WSW 17: Contrary Results of Practice, Unfulfilled Requests, Strokes

We are up to verse 32. We have been looking at both a poetic translation as well as the more literal translation. The poetical translation: 

When rites we perform never seem to be fruitful, this is the wheel of sharp weapons returning full circle upon us from wrongs we have done. Till now we’ve relied on the gods of this world or on unskillful actions to bring us relief; hereafter let’s turn in another direction and leave our non-virtuous actions behind.

The literal translation is: 

At times when the measure of our having performed rituals is that things work out contrary (to what we had wished), this is the sharp weapon of negative karma circling back on us from having placed our hopes and reliance on the side of black (magic). Now, let’s turn away from the side of black (magic).

What this is referring to is how the Tibetans – and the Indians as well, I’m sure – perform various rituals – what we would call pujas in a very loose sense – to try to bring about favorable circumstances and get rid of obstacles. This is very much the custom. This is done through the influence or the circumstance of doing this ritual and relying on some sort of figure – usually a protector figure, but it can be some sort of Buddha figure as well, such as Medicine Buddha and so on. Through the prayers from their side and through the action that we do on our side, it can work in two ways. One is to bring the positive force (the merit) that we have more to the surface so that that will ripen and things will go successfully. But doing it in that way is considered quite unstable, because what happens is that you’re left then with all your negative force and negative potentials and use up all your positive. But the other way – the way that is more effective – is that this acts as a circumstance for your negative force to ripen, but because of the positive motivation and so on, the negative force ripens in some very minor irritation, some very minor obstacle, which goes away quite easily. Then that leaves room for the positive force to ripen. In other words, what you do is you get rid of obstacles by burning them off in a rather insignificant or trivial manner. 

This is considered more stable. We used to do this with Serkong Rinpoche when I was travelling with the old Serkong Rinpoche before going on a world tour. One of the things that happened was that we went down to the train to go from the city near Dharamsala, Patankot, to Delhi, and there was some mix up with the train reservation, and we couldn’t get the reservation that we had assumed that we had, and we had to go in the third-class train. There were four of us, and there were only two places to sleep. Rinpoche and I slept on that but it was right by the toilet so it wasn’t very nice, and the other two attendants had to basically spend the night sitting on the floor of the third class Indian train, which isn’t exactly pleasant either. But it was a fairly trivial obstacle – nobody was hurt, it was no big deal – and after that everything went very smoothly for the entire trip, no obstacles whatsoever. On the second world tour that we made, it was very similar. Instead of the mix up with the train with the wrong reservation, we couldn’t get the train at all, and we had to take a bus – not directly to Delhi but take a bus to Chandigarh, another city, and at three o’clock in the morning change busses, and it was a very unpleasant night. But again, it was just a minor inconvenience, and after that the whole trip went very well. 

This is what is considered the positive effect of doing this type of rituals, and then after that everything works out very well. But here, what it’s saying is that when we have performed rituals, the problem is that things work out the opposite of what we had wished. Instead of things going well, things go poorly. What could happen is that in the very short terms things go very well for us but, as I say, that burns off the positive thing; and then after, there is one little spark of things going well, and then after that, disaster. This is coming from having, as it says here, “placed our hopes and reliance on the side of black (magic).” The dark side could be worldly spirits; there’re several, but one in particular – a very controversial protector in the Tibetan scene that is considered by a large majority of people as the dark side. That would be an example of this – that in the beginning things go very, very well but then in the long term, disaster. One has to avoid hopes and reliance on the dark side, as it says, and turn away from the dark side. Dark side, of course, could be understood in many other ways besides just various protectors, but any sort of black magic could be considered the dark side – satanic type of rituals and so on. All of this, of course, I think is a little bit difficult to relate to if we’re not in this Tibetan scene and aren’t familiar with this type of thing. Can you think of anything that would be relevant in terms of a Western experience? In Mexico, of course, a lot of people rely on these sorcerers, these brujos; “Sacrifice a chicken and then everything will go well.” That would be a very good example of this. 

Even though this might not be relevant to us, nevertheless we can think in terms of others as well and practice some sort of tonglen. This being very broad an interpretation of this, but you can also think in terms of dealing with terrorism with violence. To rely on the dark side would be to rely on more violence in a “war on terrorism” – that is a contradiction in terms, it’s being a terrorist against terrorism. One could see that as the dark side – relying on that in order to solve your problems. That I think maybe is a little bit more relevant to us.

