LTF 10: More Qualities of a Buddha’s Mind & Those of the Dharma and Sangha

We were discussing the ten forces, which is the first set here, and we are up to the third one. We already mentioned that Buddhas know the appropriate and inappropriate relations between various types of karmic causes and their effects, which also implies that Buddhas know what is correct and what is incorrect in terms of behavior, as well as knowing what can be achieved and what cannot be achieved by the various types of beings. That was the first force. The second one was that Buddhas can distinguish correctly what a certain phenomenon is the result of. In other words, Buddhas know the karmic causes of everything. 

I must say that this second one is a little bit unclear. There are two aspects: knowing what the causes are for everything that is the result of causes– so, it’s the causes of everything; and the other aspect is knowing what the results are of everything that wcould act as a cause. These aspects are divided within the first two qualities, and I must confess that I’m not too clear if both qualities are in both or what. In any case, let’s go on to the third quality. 

[3] As for the third quality, it says that an Omniscient One knows the various spiritual aspirations of all beings. This is explained in terms of lam-rim – that there are three levels of motivation, three different aims that people have when they are following the Buddhist spiritual path. It can be that they are aiming for things of this lifetime or future lifetimes, although, actually, it is primarily future lifetimes, if we are thinking in terms of the spiritual path, the Dharma path. But also, a Buddha would know what people are aiming for in this lifetime. Aiming for good rebirths is the aim of the first scope of motivation. The middle level would be aiming for liberation. The advanced level would be aiming for enlightenment. 

Buddhas would know when they meet somebody (even when they don’t meet them, because obviously, they are aware of everybody at the same time) what that person is aiming for, what they wish, what they aspire for – whether it is unconscious or expressed unclearly, or whether it is conscious and clear to the person – and can then guide that being accordingly. 

It is obviously important, if we want to help others, to know what they are actually aiming for. Knowing this, then a Buddha can help them to achieve their goal. And even if it’s a goal that is not terribly advanced, a Buddha can help them to go at least to that step as a step to go further on the path.

I remember once when I was translating for Serkong Rinpoche. Somebody, a very spaced-out hippie, came up to Rinpoche and said, “I want to learn about the six yogas of Naropa.” This was his aspiration. He didn’t know anything about the Dharma, but he had read something about this and thought it sounded really cool and high and so on. Serkong Rinpoche took it very seriously and said, “Fine. It’s wonderful to aim for that. This is where you have to start in order to reach that goal.” Then Rinpoche sent him to study the lam-rim. That young man turned out to be Jose Cabezon, who went on to study, get a PhD and become a university professor of Tibetan Buddhism.

[4] The fourth quality or force of a Buddha’s mind is that they know the various sources of everyone’s cognitions as well as the source of their enlightenment. This means that a Buddha knows where everybody’s thoughts, ideas, and understandings have come from – in other words, how they have developed their understanding and whether it’s a correct or incorrect understanding. 

Let me talk about “sources.” “Source” can also mean Buddha-nature, as in the source of enlightenment. Buddhas know the factors in each person that will help to lead them to the realization of their fullest potentials. In this way Buddhas can point out the way to others and correct them when they have gone astray; they would understand how those misunderstanding arose. Also, knowing the Buddha-nature factors in everybody, a Buddha would be able to draw out the strong points in each person. That’s the fourth force. 

Again, as I’ve said repeatedly, when we know about these qualities, it’s not that we just have the attitude, “Oh, Buddha, you’re so wonderful. You have these qualities…” These qualities are things that we are aiming to achieve ourselves. This means that just as we don’t wait until we become Buddhas in order to try to help others, we try to put these qualities into practice now as much as we can. In other words, if somebody has a misunderstanding, even if we don’t know instantly where it came from, we should try to think in these terms. Where did their misunderstanding come from? We should try to see where the source lies so that we can correct it. 

This is the type of approach for being able to help somebody else and to know what their strong points are in terms of Buddha-nature, what their Buddha-nature factors are. Everybody has the same Buddha-nature factors, but in some people certain aspects of Buddha-nature are stronger, more highly developed than other aspects. Examples of Buddha-nature factors, or aspects, are the ability to understand or the ability to feel compassion – these sorts of things. So, we help the person to draw on their strong points. When we are trying to help others, it’s important to be sensitive to these things. 

[5] The fifth force is that a Buddha is aware of the superior and less than superior levels of everyone’s powers (this the literal translation of the list here). This means that Buddhas teach others in accordance with their intelligence and abilities. This is what “powers” refer to – the power of intelligence, the power of one’s abilities, talents, and so on. So, Buddhas never become discouraged. We should also try to ascertain how much a given person can understand and how much this person can digest at one time, so as not to give them too much or too little. We don’t give them something that is above their head, but we also don’t give them something that is below it either. 

I remember again, with Serkong Rinpoche, how he used to teach me or help train me when I was translating for him or trying to learn something with him and I would reach a point where I was just totally exhausted and felt that I really couldn’t go on anymore. Then Rinpoche would say, “You can always do five minutes more. It doesn’t matter how tired you are. Doesn’t matter how full you are in terms of having taken in a lot of material. You can always go five minutes more.” In this way, although he taught and lead me at my level, he also helped to develop me more and more. That, I think, is a very wonderful quality.

