In our discussion of this text by Nagarjuna, we have taken a very long diversion, I must say, in our discussions of Verse 5 in which we went through the various qualities of a Buddha – the body, speech, and mind of a Buddha – and then had a long discussion of karma. We finished that verse, and now we are ready to on with what follows. If you recall, we had before, in Verse 4, the lines, “Have continual mindfulness of the Buddhas, the Dharma, the Sangha, generous giving, ethical discipline, and the gods.” We have been following the text according to Mipam’s outline and commentary, which gives more detailed explanations of how to keep mindfulness of the various things that are mentioned in that earlier verse. Although there are other commentaries that outline the text differently, why don’t we continue to follow Mipam’s outline. If we do that, the next verse, then, is an elaboration on generosity, on being continually mindful of generosity. The one before was mindfulness of the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha and, particularly, the things that would give us a rebirth among the gods.
Verse 6: Generosity
Anyway, let’s go on the verse concerning generosity. It says:
[6] Having realized that possessions are transient and lack any essence, be generous, in a proper manner, toward monks, brahmins, the poor, and your kin; for the hereafter, there’s no better friend besides generosity.
This refers to the practice of generosity – that we try to keep continually mindful of it. This, also, is something that is important for future lives and beyond. To practice generosity, it’s necessary to realize, of course, that the objects that we are able to be generous with – referring here particularly to material objects – are, as it says in the text, transient. That means they don’t stay; they never remain. Things are constantly breaking, falling apart. They’re impermanent. And they never satisfy. No matter what we have, things will always eventually become annoying; we’re going to want more. We’re going to want a new model computer (just think of all the frustration that we get when our computer doesn’t work). And when it comes to money, etc., we never have enough. The amount that we have is never going to satisfy, and it’s always going to change.. Also, it says here that they lack any essence. That, also, is something that we need to realize in terms of our possessions – that they don't have any true, findable existence. What is there to the material things that we have?
I think the practice of generosity is not limited just to material things. As we know, there are four types of generosity that are outlined in the Mahayana teachings:
- Being generous with material things;
- Being generous with the Dharma teachings and advice;
- Being generous with love, the wish for others to be happy – so, our good wishes for others;
- Being generous in terms of giving freedom from fear. That can be just general protection that we give to others – like saving the lives of insects drowning in the toilet, etc. But it can also be, as is explained, giving equanimity to others in the sense that we won’t make demands on them, cling to them or want anything from them; so, they don’t have to be afraid that we’re going to abandon them or reject them. Nor are we going to ignore them. That also is a great gift.
We can also, of course, think of giving material things in terms of giving our time and our energy. The material thing could be our body in the sense of providing physical help to somebody who needs it. These things are, again, things that are very proper to be generous with. Possessions, as it says, are not going to last anyway. Particularly, when it comes to the fact that death can come at anytime, then, of course, it’s better to give now while we have the opportunity to give our things to those who might appreciate them as opposed to what often happens when we die, which is that many of our possessions are just thrown into the garbage.
It says to be generous in a proper way, which is to show respect to the person that we are being generous toward. Don’t offer to do something only on certain conditions – for instance, saying, “You have to use what I give you for this or that,” or, “If I give you this, then you have to do something in return for me”; or always reminding them later on of how much we gave them and that they should be grateful – “Why aren’t you grateful to me?” It’s not helpful at all to remind others about what we have given to them or what we have done for them and then to pressure them with, “What have you done back for me?” This is really a very self-cherishing attitude. That, perhaps, might bring about guilt in the other person, but it certainly won’t bring about a good relationship with the other person.
So, the way of giving is always not to expect anything in return. And not only do we offer things in proper manner in terms of showing respect to the other person, we also want to give them something that will be helpful to them, something that is of good quality, not something that we don’t like and don’t have any use for anymore.
What is also included in the proper manner is to have appreciation for the other person as being the objects from whom we are accumulating virtue. It says in this verse that it would be helpful or proper to give to monks and brahmins. These are known as fields of good qualities – so, objects that have good qualities. We appreciate the good qualities of those who posses them, and when we are generous toward them, we are demonstrating an appreciation of those good qualities.
The next type of object is the poor. The commentaries also include the sick and so on. These are people who are the objects experiencing suffering. We also appreciate how much suffering and difficulty they have, and we are generous with them because we want to help them overcome that suffering, at least in a material way.
The third field for practicing generosity is our kin, our relatives. Included here in the commentaries are not just our parents and other relatives but also our teachers, our spiritual teachers. This is the field of those who have actually helped us and benefited us. We appreciate their kindness, and in return for their kindness, we want to make offerings and be generous toward them. As I said, that’s not only with material things but also with our time, our help, and so on – taking care of them, for instance, when they become old, etc.
It says, “For the hereafter” – that means for future lives – “there’s no better friend besides generosity.” This is something that will be of great benefit in terms of future lives as well as this lifetime. It will give us the situation of having material things, wealth and so on ourselves, which is one of the eight special qualities that makes a precious human life even more useful. That’s because if we have the material means, we can easily help others; we have the money to go to the Dharma centers, we have the money to go to Dharma events, and we have the money to be able to help others go to these events who don’t have the money. There are many beneficial things that we can do. That’s this verse.
[6] Having realized that possessions are transient and lack any essence, be generous, in a proper manner, toward monks, brahmins, the poor, and your kin; for the hereafter, there’s no better friend besides generosity.
