We are now speaking about the sufferings of human beings. This is interesting because, on the one hand, we want to achieve precious human rebirths, but on the other hand, we also want to become free of having human rebirths, to be free of the shortcomings of a human rebirth. As liberated beings – and we looked at what that might mean – either we would stay in some pure realm or, if we wanted to continue toward enlightenment, we would take rebirth as any type of form that would be beneficial to others. Particularly, though, we would want precious human rebirths so that we could help others along the way and also have the best opportunities to continue on the path toward becoming Buddhas.
We examined last time what it means to be a human, and we had to differentiate the difficult or troublesome aspects of being a human. But we are not just limited as human beings in terms of having to be a baby again, having to learn everything all over again, getting sick, getting old, meeting with things that we don’t like and all of these sorts of things. We also have good qualities that we are able to use to benefit others. The human rebirth is the most conducive basis for developing these qualities.
The special feature that we have that is always emphasized is our intelligence. With that intelligence, we are able to discriminate between what is helpful and what is harmful. We are able to exercise ethical self-control and to work on ourselves on the basis of this intelligence. We have just the right amount of suffering – not too much or too little – so that we actually are motivated to do something. As liberated beings, of course we wouldn’t have any suffering, but we would have this intelligence, and we would have the good qualities of compassion and so on.
So, we need to understand the dynamic that is involved with dealing with the sufferings of a human rebirth. On one hand, we want to continue having precious human rebirths to use as a stepping-stone, but we don’t want to be attached to the precious human rebirth. We don’t want to see it as the ultimate goal. We want to go beyond that to become liberated beings that can take advantage of a human type of rebirth without actually being subject to its limitations. We discussed that last time.
As for the particular sufferings of humans, we have gone through birth, old age, sickness, death, being parted from what we like, and meeting with what we do not like.
Suffering of Not Obtaining the Things We Wish For
Today, we are up to not obtaining the things that we wish for, even though we try to find them. This is dealing with frustration. Here, it is not just not obtaining what we like. A stronger word is used in Tibetan: what we wish for. We are not talking about wishing for liberation and enlightenment, things that require a tremendous amount of work to obtain and, therefore, a tremendous amount of patience. This is talking about things that we can never actually obtain.
What do we wish for? As I said, we are not talking about these ultimate goals that we need to wish for, even though they’ll require a tremendous amount of work to obtain.
Participant: Worldly dharmas.
Dr. Berzin: Well, worldly things. The worldly dharmas are the eight worldly feelings – feeling overjoyed when things go well, feeling depressed when things don’t go well, feeling overjoyed when we are praised, feeling depressed when we are abused or criticized, etc.
But this word “worldly” is interesting. My teacher Serkong Rinpoche always pointed out that one could milk (as in milking a cow) a lot of meaning out of the way the Tibetans translated the Sanskrit terms. The word for “worldly” in Tibetan is jigten ('jig-rten). Jig ('jig) means “to perish,” “to fall apart,” and ten (rten) means a “basis.” Worldly things, then, are things that have perishable bases, things that cannot possibly give one security. So, they are going to fall apart – like wealth, status, fame, friendships, our lives. All these things will fall apart. They won’t last.
Let’s take a moment to review what things we actually wish for, or want, in life. And let’s be honest, not just idealistic. Actually, it can be quite difficult to know. Sometimes we find ourselves in situations in which we don’t know what we want – but we want. That’s even more interesting. But let’s analyze first those things that we know that we want.
[meditation]
OK. What do any of you want?
Participant: Happiness.
Dr. Berzin: What else?
Participant: Good health.
Dr. Berzin: Do these things have perishable bases? Yes! Health always falls apart. And happiness – if we are talking about our usual worldly happiness – falls apart; it never lasts.
What else do we want?
Participant: A good job.
Dr. Berzin: Well, we lose good jobs as well, don’t we? They’re never stable. And even though we might think that a job is good, like any job, it will have its problems.
Participant: To find the meaning of life.
Dr. Berzin: To find the meaning of life. Ah! A philosophical question. Yes, that’s a deeper thing. What happens if you find the meaning of life? Then what? Will it make you happy?
Participant: It’s a kind of happiness.
Dr. Berzin: What do we mean by the meaning of life?
Participant: That’s my question.
Dr. Berzin: That’s a very good question. What is the meaning of life? Some great teachers say the meaning of life, the purpose or aim of it, is to find happiness. It’s true even for animals. It’s not just humans that want to find happiness. It’s a general axiom in Buddhism that everybody wants to be happy; nobody wants to be unhappy. So, if the meaning or aim of life is to be happy, then the question is, can we gain that happiness? If we can, what methods would we use? That brings in the Dharma because our usual methods don’t bring lasting happiness at all.