[6] Then the sixth force is that Buddhas are aware of the pathways of mind – the way of thinking, developing, and so on – that lead to each type of goal. So, Buddhas know what way of thinking/ what understanding will lead to the respective goals of a shravaka arhat, a pratyekabuddha arhat, or that of a Buddha. A Buddha will also know what the ways of thinking are – the mental states – that will lead to rebirth in any of the six realms of rebirth. This also is important to be able to be aware of in others – helping them to recognize when they have a way of thinking that is positive or helping them to avoid a way of thinking that would bring about a great deal of suffering. 

[7] The seventh force is that a Buddha can recognize the various different states of higher meditation, or absorption. 

There is a list here of the four states of mental stability (the four dhyanas), the eight somewhat liberated absorptions, and the nine progressively held balanced union absorptions. There is no need to go into these lists now. These are very technical lists of various types of deeper meditations, deeper absorptions, that focus on the insights of – what shall we say? – higher absorptions that are usually associated with the form and formless realms. 

The point is that a Buddha can recognize when somebody is sunk and lost in these meditative states and can help to lead them on from those states – whether they are lost in a certain state, whether they are just stuck in that state, or whether they have achieved that state. This is, again, something that is necessary to know, something that is useful. These are meditations that are done not just by Buddhists. They are described in the general Indian literature – Hindus, Jains, and so on – and are recognized as deeper and deeper trances or whatever we want to call them. So, if we meet somebody who is at a certain level or is sunk at that level, what do we do? How do we help them? A Buddha can recognize which state they are in, what type of absorption they are in, and lead them on from there. 

[8] Then the eighth force is that a Buddha has mindfulness of the sequence of all of his own and others’ previous rebirth situations. So, Buddhas know their own and everybody else’s previous rebirths. Previous rebirths means rebirths without any beginning – so, all past lives. And what’s the point of that? The point is that Buddhas then know the karmic connections that that person has with everybody else, so Buddhas can help others in terms of knowing these particular karmic connections. 

Karmic Connections

It is very interesting, again with Serkong Rinpoche. One person came to him and was having a problem with harmful spirits. I was translating, and Serkong Rinpoche said to him, “I don’t have the karmic connection with you to be able to help you with that. But this other high lama has the karmic connection with you to help you, so you should go to this person.” This is obviously something that is very helpful to be able to know. Serkong Rinpoche seemed to have this ability. He certainly seemed to know when he met me that I had the karmic connection to be his translator. So, from the very beginning, he said, “Stay here; sit. Watch me as I’m dealing with different people,” and he started to explain different Tibetan words to me and so on. 

There were several times when we would be with a group of people, Westerners, and Rinpoche would point out one person in the group and say to me, “Get that person’s address and contact.” It always turned out that this would become a very significant relationship. So, this is very helpful to know. We can sort of sense this without necessarily knowing all of the previous life connections between ourselves and this person; it’s sort of an instant feeling of recognition or closeness that we have with somebody. However, if we could know quite precisely the previous life situations of each relationship, then we would have a clearer idea of how the relationship could develop in the most beneficial way. So, a Buddha has mindfulness of this. Mindfulness, as you’ll remember, is the mental factor that is like the mental glue so that you don’t lose the object.

Participant: We are always talking about developing an equal attitude toward everyone, so isn’t it contradictory to speak of a Buddha having karmic connections with others? Doesn’t that imply preferences?

Dr Berzin: Buddhas have an equal regard for everyone. So, when we speak here in terms of having karmic connections with a Buddha, it doesn’t imply that a Buddha has preferences in the sense that “I prefer or like to help you, and I don’t like to help this other person.” Not everybody had the karmic connection with Shakyamuni Buddha to actually be a direct disciple of his. Only certain people had that karmic connection. Buddhas come and teach where people have the karma to be able to relate to them and be taught by them. 

It’s always said that when there are no longer any beings that are receptive to a Buddha, they will go elsewhere; they will go where the beings are receptive. So, in general, a Buddha doesn’t have any preference. The point is who can benefit the most, who is the most receptive or open. Now, of course, they say that a Buddha is like a sun, which just shines out and benefits everybody without having to actually do anything. Yet, when the Nirmanakaya aspect of a Buddha actually does manifest – like Shakyamuni Buddha – he goes around and teaches. So, Buddhas are obviously doing something there. I think that we have to think on these two levels. 

Perhaps Serkong Rinpoche could have helped with this ghost situation, but he knew somebody who could help even more. He certainly wouldn’t say, “I can help you a little, but somebody else can help you more.” What he said was, “I don’t have the connection with you to help you with this problem.” He certainly had the desire to help this person; otherwise, he wouldn’t have suggested who could help him. He would have just said, “Go away.” 

Participant: That seems strange.

Dr Berzin: Why strange? When people come for help, we lead them to the means that will help them the most. So, if we can’t do it ourselves, we indicate who can help them. That is the best way to help them. It’s much better than helping them in a very poor way.

Participant: How come a Buddha employs this “I don’t have the karma…” When you go to a doctor with a specific problem, but he says that he doesn’t have the experience, he will say, “Please, I can’t help you. Please go to my colleague.” The doctor won’t say, “I don’t have a karmic connection.”

Dr Berzin: No, no. This is different. Your example is of a doctor who is unable to help a certain patient because the doctor doesn’t have the training to be able to help – that that’s not the doctor’s specialty. So, he sends the patient to somebody else who does have that specialty. Serkong Rinpoche was very capable of dealing with harmful spirit problems, it’s just that with this particular person he didn’t have the right connection. 

How do we make a karmic connection? It’s an interesting thing. Can we make a new karmic connection with somebody that we have no karmic connection with? Now, from the Buddhist point of view, we’d have to say that we have karmic connections with everybody because everyone has been our mother. So, there is a karmic connection with everybody. Then the question is: how close is it, and can we make that connection closer? 

