His Eminence Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche’s Puja Teachings – March 26, 2023

His Eminence Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche ascended the Dharma throne, and expounded on “Scroll 57, ‘The Buddha Speaks of Entering Womb Treasury Assembly’ (Chapter 14, Section 2)” of the Ratnakuta Sutra.

“Today, I will continue to expound the ‘Entering Womb Treasury Assembly, (Chapter 14, Section 2)’ taught by Shakyamuni Buddha. Last time when this ‘Assembly’ was expounded, we learned that at the end of the section of that teaching, the Buddha went out of His way to instruct His younger brother this: ‘Nanda, you can observe and judge. You should seek the renunciation of reincarnation.’

On sutras, whether we listen to the teachings of them or read them, we need to understand what Shakyamuni Buddha’s intentions actually are for expounding such sutras. The intentions are absolutely not for people to pursue what are thought of in the mundane world, like good fortune, a prolonged life, this thing or that thing. Why did Shakyamuni Buddha make a point of expounding this sutra of entering a womb? Because He wanted people in the mundane world to know a fact. Many people wish that they can continuously to be reborn as humans so as to complete unfulfilled wishes. However, here, the Buddha spoke to you that during a little over nine months after getting into a womb, the suffering that a ‘bardo,’ then a form of a human, to go through in a womb is very difficult to describe and endure, unless your ‘bardo’ is in the womb anew.

Of course, after we are born, we already forget about such suffering we endured during that period. Why do we forget about it? It is not that we forget this memory. Rather, it is because after our birth, we start to face various affliction, all causes and conditions, or all impermanence, of this life. For the purpose of encountering these things – to seek profit or fame – we use and waste all our energy and physical strength on such matters. Hence, deliberately, we do not think about what happened in our past, and we intentionally suppress them from our thoughts.

It is like what has been mentioned towards the end of the sutra of entering a womb. When the birth is about to happen, this fetus wants very much to leave the womb quickly because it feels the darkness of the womb and the suffering of being in darkness. Basically, anyone of us has a feel of darkness. No matter how brave you are, as long as you are put in a dark place with no people or sound around you, you will feel a great fear. Why do we give rise to fear when we are in a dark place? Is it because we cannot see things? Or, is it because there are no ways for us to touch things? Is that the reason that we have a sense of fear?

The reason is that before we are born, and after our sense of perception is produced, we will have a feel of much darkness, helplessness, and fear in the mother’s womb. Additionally, for us, there is another kind of fear on darkness, which occurs when we stop breathing, and before our consciousness leaves the body. At that moment, we will then enter a state of Full Attainment from Darkness. This means what you see in front of you is a complete darkness, totally without any bit of light. Nevertheless, you know very clearly that you are in a dark space. In that split second, on whomever you want to call out to, there is no one paying attention to you; on whatever you want to say, there is no one listening to you either. Up until this darkness has passed, there will be a light appearing. Many people thought that such a light was from an angel, or from some other being, coming to receive you. No, it was not. This light is the appearance of your self-nature.

When the light of your self-nature appears, it will go along with your consciousness to ‘formally’ leave your body. Before our consciousness leaves us, on that state of Full Attainment from Darkness, we are in much fear of it. This is because all your sense of perception in your body suddenly stops. You cannot move, cannot utter sounds, or cannot breathe. You only feel that you are in a pitch-black space and totally unable to move.

Therefore, it is mentioned in the Avatamsaka Sutra that the Dharma is like a bright lamp in a dim room (a dark room). Many people do not have such an experience, not knowing that in an extremely dark room if there is a little light appearing all of a sudden, the light will bring them a hope and a future.

After we are born into this mundane world, we feel that our future is very bright and there is a life for us to endeavor for what we want. We feel that we need to study hard for fame and wealth and then get married and have children, passing down what we have from one generation to next generation. This is what is called ‘our bright life.’ Pursuing these things constantly will come to nothing in the end – there is not a thing for us. Yet, during our few decades in this world, we need to survive. If we do not put in our efforts in these pursuits, we will not have food to eat, or a house to live in; we will not have clothes to wear either. Thus, we need to understand this fact distinctly that our being born is either repaying debts or collecting debts, and either taking revenge or repaying kindness. These are just four things that have unceasingly circulated and evolved in our life.

As Buddhist practitioners, we are to be clear about such a matter. Do not feel that ‘I endeavor to get things for my life’ although there is nothing wrong with that. We need to endeavor to do things; we are not saying to abandon our great efforts to do a thing well. The meaning of what have been talked about here is when you do your endeavors, you are to execute them lawfully, customarily, or reasonably. You are not to do things dishonestly, illegally, underhandedly, or using other people to achieve your goals. Applying any of such a method is not right.

Since the Buddha spoke to us in a sutra of entering a womb about the suffering endured every month by the fetus before being born, we need to be aware that we have come forth to exist through suffering. After you are born, if you do not evaluate things or are not cautious, and just incessantly put in endeavors in what you call ‘life,’ forgetting to learn and practice the Dharma, then in a careless way you will reincarnate anew. To reincarnate again in your next life, it is not necessarily that you will be a human! All the good and the negative you have acted in this life will influence your birth of your next lifetime in the Six Realms.