Why don’t we take a minute to reflect on that general advice in terms of being generous and examine what our own attitudes are toward generosity, particularly, as it’s says here, in terms of our attachment to our possessions, time, and things. How do we regard them? Do we have respect and appreciation for those with good qualities, those who are suffering, and those who have been helpful and kind to us? And when we do give things to others, do we give them in a proper way, with respect and appreciation?
Even just thinking in terms of our own self-interest, if people have been very generous toward us in this lifetime in terms of giving things to us – like our parents, for example, or others who might have given us a place to stay when we travel, given us a ride when we were hitch-hiking, taken us out for meals, and things like that – then, if we want to be able to continue enjoying such things in the future, it’s very important that we do the same kinds of things for others. It doesn’t necessarily have to be to those who gave to us, but to carry it on into the future, we would want to be generous toward others in the same way that others have been generous toward us.
Verse 7: Ethical Discipline
The next verse, number seven, is speaking about how to be continually mindful of ethical discipline. It says,
[7] You must entrust yourself to ethical disciplines that are not compromised, not debased, not corrupted, and not transferred. It has been said that ethical discipline is the foundation for all good qualities, as is the earth for everything moving or unmoving.
Ethical disciplines are, particularly here, disciplines of refraining from negative, or destructive, actions, whether we take vows for doing that or not. But if we have taken vows or promised that we are not going to do something negative, the discipline required is even stronger. It qualifies the type of ethical discipline that we need to keep and is what would be pure ethical discipline. Ethical discipline, as I’ve said, is a restraint from acting negatively. It’s a mental state.
The first qualification is that it not be compromised. “Compromised” means compromised by the faults of broken discipline. In other words, if we’re going to, let's say, stop smoking, whether it’s cigarettes, marijuana, or whatever it might be, we don’t compromise that by saying, "Well, there was this party, and the other people were smoking. So, I am going to compromise and break that promise on these certain occasions.” We don’t want to compromise our discipline by breaking or transgressing that vow or promise, that resolution, that “I’m going to stop.”
Not debased – meaning, not debased by the disturbing emotions that would cause us to break our vows or our ethical discipline. An example of a disturbing emotion here could be wanting to be accepted by other people who are smoking or drinking or whatever. It could be the disturbing emotion of just saying, “Well, this is stupid. Why should I do that?” It could be laziness. It could be because of all sorts of reasons.
Then, “not corrupted” – meaning, not corrupted by desire and attachment. To use the example given in the commentary, we have the discipline to meditate on the ugliness of the body, let’s say, if we are very much attached or attracted to our own or somebody else’s body. So, in order to overcome that, we would, for instance, meditate on the various substances that are inside the body and so on, as Shantideva has indicated in his text. But that discipline could be corrupted in the sense that when we have so much desire and attachment, it doesn’t really work. We don’t take it seriously; we just sort of play at doing this type of meditation. We don’t really take it seriously because the desire and attachment are very strong. It’s like, “OK, I know what’s inside the body, but that’s OK. I still find the outside of it very attractive and sexy, and that’s what I want.” That’s what the commentary explains as corrupted. So, we don’t want our ethical discipline to be corrupted because of our really strong desire and attachment.
“Not transferred” refers to the fact that when we are holding ethical self-discipline, we are doing that with the aim of achieving enlightenment for the benefit of everyone. We don’t want that aim to be “transferred,” it says in the commentary, to a lesser aim or motivation, such as, “I am holding this discipline in order to gain my own liberation.” Or it could even be for a lesser type of aim. So, we don’t want to lose the aim of the discipline and transfer it to a lower purpose.
This first line, “you must entrust yourself” – “entrust” is an interesting word. It’s my latest way of translating this term, which is the word that is translated usually as “devotion,” as in guru devotion, and which I more recently translated as the “healthy relation” to a spiritual teacher. But actually, the word more literally means “to entrust” oneself because it is used with a doctor as well. You entrust yourself to a doctor, you entrust yourself to a spiritual teacher, based on, of course, having examined very well and being convinced that the doctor and the teacher are well-qualified. Therefore, you entrust yourself in the sense of “I trust what they are saying.”
Dr Berzin: Do you know the word, “entrust”?
[Participants discuss amongst themselves what the word “entrust” means]
It’s like putting yourself under the care of a doctor or of a spiritual teacher, but not like a mindless slave. So, it uses the same word here: we “entrust” ourselves to ethical discipline. “Ethical discipline is what’s going to take care of me.” This, I think, is much better way to translate the term because, actually, it covers many of the other contexts in which the word is used. It’s a fairly common word that comes in various contexts in different texts. So, that’s the latest way to translate it.
So, we must entrust ourselves to ethical disciplines that are not compromised by breaking the discipline on certain occasions, not debased by disturbing emotions, not corrupted by being overwhelmed with desire, and not transferred to a lower purpose or aim.
“It’s been said that ethical discipline is the foundation for all good qualities.” This line refers to the three higher trainings: the higher trainings in ethical discipline, concentration, and discriminating awareness, or wisdom. We saw this in Shantideva very clearly where the ethical discipline is what teaches us and gives us mindfulness and alertness – the mindfulness to hold on to the discipline and the alertness to watch if we are breaking that discipline so that we go back to holding on to the discipline, the restraint.