His Holiness travels around the world and teaches. Now, obviously, the people who come have some sort of connection with His Holiness. But there are an awful lot of people who come to the teachings, aren’t there? People who don’t come obviously don’t have that connection. But His Holiness makes that connection with the people who do come even closer by teaching them. That’s one aspect. 

Another aspect is that – and this is emphasized in the Mahayana teachings – if, when we are doing practices, we visualize that all beings are around us listening, that all beings are benefiting, and so on, it helps in a sense to create stronger and stronger connections with others. Additionally, we can make strong wishes to be able to make more and more karmic connections with others. I don’t know. It is a difficult issue. Can we create new karma with someone? Anybody that we connect with, obviously, has the karma to connect with us. 

Participant: So, do you need to have a karmic connection with a certain Buddha to receive their help? 

Dr Berzin: Yes, in a sense, this is true, because there are some people who have the karmic connection to be helped by Shakyamuni Buddha, and others who have the connection to be helped by Maitreya Buddha. So, there are all these prayers to try to build up the karmic connection with Maitreya. For example:

When the sun of Maitreya rises above the mountains of Bodhgaya, may it open the lotus of my intelligent mind so that I may satisfy swarms of fortunate bee (like disciples) 

This is a very lovely prayer. 

So, we try, from our sides, to make the karmic connection stronger. We have a karmic connection to learn Buddha Shakyamuni’s teachings because they’re still available. But we probably didn’t have the karma to actually be born among the personal disciples of Buddha Shakyamuni. Maybe we did. Who knows. I think the issue really comes down to – if we are thinking in terms of ourselves – how we can we best spend our time as aspiring bodhisattvas. Who can we help the most? Do we try to help those people who don’t want our help, who are not receptive, who are very close-minded? Or do we help those who are very open to us? I think it’s fairly obvious: we help the ones that are very open to us.

Participant: And where we have the ability to help…

Dr Berzin: Right. If we don’t have the ability to help someone in a certain area, then, because they would at least be open to our advice, we can send them to somebody else who does. Also, usually, in terms of that karmic connection, it should be felt both ways for it to be sincere. Now, of course, there could be attachment involved. This is a very tricky thing. When we meet somebody, how do we know whether we are feeling a karmic connection with that person or feeling desire? 

Participant: Also, you could have a feeling of laziness – that you don’t want to help, that you can’t to be hassled, and so on. What’s the difference between that and saying that you have no karmic connection?

Dr Berzin: Right. That’s the other side. I think that the answer comes from having a certain sensitivity. We have to be sensitive within ourselves to know whether or not there is a disturbing emotion involved. We can usually tell if there is a disturbing emotion involved because we feel uneasy inside. Then we look for what’s on the other person’s side. 

Participant:  There are so many problems in the world that if you start to think about all of them, you become unfocused.

Dr Berzin: Right. There’s an interesting point. There is what we call “unfocused,” or “unaimed,” compassion, meaning that we don’t focus on anything in particular. Instead, we try to be like the sun and send out rays of compassion and love to everybody. So, I think we have to work on two levels here: One is to have this wish to help everybody. The second is, on a practical level, to think, “What can I do? What’s going to be the most efficient?”, and then to work according to our capacity. If we have a very large capacity, then we work on that level of capacity. If we have a limited capacity, we work on a more limited scale but still try to reach as many people as possible. 

I’ll give you an example from my life. I was writing books. Books sell a couple hundred a year at the most, so it’s not really reaching people; it’s not benefiting people. It’s not making the connection. There may be many people in the world that have the connection to be benefited by me, but it’s not going to happen through the books. That’s not the medium. So, I made the website, and the website reaches a very large number of people – people that I will probably never meet. Yet, the website establishes a stronger and stronger karmic connection between us. So, maybe in my next life, I will actually meet them. And those who have a stronger karmic connection will email me and contact me, whereas others don’t. 

When we give a lecture to a large group of people, some people come up to talk to us at the end and other people don’t. That is also because of some sort of connection that’s there. The thing that I find important in my own experience is that if we feel a karmic connection with somebody and it seems to be mutual, we pursue it as Serkong Rinpoche did: we get the person’s address, try to establish a relationship. However, in this case, we also have to watch out that it’s not on the basis of finding somebody attractive – that it’s just a sexual thing. We have to watch out for that. 

Participant: Toward His Holiness, it’s difficult to feel that the connection is both-sided. 

Dr Berzin: With His Holiness, it’s difficult to feel that it is on both sides. That’s true. His Holiness is obviously very, very open to everybody equally. But I can say that when I saw the young Serkong Rinpoche when he was four years old, I was very skeptical… not skeptical exactly, but I was very cautious. From his side, he demonstrated very clearly at the age of four that he had a close relationship with me. One has to learn to develop that sensitivity to the connections one has with other people and be open to that. 

Participant: I wonder about how the karmic connection becomes an issue that’s so definitive. I mean, couldn’t you build up a karmic connection with a Buddha?

Dr Berzin: Yes, we can work to build up a karmic connection. That’s what I was saying. If there is some basis for that, we try to make it stronger and stronger. Now, there could be karmic connections, strong karmic connections, with somebody that have both positive and – what shall we say? – annoying aspects to them. I find that some of the people that I feel a strong connection with are a great pleasure to be with them. Other people that I feel a strong connection with – and who obviously benefit a great deal from that connection – are not fun to be with at all; they can be quite annoying. In that case, one has to ignore those annoying aspects, be patient with them, and emphasize the positive ones. 