However, during the decades of our life, there are more of the negative and less of the good done. Since this is the case, on your ‘bardo’s entering a womb, there is absolutely more suffering, even without any joy. So, when Shakyamuni Buddha finished expounding this sutra of entering a womb, He went out of His way to instruct His younger brother this: ‘You need to “observe and judge” this matter. You should make the determination to renounce reincarnation.’ Do not think that the Buddha spoke of a story to us. Also, do not think He deliberately showed us His supernatural powers.

On the Buddha’s expounding of these matters, it was to let us understand the truth clearly that if you want to be born, you must go through this process of birth, and no one can avoid it, unless the person is in an extremely small group of people mentioned in sutras, or the person comes down directly from the land of a Buddha to the earth. These people are truly, exceptionally rare; it is almost impossible for us to see them. Otherwise, even if one is born as a sage, one still needs to undergo this suffering. Hence, we, Buddhist practitioners, must make up our mind to renounce reincarnation, rather than thinking ‘I am learning Buddhism now, and have become better and better. I have good luck and good health. I will implore Rinpoche for help on any issues I have, and he will solve them for me.’

If it were as you thought, then in this sutra, Shakyamuni Buddha would have spoken this: ‘When you understand what, and when, getting into a womb is about, I, Shakyamuni Buddha, will teach you some Dharma methods, and then you are to practice them continuously. With your practices, you will be very amazing in the end.’ Did He say this? No, He did not. What He spoke of were all about karma that the force of karma will affect the fetus’s conditions in a womb from month to month. He never said that ‘So long as you recite more times the name of the Buddha or sutras, or chant more mantras, your child, after being born, will become so incredible.’ He did not say that!

Thus, people in the mundane world are superstitious. They regard the Buddha and Bodhisattvas as idols and implore them for help; they consider practitioners being idols too and implore them for assistance. People have sought these things or those things by their supplications to the Buddha, Bodhisattvas or practitioners but have not been satisfied for getting what they want. It is like the situation of a disciple who came here yesterday imploring me for help. This disciple took refuge in me about two years ago. His other half had been diagnosed with, what is called in western medicine, Alzheimer’s disease. She could not talk or do anything. After he had been here as my disciple, his wife’s conditions had become a little better. This disciple thought that as she had been fine, there was hope for her. Before, I told him this very clearly: ‘Today, you have come here to learn Buddhism. I will make your wife to live a little over a year, or two years, more. This is not to make her healthy; it is to let her have enough of causes, conditions, and good fortune so that I can help her to get liberated in the future.’ He had not listened to what I had told him. He came to me yesterday, imploring me again for his wife’s health because the doctor had told him that his wife is now terminally ill. Therefore, I ‘dug him out’ – getting his behavior revealed. I asked him, ‘What do you implore for?’ He said, ‘I am imploring you for letting her live a little longer.’ I then asked him, ‘How much longer? One month? Two months? One, or two, or five years? No matter how much longer, she will still die!’ I said to him then, ‘I am not accepting the monetary offering you made to me now. Step aside and think. Once you have thought it through, you can come over and implore me again.’

When he took refuge in me, if I did not say all those things to him at that time, it would have been my fault on what had happened yesterday. On my disciples, including you who are present, every one of you implores me for making you not to die. I have always told you that even I will die. How can you not die then? Did I tell you that I will not die? (All the attendees answered loudly, ‘No, you did not!’) Since I did not learn any Dharma methods on undying, how can I make you not to die? Nevertheless, I can create causes and conditions to make you die smoothly, with no issues, without difficulties, or get you liberated immediately after you pass away.

There was another disciple who also talked about her situation. Her father was a little over 90 years old. At a bit over one year ago, she continuously took him here and implored me for letting him take refuge in me. At that time, her father was still very clearheaded. I told her, ‘Do not implore me for that. When you go home every day, you tell him the advantages of taking refuge in me.’ Many people, not just you, think that they will be blessed and protected by the Buddha and Bodhisattvas after having taken refuge in some practitioners. Listen to this distinctly. The Buddha said, ‘You can observe and judge. You should seek the renunciation of reincarnation.’ If you are one of those who seek to renounce reincarnation, the Buddha will bless and protect you. Why? Because you listen. If you do not seek that, how can you be blessed and protected by Him? Ladies and gentlemen, this is black-and-white in sutras; I did not invent it. All of you know quite surely that on my expounding sutras, I do not instruct my disciples beforehand to write a whole lot of sutra contents and put them in front of me so that I can look at and expound them slowly. Is this how it is done? (A monastic replied, ‘Yes, it is!’) Some people expound sutras after a bunch of such writing and quotes of chapters and verses have been prepared. I do not do that! This is what I do: Once I open a sutra, I explain its contents to you.