Let’s think of this in terms of ourselves and then tonglen in terms of others. 

At times when the measure of our having performed rituals is that things work out contrary (to what we had wished), this is the sharp weapon of negative karma circling back on us from having placed our hopes and reliance on the side of black (magic). Now, let’s turn away from the side of black (magic).

The Americans thought that invading Iraq and Afghanistan would solve all the problems, but things worked out the opposite, didn’t they? They had placed their hopes and reliance on the dark side, on making war. Now, let’s turn away from the dark side.

Actually, one thought that came to my mind is that, in terms of rituals, there are some people who in order to solve their problems will have a ritual that they’ve made up themselves, for instance getting stoned with smoking marihuana, or getting drunk. There is a certain pipe that they use, and a certain music, and a certain thing that’s set up, and it’s almost like a ritual that they do in the hope that will solve their problems. Then this verse is relevant in that sense that doing that ritual things don’t work out the way that they wanted. It might be, as we were saying before that in the short term you might feel better, but in the long term it just creates more problems. That might be a relevant example for some of us. Whatever dark side thing we might rely on when we have difficulties, that is something that we need to give up or avoid, whether we rely on it with performing a ritual or without performing a ritual. It’s very interesting to look at, when we’re having a hard time, when we are depressed and so on, what do we turn to? Do we turn to something which is more on the dark side like getting drunk, or getting stoned, or going and stuffing ourselves with chocolate, or whatever it might be as a ritual, or do we rely on something a little bit more constructive? 

That leads actually to the next verse 33. The poetical version of it is: 

When none of the wishes we make reach fulfillment, although we’ve made prayers to the Three Precious Gems, this is the wheel of sharp weapons returning full circle upon us from wrongs we have done. Till now we have had an imperfect commitment to Buddha whose teachings deserve complete trust; hereafter let’s place our exclusive reliance on Buddha, his teachings and those in his fold.

The literal translation is: 

At times when our requests to the Three Precious Gems do not reach fulfillment, this is the sharp weapon of negative karma circling back on us from not having had confidence in the Buddhas. Now, let’s entrust ourselves exclusively to the Precious Gems.

The Three Precious Gems are Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. The Dharma Gem is referring to the true stoppings or true cessations, and the true paths – the pathways of mind on the mind stream of an arya or above. An arya has had nonconceptual cognition of voidness or the Four Noble Truths. What is this referring to? We have various obscurations that prevent liberation and enlightenment. One set is the emotional obscurations – all our disturbing emotions and their tendencies; and then the other are the cognitive obscurations – what prevents us from really being able to understand everything. We have these two, and when you have direct, bare cognition of voidness, then you get rid of some of that forever. You get rid of it portion by portion. That state of being rid of it is called the true stopping. The pathway mind is the understanding that brings that about and that results from getting rid of them. That’s the actual Dharma. What we are aiming for is to achieve that ourselves. Along the path the aryas have achieved it partially; liberated beings have achieved it a little bit more’ and the Buddhas have achieved that in full. The Buddhas are the ones who have that in full; the Arya Sangha are the ones that have it in part. That’s the Three Gems – what we are basically aiming for. 

There are two ways of putting that direction in our life, of going in that direction. One is thinking in terms of those who have actually achieved that; and the other is thinking in terms of what we in the future will achieve, and we get our strength from that. When you make requests, that has to be understood, of course, in many ways. It could be understood on a very unsophisticated level of, “Oh, Buddha” or “Oh, God, may I have a Mercedes Benz.” But that’s not at all what we’re referring to here – that somebody outside will grant our request and give us a million Euros. To look at the Three Gems and to pray to them like that is a bit childish, although certainly some people do that. The deeper way of understanding that is in terms of opening ourselves up, open ourselves up: “I want to achieve a precious human rebirth” or “always be with a fully qualified spiritual teachers in all my lifetimes”. The request is to open ourselves up to the what’s called the enlightening influence, the inspiration from this goal that is represented by what others have achieved and what we ourselves can achieve. 