I asked Ringu Tulku once, “There are so many people asking for your help.  How do you divide your time? What do you do?” His Holiness once gave me the advice that, to help others, we should try to do the things for which we are especially qualified and that not many other people are doing. If there are a lot of other people doing the same thing, there’s no point. We should do things that are fairly special that we can do. Ringu Tulku added, “And that you benefit from as well.” That isn’t the major criterion, but if we benefit from the connection as – meaning that it’s uplifting and inspiring for us – that’s OK. 

Until we are arhats, liberated beings, our motivation is always going to be mixed with some sort of grasping for a true “me,” a solid “me.” So, there’s always going to be some selfish aspect to it. This is OK as long as we are aware of it and don’t let it get out of hand. Also, we can work on it so that if there is some disturbing emotion that’s involved as well, it doesn’t get out of control, whether that disturbing emotion is desire, annoyance, attachment, or whatever.  

Participant: How do you know that you have a karmic connection with somebody?

Dr Berzin: I can only speak from my own experience. My own experience is that I can be teaching to a large group of people, but my eye is always going to one person in the room. Usually, when we are teaching, we try to look at everybody; we try to look to both sides of the room, around it, and so on. But in one case, my eye was going to someone who was sitting in the very last row, and it was a room of about 100 people. My eyesight isn’t that good, but it was always going to this person. And sure enough, at the end of the lecture, that person came up to me, whereas nobody else did. That person came up to me. And that person became a good friend of mine. 

There is another example where I was in a very large group of people. Actually, it was a teaching by His Holiness. There were thousands of people. I didn’t even see this person’s face, but my attention kept on going to the back of his head. After a day or two of teachings, this person turned his head to the side, and I saw what he looked like. I gave a lecture at this teaching of His Holiness (sometimes I give lectures on the side), and sure enough, this person came up to me and became a student of mine – a close student. So, I go by that criterion: – that the the person catches our attention in a very strong way and that, then, when we are with the person, we feel totally comfortable. And as I say, it’s from both sides. In these cases, I didn’t run after these people; they came to me. Obviously, they felt something as well. So that’s my own personal experience. People who have been close friends of mine or close students of mine – not everybody started out that way, but a few have. 

Serkong Rinpoche did this with Nickie Vreeland. Nickie Vreeland is now a monk and has become the successor who teaches at Khyongla Rato Rinpoche’s center in New York City, the Tibet Center. Nickie Vreeland has done a lot of organizational things for His Holiness and so on. Nickie came to Dharamsala, and he was a photographer. He was going around the temple in Dharamsala trying to take pictures, because he was doing photo essay of various lamas. Serkong Rinpoche saw him and said to me, “Go get his address. Make contact with him.” Nickie came over, and because he was taking photos of various lamas, he came up to Serkong Rinpoche, and a relationship developed. Nickie eventually became a monk. He lived in a monastery in South India for many, many years and has become a teacher. So, Serkong Rinpoche could feel, “Ah ha! This person has an unbelievable potential” – not just to take pictures. 

One feels this karmic connection with teachers. That’s one criterion for choosing a teacher. Many times, people will meet a teacher and their hair stands up on their body, or they start to cry. I know some people who saw various teachers on television or in a video and – boing! – that was it. They couldn’t get this person’s face out of their mind. 

Participant: But shouldn’t you be a little bit careful to project too much onto a person, onto a teacher?

Dr Berzin: Well, yes, we have to be careful not to project too much. Then we examine. This feeling is just an indication of “OK, let’s check this one out.” It’s the same thing with deities, with the tantric deities. When we see a whole wall full of paintings of the various figures, which one does our eye go to and stay on? That gives some indication of a connection. 

What’s a connection? A connection is a habit based on familiarity. Because of that habit from past lives or whatever, we meet with the circumstance,. And that habit ripens so that we again want to be with this deity or to be with this teacher or to be with this person. So, it’s a very important prayer, “May I be able to benefit everybody. May I have a close connection with everybody,” and to actually visualize everybody around us when we are doing these Mahayana practices. 

Sometimes we are just thrown together with people, with colleagues, etc., and we have to spend a lot of time with them in our work. We might not feel any particular connection with them at all. The only connection that we have is to work together in the same building or the same office. This is why the question is not just to know whether we have a karmic connection or not: it’s to know what type of karmic connection. That’s why all of these qualities of Buddhas are there. Buddhas know the history; they know what kind of connection is there. They know where this person is at and how they can help them and what the level of this person is.

We can have the connection with people to be in the same bus that has an accident – that’s a different type of karmic connection – or to be on the same airplane that crashes. Obviously, we have a karmic connection with somebody to marry them, to build a family. This is why we need to have this quality of knowing what type of karmic connection it is and then to try to make the connections that we have with everybody as Dharmic as possible and as positive as possible. That was quality that we had of a Buddha’s speech – that no matter what somebody is talking about, a Buddha could use it to help them, to teach them to turn it into some sort of Dharmic lesson. 

Participant: We might not have a karmic connection with somebody directly, but we can have it indirectly through a network. Or we have a karmic connection with somebody, and then they have the connection to be able to help somebody else and so on. 

Dr Berzin: Right. That will come in one of the next qualities. This comes in the quality of Buddhas knowing the effect of everything they do in terms of teaching – not only the effect that it will have on this individual person but also the effect it will have on everybody else that this person meets as a consequence of that. This is why a Buddha is omniscient: everything is interconnected. When we help somebody, that person is obviously going to interact with a lot of other people, not only in this lifetime but in future lifetimes as well. 

