Olé '87 #4

During a conversation, the speaker discusses various topics, including the origin of wasps, the role of parents in a child's development, the natural state of the human mind, the concept of guilt, and the idea of spontaneous and effortless action. The speaker emphasizes the importance of recognizing one's own motivations and removing negative habits from the mind. They also discuss the Chinese perspective on society and the need to do what is right without attachment to hope or fear. The speaker concludes by suggesting that guilt is counterproductive and that it is better to focus on helping others. That reason, you've got to watch out, you know. It was the time of Aristotle, a lot of people thought that wasps came from dead donkeys. They thought they appeared from dead donkeys. And you could trust, you know, if they would say, the old people would say that where there is dead donkeys there are wasps. If you couldn't trust it, they would say they originated from dead donkeys. You can say don't, right? I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I just have a question. Yes? Keeping that in mind about children before puberty. Yeah. Working out all the time. If one is raising a young child, it's like something that has to kind of be a panic, you know. You can't do anything else. You can't. Listen, you mix together the hormones and all the genetics, the chromosomes and everything like that for the child, you do, but the consciousness comes from somewhere else. And it may be some, it is always somebody you owe something, but it may be something you had a good connection with, and it may be somebody you had a bad connection with. And, you know, this you cannot just decide like that. I mean, if you do your best, you know, you should understand that your child has its own karma, its own mind, its own directions. And then, so you should just know that you are not responsible the whole way. You do your best and the rest is the karma of the child. Some people think they've made the child, that the child is totally theirs, you know. And then, if the thing turns out to become a little Al Capone or something like that, or makes a lot of problems, then they ask themselves, how could I do it, what was wrong, and so on, you know. People should understand that, you know, they create the things themselves. That the beings have their own karma. That the only thing the parents are doing, they are just mixing together the genetics. But the mind comes from somebody who was there before, who also had a mind, who had a belief in the separation from other beings, and who had certain things they did and certain things they didn't do. Yeah? Is it common for children to become enlightened? I mean, I know that that's one of my problems, and that's how it is, but that's not how it happens. But is there any reason why it would be more likely to happen later on in life? Yeah, you've got better control later on in life. I mean, children are nice, but they are also ignorant. They don't know what's up and down. They don't know what's their area and what's not. They may have some nice views and some nice feelings, and they may be very intelligent, but without experience it's difficult to really get the benefit from it. It really is, I mean. Yeah? Yes? Is the natural state of the human mind being soft awareness? Haven't they ever come to identify with the experience of those who receive it? It never happened. It was always there. Yeah, there was no, there's no fall in Buddhism. I mean, there's no time when everything was perfect and then some god in a bad state of mind kicked us out of the paradise or something like that. You know, there's none of that stuff in Buddhism. From beginningless time, mind has two qualities. It has the quality of wisdom and the quality of ignorance. Wisdom is the mind's ability to look outside and recognize its own projections. Ignorance is its inability to see itself. And this has always been like that. The way that space is timeless and sometimes it's dark and sometimes it's light. In that same way, you know, mind is without beginning and it has always had those qualities. So there's no, we have never fallen out of any kinds of paradises. And that makes the fact that we will stay when we obtain a paradise much more, you know, much more convincing. Because if we fell out once, we might fall out again. But if we've never been in it and now we get the key and now we find out what mind is like and now we don't just see the seen but also the seer. Now we recognize that seer, think seen and active seen are one. When this happens, you know, when we come to that state, then we can actually also trust that it is lasting, that it's real, that it's something we can build on. That's what makes it convincing, you know. We've already had record paradises. What can you do? But never having been there, you know, never having known we were there, that's the important thing. Then if we find it, we can trust that it's really there. It's actually like we have like people who have perfect eyes but keep them closed. And when we open our eyes, nothing increases or changes. The only thing is we can see what's there. And this is what enlightenment is. It's just the opening and the seeing of what was always there. The removing of the veils of disturbing feelings and stiff ideas and all the other things that block us. The taking away of these veils and the staying with the timeless true state of the mind. This is what it's all about. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. All right. Please come home. She doesn't know it quite. Yeah. I was just talking to those people who are from China and the Chinese. Yeah. The modern Chinese. Traditional. Yeah. I think that is Chinese and that is a survival thing. And that's something you will often see, you know. But actually you cannot separate them. I made an experiment yesterday. It was actually something we talked about yesterday at Vilnovsky's program, you know, in Berkeley also. It was exactly the same thing, you know, that I've been trying to examine the prehistory to some of the wars in Europe. We've had so many, so it's easy. I'm very good at that. And, you know, if you look at them, you can very clearly see that it begins with some people not liking each other or remembering some trouble from the last war or something like that. And then a while after that they start writing about these bad things about each other. Then they start sending notes or protests to each other. And one day they're standing there with somebody's baby on the bayonet or something like that, you know. And the whole war is happening and everybody is totally neurotic and in a mess. And it's always like that, you know. I mean, you can just see it. It's a top constant sliding. What you think today, you know, you say tomorrow and you do the day after. So the people who try to just control, you know, the actions are like people who are trying to cover the well after, you know, the baby is already in it. You know, I mean, you cannot do that. You cannot do it, you know. If you allow like negative thoughts and feelings and so on, then you will do something negative. You actually will. You will react in a negative way. There's no doubt about it. So it doesn't work. But I know in China concerning society, it's only what's known and what's seen that counts. This is true. This is the Chinese way of looking at society. And a lot of the world does like that. It's the same as keeping faith. You know, as long as it looks good, it's alright. But the thing is, it won't keep looking good, you know, if there's negative motivation and stuff like that. Guilt is a stupid idea. Oh, that's, yeah, but there are many kinds of guilt. I mean, that guilt as it's understood in the West concerning some creative God who's looking under the sheets, you know, or stuff like that, you know, that is stupid. But knowing that things bring results. That the things we do, think and say today will become tomorrow. And knowing that it's very important to remove negative habits from the mind so that suffering will not come again. This kind of understanding, that is life. I mean, I had a long time of checking my own mind. Until I came to a point today where everything makes fun no matter what happens. Because, you know, it doesn't matter anymore. It's just going through. Then, you know, until then there was a long time of examining myself. How was my motivation, how was this, how was that, what was I doing, you know, what was behind it and so on. And we need that. I don't think we can avoid that. There has to be a period of that. And then after we have that, you know, then we can let it go. Then it's not important anymore. It's also, I'm always saying spontaneous and effortless, right? But on the basis of what? I mean, a drunk man who spontaneously throws his wife down the stairs, he will effortlessly go to jail 13 years after. You know, I mean, that's not what's meant, right? I mean, that's not the idea, right? The idea is, you know, that from the basis of a pure mind, you know, from the basis of a mind which is not attached to hope and fear and stiff ideas and so on anymore. Then you do what's right in front of your nose. And then it's right. Then it'll be right, you know, the way when the Zen archer isn't looking, he will aim, you know, and when you forget to expect anything, then your knife goes in, your sword goes in in the right way and so on. Then it fits in the way that there's total concentration, total awareness, but no idea of me doing something with somebody else. This is what's meant with spontaneous and effortless. So it's, the words are easy, but the meaning is deep. It's difficult, it's difficult to do. But guilt, you know, is stupid because you are positing somebody outside yourself who is different from yourself and something else. That's like creating a kind of bad conscience that will follow on. Better is to just recognize that when we are suffering ourselves, we can't do much for others. And then recognizing that if we do something harmful, you know, we will be in a state where we are not useful. And then decided with this background to decide to do for others what we can. This is, you know, this is a wise one. You know, if we make a big guilt thing, it's like rolling in mud. You know, we are already dirty and then we say, oh, I'm a sinner, oh, I'm a terrible being, oh, I did this and that. And we keep rolling in mud and nobody gets cleaner from that. Right? And then it doesn't help. On the other hand, if we think of ourselves as a Buddha who slightly forgot his Buddha nature and made a mistake, or we think of ourselves as a jewel that has fallen in the dirt, you know, and now we are going to clean it and wash it and so on. If we think primarily of the fact that we have the Buddha nature and that our true nature is perfect, and that we have to just do some things in order to recognize how perfect we are, then it's different. Then we are looking at things from the upside, from the situation of control and power, and then we are well off. You know what I mean? I mean, that is, that is, so guilt is because we usually feel guilty to somebody or something like some creating agency or some judging or punishing agency or something like that. This doesn't work in Buddhism. But knowing that we've been stupid and deciding to avoid it for the future, that's definitely Buddhism. It really is. Yes? Yes? The other side of that point might be that I've heard it said sometimes that if you have a good sign and you say, aha, that's a good sign, then that's considered, at least in some aspects of Buddhism, you're not supposed to do that because you'll latch on to that good sign. Do you know what I'm saying? What Carolyn mentioned is, you know, we're monitoring our experience. Usually we're monitoring our experience and we're finding fault. And then there's another side, which is we're monitoring our experience and we might find something that looks good. And yet we're told to disregard that or not to pay attention to that. Do you express that or do you think otherwise? No, I think I go for a maximum of input in all situations. I'd say if we feel, if we do something good or we find something wonderful, then enjoy it and make it inclusive. That'd be my