Remember, discipline is exercising the mental restraint from acting negatively. And that’s the foundation for being able to gain concentration because if we can do this particularly with the negative actions of our body and speech and our negative ways of thinking, we will have the ability to do that or have the foundation to do that when we are trying to gain concentration in meditation so that we can correct the meditation obstacles of mental wandering, flightiness of mind, and mental dullness, such as falling asleep, not being able to pay attention, being bored, and so on.
So, all of these things in the sphere of concentration are based on the good quality of ethical discipline. And concentration, then, is the basis for gaining discriminating awareness of voidness. Without concentration, we won’t be able to stay with the analysis. We won’t be able to stay with the decisive cutting off of the object to be negated.
“Cutting off the object to be negated” is technical jargon, and what that means is, I think, one of the most difficult points in the whole cultivation of wisdom, discriminating awareness. First, you have to identify the object to be negated, the impossible way in which it exists. Then, you have to understand the logic that refutes it and be convinced that the logic actually does refute it; you have to be convinced of the fact that this is impossible – this projection that we have. Then, finally, you need to cut it off, as His Holiness says, like Manjushri’s sword, just – wham! You cut off that projection, that belief and projection of this impossible way of existing, this true existence. Now you have to hold on to that, based on being totally convinced that this is absolute rubbish, this is garbage, bullshit. So – wham! You cut it off. You have to hold on to being convinced and to having the projection cut off. That’s where the concentration comes in even more strongly and more importantly. Of course, you need concentration to go through the whole line of reasoning and all of that, but you also need concentration to hold onto that decisive understanding, that decisive cutting off.
Of course, ethical discipline is the foundation for that in that if we can hold off from doing something negative like kicking the dog or screaming at somebody, we can develop the discipline to wake ourselves up if we get sleepy and to bring our mind back if it wanders. Then, we can develop the discipline to hold onto that decisive understanding and stay convinced that this projection is ridiculous. That’s important because, even when we go through that line of reasoning, it’s very easy not to cut off that projection. “OK, I understand this, but am I really convinced from the depth of my heart so that I don’t continue to project and believe this?” It’s not so easy.
This verse says that ethical discipline is the foundation, as is the earth for everything moving or unmoving. So, it’s the foundation for all moving and unmoving things. We can understand this in many ways. “Moving” can refer to the good qualities that are non-static phenomena, which change from moment to moment, like our compassion and help to others and so on. And that which is unmoving, would be these permanent, static partings – the true stoppings and so on. So:
[7] You must entrust yourself to ethical disciplines that are not compromised, not debased, not corrupted, and not transferred. It has been said that ethical discipline is the foundation for all good qualities, as is the earth for everything moving or unmoving.
Participant: So, this ethical discipline is useful not only because you don’t generate bad karma.
Dr Berzin: Ethical discipline is useful not only for not generating negative karma but also for building up positive karma. There are the three types of ethical discipline: (1) refraining from destructive behavior, (2) engaging in constructive behavior, which usually refers to listening to teachings, contemplating and meditating on them, and (3) helping others, which is listed separately, although, obviously, you could include that in constructive behavior. So, yes, it’s the foundation for all of those. And those as well need to be uncompromised. “Oh, I don’t feel like helping you,” or “I am too tired today,” or, “I don’t feel like coming to class because it’s too hot,” or whatever. One needs the discipline – uncompromised, not debased, and so on – that you’re going to do it. This, of course, brings in perseverance: you stick with it and like sticking with it and don’t complain.
Any other questions or comments? Actually, we should take time for comments or questions about these verses. I would think, looking at the text, that we can go through it fairly quickly. We did this huge diversion in the prior verse, but I don’t think that’s really the way I would like to continue with the rest of the text. We better go through the text in a fairly straightforward manner.
So, if there are no comments or questions, let’s take a minute to just reflect on our ethical discipline and what the status of that discipline is. Is that discipline selective? Do we just have discipline for doing things that we like but not for things that we don’t like? That’s compromised. That’s also debased and corrupted. “I have discipline to help everybody, except it’s corrupted by the fact that I don’t like you, so I’m not going to help you.” Or, “You did something nasty to me, so I’m not going to help you.” So, let’s examine our ethical discipline for a minute.
Going to the Gelugpa outline, which is Geshe Lobsang Jinba’s, verses four and five – the one on the six types of continual mindfulness and the one on karma – are for the initial scope motivation in the lam-rim. The verses on generosity and ethical discipline are for the intermediate scope motivation. These are things that help us to gain liberation – not being attached to our objects and our possessions and following ethical discipline. And then the eighth verse, the next one, is for the advanced level of motivation. These verses are a brief indication of the three scopes of motivation.
Verse 8: The Six Far-reaching Attitudes
So, Verse 8:
[8] Generosity, discipline, patience, perseverance, mental stability, and likewise discriminating awareness are the immeasurable far-reaching attitudes. Expand them and make yourself into a Powerful Lord of the Triumphant who has reached the far shore of the ocean of compulsive existence.
This summarizes the advanced scope, which is the Mahayana practice aimed at enlightenment. For that we have the six far-reaching attitudes, which are mentioned here. They are far-reaching because they bring us to the “far shore,” as it says here. It’s the etymology of paramita: “goes to the far side” is literally the meaning. So, it goes to the far shore of the ocean of compulsive existence. That’s a synonym for samsara. What makes them far-reaching attitudes is they are practiced with bodhichitta. This is the important thing because we have paramitas, these far-reaching attitudes, in Theravada as well.