Participant: It lessens the idea of discrimination.

Dr Berzin: Right. When His Holiness teaches, he’ll teach the general people in public talks and things like that. But, if you’ve noticed, His Holiness teaches on a very high, very advanced level. So, he is teaching the teachers because they then will be able to teach their students. It’s an interesting thing. If a society is one in which the people who are more advanced help the people who are less advanced, then we teach to the highest level so that it will filter down. We don’t teach to the lowest level. 

Okay. Let’s go on.

[9] A Buddha knows the death transference of all beings and all their future rebirths up to enlightenment, as well as know where each will manifest subsequently. This is this point: when Buddhas teach somebody, they know what they are doing and what the exact results in all this person’s future lives will be and where this person will be able to benefit others most. It’s very interesting, actually, to be able to know this. 

I’ll give you an example. I was traveling all over the world, and was reporting back to His Holiness the information of the various places that I was going to, their situations, and so on. I had spent time particularly in Mongolia, Central Asia, Russia – particularly Russian Mongolia. I also went once to Tibet. And His Holiness said, “Well, there’s no need for you, really, to put emphasis on Tibet – more Mongolia and Russia.” That’s an example of this type of knowing, knowing where someone could help the most. For me, it was not so much Tibet, but more in Mongolian Russia. And I have quite a strong karma, I’ve seen, with that area. So, if we are teachers and we are guiding somebody, like His Holiness was advising me, then we can indicate to the person where they can go to be most effective, where to put the emphasis. Where my German karma comes from, I have no idea. I must have a strong German karma, but I have no idea where from. 

[10] The tenth force is that a Buddha is fully aware of the degree of depletion of the various factors associated with a person’s mental continuum. These are the tainted factors on each person’s mental continuum. In other words, a Buddha knows how much more work a person needs to do – how much of their disturbing emotions and confusion they have gotten rid of and how much farther they need to go. Buddhas are not fooled in regard to anybody’s actual level. So, they know what is left to be done to help that person toward their goal. 

These are the ten forces. Again, when we study them, I think it’s very important to try to put them together to see how they actually interact because, obviously, they are integrated into a network of qualities that Buddhas have in terms of knowing the connections, knowing what the person is aspiring for, what their level of intelligence is, what their abilities are, if they have confusion and where it comes from, what to teach them, what the consequence of that will be in terms of their future lives and other people they’ll meet, and what the karmic causes of any obstacles a person might be experiencing would be. All of these things obviously fit together. So, we can see how these two main aspects of a Buddha’s mind – the omniscient awareness and the loving kindness for everybody – are mixed together. Method and wisdom. 

Then we have the four proclamations about which Buddhas are fearless. In other words, there are four statements that Buddhas can make that they have no fear about making because nobody can prove them wrong; nobody can disclaim them. The first two proclamations concern what is of meaningful benefit for the Buddhas themselves, and the second two proclamations are in regard to what’s helpful for others.  

[1] The first proclamation is that Buddhas are fearless in proclaiming their own realizations, such as saying, “I have attained this; I have attained that. These are my abilities; these are not my abilities.” A Buddha would never claim to be omnipotent, for example.

[2)] The second proclamation is that Buddhas are fearless in proclaiming their being rid of this and that – that they no longer have anger, attachment, and these sorts of things. Buddhas are fearless in making this type of proclamation. 

One has to be very careful about these sorts of things. There’s a story. There was one lama who was in a large crowd and said, “Now, let’s have questions. You can ask me anything. I can answer any of your questions.” So, somebody stood up and asked, “What’s my mother’s name?” Obviously, he couldn’t answer that question. So, one has to be careful about saying, “I can do this” or “I can do that,” or “I have this quality” or “I’m rid of that disturbing emotion.” 

Participant: May I ask something? Omniscience is defined or explained differently in Hinayana and Mahayana. So, if a Buddha declares that he’s omniscient, does he mean it in a Hinayana sense or in a Mahayana sense? 

Dr Berzin: I think that one has to be a little bit careful not to look at all these various systems with the eye of, “Well, which one is really true?” (which is perhaps what you’re doing). Within the context of the Hinayana description of a Buddha, when Buddha states “I have attained enlightenment,” it is understood in one way, the Hinayana way. In Mahayana, it is understood in another way. 

After all, when Buddhas say that they have attained omniscience, they are saying that they have attained Dharmakaya. Only somebody with Dharmakaya can really understand and know somebody else’s Dharmakaya. So, we wouldn’t really be able to understand what it actually means to be omniscient. It’s beyond our concepts. From the Hinayana point of view, we would have a certain concept of what omniscience means, which wouldn’t be absolutely precise, but it would be fairly close. Mahayana would have a different concept for it. 

Now, I must say that I don’t know if all of the qualities mentioned here are also found in the Hinayana traditions. Maybe they are. Qualities of the Buddha-Bodies are there. There aren’t really any qualities here that would contradict the Hinayana assertions. A Buddha is able to help everybody – that’s the difference between a Buddha and an arhat. The omniscience of a Buddha from the Hinayana point of view is that a Buddha knows all the means to be able to help everybody. All the qualities that we have spoken of so far fit into that, don’t they? Then, in order to inspire confidence, Buddha assumed the earth-touching position when he proclaimed his enlightenment, “I am the [not “an”?] enlightened being.” That, certainly, is in Theravada as well. 

Participant: It’s easier to imagine that a Buddha can read everybody’s mind than it is to imagine that a Buddha can speak every language. 

