Welcome to the SC Dharma Group Teachings PageColumbia TeachingsGeshe Dakpa Topgyal: The Four Noble Truths (continued)Dateline: Columbia: September 14, 2001 Four Noble Truths You could say the ultimate goal of the Buddhist spiritual quest is to reach or attain the third of the Four Noble truths, which is cessation of suffering or nirvana. Nirvana is a Sanskrit term of liberation or freedom, total release from suffering. Nirvana is a pure state of mind. The mind attains that perfectly pure reality, without distortion; the mind perceives the material world as it actually is. Our mind’s habit of habitual distortions is the reason that we can’t, right now, perceive reality as it actually is. Every moment we perceive the physical world we are constantly distorting it in our mind; what we perceive does not match reality. Our mind constantly distorts things and events, and we respond with emotional responses. Our distortions and our resulting emotional responses create a never-ending mismatch between what we perceive and what actually exists in reality; this is called delusion or, in Sanskrit, klesha. This is the root of our suffering. Cessation or nirvana is a state of mind that eradicates this habit of distortion and our inappropriate emotional responses. Nirvana is not a place, not a destination, not a physical world separate from our human world. Nirvana is a state of mind where in delusions are eradicated irreversibly, forever. The world around us becomes a source of joy, rather than a source of pain. Our ultimate goal is to reach nirvana. In order to reach that state of mind, first we must understand inherent pain and suffering and who created this pain and suffering. Are our pain and suffering created by the mind itself or by an external force? According to Buddhist understanding, yes, there are many problems. Life itself, you could say, is suffering. Life is full of suffering because we are subject to all sorts of problems. The origin of these problems resides within us. Delusions are generated from our false notion of self, our misconception of self. In order to reach nirvana, you have to eliminate the root of delusions, which is the false notion of self. While you can reduce suffering by perfecting shamata meditation, you cannot eradicate the false notion of self through shamata meditation alone. That false notion of self that forces you to divide the world into "I" and "you" is the problem. The notion of "I" creates attachment; the notion of "you" creates anger. "I" we bring to "our" side. Whatever is not associated with "I" we put on the "other" side. So the notion of "I" gives rise to attachment; the notion of "you" gives rise to anger and aversion. This sense of "I" and "you," this false notion of self and its resulting anger cannot be shaken by shamata meditation alone. The false notion of self can only be eliminated by combining shamata meditation and vipassana meditation. Training and a profound understanding of shamata and vipassana meditation are required to get rid of delusions and the root of delusions, the false notion of self. At the same time, it is important to understand how shamata and vipassana serve as antidotes to eradicating delusions and the false notion of self. Otherwise, it is difficult to understand the possibility of achieving nirvana. Nirvana is a pure state of mind, the ability to perfectly perceive reality without judgment, without turning material objects into a source of pain, because your emotional responses match reality. Nirvana is not a temporary state. It is eternal. Nirvana has four characteristics, which are simultaneous and complete. Cessation or gokpa, a factor that arises from nonexistence. Peace or shiwa, cessation in peace. Satisfaction or gynom, totally satisfying satisfaction, a peace or joy or bliss that does not cause a craving for more. Emergence or neygyung, definite, permanent total emergence. Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism differ somewhat on the subject of nirvana. According to Theravada Buddhism, when you reach nirvana you still retain subtle remnants of self. These subtle remnants are not destructive; they do not create problems. The individual is totally consumed by nirvana, and, due to the subtle remnants of the self, forgets the rest of the world. This is called individual liberation. Question: Is the body also gone? Answer: According to Theravada Buddhism, once you reach this state, you dissolve physically. You cannot be seen. Question: So there might be someone hear right now? Answer: Who knows? But they forget humanity; they are not watching you. In Mahayana Buddhism even this subtle remnant of self needs to be abandoned. When it comes to being helpful to others, the subtle remnant of self creates obstacles, becomes a hindrance. That subtle remnant of self limits your mental capacity or power. You can’t 100 percent read other people’s minds, their intentions, needs and desires. If you can’t read others’ intentions, needs or desires, even with good motivation, it is more difficult to help others. In many cases, even with good intentions, instead of helping, we hurt others. You could make the situation more intense, more serious, even though your motivation was good. Just so, we distinguish between liberation and enlightenment. Liberation is eliminate of delusions in the mind of psyche, but subtle remnants of the self are still there. In enlightenment, the subtle remnants of the self are eliminated, and because of this you are one with the world; you are complete. The fundamental path to attain liberation is shamata and vipassana meditation. The full force of the path, its full, liberating force is reach only when shamata conjoins with vipassana. The actual path that has 100 percent potential to lead to the cessation of suffering starts when you conjoin shamata and vipassana. The fourth of the Four Noble Truths is the truth of the path. There are five paths which are gradual and attained in sequence: accumulation, preparation, seeing, meditation, no more learning. If you understand the differences among the five stages, you realize they are nothing more than the Noble Eightfold Path. Right action. Right speech. Right livelihood. Right effort. Right mindfulness. Right concentration. Right view or understanding. Right thoughts or intention. All of this comes under three categories: training