So, that your coming to Glorious Jewel Buddhist Center is viewed that you are lucky, but you are unlucky as well. It is because I will not fulfill your desires. How is it that you are lucky? If you seek the renunciation of reincarnation, I will definitely implore Shakyamuni Buddha or my yidam for helping you accomplish it. If you do not have that goal, how can I help you? It is just like the disciple who came to see me yesterday. It was so obvious on what I said to him two years ago; I did not lie to him. I told him those things when he came to see me the first time because I knew that he wanted to use me to get his wife not to die. I scolded him yesterday that ‘She does not want to die. If she is not to die, you die before her then. When that happens, who will take care of her?’ I said to him, ‘Your love for her is so great that do you worship or flatter a person and have fun with her every day? As you are such a great person, I will introduce you to be a volunteer at some hospital.’ Nowadays, every hospital lacks for volunteers to take care of patients who are in the state of delirium. Is he willing to be such a volunteer? No, he will not be because none of the patients is his wife.

You really do not listen, and it has reached to such an extent. Let me bring back the subject of the other disciple I just mentioned earlier. I said to her that she had told her father every day about the advantages of taking refuge in me. I did not promise her to accept her father as my disciple. Why not? As he was in his 90s, after taking refuge in me, what could he have done in the aspects of the Dharma? If he could not have practiced in accordance with the Dharma principles after taking refuge in me, then he would have disdained the Three Jewels! You think that it is a lot of fun. You have had these types of conversation. ‘Ah, mom, take refuge in Rinpoche. After you do, then….’ ‘Rinpoche, please come to bless and protect my mother. I am going out now to enjoy myself.’ ‘Mom, if you have problems, implore the Buddha and Bodhisattvas for help. They will bless and protect you because you have taken refuge in Rinpoche.’ Many of my disciples have said these words.

How many years have I expounded the Ratnakuta Sutra? (A monastic replied, ‘Six years.’) It is for six years. Are there any mentions in the Ratnakuta Sutra that after you take refuge in some practitioners, you will be blessed and protected and will not get sick? (All the attendees answered, ‘No, there are no such mentions.’ Then, why are all of you inventors by inventing that kind of idea? What is the true meaning of taking refuge in a practitioner? A disciple should esteem his or her guru! As for that disciple’s father, he was muddled. Hence, if he had been allowed to take refuge in me, he would not have known what he was to do. So long as there were some things he could not do as he wished, he would slander the Buddha. If your parents slander the Buddha in this way, it means you harm them by getting them to fall into the Hell Realm. Many temples would have let this father take refuge in practitioners there! The comment would have been that ‘He is to take refuge in someone, and then he will have a pure mind in his next lifetime! He will then learn Buddhism and do practices.’ He had not even done them in this life; how will he practice the Dharma in next lifetime? This was nonsense.

The father of this disciple of mine was a lot of fun. It might have been possible that because his daughter had her daily talk with him about the advantages of taking refuge in me, he started feeling interested in this guru – me. He then paid obeisance every day to my Dharma photo placed on the mandala at his home. He told his servant constantly that ‘This Rinpoche is very handsome and has much of the attributes of a field commander or a leader.’ In this way, he praised the guru and it gave rise to his good fortune. Therefore, before he passed away, his death had not been obstructed by any of his children. He came to me on a Saturday smoothly to implore me for liberating him. He got out of the hospital and went home, and passed away on the same day. On next day, a Sunday, there was the Chod being performed by me and he got liberated. Had he taken refuge in me? No, he had not! He had such good fortune because his daughter listened to me and she acted step by step according to my methods and instructions. I had taught her that ‘Sign a consent form with your siblings first.’ This was because she – my disciple – had taken care of the father, and all her siblings were to agree with her on her ways of the care. All of them signed lest they would have quarrels in the future about the whole process of their father’s death. Have you done this? No, you have not. The reason is that you think that ‘our parents have not died yet. If we sign this kind of consent form now, we will have arguments and quarrel with one another later. They will say I want our parents to die.’ Now, for the siblings of this disciple, whom I just talked about, their esteem to the Dharma and to me has arisen because their father had gone through a smooth way for passing away.

Nonetheless, you feel that I was very cruel, and you think that ‘He had implored you for taking refuge in you but you had not allowed that to happen; you were not compassionate at all.’ How do you know what kinds of ‘tricks’ I acted on? If you believe in me, then just listen to me! Do you still want me to listen to you? If you do, please, come up here to ascend the Dharma throne and be a Rinpoche. Nowadays, all of you want me to listen to you that whatever you want is what I need to do to show you. What is your thinking based on?