Dr Berzin: Right. So, what is this saying? It is saying that a Buddha can communicate to everybody in a way that they will understand. Now, this, of course, has a very interesting consequence. Can we imagine Buddhas actually do know and will speak everybody’s language so that we can, in a very literal way, hear everybody’s language? This is, of course, difficult to imagine. 

Participant: The highly realized lamas have poorly developed English. 

Dr Berzin: Right. But how many times do I have to repeat? One doesn’t take literally that the gurus are Buddhas and know the telephone numbers of everybody on the planet. It’s not to be taken literally. However, what’s an interesting consequence of the Buddhas being able to speak all languages is that everybody can understand the Buddhas’ speech in their own language and that every language is capable of expressing and communicating the Dharma. There are some people that say, “Oh, you can’t really explain the Dharma with all of the intricacies in this language or that language; it can only be explained in the sacred, original language.” However, that’s not the case even though different languages have very different conceptual frameworks. If a Buddha can teach somebody the Dharma in terms of anything, then surely a Buddha can communicate the Dharma in any language. 

When we look at all these qualities, we can think very deeply about each of them and about what the further implications are. Don’t just get stuck on a literal level of them. 

So, we finished the first two qualities concerning what Buddhas are fearless about. The first is that they are fearless from the point of view of themselves, of their own purposes, so they are fearless in proclaiming all their own realizations – for example, “I have these qualities,” “I have this realization,” etc. The second is that they are fearless in proclaiming what they have rid themselves of – for example,  “I am rid of this disturbing emotion or this or that obscuration,” etc. 

The third and fourth proclamations regard others:

[3] Buddhas are fearless in stating what others have to rid themselves of – this or that type of emotional obscuration or cognitive obscuration and these sorts of things. Buddhas are fearless in saying, “This is what you need to get rid of if you want liberation. This is what you need to get rid of if you want enlightenment.” 

[4] Buddhas are fearless in proclaiming the opponent forces that people will have to rely on in order to get rid of the various obscurations that they need to get rid of in order to reach their goals. 

These are the things that a Buddha is fearless in proclaiming. Buddhas are confident that they have reached the goal that they are helping others to reach, and they know how everybody else can reach that goal, to put it in a few words. 

Then there are four full and accurate understandings. Because Buddhas are omniscient – they know everything – and have gotten rid of all of the cognitive obscurations, Buddhas have these four accurate understandings.

[1] Buddhas have full and accurate understanding of all the Dharma, all the Dharma teachings. 

[2] Buddhas have full and accurate understanding of all the meanings of any of the words of the Dharma. Remember, we were saying that a Buddha can teach everything with one word because there are so many different levels of meaning, and Buddhas know all the levels. 

[3] Buddhas have full and accurate understanding of the exact words with which to express the meaning of the Dharma, so that Buddhas can teach them equally effectively in every language and to everyone. So, a Buddha knows exactly how to express Dharma clearly. Obviously, for different people, even within the same language, we’d have to express things differently. 

[4] Buddhas have full and accurate understanding of all aspects of knowledge so that a Buddha can teach with self-confidence anything anybody wishes to learn and turn it into a path leading to liberation or enlightenment. 

This quality is sometimes referred to as a Buddha’s “self-confidence” – that if somebody wants to learn medicine, to learn how to build a car or whatever, a Buddha can actually teach them that skill and turn it into a way leading them further along the Dharma path. Obviously, it’s because of this that, even though we ourselves may follow one particular path of study in Buddhism, one particular deity system, one particular tenet system, one particular school, etc. – a path of study that is to our own benefit – nevertheless, it’s important to learn other ones as well so that we can teach others if they want to learn other paths of study. However, this only goes if we have the capacity to do that without getting confused. At least it’s good to have a general idea. A Buddha knows all of that. 

This last list is of the 18 good qualities not shared by lower liberated beings – in other words, qualities of the Buddhas that are not shared by the Hinayana arhats. These are grouped into four categories concerning a Buddha’s behavior, realization, enlightening influence, and deep awareness. 

The Six Unshared Good Qualities Grouped under a Buddha’s Behavior 

[1] A Buddha’s physical composure can never be ruffled. In other words, Buddhas are always calm and clear. Wherever Buddhas go, whatever they meet with, they’re not fooled by appearances. Their composure – the way that they are – is always calm and clear.

[2] A Buddha’s speech never cries out or makes meaningless sounds. In other words, Buddhas are never shocked or surprised by anything. Buddhas never shout anything in anger, pain, or pleasure. Nor do they have any meaningless, stupid melodies and songs going through their heads or mutter to themselves – any of that type of stuff. 

This is an extraordinary quality. Somebody reported this with His Holiness – that they were absolutely shocked by it. They were in Dharamsala at an audience with His Holiness. In Dharamsala, there is a slate mine where they mine this type rock that one makes slate out of for putting on roofs in Himachal Pradesh. They use dynamite to mine it, and there are these loud explosions every now and then. Not every day, but every now and then when they are actually working on it, one hears a loud explosion. So, these people were with His Holiness, and there was a loud explosion. The person who was with His Holiness and other people in the room sort of jumped: they were startled by this loud explosion. But His Holiness – absolutely zero. He wasn’t ruffled or surprised by it. Especially if we’re very tense, when somebody suddenly comes into the room behind us, we jump. So, this is a quality of a Buddha’s composure – always calm; nothing shakes them up. The same thing goes for the speech. Buddhas would never go, “Ha!” or anyting like that.

