it says, “turn away from having keen interest in this lifetime,” that doesn’t mean turn away from practicing in this lifetime. We do practice, we do whatever we can in this lifetime, but with an eye to the fact that it’s going to go on, therefore… It said this in the Upanishads, before Buddha: there’s no loss of a beginning once made. Even if we are very old, we still learn. Even if it’s your last day, learn something new. Don’t give up. Don’t think “Well, it’s the end.” 

A lot of people, when they get older, are always looking back. They’re just thinking in terms of their memories, because the only thing they have to look forward to is the nursing home and death. Whereas with this attitude from the initial scope, we’re always looking ahead. No matter how old we are: “There’s still more that I can accomplish. If it’s not in this lifetime, the more beneficial habits I build up now, the more they’ll continue in future lifetimes.” There isn’t this… It’s sad that we grow old because we’re going to have to start over again. That’s a real drag. That comes in the next step, of wanting to gain liberation from rebirth. That’s a drag but considering that this is what we have to work with… you know, enthusiastic: “I don’t care that I’m old. I don’t care that there’s not that much time left. Whatever time is left, that’s just of this lifetime. There’s infinite time left.” 

We work with this type of framework with this initial scope. It’s not so simple, and we shouldn’t belittle this initial scope. 

Now, the intermediate scope is the next point that Tsongkhapa makes. Let me read the short paragraph that he wrote about it.

Then (on an intermediate level), we need to have exerted much effort in thinking about the shortcomings of all the various (rebirth states) of compulsive existence and the advantages of the peaceful (attainment of liberation). Having turned our minds, through that, away from working with keen interest for the (so-called) good things of uncontrollably recurring samsaric existence, we need to continually enhance, for a long time, a strong attitude to work with keen interest for liberation.

We have the same structure here. Here we are looking down at the shortcomings of all the various states of compulsive existence, the rebirth states, whether the ones that are with more suffering or the ones that are with less suffering. We can also think of the general disadvantages of uncontrollably recurring rebirth, what’s called samsara. Already we’re not thinking of samsara just in terms of one lifetime. That’s not at all the meaning of samsara. Samsara is continually continuing rebirth and referring to having the basic suffering, the all-pervasive suffering (khyab-par ’du-byed-kyi sdug-bsngal), of having the continuing type of aggregates — having a rebirth with a body and mind, etc., that is going to be the basis of experiencing the ripening of either unhappiness or unsatisfying happiness. 

We look to the advantages of liberation, and we aim for that. We get what’s called renunciation. Renunciation means literally the determination to be… Determination. Ngejung (nges-’byung) is the Tibetan word. Nge (nges) is “certain,” and jung (’byung) is “to become.” We become certain. That is why I say determination. 

Determination goes in two directions. Determination is determination to be free from samsara, uncontrollably recurring rebirth. “I’m determined to get free of that.” In order to do that, to be free of it, I have to give it up, let go. That means, to put it in very concrete terms or practical terms, giving up all hope that samsara is ever going to be satisfying. That is a heavy, heavy step. You give up all hope that you’re going to have a perfect relationship, that you’re going to live happily ever after, that anything is going to last, all these things. You give up all hope. Don’t place your hope in samsara. Now, does that mean that you feel hopeless and depressed? No. Why? Because you understand the nature of the mind. If you didn’t understand the nature of the mind, then you just feel it’s hopeless. But we understand the nature of the mind. 

Here we can bring in already the beginnings of bodhichitta (or let’s say something similar to bodhichitta). In what respect? I’m not talking about in respect to “I want to liberate all beings” and stuff like that. We’re not talking about that here. What we’re talking about is the purity of the mind. We’re convinced that the samsaric situation is hopeless — negative rebirths, painful rebirths, etc. That was the result of destructive behavior. Destructive behavior is not part of the nature of the mind. The impulses to follow this destructive behavior are not part of the nature of the mind: you can get rid of them. This is an important point in the initial scope. You have to be convinced that you can get rid of those negative impulses and stop building up more — through discipline, through a certain type of purification. 