Originally, her father needed to be much intubated; in the later stages of his illness, I helped him get things arranged so that there were no needs for intubations. He left the hospital safely, went home securely, and passed away smoothly. I knew he wanted to go home. Did he know how to recite the Buddha’s name or sutras or chant mantras? No, he did not. Could he make prostrations? No, he could not. He only said that I was handsome and that made me delighted. (All the attendees laughed joyfully.) That was why I thought of him. How about you? Your friends and relatives will say this: ‘Your Rinpoche is not effective. No matter how I have made prostrations, I still feel unwell.’ Well, even if you go to see a doctor and take medication, you will not get well immediately, right? Thus, the more I expound the Dharma, the more I am really discouraged. It is a feeling of discouragement and downheartedness in that I live a life of watching your countenance towards me. Why did the Dharma disappear in Afghanistan and why is there almost no Dharma existing in India now? Because there had not been practices done there in accordance with sutras. People do not ‘seek the renunciation of reincarnation’! Since all sentient beings do not listen to the Dharma expounded by Shakyamuni Buddha, will the Dharma be remained? No, it will not be; that includes me – I will not remain. If you still come here to attend pujas with such morality and nature or still implore me for doing what you think in your mind, I will leave you.

There are many ways for me to leave you. If I still have some ‘debts’ that have not been paid off, I will leave this Center; if I feel they have been paid off, I will leave this mundane world. Why do I remain here? If I do, the life will be meaningless and not interesting. Today, there are a little over 1,000 people present. How many of you, including monastics, have made the determination to renounce reincarnation? All of you monastics implore enlightenment, awesomeness, or compassion. Shakyamuni Buddha spoke so clearly to, and instructed personally, His own younger brother that he ‘should seek the renunciation of reincarnation.’

I save your life not because I treat you well. Rather, it is to hope that you have enough time to accumulate enough of good fortune in this life so as to be able to renounce this world of reincarnation. Do not think that ‘Rinpoche is good to me; he has saved me one more time.’ If you do not make up your mind to renounce reincarnation, one day I will suddenly have no responses at all to your issues. I will be like that.

It was like the case of that disciple that I just mentioned. Her father passed away in such a smooth way. It was because she had listened, I knew all matters about her father. There was even an event about his aunt who had died of an unnatural death and had not gotten liberated. I only ‘saw’ that fact when his daughter came, for the last time, to implore me for helping him. Because he had said that I was handsome, I ‘saw’ the situation of his aunt; if he had not said about my being handsome, I would absolutely not have ‘seen’ the matter about his aunt. This disciple of mine – his daughter – did not know this herself. Only when she got back home and asked her elderly relatives, did she find out the fact. Why did I not ‘see’ it the first time when her father came to see me? Because he did not believe in me at that time. That was why this ghost did not enter the Center here; it did not want me to know its existence either. Only after the father believed in me, did the ghost let me know about itself. Why was it? It was because the ghost knew that the old gentleman had the belief in me, and I would get him liberated; this ghost would be going along to be liberated together.

On that day, I said to the disciple quite distinctly, ‘Your father had an aunt who had passed away without being liberated.’ Those around us heard this very surely. I do not talk nonsense. I am totally amazing in this aspect but if I want to fulfill your desires, I am not awesome. If I want to satisfy your desires, why will I not satisfy those of my own first? I could have just done my own practices busily and vigorously, like a saying in Chinese about sound collisions: PingPing-PangPang. What have I been working so toilfully for, coming here on Saturdays and Sundays? It is only because of one sentence, which has been unceasingly exhorted to you: ‘You should seek the renunciation of reincarnation’! My constant scolding of you is just for this sentence. None of you has gotten it through your head. You think that it is fun.

Of course, some people will say, ‘If I seek the renunciation of reincarnation, will I die immediately?’ No, you will not. The Buddha and Bodhisattvas will not even pay attention to you. Let me say this again that if you seek the renunciation of reincarnation, Shakyamuni Buddha, Dharma Protector Achi, and all other Dharma protectors will protect and support you. Did I mention this when the Dharma Protector Achi ritual had been performed last time? It is to get liberated from birth and death! You have acted all the time that you do not want it! So, this was what happened to that disciple’s wife whom I just mentioned. She was well at first. As his mind had not been changed in that he did not implore me for helping her to be liberated from birth and death, her good fortune of getting well disappeared immediately. Originally, her good fortune had already been nearly used up; what had been remained in her was the so-called residual good fortune – remaining good fortune. With this remained in his wife, he came to see me. He thought, ‘It is okay now. I will implore Rinpoche very sincerely. See, my wife is getting better and better. It is alright to implore him for help again!’

When he first came, I already told him all the things he was to know, but no one got those things through his or her head. Why? Because your ears had been crammed completely with your desires. Hence, the pure Dharma cannot be heard by you as your ears are full of desires. Your thinking is like this: ‘My wife is not to be sick. I want my wife this way, that way, and so forth.’ This is all selfishness. You do not want your wife to get sick so that you can live a comfortable life without worries or anxieties every day. If that is your attitude, why do you learn Buddhism? You might as well learn medical treatment then. This will be how it is handled: ‘Diagnose immediately what the patient’s illness is. Decide what type of a physician to see, what kind of an organ to be removed, or what kind of medicine to take.’ Such treatments are so simple and easy; are they not? Then, what is learning Buddhism for?