What else? On a worldly level, a lot of us would like to have love, to be appreciated, to have attention, to be paid attention to – all these sorts of things. What’s behind it?
Participant: Wanting to be happy.
Dr. Berzin: Wanting to be happy. Who wants to be happy? Me, the big solid “me.” I want to be loved. I want to be appreciated. Pay attention to me, me, me. Here I am. I want the good job. I want to know the meaning of life. “I want to know!” – me, the big “me.”
Why Do We Want What We Want?
This is quite interesting. When we talk about what I want, we’re actually talking about what ripens from karmic tendencies. It could be that I want to yell at you, to hug you, or whatever. But whatever it is that we want is based on the habits and the tendencies that we have built up. Why do we want what we want? “I never had somebody who really loved me as a child, and now, as an adult, I want somebody to love me” – or whatever.
Think about it: Why do we want what we want?
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And is the big, solid “me” behind it?
[meditation]
What do you think?
Participant: What you like arises not only from karma but from a huge number of causes and conditions, such as your sexual orientation, your likes and dislikes, things that you feel have made you happy in the past and so on.
Dr. Berzin: But all of that comes from karmic tendencies.
Participant: So, it’s not just the big, solid “me.”
Dr. Berzin: Well, there are many, many different factors within karma, but the point is that “karma,” as a general umbrella, can account for all of them. It’s for various karmic reasons that we meet the people that we meet that will act as an influence on us. It’s for karmic reasons that we are born this gender or that gender, that we have this sexual orientation or that orientation, that we are born in this country or that country, that we are rich or poor – whatever.
Participant: That also brings up the matter of context. We want what we want because we live within a context, like a specific society.
Dr. Berzin: So, there is the influence of society. We live in a context, so what we want can be conditioned by advertising, for example, by what other people have and so on. It can be conditioned by the climate. We live in a cold climate, so we want a warm house. We live in a hot climate, so we want a cool house. There are many, many factors. But, again, whatever places and times we live in is due to the ripening of the aftermath of karma.
But what I want to get to is what I think is the most significant point here, which is that behind “I want” is the strong, solid “me”: I want this. To sum it up, what we could say is that what that “me” wants is security. And what we think will make that “me” secure is having love, attention, a good job, friends, knowing the meaning of life – “I know what my purpose is”. Whatever it is that we want, it’s to make that false “me” – the “me” that we imagine as solidly existing – secure. Can it ever be made secure? No. Therefore, we have the suffering of not obtaining the things we wish for, even though we try to find them. We bang our heads against the wall trying to make that “me” that can’t be made secure, secure. It can’t be made secure because it doesn’t even exist. Conventionally, we exist, but not as this big, solid “me” that exists in isolation from everything else and that has to have its own way and get what it wants, regardless of everything else. That “me” doesn’t exist. It’s an exaggeration.
Nonetheless, we are always trying, wanting to get something that we hope will make that “me” secure. What we wish for, thinking that it will make “me” secure, comes from past karmic habits. At least that’s my understanding.
You have a comment?
Participant: Yes. I wish to develop more love. I think this is obtainable, unless I say, “OK, there is no need.”
Dr. Berzin: Right. But I already said at the beginning that we are not talking about Dharma goals, which can be obtained, like wishing for liberation, wishing for enlightenment, wishing to be more loving, more patient. These are goals that, of course, we could want on the basis of me, me, me: I want to be like this. We inevitably will because we are still samsaric beings. But we can at least have some understanding that this is not the basis that we want it to be on and can try to have it more on a realistic basis.
We could get frustrated because it takes so long to become more loving. That’s a different type of frustration than the one that comes from wanting to find “my true love,” etc. That type of goal is always going to bring frustration because it is impossible to fulfill – which, of course, brings up the question of patience, doesn’t it? We want to have the patience to do the hard work that is involved in achieving positive spiritual goals. But to have patience with trying to find the prince or princess on the white horse, the perfect job, the perfect partner, the perfect situation – which are possible to find – is idiot patience, isn’t it? “Well, just be patient and keep on trying and trying.”
Anyway, think about what I’ve said.
Participant: The security that you’re talking about implies permanence – that we don’t want to recognize that things are going to change.
Dr. Berzin: We want something permanent. Well, the type of happiness that results from being parted forever from the disturbing emotions and karma – that lasts forever. It changes from moment to moment, but it lasts forever. However, we want a different type of happiness, one that we think will last forever but that can’t last forever. This becomes a little bit tricky, doesn’t it? Why should one type of happiness be permanent and the other not? Why should one be secure and the other not?