But with the intermediate scope, we realize that — well, what is the cause of samsara? It is the disturbing emotions and what’s underlying them, unawareness of how we exist, how all phenomena exist. That is what triggers the ripening of karma and motivates more karma, more karmic impulses. We have to be convinced. If we’re going to aim for something better — aim for liberation — then it has to be on the basis of being convinced that the disturbing emotions and ignorance, or unawareness, are not part of the nature of that mental activity, the giving rise to mental holograms (which is what it means to know something), that the disturbing emotion that might accompany it is not part of the nature of this. Because when you focus on voidness, for example, you don’t have it. It’s demonstrated that you don’t have it. The moment of the clear light of death, you don’t have it. It is not part of the nature of that mental activity, although it may accompany it an awful lot of the time. 

We have to become convinced. You have to be able to focus on that liberated state. Third noble truth. That liberated state, the stopping of — third and fourth noble truths — a stopping of those obscurations (the emotional obscurations (nyon-sgrib), they’re called, the ones that prevent liberation) and the mental continuum that would be free of them, my mental continuum that would be free of them. That’s what we are aiming for. We’re determined. That determination of renunciation is to turn away from that state in which my mental continuum is continuing under the influence of disturbing emotions and all this karmic junk. “I’m determined to get rid of that, to be free of that. I’m determined to give it up, with no hope that it’s ever going to satisfy. I am determined in the other direction, to achieve liberation, because I see that it’s possible and I can focus on it” — it’s this aspect that I say is similar to bodhichitta — “and so that’s what I am aiming for.” 

Now, what kind of body would we have as a liberated being? Well, here we have to turn to the Prasangika explanation within Madhyamaka. There are all these different Indian Buddhist tenet systems, and each of them have a different explanation. Let’s stick with what Tsongkhapa would assert, which is the Prasangika point of view — Prasangika point of view, and his understanding of the Prasangika point of view. But, anyway, let’s stick with that, since that to me makes the most sense and obviously it made the most sense to Tsongkhapa.

When we talk about aggregates, these are the aggregate factors of experience, moment to moment. The physical basis and the physical things that one is aware of, and feelings of levels of happiness and unhappiness, and distinguishing various things within a field of vision, and then the consciousness, the primary consciousness, and all the other mental factors. In other words, the body, and the things that we are aware of, physical things that we are aware of, and the various mental factors that accompany it, including feelings of happiness, unhappiness, etc., and the type of channel we’re on — seeing, hearing, etc.  

Now, these are either tainted (zag-bcas) or untainted (zag-med). Tainted and untainted, from the Prasangika point of view, means either making an appearance of true existence, solid existence, what’s impossible, things encapsulated in plastic by themselves (that’s tainted), or not making that appearance (that’s untainted). When we gain liberation — it’s called nirvana (mya-ngan-’das) — we have with residue (lhag-bcas-kyi mya-ngan ’das) and without residue (lhag-med mya-ngan ’das). With residue is with that appearance-making of true existence, and without is without that appearance-making of true existence. When we are totally absorbed on voidness, then as a liberated being, not yet as a Buddha, that mental activity is… if it’s going to make any appearance, it’s going to make an appearance of true existence, because it still has the cognitive obscurations, what prevents enlightenment. We have, then, that the only possibility for untainted aggregates is when we’re totally absorbed on voidness; then there’s no appearance-making of true existence. 

When as a liberated being — an arhat or a liberated bodhisattva (eighth, ninth, tenth level bodhisattva) — we are totally absorbed on voidness, then we have untainted aggregates, because there’s no appearance of true existence in that moment of experience of that mental continuum, of our mental continuum. At all other times — subsequent attainment (rjes-thob), subsequent situation — there is that appearance, so we have the tainted aggregates. 