In Theravada, you have ten paramitas as well as six. And also in Mahayana, you have ten as well as six. If you stick with the list of six, what they do in Theravada is to substitute discriminating awareness, or wisdom, with renunciation. But generosity is there, discipline is there, patience, perseverance, and mental stability. However, in the case of Theravada, these are held with the aim of liberation. If these things are practiced without a bodhichitta motivation, then they are not going bring you to enlightenment. They are paramita only in the sense that they can bring you to liberation. So, they bring you to the far shore of liberation if they’re done with renunciation, but they’re not going to bring you to the further far shore, which would be enlightenment. So, what the striking characteristic is within the Mahayana practice of the far-reaching attitudes, is that they are done with the aim to benefit all beings and to reach enlightenment by means of the positive force by which you can truly help all beings.
I don’t think there is any great need to go into detail about these six. We covered them extensively in Bodhicaryavatara (Engaging in Bodhisattva Behavior) by Shantideva. These are immeasurable far-reaching attitudes. It says here that they are immeasurable because they are aimed with bodhichitta to benefit all beings, not just a few beings, and to reach enlightenment, not just liberation. So, the aim is immeasurable in terms of who’s to benefit, and the goal is immeasurable in terms of what we are aiming for.
Nagarjuna says to expand them, which means to make them stronger and stronger. In Theravada, they speak of different levels of practicing these: the ordinary level, the medium level, and highest level. Highest level would be like giving away our body to hungry tigers or something like that. But even if we have, let’s say, a bodhichitta motivation, still, we start at a level of practice that we are capable of and proceed from there, never being satisfied with whatever level of patience, perseverance or concentration we have until we develop them fully so that these become Buddha qualities, not just ordinary qualities. In that way we’ll become a Powerful Lord of the Triumphant. “The Triumphant” is another name for a Buddha – “Powerful Lord of the Buddha.” “Of the Buddha” means that it is just another epithet of the Buddha. So, we want to become really great Buddhas who have reached the far shore of samsara – in other words, not only to attain the ordinary nirvana of an arhat, a liberated being, but to attain enlightenment.
Any questions about this verse?
Participant: What are the other four, from six to ten?
Dr Berzin: Now you challenge me. I can list them, but I don’t have the definitions at my fingertips. They are skill in means, aspirational prayer, strengthening, and deep awareness. So, there are the four in Mahayana. The Sanskrit names of the ten are in the mantras of the ten main consorts in Kalachakra.
Participant: These four were already in what you said about the other six, no?
Dr Berzin: No, that was discriminating awareness. When they talk about discriminating awareness and deep awareness, I must say that there is a much clearer differentiation of the two in the non-Gelugpa traditions. Discriminating awareness is the discriminating awareness of voidness, although there are other divisions, other types of discriminating awareness. There’s the worldly one that discriminates in terms of medical knowledge and these other things, but it usually refers to the understanding of voidness as the total absence of true existence. Deep awareness in the non-Gelugpa systems is the awareness that non-conceptually cognizes the deepest ruth of something. According to the Gelugpa systems, discriminating awareness can only be understood conceptually. It’s an absence of something conceptual. Whereas deep awareness for the non-Gelugpas is the voidness beyond words and concepts, which is what you would know non-conceptually – namely, the inseparability of the two truths. So, there, there is a clear distinction between…
Participant: Is this Maha-Madhyamaka?
Dr Berzin: No, it’s not necessarily Maha-Madhyamaka. This is just usual Madhyamaka. Maha-Madhyamaka usually gets into “other-voidness.” Discriminating awareness, you can say, is the conceptual understanding of no true existence, and deep awareness is the non-conceptual understanding of the two truths, an understanding that’s beyond words and concepts.
Within the Gelugpa tradition, you would have to say that discriminating awareness is the understanding of voidness by itself, and deep awareness is the understanding of the two truths together. But within Gelugpa, they don’t make a distinction of it being conceptual or non-conceptual. Voidness that’s understood conceptually or non-conceptually is the same voidness.
Participant: Let me just check. You said that the four are deep awareness, skillful means, strengthening, and prayer?
Dr Berzin: Yes. Strengthening, if I recall correctly, has to do with the strength of bodhichitta. I think. I really don’t recall. I’m sorry. Originally, I thought “Maybe somebody is going to ask this. I should write it down.” So I must be very apologetic because I don’t have that just in my mind. But I did write it down.
Participant: Is that the way they have it in Theravada?
Dr Berzin: In Theravada it’s a different list. There is an article on my website that discusses all of this and gives the definitions. It’s in the comparison of traditions section where it gives the ten far-reaching attitudes in Theravada and Mahayana. It gives the definitions of all of them.
Participant: Perhaps it’s the reason why the six far-reaching attitudes are put into the foreground and the other four…
Dr Berzin: The six are put to the foreground because the other four are considered divisions of the sixth. Each of the four is a type of discriminating awareness.
Participant: Yeah. But what has prayer got to do with deep awareness, actually?
Dr Berzin: As I said, I don’t have that on my fingertips. I neglected to bring those notes with me. I’m sorry. You can find it on the website.
So, let’s take a moment to reflect on this, and then we’ll go on.