However, security stops being an issue. This, I think, is very important: If we realize the voidness of the impossible self – that it doesn’t refer to anything real – we realize that trying to find security for this impossible self is futile. Then we stop trying to find security for such a “me.” Does that mean that we then want to find security for the conventional “me”? I don’t think so. I think security is no longer an issue. Think about that.
That’s a lot to think about. Let’s take some moments to chew this over.
[meditation]
It sounds almost like a Taoist or a Zen thing: Once we stop looking for security, that’s when we’re secure. What do you think?
Participant: I think that once you don’t expect anything to be permanent and can accept that everything is impermanent, you can be very calm and cool about it.
Dr. Berzin: That is the solution in my favorite koan: “Death can come at anything time, so relax.” Why would we ever feel frustrated about anything?
Participant: Frustration comes from being obsessed about things turning out your way.
Dr. Berzin: Frustration comes from thinking that things should turn out the way that I want them to – this big, solid “me.” If we’ve understood the voidness of the impossible “me,” would we ever be frustrated about the hard work that is required to achieve liberation or enlightenment? No! We wouldn’t be frustrated. This suffering is talking about the suffering of being frustrated: “I want this, but I can’t get it! Ahh!” So, then we throw a temper tantrum.
Participant: “It’s such hard work.”
Dr. Berzin: “It’s such hard work. I don’t want to do it.”
Think about it.
[meditation]
I don’t mean to belittle the usual, everyday goals that we wish for. Let’s say we are out of work, we’ve lost our home, or something like. So, now we want to find work or a home. That’s perfectly reasonable. Do we feel frustration not having it? Well, that’s something we could work on. That doesn’t mean that we stop trying to find a job or a home. Remember, we are talking about overcoming the suffering that’s involved in these situations.
Participant: Sometimes it’s little things that are frustrating. I don’t find so much that the “me” is behind it. For example, if the computer fails to function like it should, then I can’t do the work that needs to get done. So, it’s frustrating.
Dr. Berzin: Are you saying that behind that frustration is not “I want it to work”? Well, you could say that it has to function for the company or something like that.
Let’s say my website is down. That means that people cannot access it. I think it’s beneficial for people to access it, so I would like for it to be back up and running. Would I feel frustrated that it’s not up?
Participant: I can’t do the work for others. I want to be able to work.
Dr. Berzin: I can’t do the work for others. But I’m talking about the emotion, the painful emotion, of feeling frustrated.
Participant: That is frustration.
Dr. Berzin: I don’t know that it would have to be frustration. “I can’t do this work for others now because the computer is down. My web master, who can fix it, has his cell phone turned off and is not answering email, so there is no way of contacting him.” Does one feel frustrated? I don’t know that one has to feel frustrated. I think that one could accept the reality of the situation and see what to do in the meantime. The Dharma solution for things is basically to accept reality. This is the reality. What do I expect? This is a machine: machines break.
Based on frustration, look at what happens: We yell at the machine. We curse at it. We punch the table out of frustration. I’m a little intelligent, so I don’t punch the computer; instead, I smash my fist on the table. But we don’t need to be frustrated. If we are frustrated, it’s because of the big “me”: I want it to be like this. Sure, we would like the computer to work. What to do? This is where we get the worldly dharmas, these childish things: feeling depressed and upset when things are not working well and feeling overjoyed when they start working well again. We just need to accept the situation and do what we can to change it. And if we can’t do something to change it, why worry? Why get upset? This is Shantideva’s advice. Very, very smart advice. Very wise advice.
So, that’s what we are aiming for. Obviously, we are not liberated beings yet, so of course, we will feel a little bit frustrated. But the point is not to wallow in that frustration and – initial scope training – when the impulse comes up to curse the computer and to smash our fists on the table, we refrain from doing that because we know it’s not going to help. It’s just silly. The computer doesn’t care. It’s not going to work any better if we call it nasty names.
Suffering of Having Tainted, Obtainer Aggregates
The last suffering of humans, which is actually a general type of suffering that Tsongkhapa adds to this list, is that “our tainted, obtainer aggregates” – namely, our mental and physical aggregates – “are of the functional nature of suffering.” “Tainted” is sometimes translated as “contaminated.” “Tainted” and “obtainer” are technical terms and are defined differently in the different Buddhist tenet systems. In general, however, “tainted” means that the type of aggregates that we have – our bodies, minds, emotions, and so on – derive from karmic potentials and the disturbing emotions. The aggregates come from these things, so they are subject to them. “Obtainer” means that they contain the obtainer attitudes, such as regarding the aggregates as “me” or “mine,” that will obtain more tainted aggregates for us in the future. And they are going to produce more suffering: I had the suffering of being a baby, and I will continue (if I live long enough) to have the suffering of being an old man and of dying.