We still always have these two, and that continues not just in this lifetime but in future lifetimes. The body that we would have as a liberated being would be the same type of body that we have now during that lifetime in which we attain liberation. Same body. But there would be no… That mental continuum, our mental activity, would be without disturbing emotions and without unawareness and without the ripening of karma in terms of happy and unhappy. Happy meaning the samsaric happiness. We have this.

When we die from that rebirth in which we attain liberation, then there are two possibilities. One possibility is that we go to a pure land. Now, a pure land is a situation which is… if we’re following a Mahayana path as a bodhisattva, a liberated bodhisattva, then we have all the opportunities for practicing the most and making the speediest progress. There we’re taught by Sambhogakaya Buddhas, and there’s no samsaric situation; we can devote 100% of our time to study and practice. That’s one possibility of a pure land. Or we could be an arhat, a Hinayana arhat — shravaka or pratyekabuddha — and we could go to a pure land. I don’t know if it’s the same pure land as where liberated bodhisattvas go or a different pure land. They don’t go to the teachings, they don’t go to where the Sambhogakaya Buddhas are teaching, and they just sort of hang out. 

Now, in both cases, that arhat, that liberated being, will have a subtle physical body — what’s called a mental body (yid-lus), or a body which is made of physical aspects having the functional nature of the mind, literally. What that means is that it still can be seen by the eye or known by the mind, but it can be seen by the eye only of other liberated beings or Buddhas; it can’t be seen by ordinary beings. It’s called mental in the sense that it is subtle, and it is similar, it’s described in the texts, to the type of bodies made of the subtle elements that you have of the beings in the plane of ethereal forms (gzugs-khams, Skt. rupadhatu), the so-called form realm. Not the same — since that’s a samsaric body — but similar to that, that we can’t see as ordinary beings. With that type of body, not a Buddha Body. 

But if we are a liberated bodhisattva who decides not to go to a pure land, or a Hinayana arhat who then develops bodhichitta and decides not to stay and study in a pure land, then we would be reborn not in a pure land and we would have, again, the same type of body that all of us have. It would be untainted when they’re in total absorption on voidness and tainted when it is outside of that (meaning making an appearance of true existence). In fact, it would be the same in the pure lands as well. You’re not focused all the time on voidness in the pure land. 

This I think is important, to have some idea — as we’ll see later on — what kind of body do you have as a Buddha. We have to have some clear idea, I think, of what liberation would be like. What kind of body would I have? What are we talking about if I get rid of samsara? 

This infinitely long mental continuum, continuum of mental activity moment to moment to moment, does not have as part of its intrinsic nature the disturbing emotions, unawareness that underlies that, and all the karmic tendencies and impulses that would be associated with it. These are fleeting. These can be got rid of. That is what I am aiming for. “I’m aiming for that because I’m totally fed up and disgusted with this situation of that mental continuum going on with all this garbage and what ripens because of that, what that mental continuum experiences because of that. I have no hope that it’s going to ever really satisfy, and I have no hope that you can win. You can’t win.” This I think is the kernel of this intermediate scope. 

Now, it has very, very heavy consequences in terms of our life and our lifestyle. Does it mean that we have no friends? Well, not really. If we really aimed for it, we probably would become a monk or a nun. We probably would. You have vows for individual liberation. You can do it as a lay person, but ultimately, we want to devote ourselves full-time to this. Full full-time. 

In order to become convinced that there’s no hope in samsara… It’s not that we feel lost and hopeless, because we know that there’s liberation and that that’s possible for the mental continuum. In that mental continuum… I mean, there is meditation on love and compassion and all this sort of stuff; although it’s emphasized in the advanced scope, Mahayana, you still can have it here. But we don’t put any hope into samsara. 