way of working, you know. I mean, we usually hear that pride is a negative feeling in Buddhism. I think pride is an excellent feeling as long as it includes everybody. You know, as long as it's Buddha pride. As long as we think, isn't everybody wonderful, and wow, look at how smart they look, and they can understand everything, and they smell good, and they feel good, you know, and they're perfect, you know, and stuff like that. I mean, if you can have that, if we can have that kind of pride that includes beings, it is an enormous notion for enlightenment. It gives us that power that makes us able to make others happy. While if we have the kind of pride thinking, oh, I found something, I'm quite special, I'm just this and like that, you know, we cut off like that. Then that doesn't work. Inclusive pride, I think, is very important. So, in other words, you have an experience because of your practice or whatever, and... I'll think, everybody can do that, isn't that fantastic? That's what I'll do. And then I'll go on and try to make people feel that they can do all that, and they can have confidence in their minds, and they can do something. This would be my way of working. One of the problems that I have is I'm continually comparing that experience to my own experience. Oh. In other words, what's happening now, how does it feel compared to what happened then? Oh, yeah. That's very difficult. I couldn't do that. I couldn't do that, and you have to think too much. I boxed for four years and had many motorcycle accidents. No, I couldn't do that, I think. Also, I have too much work. I'll tell you, it's basically, it's a question, the way I've understood it, you know, it's just a question of doing what's in front of one's nose. And there are different ways of getting beyond this little checker who's sitting in the back of your head and comparing and making notes and saying good and bad and yes and no. And all the different disciplines are it. I mean, some lamas will teach you compassion. They will teach you such a way of compassion that there is no room for anybody to be separate. Others will teach you wisdom, show you again and again that the whole idea of somebody separate is an illusion. My way of teaching is called fearless and joyful. I'll just put people under so much pressure, so much energy, so much experience, that the little man who's running around, you know, getting notes and saying good and bad and comparing, you know, all his papers get mixed up, you know, he loses his pen, you know, and he can't find out, you know, and he starts getting neurotic and one day then he gets off. I'll tell you, it happened to me somewhere in the Autobahn in Germany, near Kassel probably, I think it happened to me. One night, one autumn night, you know, after three nights with no sleep, you know, totally squashed out and with 15 cups of coffee in my stomach to be able to get to the next, to be able to get to the next town and hopefully arrange something intelligent in the morning before doing something another town in the afternoon and the third town in the evening, you know, something like that. And, you know, it happened, it just happened somewhere, you know, the little checker, he said, you're useless, you know, I'm not going to work for you anymore, you know, too much. And then he got off. And the first one who got off, that was Mr. Y, you know, the little fellow who's always saying Y, right? And he got off and I felt like, you know, putting, depositing half a ton of lead somewhere. But there was still somebody running around, and that was Mr. Howe. He said, no, no, you don't need Mr. Y, but you don't need me, I'm existent about everything, right? And then I just kept on working, you know, and working, and working, and one day then Mr. Howe said, oh no, you're useless, right? And he stepped out, and he, you know, I left him with an ice cream by Kassel somewhere, you know, he didn't want to come along. And I still know where these two blokes are, right? I know where they're standing. So I have to fill a tax report, or I have to think of them, I just drive by and take them along for a couple of hours and use them, you know, and then I say, thank you very much, and I set them off again, right? And this is actually the real way to do it, you know, so that these functions, you know, are not like some big fat rider squeezing the life out of the little horse of your mind, you know, with the back like that and stuff like that, but that, you know, your mind is like a jewel, it shines in itself, and sometimes you need this checking quality, then you need another quality, then you need a third quality, and you can turn on your inner chatter and your inner questions if you like, and you turn them off if you don't like them. And most of the time your mind is easy and natural and doing what's on and enjoying what's there, and then if you need a special function, you click, click, click, click, you know, what was it, and then you do that, you click, click, click, out again, you program out and on. And, you know, this is the right way, this is freedom. I mean, if one is taken for trip by one's mind that one doesn't want, if one is put up and down and right and left and inner chatter and monologues and all kinds of things that one doesn't want, and checking which takes the fun and the spontaneity of the thing, if all this is coming all the time, one should really discover that this is an enemy. It's an enemy to our peace of mind. And actually we even function better without those. They usually tell us that they make us function better, that's their excuse to say, yes, but you've got to have order in this, and you mustn't forget that, and it's a biological survival thing, and you must have me, and I must be like others in society, and I must be able to take care, and things might work, and so on. And you find that out until you kick him out, and you find out that there's so much space and so much freedom, and you feel so damn good after that. And that's also what I'm trying to give you all the time. My basic teaching to you is actually have confidence in your mind. You don't have to excuse