in ethics and morality; training in meditation or concentration; training in wisdom. These are called The Three Baskets. Ethics or morality includes right action, right speech and right livelihood. Training in meditation includes right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration. Training in wisdom includes right view and right thought. This is the Buddhist supermarket; everything you need you can get right there. When you have a better understanding of the five paths, you will see they are nothing more than the Noble Eightfold Path. First, we will deal with the five paths. Accumulation: A person will only reach accumulation after his or her experience of unfabricated renunciation. That means you loosen the strength of attachment, without giving up the physical world and the objects of the five senses. When you reach this, you will gain relief from driving yourself crazy over sensory pleasures. However, this is not about giving up the physical material world, running away to the mountains to live like a wild animal. When you experience unfabricated renunciation, along with a precise understanding of emptiness, you have reached the first path. Question: How do you know your attachments have loosened enough? Answer: The value of objects is still there; particular objects may still mean a lot to you. But deep down you no longer see yourself as dependent on them for sensual satisfaction. You perceive the value of objects, but you are not dependent on them for happiness. Question: Why is it called accumulation? Answer: I told you. Don’t play with words; play with meanings. Questions on Sept. 11 attacks Question: Your take on this week will help us know how to feel. Answer: This is very complicated. My reaction is that the human mind is so powerful in both a negative way and a positive way. When the mind is used in a negative way, yes, like this week, we have suffering created by the human mind. Question: We can’t change this? Things like this just happen? Answer: By physical force, we can’t change. Physical force is not really a solution. It’s only a temporary solution. You may destroy one individual by physical force, but that may cause two more to rise up, and this will go on for generations and generations and generations. The main cause still remains. Myself, I sit and watch and feel compassion for both the victims and those who did it. They did it not because they are happy, but because they are unhappy. Question: One person went to get coffee and survived. All the others in his office died. Why not him? Answer: That has to do with karma. We all die at some point. Question: If we don’t stop one person, that person can do it again and again. We want to prevent that person from hurting us. Answer: If one person is doing this, then yes, the best solution would be destroying that one person. But I think it is like a spider web. If only one person is involve, then it is easy, but when more are involved, it’s really difficult. Question: Please finish the answer on karma. Answer: This depends on how deep your understanding of karma is. The question becomes what type of karma this person has, what type of karma the other person has. Question: Are we assuming death is bad, that death means bad karma? Answer: From the Buddhist point of view, death is not a punishment. Question: What about killing? What about imposing yourself on another, that separation of I and you? Answer: Yes, it’s bad. But this is not coming from a single source. This is coming from collective karma, and that’s complicated, too. Sometimes, it’s better not to mention anything. This problem didn’t come from one single source so it’s very complicated. Question: There’s not one single reason it happened. Answer: Yes, there’s not one single reason. The reasons are complex. The source of the problem is complex. If you go search for one source, one reason, you cannot find it. Question: Isn’t violent death bad? Answer: Three factors are involved: the state of mind at death, (for example, the people who killed probably felt horrible fear, confusion, anger). The state of mind activates the karmic force; so fear, for example, could activate a negative karmic force. Finally, the degree of attachment to existence is important; everybody has a fear of dying, of not remaining in the world. All this determines the condition of our next life. In general, if you failed to die peacefully, you failed to live peacefully in some way in your lifetime. Question: Our death reflects our life? Answer: Yes, of course, our life determines our death; our death reflects our life. Question: Say I’m traveling on a train or a plane and this happens. What is the best thing to do? Answer: Say mantras and prayers. The key thing is to rest in the present moment. Say your mantras and your prayers honestly. If you are in panic and fear, who knows, you could be saying them backwards. I’m serious. In 1959, I was still in Tibet; I was little. Tibetans had no weapons, but they wanted to fight back. Their only weapons were swords. They went to fight the Chinese, and were so angry and upset, they would hold the sword the other way around. When they were fighting and losing, they went to ride away on horseback and got on the horses backward. They were trying to ride facing the tail. There are many stories, real stories. Recite mantras. There are no guarantees, no guarantees. Question: This is not about justice. Answer: Yes, this I agree. It is very, very difficult. You need lots of training. Be careful. Stay in the present moment, no matter what the circumstances are. Question: Is it our thoughts or our emotions that take us away from the present moment? Answer: The key is shamata meditation to gain control of thoughts and emotions, so you won’t be taken away from the present moment, so your thoughts and emotions don’t have power over you. Everything in the mind is not real. Most of the time, when thoughts come into our mind, we make them real. If we don’t do this the moment a thought comes, the thought pops like a bubble. It disappears. Where? It disappears where it came from. Just like a bubble, if we don’t make a thought real, it pops and disappears. That kind of training is needed, and meditation is aimed at gaining that power. Source: South Carolina Dharma Group Contact: Claudia Smith Brinson Phone: 803-799-4901 E-mail: csbrin@infi.net |