We look at the disadvantages of samsara, and the disadvantages of it are found in various lists. There are the disadvantages of course of the each of the rebirth states. We don’t have to go into tremendous detail about that. There are the various different rebirth states. For us — for many people — that’s difficult to relate to. The trapped beings of the joyless realms (the so-called hell creatures), the clutching ghosts (or hungry ghosts), and then animals (these creeping creatures), and humans, and the demigods (the ones who want to be like gods), and the gods in the divine realm (celestial beings), and so on. We have all of these, and there’s descriptions of it. 

This I’ve explained many times — so no need to repeat it — that we’re thinking of a mental continuum: A mental continuum can experience happy, unhappy; it can experience the whole spectrum of it. It can also experience the whole spectrum of physical things that you could experience, from the most awful things to the most wonderful things. That mental continuum is capable of experiencing all of that, isn’t it? Why would there be limitations? The only limitation is the hardware of the body. That’s why focusing on the mental continuum is so important here. 

If you think of a mental continuum… The arising of a mental hologram, and that’s what it means to know something — why would there be any limitation to a mental hologram that could arise? That’s very important for, eventually, aiming for omniscience, but even within samsara. Why can’t that mental continuum experience unbelievable pain, more than a human can tolerate without passing out, without becoming unconscious? Why couldn’t it experience being in a hell? You can say, “Because hells don’t exist.” But just because we can’t find them, doesn’t mean a mental continuum can’t experience that. Can it experience it on the basis of a human body? Well, not really. You could imagine it, but it’s pretty hard to imagine it realistically. How can we imagine more pain than we’ve ever experienced. That’s hard to imagine, isn’t it?

When we think of these different rebirth realms, the type of experience they have, then we can relate to some of it — in terms of being burned and being frozen, or being hungry, being thirsty, not being able to get what we want, being chased by animals, being eaten alive, being jealous and fighting always, being… everything going nicely. We can work with all of these things, and “That’s not what I want.” None of it is going to be so wonderful, not really, if you think about it. 

Sufferings of samsara in general — I mean of humans, specifically — come next: constantly being born, old age, sickness, death. That really… I mean, who wants it? Who wants it? Of course, we say, “Well, I would like to be able to continue always in my prime.” In your prime. That means when you have… It’s horrible, the human rebirth, because you’re in your physical prime (that means the best condition physically) when, let’s say, you’re in your early and middle twenties. That’s when the body is the strongest. That’s your physical prime. Mental prime is more like now, at my stage, of the early sixties or late fifties. Why? I think in my case… Well, I have learned all the various languages; now I know lots and lots of languages, all the Buddhist languages and Western languages, and I can deal with whatever. I have all this Buddhist background and training in all the different systems. Western science and history. I have all the experience of traveling to over a hundred countries in the world. I have all of this, and now I can put it all together. I’ve spent all my life studying and learning, and now I’m at the prime where I can put it together. 

I have young friends who are impatient and frustrated. They’re in their twenties and “Oh my god, I have to learn Sanskrit and I have to learn Tibetan. I have to learn this. I haven’t studied this system, I haven’t studied that system.” All of that hard work is lying ahead of them. They can’t do anything, in terms of putting it together and actually applying it at that stage when they’re physically the strongest. 

When you are at the stage of life where you can put it all together, where you have the most experience and you have the most learning, then your body is falling apart, and you’re getting tired and weak, and get sick more easily, etc., etc. This is really not nice, and there’s no way around it. You look at this whole thing of birth and aging and education and sickness and old age and death, and all of that, and you say, “Oh, there’s no hope in winning.” You have to make the best of it and use it, but “I’m fed up. I’m disgusted with it. I don’t romanticize about it.” That’s what we want to do. 

Then we have to be parted from what we like, meeting with what we don’t like; not obtaining the things we like, even though we try to find them. That’s just so true. You get into a relationship with somebody. What is that all about? It’s bad enough I have to experience my own karma. Now I have to take on and experience all the other… the family problems that the partner has and their work problems, and all these sorts of things. 

I have parted from what I like and meeting with what I don’t like. There are two people with disturbing emotions and with karma, and so, obviously, sometimes it’s going to clash: we’re not going to agree, we’re going to get into arguments, this and that. We’re going to be parted. Can’t be with the person all the time. Relationships break up. 

