English Dharma talk
January 10, 2016
By Geshe Pema Tshering
Land of Compassion Buddha Edmonton
http://compassionbuddha.ca
Nagarjuna’s Letter to a Friend – Class 13
Root text can be found at http://www.berzinarchives.com/web/en/archives/sutra/level6_study_major_texts/suhrllekha_letter_friend_nagarjuna/letter_friend.html
Geshe-la is wishing Happy New Year to everyone, wishing that everyone will be very happy in 2015! The transition to a new year is important, especially for students and practitioners of the dharma.
Why is that the New Year is significant? In the past year we have experienced various difficulties such as health problems, work or academic problems, family and relationship problems etc. In the arrival of the New Year, we hope for improvement in many aspects of our lives. We pray and we hope to enjoy excellent health and that our studies in the dharma will improve. We should generate determination to actualize these wishes. We should have positive resolutions to achieve more than the previous year.
This type of change actually happens from day to day, hour to hour, minute to minute. Usually we don’t pay attention to these changes. However, when the year changes, from 2015-2016, there is a great sense of a significant transformation. It is important to have a mindful attitude regarding our impermanence.
As Lama Tsong Khapa has said, “Our lives are as impermanent as a water bubble. We should remember how quickly it decays and death comes.” (paraphrased)
Our precious human rebirth is not easy to obtain. There is no guarantee we will have it again in the future, so we must cherish this valuable human existence. It is rare and should not be wasted.
C-2B9 The cause of mindfulness: impermanence in the form of death
The previous topic was – “Making effort in the way to exercise mindfulness, the root of cultivation in the path”. What is the cause of mindfulness and introspection? We need to realize our present life is impermanent and transitory.
There are 3 subsections to the discussion of impermanence.
Subsection 1. Life is impermanent and it is inappropriate to be attached to the body since it has no essence
(55) Many things can damage your life: it’s more impermanent
Than a bubble on a river, tossed by the wind.
Anyrespite(from death) you may have –
to breathe out (after) breathing in,
The distinction between life and death isn’t so great. We are alive, but many obstacles can arise at any time that can cause death. External obstacles are those such as physical harm, poisons, lack of food and water, sickness, harm from non-humans. Inner obstacles – we have inner elements in our body; when these are disturbed and there is an imbalance in our inner elements, death can result. The flame of life can be blown out any time. When we go to bed at night, there is no guarantee that we will wake up the next morning. It is not so easy to stay alive, and it is amazing that we wake up alive.
And to awaken from having fallen asleep – that’s utterly amazing.
(56) The endpoint of the body is to wind up as ashes, or to wind up
dried out or putrefied,
Or in the end (to become) excrement. Realize that,
Having no essence, it’s something that’ll be consumed,
Desiccate, rot, or be chewed into bits.
Stanza 56 is advice suggestion that it is inappropriate to be attached to our bodies. We create virtues with our body and mind. People are motivated by the wish to be well and happy. Because of attachment to our body and the desire to achieve wellbeing, sometimes we end up performing non-virtues. When we die, our body has no essence and is something to be left behind. As dharma practitioners, we must take care of our bodies so that we can be good people. There is no meaning to being attached to our bodies and as a result, acting in non-virtuous ways towards others.
Subsection 2. If even what is solid and stable is certain to disintegrate, one needs to mention that the body will also disintegrate
(57) If even the earth, Mount Meru, and the oceans –
these (physical) bodies –
Will burn up through the shining of seven suns,
So that not even their ashes will remain,
What need is there to mention something extremely frail
like (the body of) a man?
We carry the idea that we will live for many many years – this thought comes under our grasping of permanence. A great mountain seems solid and stable, but can transform with climate and environmental changes. Think about the great snow mountains and melting glaciers due to climate change. Our human bodies are so frail; so many obstacles can arise that can cause our life to perish.
Subsection 3 Being disillusioned with samsara or cyclic existence.
(58) Thus, all these are impermanent, without a solid "soul,"
They’re not a refuge, not a protector, and not a resting place.
Therefore, Highest of Men, you must develop disgust
For recurring samsara: it has no essence, (like) a plantain tree.
Stanza 59 is about the nature of samsara. Often, we think that samsara is an enjoyable, fun place to be. If we have this attitude, we will not develop the attitude of wanting to be free from cyclic existence. How do we develop the mentality that it is not an enjoyable existence? This stanza reminds us that objects in samsara are empty and impermanent, they are not a refuge or protector that will be us safe. Nagarjuna is encouraging the King (and us) to be conscientious and cultivate our understanding of samsara as pain.
C-SB10 The difficulty of obtaining leisures and privileges of great meaning
This section contemplates how the previous human rebirth and our associated leisure is difficult to obtain and has great meaning.
(59) Since even more difficult than the meeting of a turtle
And the hole in a solitary yoke located on the ocean
Is the attainment of a human state from that of a creeping creature,
Make that (attainment) with human faculties be fruitful
through practicing the hallowed Dharma.
Stanza 59 is an analogy taught by the Buddha in his sutras about the rare human rebirth. There is a solitary yoke floating in the surface of the ocean, drifting and blown by the wind. In the ocean, there’s a blind turtle that comes to the surface once every one hundred years. Given these circumstances, what are the chances this blind turtle can poke its head in the yoke drifting on the fast ocean? Like the chances beings can attain a human rebirth, it is extremely rare and unlikely, so we must cherish this previous rebirth.
Sometimes when we travel or go to places highly populated, it may seem that there are so many people! Is the human rebirth so difficult to attain?
It is not a coincidence that we are human. There are specific causes and conditions, such as grass requiring specific conditions, water, and soil to grow. It is said that ethics are the main cause for a human rebirth. Examine carefully your actions each day – how many are virtuous and how many harm others?