When we make our requests and it doesn’t work – they don’t reach fulfillment, we’re not really able to do that – this is because we have not had confidence in the Buddhas. This is a very interesting statement that be understood in several ways. One is that we haven’t had confidence that it’s possible that somebody could be like that. If we don’t have confidence that somebody could be like that, how could we really gain the inspiration to go further in that direction? The requests to have a precious human life, to meet with the gurus – all these sorts of positive circumstances are based on having that direction in life, taking refuge. We’re not talking about requests for a Mercedes Benz. Also, when we talk about confidence in Buddhas we’re talking about confidence that it’s possible for us to achieve that as well. That’s very important: if one is making requests, one has to have confidence that what you’re opening up to is something that actually exists and it’s possible. It’s not like making requests to Santa Clause or making requests to Mickey Mouse. That’s why it says, “Now, let’s entrust ourselves exclusively to the Precious Gems” – so really thinking that this is the direction. Also, what this could mean is having confidence in the Buddhas and not confidence in some worldly god or some dark side figure that’s going to grant our requests, and inspire us, and enable us to be able to achieve our goals. This is, I think, what this verse is mainly talking about. 

It becomes very interesting: what do we do when we are in a difficult situation? Do we turn to negative habits? Do we turn to drugs, alcohol, friends, food, sex, television? Do we turn to our native belief in God or some patron saint? Or, if we’re really following the Buddhist path, as this text is assuming that we are, do we really entrust ourselves to the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha? Do we actually think that it is possible that there really were Buddhas, and that there are Buddhas, and that we can become a Buddha? Is the whole thing is very real when we take it very seriously, or is it just some sort of myth? If it’s just some sort of myth to us, then making requests for inspiration and so on from a myth is not going to, as it says here, bring fulfillment; it’s not going to work. It’s not saying that this should be based on blind faith either. It uses the word “confidence.” That’s a term that implies that it’s based on reason – of being convinced that it is possible to get rid of all the junk from the mind, and that the nature of the mind is pure of all of that, and the nature of my own mind is pure of all of that, and the nature of the mind of everybody is pure of all of that. It’s not that “I’m so special.”

We have confidence that this is for real. How do we become convinced that it’s for real? There’re two ways. One is by meeting somebody who really is like that or is good enough for us, like His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Whether he is a completely enlightened Buddha or not, at least to me, is irrelevant. If I could become like that, I would be more than satisfied. Then the other way is through logic: we become convinced that it is actually possible to get rid of all the emotional and cognitive crap that confuses us and clouds the mind; that that’s just like the cloud over the sky, it’s not the nature of the sky. That requires an awful lot of thought, actually – to really become convinced of that. That’s not easy. It’s very easy to misunderstand that and then become very arrogant and say, “Well, I’m already enlightened and everybody is enlightened,” and so we don’t have to do anything. Still, it requires an awful lot of hard work. But if we are going to make requests or pray to the Buddhas and so on, it’s important to do it on a basis of confidence – not blind belief – and to do it in a proper way.

If we are very convinced that it is possible to become a Buddha, and that there are Buddhas or have been Buddhas – maybe not very many, but there have been – then when we give that to others, we’re also giving our confidence to others. If you’re confident in what you’re doing, it makes the other person feel confident as well. This we see very much with doctors. If a doctor has no confidence in what they are doing, the patient doesn’t trust them at all. The point is not to fake it – to fake that you have confidence when you don’t. We think in terms of having confidence ourselves and giving that to others so that if they turn to the Three Gems and really put that direction in life, refuge, requests, and things like that, it will be meaningful. And you shouldn’t expect that things work so easy and you get miracles. That also doesn’t happen. If that were possible, as they say, Buddha would have eliminated all the suffering of the universe already. We need a realistic attitude when one makes requests: we can get inspiration from the side of the Buddhas, and the great beings, and Tara, and whoever, but if we don’t put the hard work and build up the positive karma on our side, nothing is going to happen. We want inspiration to build up that positive force. That helps us; it’s a circumstance. It gives us strength to work hard ourselves. 