Not obtaining things we like. Even though we try to find them, try to make it work — maybe it works to a certain extent, but it’s never going to be perfect. 

Does that mean we don’t get into any relationships? Not necessarily. But you don’t put your hopes on it. It’s like with meditation. No hope, no worry. You don’t hope that the meditation is going to really, really be good, and you don’t worry that it’s not going to be good — “I’m so worried and I’m frightened.” It’s the same thing in life. Getting into a relationship, getting a job, getting a new apartment, buying a house, buying a car. I don’t hope that it’s going to be perfect because it can’t be perfect. I’m not worried that it’s not going to be perfect, because I know perfectly well it’s not going to be perfect. It’s like that, isn’t it?

We don’t idealize samsara. Not just in this lifetime: in future lifetimes. It’s going to go on and on and on and on and on. 

Then the sufferings of samsara in general. There’s no certainty of status, so there’s no certainty of what we’re going to experience in the next moment. Are we going to be happy, going to be unhappy? I mean, that’s awful. We have all the good intentions and motivation — and you get up in the morning and you just feel blah or horrible, or you get a cold, or you get the flu. There’s no certainty. There is no certainty of what the rebirth state is going to be like. We can aim for better ones, but there’s no certainty about it. There’s no satisfaction. Never going to be satisfied. No matter how good it gets, we’re going to want more. It can’t satisfy, because no samsaric situation can be perfect. 

We’re going to have to fit into new rebirths all the time. You have to adjust to a new family and a new body and a new level of intelligence and a new... all this other stuff. We have to change status repeatedly from high to low, and we have no friends that are going to last forever. We have to go through this basically by ourselves. We have to forsake our body over and over and over again, as much as we are attached to it. 

That’s the intermediate scope, isn’t it? This is samsara. We have to think about that really. Because on the initial level of the initial level motivation, it’s quite easy to still “Well, I want better rebirths. I see that it’s going to go on and on and on, so I want to try to have the best opportunities.” But then there can be an awful lot of attachment to better states of samsara. An attachment to friends — “Let’s have my same friends” — and same teacher. Well, the teacher is going to undergo rebirth too. Everything’s going to be different. Continuity. They’re different. We have this grasping. We have this attachment. “I want to have this, and I want to have that in my next rebirth, in my future rebirths.” 

There’s a delicate balance here that we need to try to develop, which is, yes, we want to have a precious human rebirth, we want to continue having precious human rebirths, but don’t see that as the goal: “With that precious human rebirth, I’m going to have lots of friends and lots of money, and everything is going to be fine,” and that’s the aim of having precious human rebirth. The aim of having a precious human rebirth is to use it as a vehicle for getting out of this, for getting to the pure state of the mind that was there all along, that’s its basic nature. That’s what we’re aiming for. 

Now, when that mental continuum is free of karma, free of disturbing emotions and unawareness and so on about how we exist, about how things exist — “Well, do I want to go to a pure land and just sit around? I want to go to pure land and work like anything, all the time, with teachings and meditation? Do I want to work further in terms of actually benefiting people as much as I can, even though maybe it’s limited, and in the process also study and learn and develop? How do I want to do this?” There are three possibilities, aren’t there? Three possibilities. One has to also have that in mind, with this long-term vision — this is the main point that I want to say — this long-term vision of the mental continuum: individual, subjective, moment-to-moment arising of a mental hologram. That’s what it means to know something. That mental hologram can be the sight of other people, it can be listening to other people, interacting with them, but still, it’s just mental activity, isn’t it? 

Tame the mind, purify the mind. That’s what it’s all about. This strength, this determination, determination to be free. 