[3] A Buddha’s mind never forgets anything or anyone. 

Participant: That’s a good one.

Dr Berzin: That’s a very good one. Serkong Rinpoche, when he was around 66 or 67 years old, once said to me, “I remember everything I ever studied. Do you?” So, an enlightening mind never forgets anything or anyone.

[4] There’s never a time when a Buddha’s mind is not totally absorbed on voidness. No matter what Buddhas are doing, there is mindfulness of the two truths.

[5] Buddhas never have the slightest recognition or feeling of anything existing in a way other than the way in which it actually exists. So, the mind never gives rise to any deceptive appearances and never has the feeling that things exist in some sort of crazy way.

[6] Buddhas are never so indifferent as not to check on others. In other words, Buddhas are constantly caring about everybody equally (here we have this equal thing). Buddhas are keeping constant watch to see who is ripe, who is ready, who is receptive to make spiritual progress so that they can go and help this person. 

This goes with the quality of “who do you actually help?” Well, Buddhas see who is ripe. They are always checking, and never forget to help this person or that person, to show them the way. 

So these are the six qualities that arhats don’t have concerning a Buddha’s behavior. 

The Six Unshared Qualities Grouped under a Buddha’s Realizations

Then concerning a Buddha’s realizations, there are six qualities unshared by arhats. 

[7] A Buddha’s intention to help everybody never declines. Buddhas have tremendous compassion and, so, care for everybody like a mother would for her only child. They always intend to help, no matter what. They’re not going to get tired, not going to get lazy, not going to say “I’ve had enough.” Never like that.

[8] A Buddha’s joyful perseverance to help everyone never declines. Buddhas are never reluctant to go anywhere or do anything even for the sake of even just one being. 

I look at myself, and I’m really reluctant to take these long airplane rides because it’s not so good for my health. His Holiness is 70 – he travels unbelievably. You look at some of these other old lamas, Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche or these others, and they’re flying all over the place. 

Participant: Do you think Buddhas travel on airplanes?

Dr Berzin: No, not necessarily that Buddhas travel on airplanes – we’re looking at people. As they always say, the actual qualities of the Buddhas are difficult for us to relate to, but we can get a glimpse of them through the qualities of the great lamas. So, I look at these qualities. Every older person that I know has difficulty on long airplane rides – their bodies just don’t take it very well. They feel horrible afterwards, have headaches, their backs hurt and so on. 

Participant: Young people already have this sometimes.

Dr Berzin: Yes, some young people experience this too. And yet, these old lamas are willing to travel all the time – His Holiness especially. He travels so frequently. And every time he does, he has to take this horrible car ride up to Dharamsala and back down, in addition to these long plane rides. So: joyful perseverance – never reluctant to go anywhere. 

[9] A Buddha mindfulness of everybody’s situation never declines. It takes no effort for an omniscient Buddha to be aware of everybody simultaneously. This is because a Buddha’s mind is like a gigantic, infinite mirror: it reflects everything, all together. So, a Buddha is always mindful; the mental glue is there. 

[10] The absorbed concentration of a Buddha never declines. Buddhas have total, perfect concentration on voidness and anything else.

[11] A Buddha’s discriminating awareness of voidness never declines.

[12] A Buddha’s state of being utterly freed from the two types of obscurations never declines. 

This means that all of these various aspects of realization and intention – joyful perseverance, mindfulness, concentration, discriminating awareness, and the state of being free – never decline.

The Three Unshared Qualities Grouped under a Buddha’s Enlightening Influence

Then there are three unshared qualities grouped under a Buddha’s enlightening influence. This is referring to all of a Buddha’s enlightening [13] physical, [14] verbal, and [15] mental faculties are preceded by and carried through with deep awareness. 

With these qualities, Buddhas are able to influence everybody in a positive way, in an enlightening way, with all three doors of body, speech, and mind. Buddhas have a deep awareness of the two truths of everything, the interconnectedness of everything, and cause and effect. That awareness comes before and accompanies it each of these three types of actions. This is how Buddhas are able to exert this enlightening influence.

The Three Unshared Qualities Grouped under a Buddha’s Deep Awareness – A Buddha’s Omniscience of the Three Times

Finally, there are three unshared qualities grouped under a Buddha’s deep awareness. This is the one that we always have the most difficulty in understanding. It says:

A Buddha’s deep awareness permeates everything in seeing [16] the time already-passed (’das-pa’i dus), [17] the time not-yet-come (ma-’ongs-pa’i dus), and [18] the time presently happening (da-lta-ba’i dus), all without any attachment or impediment. 

There is no attachment because Buddhas have gotten rid of all the emotional obscurations. There are no impedimenta, no blocks, because Buddhas have gotten rid of all the cognitive obscurations. 

This is the one that we always have difficulty understanding because if it is translated as a Buddha seeing “the past, present, and future” without any attachment or impediment, it sounds as though the past, present, and future are all happening at the same time. That gets into this whole horrible discussion about predetermination and all of that. 

We’ve discussed this quite a lot, and I can’t pretend that I really understand it correctly or on the deepest level. However, these words, “past,” “future” and “present” – what they are talking about are the time already-passed, the time not-yet-come, and the time presently-happening. From a Prasangika point of view, at this moment, there is the presently-happening time, which, obviously, is not findable from its own side. But our previous action’s state of having already passed – the already-passed state of the cause – is an imputation phenomenon on the presently-happening moment of our mental continuum. We are not talking about the event itself; we are talking about the fact that it has already passed. That already-passed event is not happening now; it is no longer happening. However, the state of it having already passed is happening now. And the not-yet-happening result – the result that has not yet come – is not a presently-happening result. And though it has not yet happened, there are certain things, of course, that could make it not happen. A result isn’t necessarily going to happen. One has to get quite delicate here in understanding this. As I say, it’s probably the most difficult aspect of a Buddha’s qualities to understand. 