anything, you don't have to permit or explain anything, if your mind drifts in itself without any kind of disturbance, it's naturally joyful, it's naturally fearless, it's naturally compassionate, it develops all kinds of positive qualities. And this basic confidence, this deep knowledge that no matter how many clouds there are, the sky is behind the clouds. No matter how much dirt on the mirror, the mirror can shine. No matter how much dust on the jewel, it can be polished off, and the jewel can radiate. This unbreaking confidence, this constant confidence in your own mind, that's the main message I have to give. That's what I'm here in order to say and to pass on to people. The real confidence that the true essence is perfect. Yeah? Okay, just a few minutes ago you said that effortlessness and spontaneity are for the person who already has this. Yeah, yeah, sure, sure. Well, most of us in the room have sort of just a jewel. Yeah, a little bit. How do we keep approximating in living, not during practice, because I understand it happens constantly, but how do we keep approximating in life, in our daily activities, more and more of this confidence? First you should know that you are actually on the rolling staircase already, on the escalator already. From the moment you heard about the nature of the mind, from the moment you got your first blessing, from the moment that you got initiation or teaching or something like that, the inner processes of awareness have started working inside you. The long, long, long cocoon of ignorance has started unraveling and more and more light comes out. I mean, this is the first thing. This is something we should really know, that from the moment that these teachings come the first time, then the inner clock starts moving. So in this way you should just have the general understanding and confidence that day by day, because you have been exposed to Absolute Truth, that this Absolute Truth will grow in you and you will learn more and more about it. And you should see your development as a moving upwards, you know, where of course there are some holes in the road on the way, there are some purifications on the thing, but where really basically everything unpleasant is a purification and everything pleasant is growth and development and so on. I mean, really understand that everything pleasant is a blessing to pass on, everything difficult is a sign that we are getting rid of a lot of trouble. You should diagnose every unpleasant experience with a zoological garden that's passing by but you are seeing the behind of the animals, not their faces. I mean, it's coming from your mind and going away, it's not coming in. And if you have this feeling, you know, that everything negative is a going out and liberating process, then you will be like somebody saying goodbye to all their useless visitors after the party, you know, and say, yes, don't come back, please stay away, I'm glad to be moving to Timbuktu tomorrow, you know, and so on, right? And you just, you know, you just happily let everything go because, you know, you are getting rid of it. So you actually begin to live as though you already have it all. Yes, and then, first you put on a beautiful mask, and after a while if you try to take it off, you can't anymore because it's become your face. I mean, everything, the Vajrayana is imitation of the Buddha. It's the courage to say, I'm the Buddha and be the Buddha until one is the Buddha. It's the courage to decide that for reasons of mental hygiene that one will be the good trips and not be the bad trips. That one will do and hold on to what's meaningful and throw out what one doesn't want. It's the freshness and the power to do that. That's what Vajrayana really is. Yes, love? I think you can try the concept of taking life. I mean, I take responsibility of taking all the things. But I'd like to judge the karma. And also, I have to do something. I have to do it. But I would like to say, I think that there is a way to... Well, it's basically a question of the motivation that you have. I mean, it's not very good to kill beings that are suffering because it just means that they will meet this suffering in the next life, that there's something they didn't finish, so they get it back. So actually, it's better you give them painkillers and help them lie by themselves. I'm just telling you that, right? Maybe it's not practically possible, but it is possible at best. OK, what concerns other things like little animals, like snails or whatever else, and you're making salad and so on, then it's a question mainly of motivation. If you do not consciously have a negative motivation, you must understand that most little beings have the karma for a very short lifespan. And if you have no negative wish or thought in connection with what you do, you are just the agent that finishes that life that they have. I had some very interesting teaching on that, you know, many years ago when we made this book. In 1972, when Hannah and I made Carl Rimbus's little book, then at that time we were, that was up in Sweden, and we were sitting there in 20 degrees centigrade minus, you know, in an old wooden house, you know, with plants, you know, it's back from the old days, a really good house we bought, that seems to be loose of ash sometimes, right? I mean, really good place with a lot of land around it and everything else, in the woods of southern Sweden, excellent place. That was the last time I was on a nature trip. You know, I had time there also. Well, anyway, we were sitting there and there was double windows. And I noticed that big fly, and I tell you, it's one of those that are green, you know, and weigh half a pound, you know, and it had gotten in between the double windows. And we were sitting there, we were writing this book, and we were really busy, and we were really in a state of remembering and writing and getting the books and opening and meditating eight hours before doing anything and so on. We were really channeling the thing down on paper. And the whole place was so holy that our friends came up on big motorcycles from Copenhagen and they just put some food