Now, from verse 9 onwards, we get to the main part of the text. That, again, is divided differently according to the different commentaries. According to Mipam’s commentary, his outline, he says that the following material deals with how to practice the six far-reaching attitudes in more detail. According to Rendawa, the Sakya commentary, he says that from Verse 9 onwards are the instructions for householders. According to Geshe Lobsang Jinba, the Gelugpa commentary, what follows is the path that is common to the initial scope of motivation. So, obviously, it’s a little bit arbitrary how we divide the text, but we can see that each of these ways of outlining it makes sense within its own logic.
Verse 9: The Far-reaching Attitude of Generosity – Honoring One’s Father and Mother
[9] Any family in which the father and mother are honored will be together with Brahma and together with teachers; they’ll become renowned for honoring them and afterwards, as well, will attain rebirths of higher status.
This can refer to how to practice generosity toward family by honoring, showing respect, giving offerings, and so on to them – so, taking care of your family, particularly your mother and father. Or it could be general advice to householders. It could also be the initial scope motivation of working for future lives because, as it says, “Any family in which the father and mother are honored will be together with Brahma.” What happens if you honor, make offerings, and show respect and so on to your parents? It says, “You won’t be harmed by either humans or nonhumans,” and you’ll “be together with Brahma and together with the teachers.” The commentary says that you’ll get the so-called blessings from the worldly gods and from teachers. This is what it means to “be together”; you’ll be together with their help in a sense.
Then, the benefits of doing that are that, in this lifetime, you’ll become renowned for honoring them. And afterwards, which is referring to future lives (which is why this can be initial scope motivation), you’ll attain rebirths of higher status. “Higher status” refers to rebirth as a human or as one of the gods in a god realm.
So, this is speaking about honoring your parents, taking care of your parents. In the commentary, it gives all the sutra quotations regarding this. All of these verses are based on quotations from sutras. I think this one is taken from the Samadhiraja Sutra (Sutra of the King of Absorbed Concentrations).
Now, what does it actually mean to honor your parents? Unfortunately, the Sanskrit version was lost, but the Tibetan word that is used, which is quite interesting, is the same word as the word for “puja.” A puja is an honoring ceremony. It’s not just making offerings of candy bars on the altar; it’s showing honor and respect and making offerings – this type of thing. So, why is that so important?
Participant: I suppose it reflects a general attitude in life, one of being respectful to and learning from people who are on a higher level in a way. It can’t be that just honoring your parents is going to be enough. I mean, you can be a terrorist and honor your parents very much, no?
Dr Berzin: Well, yes. Obviously, just honoring your parents is not enough. But then you can take this in the sense of Rendawa’s outline, which is that this is general advice for householders – that it will be pleasing to the gods and to the teachers if you show respect to your parents. I think the main emphasis here is appreciating the kindness that we have been shown. Obviously, there are some parents that haven’t been terribly kind. But I always draw the bottom line, which is that they didn’t have an abortion. And, so, they were kind to actually give birth to us. At least that amount of kindness is there.
It’s very important to appreciate the kindness that we have been shown so that we’ll then show kindness to others. The word that is usually translated as “respect,” and looking at the way that it is used in the text, actually has more of the meaning of “appreciation” because it is the state of mind that we have when we think of the kindness of the others. Then there’s also this word “honor.” I don’t think that that's respect; I think it’s more appreciation, although it’s also respect. I think it combines these two types of feelings.
Now, you could say that this is in Christianity as well. Isn’t there “Honor thy father and mother”? I think that’s in the Christian scriptures. I think that’s in every religion.
Participant: I suppose.
Dr Berzin: It’s logical. Usually, our parents teach us how to talk, how to walk, how to feed ourselves, how to get dressed, etc. Most parents will do at least that much. Without that we would not be able to really survive.
So, we “become renowned.” It’s interesting. One wonders just how Asian this is and whether this is really relevant for today. I think that, certainly, honoring one’s parents and showing respect for them and so on is important today as well. Then it says that those who do this “will be together with Brahma and together with teachers” – they will get their blessings.
Blessings
Now, the question is: what in the world does “blessings” mean? “Blessings” is the word that I usually translate as chinlab (byin-rlabs), “an enlightening influence.” No, that's not the right word. Enlightening influence is another thing. “Inspiration” is how I usually translate “blessings.” But “inspiration” doesn’t really work here. There is also a word that is used for blessing the offerings. Literally, what it means is to uplift and make to something brighter. That’s the literal meaning: “lifted to a higher level.” So, if we show respect to our parents, we honor them, appreciate them, help them and all these sorts of things, then, in a sense, the gods, the worldly gods (this is obviously in a system in which one believes in worldly gods like Brahma) and the teachers will be happy with what we are doing and will, in a sense, uplift us. What in the world could that mean? The commentaries don’t explain.
There are certain things that we do that are said to be “pleasing to the Buddhas,” isn’t that right? If we practice well, serve the teachers, and so on – that's pleasing to the Buddhas. It says this clearly in the text. So, how does pleasing the Buddhas affect us? If we do something that someone we have great respect for is pleased with, doesn’t that make us feel better? Doesn’t that uplift us? “I have done well, and my teachers are proud of me.” That’s uplifting. So, I think, that perhaps, we can understand it in this sense. We’ll feel uplifted because it is pleasing to the Buddhas, pleasing to the gods, and pleasing to the spiritual teachers that we take care of our parents.