Now, I have almost 10 doctor-disciples. You can ask them about their medical practices. They will eventually become perplexed on a patient’s condition, thinking ‘What is the right medicine to be actually given to the patient?’ There are some illnesses relevant to karma and cannot be treated or cured by physicians. (At this point, Rinpoche named a doctor-disciple and asked him a question.) ‘Did I say anything wrong about physicians not knowing what kind of medicine to use at the later stage of treatment? (The said disciple replied, ‘I am reporting to you, Rinpoche. What you have said is the most basic issue on medical treatment which is only a little aid. In fact, there are many cases that the sources of diseases can be clearly diagnosed, but treatments on them still fail in the end. There is also the mortality rate, and it is not in low rate. Medical treatments can only help a small number of people. Really, sometimes we already know about the disease of a patient, however, the medical treatments we act on are not helpful to the patient.’)

Are you not such scoundrels? People study, take examinations, and get medical licenses to become physicians, and they can only be formal, full-time physicians when they are 30. Yet, you come to me to test me, wanting me to help you solve all your problems. In aspects of the Dharma, I definitely will help on issues you have. If I see that you should not die at some circumstances, I will tell you. What will I tell you? I will tell you to learn Buddhism diligently. If you do not do that, there will be no next-time for you to get my help; I will have my eyes covered suddenly – not seeing your issues to help you. It is exactly like the situation of the old father of this disciple. When he first came to see me, I did not know that he had an aunt who had passed away. At the last time his daughter came here to implore me for helping her father, I ‘saw’ the ghost of that old lady. Also, on that occasion, the disciple’s father did not come with her. The ghost let me ‘see’ it because it was aware that it would be liberated, knowing that this old gentleman’s death was almost there, and hoping it would get liberated together. That was the reason that it appeared to show me its existence. Therefore, even though the Buddha has great supernatural powers, sentient beings will hide themselves from Him. If the causes and conditions between the Buddha and you are not very deep in connection, the Buddha will not continuously illuminate His light, like a searchlight, on you all the time. Yes, it is right in saying that the Buddha’s light illuminates all. This means the Buddha’s light illuminated all the void in the ten directions of the Dharma Realm, but He does not go out of His way to illuminate His light on a particular person.

Nevertheless, those who seek the renunciation of reincarnation will be attuned to the Buddha’s light very strongly and will obtain blessings and protection naturally. It is like my status that I seek the renunciation of reincarnation; if you seek it too, my practices will naturally be relevant to you. If you do not seek that, what do my practices have to do with you? You just do not listen! Why will the Dharma cease to exist? It will precisely cease in your hands – it will come to an end by you. When Shakyamuni Buddha attained Buddhahood, the daughter of Mara-papiyan, a demon king, already said that in the future, they, the demons, will not be those who will make the Dharma cease to exist; instead, it will be disciples of the Buddha doing that. Now, this is slowly confirmed that it seems to be happening in such ways that we have currently seen.

All of you do not think when you get home from here. After a puja is completed, when it is time to leave the Center, you will immediately leave it. All the subjects having been expounded have been left here by you as they are irrelevant to you. Thus, the Buddha taught a sutra of entering a womb. The focal point of the teaching was to tell His younger brother – which being equivalent to telling us as well – that he was not to cling to a desire with greed, wanting to come to this mundane world again. This holds true for all of us, unless you are already a Bodhisattva and have come bank to this world by your vows so as to get sentient beings liberated. Nonetheless, you need to become a Bodhisattva in this life. If you cannot be one in this life, then you must be in the Land of Amitabha and achieve attainment in being a Bodhisattva.

It is stated in sutras that Bodhisattvas have no fear. It is not that they are not afraid of anything. They understand the suffering of birth and death, and because they recognize that birth and death are Emptiness too, they have no fear of them. However, before we have attained accomplishment in the Bodhisattva Path, we will have intense mind of attachments as we do not want any suffering. If there are nothings that can be done to help those who are unable to perceive the Emptiness of birth and death, there is only one way to do, and it is to get them aspiring to be born in the Land of Amitabha. There are no other methods. Do not think again that you want to come back to this world as a human or to get people liberated. Have you achieved accomplishment in the Bodhisattva Path in this life? Are you so amazing? There had been an aunt of a man, who was a little over 90 years old. This aunt had passed away a little over 100 years ago; her ghost ‘came’ here to ‘tell’ me things. Have you tried to have such an experience of ‘seeing’ a ghost’s existence? If you have not, what is your saying based on that you have been practicing the Bodhisattva Path?

Since there are nothings that can be done for us to master practices in the Bodhisattva Path – we have been learning, or acting on, its rule though – we will comply with such a karma and carry it to be reborn in the Pure Land as what Amitabha spoke of. This means you are to carry your good karma with you, and only then can you ‘go’ to that land. Do not have a mindset of fluke, thinking that ‘I myself have done many good deeds in this life, so I will certainly be a human in my next lifetime.’ That will not be so! There are many people having acted many good deeds, and yet, they fall into the Animal Realm because of a certain thought they have at the moment before they pass away. Nevertheless, as they did many good acts while alive, after falling into the Animal Realm, they will become cuddled pets and have a better life than us humans.