in through the window and drove back again on cars that didn't need it, you know. And once you went to the outside toilet, about 20 meters away from the house, and you got the funniest ideas, you know, you got the craziest ideas, because all the negative energies, they couldn't get any further than that. They just got to the toilet, right? But they didn't get to the house, so there was like an enormous protective globe over the whole thing. And once you were out there sitting, you know, you had the funniest thoughts. And then you got three steps closer to the house, and, no thoughts, just straight. Well, sitting there then, the first day, I heard this big bumble, bumble, you know, fly, knocking against the window. I said, no, I said, you know. The next, because I was busy, and every time you did it, you put in those extra windows, you broke some of the wood, and it was, you know, it was really difficult. The next day, I also heard it, you know. And the third day, I said, you know, I started breaking down the window, in order to get to it, to get it out. And I destroyed the window, you know, and everything, well, not completely, but I destroyed quite a lot of the window. Well, I managed to get the fly out, so I was really happy. I thought, fly is out, wonderful. And I pushed the thing back in again, destroyed some more of the wood. And just when there was so much space left, the old fly flew right in again. I said, no, no, I mean, too much. So I decided, OK, I'll try with my hand, you know, to get in, and then get it out, like that. And there was one place you couldn't see. You know, there was just one single place in that window you couldn't see, because the handle was there, right? And I couldn't see that from the outside. And the moment I had my hand at that place, the fly came straight to that place, and I squashed it, right? And I mean, I could have done anything. I could have called the whole 50 veterinary doctors or whatever else, you know. I could have done any damn thing I wanted. That fly's karma, and the fly was over. I mean, there was nothing more you could do. I mean, the existence of the fly was finished. I mean, nothing but that. And I mean, there was no way, I mean, that was the way it was. And I mean, that taught me that if we do what's natural and easy, and try to be friendly as well as we can, you know, and stay within the bounds of ordinary intelligence and non-extreme behavior at the same time, you know, then we will benefit those, the karma of which are not finished, and those whose karma is finished, you know. I mean, we can't do anything, I mean, because it's over. And so, in cases like that, where being's karma is over, it's mainly a question of the motivation that you have of the thoughts and ideas I have. And there, for instance, if you have the motivation, if you say some mantras, and blow on the animals, you know, if you eat meat, or if you, some animals die in connection with you, if you walk in a place with mosquitos, or with, what do they call it, ants, or you, you know, use a shovel in a garden with a lot of worms, then they are mantras to use. If you want them a good rebirth in God's world, you blow, and you say, Om Abhidhara Chikara Hum, and if you want them to go to pure land, if you think you have a chance to do that, you can say, Om Dhimma Upanikati Mala Hum Kriya, and this way you create an energy field around the cutting edge of the shovel, or on your shoes, or on your car, something like that, so whatever is killed in connection with that will die, charged up with this energy field, and will then easily have a good rebirth. So, I mean, if you have the right motivation, and you use different tantric methods, you will have different kinds of benefits. I mean, also the beings that die in connection with you will have their benefits. So, try to avoid all the rough feelings. You know, if your feeling is rough, if your feeling tone is rough, something is not right, then there is some old enemy that you are having karma with, or something like that, then take it easy, but as long as your feeling tone is easy and natural, then do what is in front of your nose as well as you can, and you will have the right results. Is that understandable? Yeah? I'd like to pursue, what seemed to be Carolyn's question, and partly lift the minds a little one step further, which is that, you were saying that, you know, see the negative as the meaning, and see the positive as, but if you feel, if your feeling is that somehow or other, you were responsible for causing the negative thing in the first place, that might cause other events to happen in your awareness that are unpleasant as well. In other words, you feel responsible for causing unpleasantness, and you feel bad that you were the one that caused it, and you have to stray into the practice and so on, in that sense. So it sounds like the way you're describing it is as seen from the highest motivations, but how do you deal with it if you feel like your motivations slip? Then you decide that there's no alternative to the highest motivations. You just decide that, you know, I mean, it's again, it's just a thing of rugged positivism, you know, rugged thick-skinned positivism, you know, and you, of course you've just decided, I'll, I'll, mental hygiene, and say, you're just saying, what do I want to fill my mind with? What do I want to have in there? And then you'll say, no, I'm not taking the old, you know, leftovers, you know, I'm putting something shiny into my mind. I'm not identifying with things that I want to have or carry around, so I put something good in. And that is something we all got to know, we all got to know, we people, you know, we honest Westerners, and we are very honest, and for that reason we are very vulnerable. We have to understand that the worst sin of the mind is so-called realism, or materialism, or the belief that things really are. It is the worst fault and negativity of the mind. We cannot make a more stupid thing than that. Why? Because if we think things are real, we are putting 80% of the energy into the problem, and we have at the most 20% for finding something else. While