What is the emotion here that’s behind it, the motivating mental framework? The emotion is described as disgust. Fed up with samsara. Does it mean that we’re afraid of it? No. Does it mean that we hate it? No, that’s a disturbing emotion, so I don’t think we want to have as the emotional counterpart of renunciation, a disturbing emotion. Although we haven’t gotten rid of disturbing emotions, so obviously it’s going to be somewhat disturbing. What would that emotional state be? What would it be? You have no illusions about samsara. 

The Tibetan word — Serkong Rinpoche said, “Always look to the Tibetan and try to milk the meaning out of it” — the Tibetan word for it is yijung (yid-’byung, bored disgust). Renunciation, remember, was ngejung (nges-’byung). Jung (’byung) is the same word, “to become.” For renunciation, nge (nges) means “certain.” “To become certain,” “to become determined.” Yijung is… yi (yid) is the word for “mind.” “The mind becomes.” What could that mean? “The mind is made up,” we say in English — “My mind is made up that this is ridiculous, this samsaric situation. This is ridiculous. Why am I banging my head against the wall in complaining about this friend and this relationship and this apartment, and my rent has been raised, and blah, blah, blah. Come on, already! I’ve made up my mind about it.” That’s the attitude of it. You’re just fed up. My mind has reached a point. Maybe that’s a way of more literally explaining yijung. Mind has reached a point where you’ve had enough already. In a sense, we give up trying to make samsara work as something perfect. 

What are the implications of this? Right? You have to think. This I think is very important. What are the implications of initial scope motivation in terms of our lifestyle? What do I do with my life? Initial scope. I’m thinking of what positive things can I do — this is interesting — not just ordinary positive things that I can do, but if you really want to think long term, “What are the positive things I can do that will continue to build up positive force after I’m dead as well?” 

The Abhidharma says it very clearly: you build a stupa, you write a book, or make a website, or you build a temple, or something like that. Even after you’ve died, those people who benefit from what you’ve done — if there are others that benefit from what you’ve done — you continue to build up positive force. That gives a very nice clue. If we really want to improve our future lives, that we work on something — not just something that’s short-term beneficial, that’s positive in the short term, but something positive in the long term as well, for a long time. Stop doing destructive things, destructive things that will be destructive not just in the short term but in long term. Like pollution. That’s destructive not only in the short term but destructive in the long term as well, isn’t it? If we mess up the world, not only will people now suffer from it, but people in the future will suffer from it as well. We continue to build up negative force, because it causes more and more and more harm. Long range, not just thinking… even if we don’t think in terms of our own personal future lives, think in terms of the future of the universe. That changes our attitude towards things. That’s the initial scope. 

Now the intermediate scope. It has big consequences on our way of dealing with life, so really not something to belittle and think “Ooh, it’s a trivial thing, intermediate scope. That’s just Hinayana. Who wants that?” It’s really a radical change of... I don’t have any illusions about samsara, about worldly things, about people, about what’s possible, about sex, about food, about anything. 

Does it mean you don’t have any fun anymore? I don’t think it means you don’t enjoy things, but you don’t make a big deal out of it. You give up the eight worldly concerns. Praise or criticism… Of course, some people are going to praise me, some people are going to criticize me. Nothing special, as the young Serkong Rinpoche would say. Nothing special. Is it nice when people praise you? Yes, I guess it is nice when people praise you. Is it a big deal? No. What would you do if people praised you? How could you transform that, when people praise you? 

Participant: One thing about it is that it’s coming from good actions in the past.

Dr. Berzin: It’s coming from good actions in the past. But I’m talking about… Now let’s apply lojong (blo-sbyong, attitude training) Attitude changing. Attitude transformation. When somebody praises you, rather than thinking “Oh, I’m so wonderful,” and getting arrogant and getting attached to it, what you can do is rejoice. Shantideva even says something like that. If others get pleasure from your good qualities, why don’t you as well? Rejoice. Sometimes I get email from people, from my website, talking about how much benefit they received from it. Rather than feeling “Oh, how wonderful I am,” change it into… rejoice that “How wonderful it is that people have benefited.” Then you’re not disturbed by it. 