We have a previous human rebirth because we created the causes and conditions in the past.
Someone may be born as human, but could be handicapped, such as having mental or cognitive disorders. Even if someone is born with mental faculties and are intelligent, they can still make mistakes and poor decisions, such as waging unnecessary war. With misunderstandings, an intelligent person can engage in negative actions. Additionally, it is even more rare that we are born in places where we are exposed to the Buddha and dharma.
(60) Even more foolish than someone who uses
A golden vessel adorned with gems to collect his vomit,
Is someone who, having been born as a human,
Performs negative deeds.
Using a golden vessel to collect filthy things is a foolish choice. A previous human life provides many benefits; letting this “vessel” go to waste would be a hundred times more foolish.
Think of a person who is given a lot of money by his parents. By engaging in trade, he generates profits and makes the money grow. If instead, the person uses the money perversely for gambling and drinking alcohol, he will lose the money quickly. If a person is not making good use of fortune in this life, in future lives he/she will not able to continue to enjoy those futures.
In terms of happiness, there are many levels. It is said the Buddha teaches the dharma like a skillful doctor, according to the dispositions of his students. He tailors his teachings to suit his students. A doctor looks at the conditions of the patients and understands what they need and gives them the right treatment for them.
The Buddha understands the faculties, dispositions, needs and intelligences of human beings.
Some just wish for happiness, wealth and fame in this present life. For them, the Buddha taught them the means to achieve peace and wellbeing in this life, such as how to develop a calm mind and develop love and compassion. Those who are most successful and have a good reputation in this life are those who have those positive qualities.
Others are not satisfied by the pleasures of this life and would like a good rebirth. They are afraid of the sufferings of the lower realms. Buddha taught them to perform good ethics and virtues to attain a good rebirth.
Others still believe it is not enough to have a good rebirth; they want to be free from suffering and cyclic existence. For them, the Buddha taught the “12 Links of Interdependent origination” and the nature of selflessness and emptiness of self and phenomena.
Finally, another category of people who think about how all living beings are tormented by suffering and want to free not only themselves, but also all beings from samsara. For these beings, Buddha taught “bodhicitta” the mind of enlightenment or developing the wish to attain enlightenment for all sentient beings.
Everyone can fall into one of these categories. Therefore, many different types and levels of dharma exist to suit all beings. It is important for you to study what Buddhism offers, to understand your own mentality, disposition, and interests and proceed accordingly. Then you will be able to practice the path in a precise manner.
Q (from 6 year old boy): Why are the 3 poisons such as anger, hatred and jealousy called “poisons”?
(laughter) Even though you are so young, the question you asked is so great.
(explaining to a young child) If you consume poison, you will die. First let us talk about the poison of attachment. When you see your friend who has a nice toy, you get jealous and develop attachment. You want that object. If your friend doesn’t give it to you, you may start fighting and you could lose your friend.
Anger or hatred is another poison. Imagine you go to school and you are playing with 10 friends and having a good time. If you are angry at your friends, they will not want to be around you and leave you.
The third poison is ignorance. What ignorance means is that you do not know what is good and what is bad. Say you have a friend who tells you “don’t listen to your mom or your teacher” and you disobey your mom or don’t do your homework and learn like your teacher tells you. If someone tells you something, you need to be clever and intelligent to check and think about it. You should not simply follow and believe what anybody says. You need to be clever (and not ignorant) so that you can distinguish between what is good and what is bad. For instance, sometimes your mother speaks very pleasantly to you, and sometimes she may scold you. But her wishes are always good and for your wellbeing. I am so delighted that such a young boy asked such an important question today!
Q: In reference to (58) Thus, all these are impermanent, without a solid "soul,"
What does it mean to be without a “solid soul”?
There is no solid self within living beings. Sometimes when you think of ourselves, of “I”, we have the sense that we have a solid independence. This kind of sense is actually inaccurate. If you analyze, we see that we are dependent on our physical and mental aggregates. Many causes and conditions need to come together for such an “I” to come into existence, in dependence on our aggregates. Therefore, we understand that there is no solid “self” but that it is dependent on the physical and mental aggregates. If there is a pain in your head or leg, you would say, “I am in pain”. How are the bodily aggregates related to the “I”? Why is it that when your leg is in pain you say that “I am in pain”? We label “I” onto the physical aggregates.
Q (from a young child): How did the new buddha statue come about? And the temple?
A: You can ask the manager during lunch! We will talk about it next time!
Outline
C2 How to generate the Mahayana path of preparation in your continuum
C2A Actual meaning [45]
C2B Indicating practice that’s shared with all paths [46-105]
C2B1 Indicating analytical meditation as a profound essential point in the abandoning of objects of abandonment and in the generating of antidotes within one’s continuum [46]
C2B2 Making effort in the mundane correct view [47]
C2B3 Making effort in the supramundane view [48]
C2B4 How to cultivate the supramundane correct view [49,50]
C2B5 Abandoning the entanglements [51]
C2B6 The need for one to make effort mainly in the path to liberation by oneself [52]
C2B7 Making effort in the path of the three trainings [53]
C2B8 Making effort in the way to exercise mindfulness, the root of cultivation in the path [54]
C2B9 The cause of mindfulness: impermanence in the form of death [55-58]
C2B10 The difficulty of obtaining leisures and privileges of great meaning [59,60]
C2B11 Instructions on the four wheels [61]
C2B12 Instructions on guru yoga [62]
C2B13 The appropriateness of making effort at a time when unfavourable conditions are absent and favourable conditions have come together [63,64]
C2B14 Meditating on the general drawbacks of samsara [65-76]
C2B15 Meditating on the individual drawbacks of samsara [77-102]
C2B16 Contemplating the way to initiate extensive joyous effort for the sake of abandoning samsara and attaining nirvana [103-105]