if we have a dynamic view, and we know that the really important thing is that we can reach this and that, which is more real, because it's more true and more beautiful than we are having now. If we have this dynamic view and we are aiming like that, then it looks completely different. Then we have 80% of the energy where we want to go, and just 20% holding us down, saying, yes, actually I am a bit stupid in this way, I have problems here, negative there, and so on. And in this way, one reaches it very easily. So, the old realistic thing, you know, it's the worst problem you can make. You don't have it so badly here, you have it in slightly greedy, positivistic ways, rather primitive positivistic ways, you have it here. We have it in sort of more cynical, you know, cold ways we have in Europe. There are many places, many, you know, like, you know, organizations, that, you know, really have methods for putting each other down and making systems that are so dead, you know, and so, that everybody, you know, just freezes, and every kind of human emotion and expression closes down. I've seen that in many, maybe pedagogical institutions, where people make such a tight little hell for themselves, you know, that they can't go anywhere. You know, everybody is remembered for what they did, and they make systems out of everything, and stop all the time, and meet about this and that, and they think things are really real, and we did this, and now, and so on. You know, where they just pour concrete all over their lives, you know, and totally solidify it. I think you also have it on the East Coast in America. You don't have it on the West Coast so much. Here everybody is flaky and flowery, right, but something else. But in the East Coast they're jealous, you know, and they're angry, and they're feeling like that, you know, and you can see it on the East Coast. I've seen it there. But Europe has a lot of it. England has a lot of it. The loony left, the sad ones, you know, they really, you know, they really take everybody's joy with what's going on. And my brother also worked a place, actually, actually a pedagogical place where they were getting people off drugs, and working with the clients was excellent, but working together with the people who was working, it was impossible, because they all had power trips, and secret games, and things you could do, and things you couldn't do, you know, and there was no straight communication. People had ice water and no blood in their veins, you know, I mean, you know, there was no life there. And there you have to watch out. You can calculate them in some ways, you know, in Germany you can find them and they start saying Zwar all the time, you know, then you know, and the word Zwar, they say, people say that all the time, you know, Zwar, you can't really pronounce, you can't really translate it, it just means that, you know, you are conditioning one thing on another thing all the time, like Zwar, Zwar, you know, you're always conditioning one thing as a Zwar. This is an unhealthy sign if people say that a lot. But for me, you know, usually I use the good old Buddhist steamroller and just put my heavy, big, friendly, uncomplicated trick on the top of everybody, right? And then they can sit there and just go, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, booed up with syrup and honey, you know, on both sides, you know, and stuff like that. There I really take over, you know, I mean, that benefits nobody, that kind of trick, it really does. You have to watch out, you know, it's called realism, it's called materialism, it's called eternalism, there are so many words for it, it's actually the belief that what is, is real. The completely clumsy and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid and stupid OM is actually the syllable that transforms pride MA transforms jealousy NI transforms attachment PE cuts through ignorance ME transforms greed and HUNG removes all kinds of aggressions and feelings like that so in this way everything is transformed and everything is changed through that is there some translation that indicates that there is a feeling of nothingness? well there is some translation that especially the Tibetan monks don't like and that's the one about mani tin and mani means jewel and tin meaning lotus and that can be that is usually in ordinary language that's the male and the female part uniting jewel, lotus and then HUNG is like the order to do something the request to do something yes? I have been for many years OM MANI PADME HUM is there a reaction you have about HUNG? well if what you like I mean at the time of the Buddha they said OM MANI PADME HUM and today we say OM MANI PADME HUM I mean the living transmission the transmission of word and vibration and so on is OM MANI PADME HUM there must be more blessing in it because there are enlightened beings saying that mantra in this way today and there are enlightened ones who said it in the other way they died a long time ago I mean there is no living tradition for OM MANI PADME HUM it's just written like that the living tradition, the train of experience is OM MANI PADME HUM and you can actually tell the people who had written and who had an oral transmission from the way they pronounce that you can see if they picked it up in a book or if they heard it from somebody who has been using it so it's a place where you can find how people are doing pay me soon pay me soon OM MANI PADME HUM actually it's more the concentration and the feeling of it there is a story about one old beggar who used to run around, walk around the Putala Palace all the time and he was really holy and one of the Dalai Lama saw that he had a little green lady Buddha called Dolma on the top of his head and he was walking around in this energy field and he was sitting there all the time and it was unusual to bring him up here and they had the beggar brought up and he said well what are you saying and he said the mantra of Dolma of Tara in the wrong way and the Dalai Lama said no no no you better say it like this and then he sent him off and then the next day there was nobody sitting on the