Hence, in the later part of ‘Chapter 14, Section 2’ of ‘The Buddha Speaks of Entering Womb Treasury Assembly’ expounded by the Buddha, it is explained even more distinctly that our being born as humans will have a life with more suffering.

Sutra: ‘At that time, the World Honored One spoke to Nanda again, “Now, since you know the suffering of a fetus and that of being born, you should understand that all those being born by getting into a womb have been through extreme suffering and affliction. When the bodies of fetuses are just born, whether they being males or being females, they can be in these circumstances. They fall into, and are held in, the hands of others. Or, they are in clothes or other coverings, et cetera. They are placed in sunlight or in shades. Or, they are put in cradles. Or, they live on beds, mats, or in people’s embraces. Because of such causes and conditions, they all get miseries, pains, and extreme suffering.”’

The World Honored One told His younger brother, ‘“Now….you should understand” very clearly the suffering of “getting into a womb” and being born, and so long as bodies are born this way, there will be matters of “extreme suffering” occurring.’ The Buddha expounded that when you are just born, whether you are a male or a female, these situations can happen: people hold you with you being wrapped by clothes, place you ‘in sunlight or in shades,’ put you in a crib, or lay you in bed and hold you. These causes and conditions will make you feel pain in your whole body, and you suffer.

Sutra: ‘Nanda, it is like a cow that has been skinned. If it lives near a wall, it will be eaten by wall-worms; if it lives near grass or trees, it will be eaten by worms on grass or tress; if it lives in an empty place, it will be gnawed and eaten by various worms. All the cows in such circumstances will get suffering and affliction. For a body that is just born, the situations are also the same.’

The Buddha used an analogy. ‘It is like a cow that has been skinned.’ If it stops at a wall, ‘it will be eaten by wall-worms;’ if it is near grass or trees, ‘it will be eaten by worms on grass or tress;’ if it is ‘in an empty place, it will be …. eaten by various worms.’ Such a cow takes in all suffering and affliction. ‘For a body that is just born, the situations are also the same.’

Sutra: ‘If it is washed by warm water, such a body will get great suffering and affliction, like a patient with leprosy whose skin is ulcerated, with pus and blood flowing out everywhere. If a beating by a club is added, the body will get extreme desolation and suffering. After a body is born, it drinks the mother’s defiling blood to grow up. In the law of the sacred Dharma, what is called “defiling blood” is mother’s milk.’

Usually, after a birth occurs, we use hot or warm water to wash the body. Then, it will be like someone with a skin disease; the skin ‘is ulcerated, with pus and blood flowing out everywhere.’ When the hot water is put on the body, it is like that the body is beaten ‘by a club,’ making it feel much pain. ‘After a body is born, it drinks the mother’s defiling blood to grow up.’ Such blood also refers to mother’s milk. In other words, a mother’s milk is her blood. The word ‘defiling’ in the term, ‘defiling blood,’ means in such milk, it not only has the mother’s blood, but also includes any things that the mother has eaten. So, nowadays, if infants are not fed on their mother’s milk but on cow milk or goat milk, they will be cows or goats – being difficult to be taught things. This is because that they drink the ‘blood’ of cows or goats, therefore, these children’s genes in their bodies have changed.

You all have given birth, and raised children. You know that there are differences between children who are fed by their mothers’ milk and those who are fed by cow milk. Thus, today, we see that on children fed by cow milk, once they are put on the ground, they will run and break away and cannot be caught no matter how hard the adults try; on children fed by goat milk, they will act the same way, hitting things, and cannot be caught by adults either. This is because that in these children’s bodies, there are exactly the elements which produce such behaviors. If a mother loves being pretty or has certain reasons, she will add some food in her diet. In fact, all these foods are junk foods. Hence, we humans grow up by eating junk foods, and we feed our children with junk foods too. We thought we had been good to the children. It will be better if they are fed by their mothers’ milk. In this way, at least your child will be as crazy as you are, and will not be crazy as getting mad cow disease or epilepsy. (Translator’s note: In Chinese, the word ‘epilepsy’ means ‘mad sheep disease.’ This last sentence corresponds to what have been just mentioned about ‘cow milk’ and ‘goat milk.’)

Sutra: ‘Nanda, since there are such various and extreme suffering with not a thing to be joyful about, how will the people with wisdom give rise to affections and attachments in this sea of suffering?’

So, the Buddha told Nanda, ‘All these things are suffering “with not a thing” worth rejoicing. How will it be possible for “the people with wisdom” who are born in this sea of suffering still “give rise to affections and attachments” in it?’ In other words, we, having been born, are all fools or intellectually disabled. ‘The people with wisdom’ will not be born here. Instead, where will they be born? (All the attendees responded, ‘The Pure Land.’)