The same thing with criticism. What’s the way to transform that? Rather than feeling depressed and horrible, what can I learn that’s in the lojong? Somebody criticizes even if I’m not at fault — take them as my teacher. 

The other worldly perishable feelings or concerns: Things going well, not going well. Hearing good news, not hearing good news. Gaining things, losing things. Same, same. 

Gaining funding. Now I have problems with funding for the archives project. Gaining funding, losing funding. Gaining funding — rejoice; this is wonderful. Losing funding — well, teaches me to work hard, not be attached, and what do I expect? What do you expect from samsara? It always comes back to that. No hope. There’s no hope that it is going to be perfect. Have I built up the good karma that it’s going to work and there’s always going to be funding? Well, maybe there is good karma for it to work, but it’s still karma, which means it’s going to go up and down and sometimes there will be funding, sometimes there won’t be funding, sometimes it will go well, sometimes there will be problems. 

Give up any hope that it’s going to be perfect, then you have equanimity. On the basis of equanimity, you can rejoice when it goes well, you can learn from it when it’s not going well. But the underlying basis for all of that is equanimity on the basis of yijung. Your mind is made up that there is no hope. There’s no worry; there’s no hope. That’s samsara. Ngejung, determination, renunciation — “I really want to get to a point where I’m not dependent on all this stuff.” Of course, we are dependent — I mean, dependent arising — but my state of mind is not going to be negatively affected by all of this samsaric stuff. 

I think these are some of the things that we have to think about when we’re working with this intermediate level. It’s very hard. I don’t think it means that we no longer have any friends, we no longer... You get married, you don’t get married, but don’t put any hopes in it that it’s going to be perfect. Really, as I say, if you really were determined, you probably would not care about anything, just work really hard to tame the mind. That’s your primary activity. As it says in the text, even if your head is on fire, it says, you’re not going to be thrown off that path. 

Any comments? Any thoughts on this, on all of this? 

Participant: [unclear]

Dr. Berzin: Right. Exactly. He says that if we don’t have some idea of what it would be like to be a Buddha… Or in this case, on the intermediate level, to be a liberated being. That’s first. (What a Buddha is like is much more than that. We’ll get to that next time.) But without a clear idea of what is possible without samsara, then you just get depressed if you just think “How terrible!” 

It’s the same thing that they say about death meditation. If you’re not convinced that there’s rebirth, just to focus on death and impermanence is only going to get you depressed. The same thing. If you just focus on renunciation without being convinced of liberation, you’re going to get depressed. The same thing on the advanced level. Give up concern just for oneself? Well, you get pretty depressed if you don’t understand that it is possible to benefit everybody equally. 

That’s why I started this whole discussion with this, and Tsongkhapa has it very clearly here in his structure, of turn your primary interest away from this lifetime to future lifetimes, from future lifetimes to liberation, from self to others. As you have in the dhyanas, these higher states of concentration, turn from the lower one and turn toward the higher one. You have to be convinced that the higher is possible. 

In terms of this motivation, these levels of motivation, although it is not stated so clearly in the lam-rim texts, the real foundation for it is the mental continuum. This is why in Jewel Ornament of Liberation they start with Buddha-nature. I think that’s very, very important. But it has to be understood on a very deep level: the nature of the mind, the mental continuum, and the basic purity of that mental continuum and that it can be.... get rid of the junk on it. Then the stages of getting rid of the junk — worst samsaric experiences, any samsaric experiences. Then limitations in terms of being able to put everything together in the whole universe. It all hinges on the understanding of the mental continuum. Therefore, Nagarjuna and Aryadeva said, “Tame the mind.” 

OK? Anything else? 

Then we can end here with a few minutes of meditation — we have five minutes left — just reflecting on this, and then we’ll end with a dedication. 

Whatever positive force has come from this, may it go deeper and deeper and act as a cause for reaching liberation and enlightenment for the benefit of all.