man's head because now he was confused and he didn't know what was this, what was that I didn't know for so long so we called him up again and he said I'm sorry I was off your old way of saying it is right you don't need to do that so it's mainly a question of being open to and devoted to a certain thing and if you are open and devoted then you get the result can you keep up? more and more? ok so that's what I party got straight from the boss more questions or anything? otherwise I will start telling you a bit about about the frustrations now I gave you the loan and everything for it and actually we have a very fine text that Carol has been working on with explanations for the whole practice and if our Austrian princess had been a bit quicker we would have really been able to to really finalize the whole nundu this time now we will have to wait until Carol comes over to Europe we will have to chop out some time in Poland and just get it done get real nundu, full nundu teaching done over there in English because we don't have one right now we have one called Torch of Certainty but from German Kulturing but on the one side it's out of print and on the other side and on the other hand then it's also it's a little bit the culture jumps are a bit big I could be a little bit different the same thing with the colors generally more that's a little easier oh I don't know that I haven't the blue color with the colors oh ok I mean if it's a little more modern yeah it's all wrong it's the least easily available yeah this is somewhat helpful but it's still too bad it's actually a little bit yeah there's a lot of questions that's good you know he's good he's over in Europe right now we hope to see him in France just to play a video for him of his old monastery Pedro went up and got a really interesting visit right 14 blue downfalls I imagine it's starting to be a little stiff what? it's starting to be a little stiff it is a little stiff yeah unwished for unasked he advised him also that he couldn't keep it up don't feel so happy about it which clearly belongs to other cultures yeah are the four parts of the nundro that you and Carol are working on are they going to be printed in two sections or are you waiting to get it all in one? what do we want? we can choose freely in some ways it would be an advantage at least to have we're going to be doing small workups we're going to be doing a lot of that we're going to be doing ourselves yeah so you put it up a little bit right away as soon as as soon as I have the manuscript here and as soon as we have it here we'll send it to you oh here's some very special gifts I'll have to remember to give you also they appear in the ground in Zorbo in Karmapa's monastery they are like not ordinary ordinary things they really appear as as a condensation of blessing and protective energy very special they appear on certain days near the victory banner in the Karmapa's in the Karmapa's monastery called Zorbo in Tibet and there's something really unusual and I'll be very glad to give I'll give you some of those also but so we'll start on the practice and we'll use the Nundru book and the Nundru text that we have today it's wonderful you know I first a long time ago I got very you know let's say very solid very traditional teachings we stayed with him in 70 and 71 in the Himalayas and then we were doing Nundru we were doing all those things with him at that time and that's how many things really cut and dried and so on and then I came back and I discovered that a lot of the things wouldn't work in the West you know because the culture jump was too big it wasn't like natural for people and they couldn't relate to it and then I read in this one it's not exactly the same experience but it really changed the teachings but also they're the same and I'm really happy about that it makes me feel good oh that, no everything has to be in Tibetan all the time you know and stuff like that, practical things so now in the Nundru we come to we come to the frustrations and I'll tell you a bit about them and you'll notice when we do the meditations that there are four things that we always start everything with there are four things which we hold in the mind and which is always the most I mean the most basic the most basic and deepest four things and they're called the four thoughts that turn the mind and here with these four thoughts that turn the mind the first one is this precious human body I mean there are a lot of beings in the world but we can stay very straight not many use their life to find something timeless most are very busy finding things that are limited inside time and place buying and selling and coming and going but using the life thank you using the life to find something timeless and something lasting which will not die and disappear is very very rare I mean very few beings do that but a body which we use in order to hold the mind in one place and find something lasting and timeless is that which we call a precious body it's a precious body it's an important body it's a body having special meaning and special importance so having understood that we are in this lucky situation that we are actually in a life that can be used in order to get enlightened for the good of others and ourselves is the first thing to understand Buddha says that very clearly try to understand that in this life we are born in this situation with all the powers actually we are told that 18 things have to come together to give us this chance that we have now out of the whole population of California or whatever you know there is just a group of people here now and what has to come together in order to make us able to meet like this and to get teachings that make us able to keep growing and developing well first there are 8 things which must not happen we must not be defect in senses in our senses so we can't receive the teaching we must not have strong thoughts against the teaching we must not be totally stupid so we can't understand something we must not be born in extreme states like gods or animals or far away from places where we can learn and so on I mean all in all there are 