If you want to be a person with intellectual disability, come back to this world continuously then! All things are suffering here! No matter how much you have enjoyed in this life – on things that you feel being enjoyable – or how much affections or love you have experienced, all are suffering. I am not exhorting you not to get married or not to have children. If you are a layman, you need to complete the walking of the path of causes and conditions for a layman. If you owe people things, you are in ‘debt.’ It is like me that I owe people in this life so I constantly do repayments. Nonetheless, have I been doing my practices? (All the attendees answered, ‘Yes, you have been.’) No, I have not been. If I had, I had already been in the Land of Amitabha. Would I still have had fun with you here?

Sutra: ‘….constantly turning and wandering about without rest. When a birth has already occurred for seven days, there are 80,000 worms in the body. They eat the body on all places in it with great ease.’

The phrase ‘….constantly turning and wandering about without rest’ refers to the nonstop cycle of birth and death that reincarnation will unceasingly turn and wander about. It is precisely like the situation I just mentioned on the aunt of a disciple’s father. Although her ‘bardo’ had not entered a womb in a little over 100 years, it did not stop moving around and was not quiet. This was because it had a very strong hatred in its mind; it wanted to take revenge. This also meant it was ‘turning and wandering about’ as it had a very intense mind of affliction. The Buddha said that ‘When a birth has already occurred for seven days, there are 80,000 worms in the body. ‘They eat the body on all places in it with great ease.’ Now, in medical science, it is said that within seven days of birth, infants have natural immune ability, and after passing these seven days, infants will start getting various infections.

Is this how it happens? (A doctor-disciple of western medicine responded, ‘I am reporting to you, Rinpoche. Yes, it is so, indeed. An infant originally has no bacteria in its body. Bacteria will slowly appear in the infant’s mouth, anus, respiratory tract, or skin. These bacteria are mainly brought about through mucous membranes – bodily substances – or skin, making impacts on some diseases and immune system; bacteria are thusly and gradually produced. Within these seven days, as the mother’s immune system is still adequate, she will not be infected with some disease suddenly.) The term of so-called antibodies in a mother is what you physicians say. I once saw an advertisement in Hong Kong. There is a new type of powdered milk now and is for an infant not born through the mother’s birth canal. It is said that because there are some very useful probiotics in a mother’s birth canal, these infants can have such dry milk in that it contains a little over 30 kinds of probiotics. Nowadays, people really have whatever gimmicks they can think of and will utilize them in order to make money.

Therefore, on the term that is called ‘antibodies’ by physicians, the Buddha did not speak of it as that. Rather, He said that within the first seven days of an infant’s birth, the worms in its body have not come out yet. After those seven days pass, the worms will be out to ‘eat the body on all places in it with great ease.’ This is irrelevant to the mother’s antibodies. Physicians have found the explanation of the source of an infant’s illnesses, and the source is the inadequacy of a mother’s antibodies. However, the explanation stated in sutras is that the source is the existence of 80,000 wombs in an infant’s body.

Sutra: ‘Nanda, there are parasitic worms called “hair-eating worms.” They rely on and live in hair roots on a body’s head and often eat such hairs.’

There is a type of worms ‘called “hair-eating worms.” These worms ‘live in hair roots on a body’s head and often eat such hairs.’ This is why when infants are born, the hairs on their heads must be washed as there are already worms on the heads. If such hairs have not been washed, the wastes of these worms will block the pores, and inflammation will occur. Then, what follows will be the loss of hair.

Sutra: ‘There are two types of worms. One type is called “terma worms,” and the other type, “head-of-a-deer worms.” These worms rely on and live in a body’s head and often eat the head. There is one kind of worms called “circling-eye worms,’ relying on and living in a body’s eyes and often eat eyes. There are four sorts of worms and the first, the second, the third, and the fourth are called “expulsion worms,” “running worms,” “abode worms,” and “perfect-completion worms,” respectively. These worms rely on and live in a body’s brain and often eat the brain.’

Speaking of this subject, I will firstly remind everyone a little about this. There are various wombs in a body, and they incessantly eat you. If, and when, a fetus is in a mother’s womb, its parents have been practicing the Dharma, reciting sutras, living their lives by the methods of the Dharma principles, and eating no meats but eating vegetarian. Then, even if worms appear in one’s body, their abilities for activities will not be so serious because they will be compassionate too accordingly. They will just ‘bite’ you a bit. They will not harm you to death.

So long as a pregnant woman comes to seek an audience with me, I advise her to recite the Sutra of Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha’s Fundamental Vows because causes and effects are taught in it. In sutras, it is also mentioned distinctly that if you have mastered your practices and the compassion of Emptiness appears in you, the worms in your stomach can get liberated. I already experimented, proved, and confirmed this phenomenon when I conducted retreats; it can happen this way and is correct. Where have these worms come from? They are here in accordance with all negative karma you did through lifetime after lifetime; they present themselves in this life by following your body. Such worms will not make your negative karma become so great that you suffer immediately. Nevertheless, they constantly remain and are with you; after seven days once you were born, they follow you continuously until the day you pass away.