It’s very interesting, very, very interesting. Once, when I was with Serkong Rinpoche (this was the old Serkong Rinpoche), there was an Italian young man who told Rinpoche that he wanted to become a monk. But he lived with four generations of his family in his house. His mother, father, his grandparents, and the grandparents’ parents were all there (it was one of these grand, extended Italian families). He wanted to become a monk, but they had a family business and this sort of thing. Rinpoche advised him, “You really need to take care of your family. When you are sure that the family and everybody is taken care of, only then can you think of becoming a monk.” It’s almost like the Hindu thing, isn't it? It wasn't recommended that he get married; he just needed to make sure that everything is OK with the family. Don’t just run off.
Of course, that makes us think of the example of Buddha. Did Buddha abandon his family and run off to go on his spiritual quest? That’s always a difficult point. However, one has to take into consideration that Buddha was a member of the warrior caste, and everybody expected that a warrior was going to go off somewhere. Also, he was a member of the royal family, so it wasn’t as though he left his wife poor with nobody to look after her. The wife and son had tons of servants and things like that. So, it’s not quite the same as just abandoning a spouse and children and not taking care of them at all. But it wasn’t pleasing to Rinpoche for somebody to just run away and leave responsibilities not taken care of.
Participant: I think that is common in society not…
Dr Berzin: Right. In general, that’s not looked on very well in society. You know, your parents are very sick, and they have nobody to take care of them, and you say, “Well, sorry. I’m in retreat. Es tut mir leid. I’m sorry.” That, obviously, would not be pleasing to the teachers.
Participant: Es gibt ein alte Zen Geschichte daß der…
Dr Berzin: There is an old Zen story. Which is it?
Participant: [In German]
Dr Berzin: The abbot wouldn’t let the mother into the monastery. But what was the mother’s purpose for wanting to come into the monastery?
Participant: I don’t know exactly what the mother’s reasons were, but the story talks about…
Dr Berzin: Supposed to break what you expect.
Participant: Yeah.
Dr Berzin: It was his own mother?
Participant: Ja, seine mutter. Yes, his mother.
Dr Berzin: Well, I don’t know. It depends on the circumstance. If the mother was very attached and so on, one could visit the mother outside the monastery (women aren’t allowed inside the monasteries). There are many, many factors.
Participant: [In German]
Dr Berzin: Right. This is a big thing. What is more important, the family or the monastery? But this takes on much more importance in the Chinese context, in Confucianism, where filial duty – “filial piety” is how it is usually translated – is one of the top, top virtues. In fact, it’s brought in and emphasized in Chinese Buddhism, whereas it is not so strongly emphasized in India. But here it is being emphasized, for sure. And the commentary quotes the sutra that this line comes from.
Participant: [In German]
Dr Berzin: So, this will be that the gods, the Buddhas, and the teachers will be pleased – be proud of us that we have done our “duty,” as they would say. So, that would be uplifting. And we will “become renowned for honoring them.” People won’t think well of us if we just leave our poor mother to starve and beg in the U-Bahn station. Worldly people are certainly not going to think kindly of us. “And afterwards, we will attain rebirths of higher status” because, obviously, we certainly will build up – even if it is for attachment purposes – positive karma for better rebirth.
So, this is Verse 9.
Participant: I always wonder how they can say with certainty, “If you do that, you will have a better rebirth.”
Dr Berzin: What I find even more difficult is, “If you do this on this day, the merit is multiplied by 17,500.” Where do they get these numbers from? This, I really can’t understand. The only thing that one could say is that Buddha is omniscient and that Buddha said so. I can’t think of any other reason. Only the Buddhas know the karmic effects of everything.
Participant: But, for example, in this case, cherishing your parents, the ones who brought you into the world – that somehow just feels right intuitively. You don’t have to…
Dr Berzin: You are not going to be born in the next life to a mother spider who will eat you, for example.
Participant: What is the cause and effect here?
Dr Berzin: Well, to say what the cause and effect is, you have to look in terms of positive karma and negative karma. Positive karma brings you one of the three better rebirths and negative karma, one of the three worst rebirths as the ripening effect. Obviously, if you are kind to your parents who have been kind to you, you build up positive karma, and that would ripen as having one of the better rebirths. Obviously, there are many, many other factors that are involved in the ripening of karma.
Remember, we had a list of factors, which we went through a few weeks ago, of what makes a karmic action particularly strong in terms of the effect, and one of the factors is the object toward whom the action is directed. If you do something really positive or really negative to someone who has been super kind to you – your teachers or your parents – that karma could ripen even in this lifetime. That’s quite clear in the teachings on karma. You find it in so many sources. How do they know? Who knows? Buddha- knowledge
Participant: [In German]
Dr Berzin: Well, but we just said that this is not limited to Indian society. Every society speaks about honoring your parents. That’s not just Indian.
Participant: [In German]
Dr Berzin: There is no social security system; therefore, you need to take care of your parents.
Participant: There’s also the teaching to be generous to others, but it won’t be the precise things that we need. You could easily say that we can dispose of that because that generosity is no longer needed. Everybody is already comfortable in Germany, actually.
Dr Berzin: I would agree. But just because a government provides doesn’t mean that we don’t need to be generous. The government is generous, and you vote for the government to be generous. So, there is generosity there. But to abandon the parents by just throwing them into a nursing home because the government will take care of them and not visit them – that is only looking at the material side of who is going to take care of them. There is still a tremendous amount of personal interaction that we can give them, which is very important.