Participant: I’m sorry. I couldn’t follow what you were talking about in the first place.

Dr Berzin: What we are talking about are the three unshared qualities grouped under a Buddha’s deep awareness – that a Buddha’s deep awareness permeates, or spreads throughout, the no-longer-happenings, the presently–happenings, and the not-yet-happenings. I think that this is something that one really has to work with in order to avoid the extreme of predetermination – thinking that the future has already been decided and that everything is actually happening now. 

The no-longer-happening of everything – that has already happened. The not-yet-happening of everything that hasn’t happened yet – all of that is occurring now. The not-yet-happening of the year 3042 – that’s happening now, isn’t it? The year 3042 isn’t happening now, but the not-yet-happening of 3042 is happening now. That’s what we’re talking about. And the no-longer-happening of the year 356 – that is happening now, but not that year; the year 356 isn’t happening now. I think this is the way we can understand. Otherwise, it does not really make much sense.

So, these are all the qualities of a Buddha. And what we should try to do, according to Nagarjuna’s advice, is to stay mindful of all of this continually. If we can at least remember these qualities and try to put them together, there is hope that we can actually achieve them.

The good qualities of the Dharma, it says very simply, are that through the Dharma, one attains all the good qualities of a Buddha. This really is the good quality of the Dharma. 

Regarding the good qualities of the Sangha, there are a few lists. Maybe I can go through them very quickly so that we finish all of this. I think that would be a good idea. 

Here, it’s talking specifically about the arya bodhisattvas, bodhisattvas who have had non-conceptual cognition of voidness. Upon achieving the first bhumi – which is when they first have this non-conceptual cognition of voidness – up until they become Buddhas, they pass through ten stages, the ten bhumis (sa-bcu) they’re called in Sanskrit (which are certain levels of a highly realized mind), and they gain twelve sets of good qualities. Each of these good qualities involves 100 things, most of which happen in a moment.

The Twelve Sets of Good Qualities

In each instant, a bodhisattva on the first bhumi can: 

[1] Behold, or see, 100 Buddhas all at one time 

[2] Receive enlightening inspiration from all 100 of these Buddhas at the same time 

[3] Live for 100 eons 

[4] See the no-longer-happenings and the not-yet-happenings for 100 eons 

[5] Enter and arise from 100 absorbed concentrations all in a moment 

[6] Shake up 100 world systems (I really have no idea what that means) 

[7] Illuminate 100 of these world systems with their radiance. (There are these descriptions often in the Mahayana sutras – that all of the Buddha-fields shake, that the earth trembles, and so on)

[8] Make 100 limited beings ripe for realizations through helping them make their minds agile 

[9] Travel to 100 different pure-land Buddha-fields

[10] Open 100 gateways of Dharma preventive measures through giving teachings (so, spreading the Dharma) 

[11] Emanate themselves in 100 bodies

[12] Have each body surrounded by 100 bodhisattvas 

So, these are the twelve sets of 100 things that we would achieve as first-level arya bodhisattvas. Then it begins to multiply. When we achieve a second-level bhumi mind, each of these twelve sets involves 1,000 things; with the third-level bhumi mind, they involve 100,000; with the fourth, one billion; the fifth, 10 billion; the sixth, a trillion; the seventh, 100 quintillion. After this, the numbers increase astronomically. So, these are the qualities that are explained. 

The Ten Additional Powers of an Eighth-Level Arya Bodhisattva

There is one last list here. According to the Gelug Prasangika presentation, with the eighth-level bhumi mind, arya bodhisattvas attain liberation, become bodhisattva arhats, and gain ten additional powers. Mind you, these are powers that one gets before becoming a Buddha, so a Buddha has many more. But these are the ten things that the Arya Sangha have power over: 

[1] Their own life spans – they can live as long as they want 

[2] Their minds – they can enter and arise from limitless types of absorbed concentrations

[3] Necessities of life – they can find everything that they need to sustain their lives 

[4] Activities – they know and can teach any art or science 

[5] Birth – they can be born whenever and wherever they wish (so, it’s here where you really have the tulku type of thing)

[6] Prayers – they can manifest themselves in any form needed (It’s interesting that they can do this before becoming Buddhas. But Buddhas can do it with countless numbers. These are astronomical numbers but not countless ones) 

[7] Aspiration – they can manifest anything they see fit

[8] Extraphysical emanation – they can go to any pure-land Buddha-field that they want

[9] Deep awareness – they are unimpeded in their learning, which means that they can learn anything at this stage (It doesn’t mean that they know everything, but they can learn anything) 

[10] The Dharma – they understand all the words and the meanings of the teachings

Again, when bodhisattvas are described as understanding the Dharma, it means that this understanding is just to their own level of ability. It doesn’t mean that it’s the same level as a Buddha. 

So, this concludes the presentation of the good qualities of the Three Gems as we find in the very elaborate lam-rims. Again, what Nagarjuna is advising here is that we try to remain continually mindful of these qualities of the Buddhas as much as possible. 

This is a good place to end for now. Next time, we’ll speak just briefly about the good qualities of generosity, ethical discipline, and the gods – the other three – and then go on from there to the next verses. OK? Good.