This point about making requests and of not reaching fulfillment – that it requires not just the force of the other side, the Buddhas, to be able to make our wishes come true, but it requires work on our side – think of the example of the Dalai Lama and the great Tibetan masters doing various rituals for things to go better in Tibet. These people who do these rituals certainly have full confidence in the Triple Gem. But no matter how many requests they make, still it’s going to require an unbelievable amount of positive karma – not only on the side of Tibetans but on the side of the Chinese – for something like that to happen, that all of a sudden Tibet gets its autonomy or its freedom. You can help a little bit but don’t expect miracles is my point, and don’t get discouraged if things don’t work. The point is still to have confidence, and confidence within the realms of what is possible, and what’s possible is to get more and more inspiration to work harder. That’s what’s possible. So, we think in terms of ourselves and then tonglen with others.

The next verse, 34: 

When prejudice, polio or strokes have us crippled, and external forces or harm rise against us, this is the wheel of sharp weapons returning full circle upon us from wrongs we have done. Till now we have collected vast stores of non-virtue by breaking our vows and offending protectors in our practice from guru-devotion to tantra; hereafter let’s banish all prejudiced views.

That takes a lot of liberty, I must say. The actual literal translation is: 

At times when superstition, strokes, and possession by harmful spirits befall us, this is the sharp weapon of negative karma circling back on us from having built up negative force with respect to the tantric deities and mantras. Now, let’s destroy all our bad understandings.

This is speaking about obstacles. Obstacles can be in the terms of superstition. Superstition can be all sorts of wild, weird ideas about powers, and magic, and things like that. This is talking about building up negative force with respect to the tantric deities and mantras, so if you think in terms of, “This powerful figure is going to come and protect me and save me from everything.” People go on real trips with these tantric deities, and so we get superstition from it. Superstition blocks us – this is the point; it blocks us from being able to accomplish something. A stroke is also something that blocks us. It blocks us from being able to move, from being able to speak properly, or to recognize people. Possession by harmful spirits blocks us from being able to use our minds, basically. This comes from having built up negative force, so having done negative actions with respect to the deities and the mantras. We have to therefore destroy our bad understanding. 

In other words, if you don’t understand voidness, and you don’t have a bodhichitta motivation, and you just turn to these various figures, it just brings about a cause for being reborn as a ghost in the form of one of these figures, because you’re taking it in some sort of solid thing and you don’t have the proper motivation. This is not at all what we want to do. We need to get rid of our wrong understanding about tantra, about mantras. It’s not saying magic words, magic spell, and then all sorts of things happen. When we have that attitude, it just increases superstition and just makes for various obstacles like a physical obstacle such as a stroke or a real personality obstacle like possession by a harmful spirit. That’s the point of this verse, and I think it’s very relevant to a lot of people when they approach tantra. They really don’t have the proper motivation; they really have no understanding of voidness; they just do it really in terms of some sort of magic, or that it’s so far out, and it’s so special, and they have no idea what they are doing. That’s very dangerous. This is what this verse is pointing out.

The right preparation for practicing tantra – aside from building up a tremendous amount of positive force from prostrations and all these sorts of things – is renunciation. This is basically the resolve that you want to get out of samsara, of your recurring problems; and you want to get out of the way that your mind is making confused appearances and believing it; and you’re willing to actually give that up. You’re willing to give up your negative personality qualities. It’s determination: “I’m determined to be free of this, I’m determined to get rid of this, and I will get rid of it,” and be willing to drop your anger, drop your attachment, get rid of it. Without that, you can’t transform yourself. Then you need to have the proper motivation: “I’m doing this in order to be able to benefit everybody;” you’re not doing it as an ego trip or a magic trip. Because with bodhichitta, with that motivation, you’re aiming for enlightenment, and this Buddha figure that you’re imagining yourself with in tantra represents enlightenment, what you’re aiming for. If you’re not really aiming for enlightenment to benefit everybody, what else could you be imagining yourself as this figure for, except for some ego trip? Then you have to have the understanding of voidness, so it’s not an ego trip, it’s not a self-inflation. Then of course you need concentration, and you need discipline.

That’s what this verse is speaking about. I think it’s very relevant to think in terms of all these practitioners that we have, particularly in the West, that do all these rituals really just as a trip. That’s not going to have very good results for them at all; it will just cause more and more blockages and superstition.

Then let’s end with the dedication. We think whatever understanding we’ve gained, may it go deeper and deeper; whatever positive force we’ve, built up may it act as a cause for reaching enlightenment for the benefit of all.