Participant: Time is often more difficult to give than money.
Dr Berzin: Time is far more difficult for most Westerners to give than money. That’s absolutely true. Time, attention, interest in the other person – that’s very hard for many people to give.
So, let us reflect on our own attitudes toward our own parents and see how we have actually honored them, taken care of them, and shown our appreciation. What have we actually done? If our parents are still alive, what can we do? Even if our parents are dead – my parents are dead – we can still think in terms of dedicating positive force to them wherever they might be at this point in their rebirths. Of course, one can think in terms of voidness – that there is no solid “me” of our parents. Still, conventionally, there is a continuity of them. That, we can at least do if they are already dead.
One of the best ways of paying back parents is not only to take care of them but also to take care of the next generation, whether they are our own children or other people’s children. To pass that kindness on to others, to the younger ones who need help – this is very important. In whatever way we can, even if we have no material resources, we can give time, give help, give advice. There are many things we can give.
Also, let me mention that another important way of honoring our parents, especially if they are dead, is to remember their good qualities, not so much their bad qualities. It’s to honor their good qualities rather than complaining and feeling bitter about whatever shortcomings that they might have had. This is true even while they are alive, but especially when they are dead. How do you remember them? How do you discuss them with other people? When other people ask you, “Well, what was your father like? What was your mother like?” do you mention their bad qualities or do you mention their good qualities?
The next five verses refer, in Mipam’s outline, to the far-reaching attitude of ethical discipline. That seems to make a lot of sense. Rendawa includes that as further advice to householders, and Geshe Lobsang Jinba includes it as initial scope teachings.
Verses 10 and 11: The Far-reaching Attitude of Ethical Discipline, and the Eight One-Day Precepts
Let’s go on. Verses 10 and 11 go together.
[10] When one gives up causing harm, thieving, sexual activity, lying, alcohol, and attachment to eating when it’s not time, delight in high beds and seats, songs, dance, and all sorts of jewelry,
[11] And takes on these eight branches that emulate the ethical discipline of liberated arhats, (these) one-day precepts will bestow on men and on women an attractive body of a desire-realm god.
This is referring to what is sometimes called the eight Mahayana one-day precepts, the one-day vows that one can take for giving up these eight things:
[1] Causing harm, which means taking life and hurting others;
[2] Stealing;
[3] Sexual activity – that means no sexual activity whatsoever, either with somebody else or with yourself;
[4] Lying;
[5] Alcohol or intoxicants (we have had a big discussion of what that means);
[6] Attachment to eating when it is not time. There are two traditions regarding this: either eating only once a day, which would be at noon – so nothing in the morning and nothing at night – or eating in the morning and at noon, but certainly not after the noon meal. That is, in fact, what fully ordained monks and nuns are supposed to do. So, we do like that for one day.
[7] Delighting in high beds and seats, which means, basically, not being arrogant and sleeping on fancy beds, sitting on fancy seats and thrones, and stuff like that. I don’t know that we necessarily do that, but the point is to be humble and not to set oneself up as being so proud and wonderful.
[8] Singing, dancing, or wearing any sort of jewelry. Those three are put together as the eighth one, which means basically not engaging in any worldly type of thing that is just for entertainment and fun, out of attachment, or to make yourself look nice by wearing makeup, jewelry, and stuff like that. It’s also not to listen to music and distracting yourself with things like that.
So, if we take these eight branches, these eight vows, we emulate the ethical discipline of liberated arhats. In other words, it is an imitation of the monks’ and nuns’ vows, which are the vows for individual liberation; they bring us liberation from samsara – arhatship. So, they help us in that way. They are usually referred to as Mahayana precepts, although I imagine that one finds these in Theravada as well. However, we would do these with bodhichitta motivation to make the Mahayana one-day precepts help us to reach enlightenment. And what is the effect of taking them? One gets an attractive body of a desire-realm god. Now, what in the world? Why?
Participant: [Inaudible]
Dr Berzin: Right. Sorry. But this is what it says. That’s why it’s the initial scope motivation for a better rebirth. And it’s for both men and women. Nagarjuna says, “Both men and women will gain an attractive body.” Now, you have look at this. You have to look at this seriously. So let’s…
Participant: But the terrible thing is that we do all of this, and then we fall down again.
Dr Berzin: We fall down again – that’s right – if we do terrible things. But the attractive body – what is the cause for having an attractive body? We had this. Does anybody remember?
Participant: Patience?
Dr Berzin: Patience, right.
Participant: You give some advice and then people listen.
Dr Berzin: Yes. That’s the advantage of it – that if you give advice, people will listen to you more. And the cause for an attractive body is patience. It requires patience to keep these vows and to endure the suffering that is involved with it because you have to take these vows before the sun rises.
I remember a time with His Holiness. Sometimes people are very enthusiastic: “Oh, let’s have the one-day Mahayana precepts!” So, His Holiness said (this was at the Kalachakra initiation in Switzerland in 1985), “Fine. Everybody come here at 4:30 tomorrow morning and we’ll do it.” And what was amazing was that about three quarters of the people showed up.
Participant: I was there.
Dr Berzin: You were there? Yes, people showed up. And this was not an easy place to get to. It wasn’t as though you had everybody staying near to it. It was quite far away in a small town. It requires great patience to do this. For that reason, one gets an attractive body. “As a desire-realm god” means that it leads to a better rebirth.