8 things which must not happen because each of these 8 things would hinder us, would block us then there are 5 things we need from other beings we need like that the teaching has been taught that it has been kept alive that somebody is giving it to us that there are places where we can need it and so on you know we need all those places we need all those teachings on the one side and on the other side we need we need some things which come from our own situation I mean that we are born in the place where we can get the teachings that we are interested that we will try to learn and so on that we will work like that together the conditions from others and from ourselves together with the things that must not happen up the 18 special conditions that must come together to give us our chance here and now I mean at the time of the Buddha people had more time and they had more free intellectual capacity I mean we are already occupied by a thousand things to remember and do so I mean it's not for us to go around thinking of 18 things we can just think generally that we are really lucky that somebody like Carol will make a center for us or a group will come together and give us this chance and invite us Jay will send out invitations and whatever else will happen you know that there are people who can get all this together Michael and whoever that something can really happen spend the week learning things that will help us in all future lives but generally I mean that's all we need to think but if you really look at it if one looks at all the details and little things all these different conditions which have to come together so this is the first thing we think about we think of ourselves as being in a rich and lucky situation because of that then the next thing we understand about impermanence you see ok I have all the chances everything is set but I don't know how long everybody who is born will die, whatever appears will disappear, what comes goes away again, even the opportunity to practice and be aware will go away and disappear and when we understand the second thing, this impermanence thing this will also help us a lot this will really help us a lot to discover that we must use the time now and that we must use it meaningfully the third thing that we think about then after that is cause and effect it's just simply that right now we have the freedom to use our lives we have a body, we are capable of holding our minds with the body we are capable of deciding to do things that are useful and avoiding things that are harmful but as the text here says when we die we are not free anymore the body has nothing to hold on to it's pulled right and left and up and down by everything happening the mind has no body to hold on to, that's what it meant so we are pulled up and down by all the subconscious impressions coming up, at that time we can't just say let's eat half a glass of alien or let's drink five beers or let's go to the disco or something like that at that time one doesn't have those choices because there is no body there and at that time then the mind plays out all it's old reels all the old films come up and it believes that the films are real I mean the mind really believes that the films are real that the pictures appearing inside have true existence it's different depending on where you are it's true it's just right now you have a better chance to change it I mean you can't down half a glass of alien or go for a walk or look somewhere else or go to a disco or see a film I mean you can distract your mind at that time there is no body to use in order to hold the mind it's true you are less I mean one isn't totally free now but one is less free that's more or less what it means so right now one can do what will at that time automatically bring happiness and one can avoid that which will at that time automatically bring trouble it's just to make one aware of cause and effect that's all that's the meaning of it and the fourth thing that one thinks about is the fact that everybody wants happiness and everybody wants to avoid suffering and only if we use our mind well if we use body, speech and mind well will we will we really be able to find something lasting all joys we know today are passing and impermanent they come and go but the joy of enlightenment functioning perfectly and in itself this is something one can rely on this is something that is really there really strong so there are the four things first that we think about that turn our mind there are the four things that we keep in our mind that both make our mind solid and strong and we really understand this so after this basic understanding this first basic understanding that we have then we come into the practice itself and I will just translate to you what the text is and then gradually you will be able to I will explain a little bit what it means in front of us in the middle of the lake stands a wish fulfilling tree with one root and one trunk and four branches and five branches in the middle where they branch out and I will tell you this they have a different way of thinking from what we have, the Tibetans I mean to us, the continuation of the trunk from the Tibetan side then where the branches go out, then the central thing is also a branch so they have another way of thinking actually there is a central the continuation of the trunk and then there is a branch coming out towards us going back and going to the right and left like that this fits, this confuses us because we think differently but apparently they think that where from the point where the first branches go out, then also that which continues the trunk of the tree is a branch this is how it is understood so this is the meaning of this and five branches in the middle where they branch out is a lion throne with a lotus with a lotus seed and on top of a disc of the sun and the moon is our root lama and here come come come come Q&A Q&A Q&A Q&A Q&A Q&A Q&A Q&A Q&A Q&A Q&A Q&A Q&A Q&A Q&A Q&A Q&A Q&A Q&A Q&A Q&A Q&A Q&A Q&A Q&A Q&A Q&A Q&A Q&A Q&A Q&A Q&A Q&A Q&A Q&A Q&A Q&A Q&A Q&A Q&A Q&A Q&A Q&A 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