Then we have these aggregates as being of “the functional nature of suffering.” There are many words in Tibetan for the nature of things, and each has a very specific meaning. Here, the word for “nature” means “functional nature” (rang-bzhin) – what it serves as, what its function is, what it does. And what do these tainted aggregates do? They bring suffering. Their functional nature is to bring the suffering of pain and unhappiness and the suffering of our ordinary happiness, the happiness that never lasts. Think about it. This is very interesting.
All-Pervasive Suffering
A simplistic way of saying it is that if I didn’t have a head, I wouldn’t get a headache – which is a sort of obnoxious way of saying it. So, because I have a head, I get headaches. Because the type of body that we have is very frail, if we stick a sharp object into it, it bleeds. If we bang it against something, it hurts and turns black and blue. It’s like a magnet: it just attracts problems.
Participant: So, this is speaking about the all-pervasive suffering, isn’t it?
Dr. Berzin: The all-pervasive suffering is the suffering that we continue to experience the first two types of suffering, the suffering of suffering and the suffering of change.
Participant: On the basis of these aggregates?
Dr. Berzin: Yes. So, this suffering of being a human refers to the all-pervasive suffering that we have to deal with, but the analysis here looks at it a little bit more in detail.
Because of the type of body we have, any food we put into it will satisfy for only a short time. We’re going to have to eat again. Think of the amount of time that we spend in our lives preparing food, eating food, and expelling the waste that comes from the food. What an incredibly inefficient thing. As it says in some of the teachings, this body is a perfect machine for making waste. That’s what we do: we feed this machine, and it produces liquid and solid waste.
Participant: And energy.
Dr. Berzin: And energy is given off the process. But just looking at it from the point of view of wanting to overcome our attachment to our bodies, we see that the body is just a machine for producing waste. And we are slaves to it. We are constantly having to throw things into it in order to produce more waste. It sounds like something Shantideva would say, doesn’t it?
Participant: Even the energy that is ultimately radiated as heat is another form of waste.
Dr. Berzin: The energy, the heat to keep the body going, is also wasted energy. What could it do? Could it be harnessed to produce electric light?
Participant: Hardly.
Dr. Berzin: Hardly. Remember, the point of these things, of this section, is to overcome our attachment to a human rebirth, not to glorify it.
Participant: That’s because there is another way of thinking about the human body, which is to think in terms of what can be accomplished on the basis of one.
Dr. Berzin: Right. Obviously, we need this body – also, on a tantra level. Without the energy system of the body, we would not be able to access the subtlest level of mind to get the most efficient understanding of voidness. So, we are talking about attachment – glorifying the body, thinking it’s an ultimately wonderful thing.
If you think about it, we are, as Shantideva says, slaves to our bodies. We have to take care of the body. We have to cloth it. We have to feed it. We have to put it to sleep. We have to protect it. And it gets old. It fails us. So, we can’t rely on it. We can’t even rely on our minds. As we get older, we forget things. We become less mindful.
Participant: Even when you’re younger, you can’t rely on your mind because of the negative emotions.
Dr. Berzin: Or because of attention deficiency, we can’t concentrate.
Participant: What about hormones?
Dr. Berzin: Hormones? Right, look at all of that – the menstrual cycle, puberty, menopause. There are all these wonderful things that come together with a human rebirth. Not very efficient, is it?
Participant: I am wondering if liberated beings who take rebirth in the human realm have to go through all of that as well.
Dr. Berzin: Would a liberated being, whether an arhat or a Buddha, who appears in a human realm have to go through all of this? We discussed this before. They would experience these things because those are the limitations of a human body. But they wouldn’t suffer. They wouldn’t feel unhappiness.
Participant: But they would have to go through being a baby.
Dr. Berzin: They have to go through being a baby and so on. Now, do we take literally these accounts that say that when Buddha was born, he took seven steps and said, “Here I am”? I don’t know. Obviously, some people would take that quite literally. Others would question that. But Buddhas can manifest in an infinite number of forms simultaneously. So, while a Buddha is a baby in one form, they could be an adult in another form. So, we shouldn’t think of it as being so linear – that they can only appear in one form or one gender at a time.