So, these are the eight precepts as they usually are referred to. Any questions about them?
Participant: I wonder, for example, about these young women who think that they are beautiful, and they do not need to work for it. They feel happy when they look in the mirror, and have many friends and so on. Then, one day, they are old, and they don’t have any merit left. So, it’s not easy to have a beautiful body and everything. Why should they really have it? I guess it’s an advantage, but there’s a chance to go in the wrong direction.
Dr Berzin: Well, having a beautiful body, being attractive-looking, of course, is ephemeral. It doesn’t last; it’s transient. That’s true. And if you haven’t used the circumstance of being good looking to do positive things, to be a good influence on others so that others will listen to you, if you’ve only used it for gaining sexual partners… obviously, you’ll lose that effect. You’ll no longer have partners when you’re old because you will no longer be attractive. However, if you have used your being attractive to attract others so that they actually listen to you and don’t run away screaming, “Ah! How ugly!” you will continue to have that influence even when you get old. There is a certain self-confidence that comes with that, I think. I don’t know.
The point is that if one has good qualities, it’s important to use them properly because, obviously, as you get old, things change.
Participant: But isn’t it more important to have a good motivation than to look beautiful?
Dr Berzin: Certainly, it’s more important to have a good motivation. One doesn’t keep the one-day vows just to be good looking. That’s certainly not the motivation. The motivation is to gain favorable circumstances to go on to enlightenment.
Participant: Does the list say, “Whenever you look good, this comes from doing good”?
Dr Berzin: It says that one of the benefits of patience is that you will be good-looking. That’s not the only benefit of patience; it’s not the singular benefit. And it’s not what we are aiming for. But if we take Geshe Lobsang Jinba’s outline as our guide, this is initial scope motivation – aiming for better rebirth. And that is what one does when one aims for a better rebirth; it’s to get a better rebirth as a human or a god. Obviously, rebirth as a god is not the best one of the two. However, for a lot of people, particularly those who come from the Indian culture, it’s quite attractive to be born in one of the god realms. For Western people as well – they want to go to heaven. That’s what it’s talking about – going to heaven, to a higher realm.
Participant: They want to be good-looking also.
Dr Berzin: Yes! They want to be good-looking, to be a beautiful angel in heaven – one of these fat baby angels in heaven like in one of Ruben’s paintings or something. Yuck. Schrecklich.
Let us think about these one-day precepts:
[10] When one gives up causing harm, thieving, sexual activity, lying, alcohol, and attachment to eating when it’s not time, delight in high beds and seats, songs, dance, and all sorts of jewelry,
[11] And takes on these eight branches that emulate the ethical discipline of liberated arhats, (these) one-day precepts will bestow on men and on women an attractive body of a desire-realm god.
It is really quite important when these vows are being given that you don’t take them just because everyone else is taking them and because everybody would go, “Shame on you,” if you didn’t show up at 4:30 in the morning. We want to do this with a good motivation. The point is that you don’t complain, “Oh, it’s four; it’s evening time, and I’m hungry.” It’s important to have patience for this practice. If one does it, it’s very important to have a proper motivation.
Participant: So, is this eating vow more important than patience?
Dr Berzin: No, patience is more important than all of these.
Participant: But why not eat after?
Dr Berzin: Because one wants to, basically, overcome attachment. The reason for monks and nuns not eating after noon is so that they will have a clear mind for meditating at night and in the morning. That’s the reason. It says here in the text that one abstains from attachment to eating when it is not time. We worldly people are very attached. I am certainly among the guilty ones who will eat at night even if I’m not hungry, just because it’s nighttime and it’s time to eat. That’s attachment. When somebody invites us over and offers us a delicious chocolate cake and tea or coffee, how many of us will say, even if we have eaten already, “Oh, no thank you. I am full”? No way! No way.
Participant: But, Alex, can one also say that it’s OK, after one has taken these precepts, to feel, “Okay, I had this discipline. I did a good thing.”
Dr Berzin: Is it good when we have kept these for a day to feel happy, to rejoice in that? Yes, of course. To feel proud and arrogant – “Oh, how wonderful I am” – no. But to rejoice, certainly, yes. One rejoices: “This is really great! This was a good thing that I did. I am happy that I did that.”
Participant: “How great that I could keep this discipline the whole day!”
Dr Berzin: “I was able to keep this discipline. I have demonstrated to myself that I do have the ability to do that.”
Participant: That’s OK?
Dr Berzin: That’s good. That’s rejoicing. Actually, it’s good to keep discipline like this, whether we do it formally by taking vows or not, just to demonstrate to ourselves that we are capable of it. Whether we choose to be a monk or nun for the rest of our lives is something else. But to know that we have the ability to keep vows, I think, is very helpful for our self-confidence. It’s like, for instance, doing 100,000 of any of these preliminaries.
This is my own psychological analysis, but if, for example, an illiterate peasant person who never thought they could do something really big does 100,000 recitations of a mantra or prostrations, and they’ve counted, it gives them a feeling of self-confidence – “Hey, I am actually able to do something that I thought was beyond my ability!” 100,000 is really not that many. If you do 300 a day, it takes only one year to do 100,000 of anything. It’s not that much, but it seems like awful lot if you have never done it. So, it's good for self-confidence. And that is an important thing for perseverance (remember, we had that) in order to overcome laziness – to have the self-confidence that you can do it.