Hence, in this life, as long as you have done much negative karma, these 80,000 worms in your body will grow and bite you more and more seriously to an extent that you get sick and have issues. Conversely, if you have acted on many good deeds and worked very hard in your practices, such worms will, in an opposite manner, not eat you – they will help you do practices. This is because they are sentient beings too; you cannot leave them. In medical science, it has already proved that there are many parasitic worms on our eyebrows. It is just that in western medicine, this fact is not accepted. The reason is that if physicians of western medicine accept the idea that there are many parasitic worms in our bodies to get us ill, many medicines will be worthless, and there will be no needs for many methods of medical treatments.

When we know that the 80,000 worms in a body are not inflected to us by other people, we then understand that we always have these worms with us. It is like what a doctor-disciple just mentioned about a mother’s antibodies, a term that has not been stated in sutras. In them, there is not a mention either that because a mother does not give her child antibodies, the child has these worms in the body. This is only stated in sutras: After seven days of a birth occurring, such worms appear in a body. Why is it a period of seven days after a birth? This is because within these seven days, if the parents do not kill animals to eat their flesh for food to recuperate for postpartum nourishment, the child and the parents will be protected. As mentioned in the Sutra of Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha’s Fundamental Vows, when there is a childbirth, from the start of a pregnancy to the time of giving birth, Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha will dispatch benevolent ghosts and deities to protect the mother and the child. In this way, when you – the child – is born, there will be no disasters happening to you. However, after a child is born, in order to celebrate the event, parents forget to refrain from killing and willfully kill animals for food. Thus, this will make the mother and the child unhealthy in the future. The Buddha had spoken of this very clearly a long time ago.

Today, the explanations about the subject of worms are just to tell you that we will get illnesses all over our bodies. So, one can ask or implore for not getting oneself sick! It is like what happened to me. While conducting a retreat for a little over three months, I did not take a bath, having not a single drop of water on my body. It was reasonable to say that when I came out of the retreat, my whole skin should have turned bright red with inflammation. Yet, I was not only without skin inflammation but also without odor on my whole body. Since it is mentioned in sutras that there are 80,000 worms in a body, they should have bitten me quite a while ago as I had not taken bath. Then, why was there nothing wrong with me without my taking bath? It was not because of the Dharma being boundless, but of compassion I had achieved the attainment in. The force of capability of compassion had subdued these worms, making them not move so severely until the time after I completed the retreat and returned to this mundane world. They then started acting again as the air and drinking water had all been polluted.

This is the reason that a retreat must be conducted in a clean place. Why was an out-of-the-way mountain area selected for constructing the Glorious Jewel Buddhist Monastery and the whole area had plants in it? Because, at least, the air and earth nearby of that land would be relatively clean. This was because that the land had been an empty one – not being utilized – for 20 years before I bought it. During that period, there had not been anything planted on the land, therefore, there was no pesticides in it either.

The second point is that although there is groundwater there, I will not have it used for the monastery. The water to be used will be that for agricultural irrigation and tap water. Why will I not have groundwater to be used? Because its use will disturb or move the whole ‘dragon channels’ beneath earth, and earthquakes will thusly occur. How do earthquakes occur nowadays? They happen because too much groundwater has been pumped from earth by humans. Dragons live in water originally. If they are not allowed to live in water, all of them can only come out to mess you around. If you let them not have a place to live in, they will get everyone having no places to reside either.

On this section of the sutra about wombs, it is meant to tell us that so long as you are a human, inevitably, you have wombs in your body. Say, you spray perfume on you; no matter how expensive it is, there are still wombs in you. If your skin is relatively clean, these worms will grow in a slower pace. Such a situation is called ‘immune ability’ in western medicine. Where does immune ability come from? (A doctor-disciple of western medicine responded: ‘I am reporting to you, Rinpoche. From the perspective of western medicine, immune ability is produced by stimulation of bacteria or of foreign substances in a body.’) Again, I do not understand this. (Translator’s note: Rinpoche then named another physician to speak.) You, the doctor of Chinese medicine, are to talk a bit about where immune ability comes from. (A doctor-disciple of Chinese medicine responded, ‘I am reporting to you, Rinpoche. From the viewpoint of Chinese medicine, there is no concept of immunity. It is said that “qi” – flow of energy – is to protect our bodily conditions; “qi” is the concept here.’ Then, where does ‘qi’ come from? (The said doctor answered, ‘“Qi” is generated through our digestive system and respiratory ability and is produced by lungs and the system of spleen and stomach.’ You speak nonsense again. According to your explanation like this, when one is sick, if he or she can be given ‘qi’ unceasingly, this person should not be sick anymore, right? (This doctor responded, ‘In terms of Chinese medicine, if the function of our lungs and the system of our intestines and stomach are normal, nutrients and “qi” will be generated by the respiratory system of lungs and the system of digestion. When “qi” is sufficient, it can produce the power of resistance against illnesses.’)

This is very strange. Since nutrients can produce ‘qi,’ then, if we constantly eat nutritious food, we naturally have ‘qi,’ and will not stop breathing and die. Hence, what is called ‘medical treatment’? It is a term or an expression, which you understand, found by medical personnel to explain to you, telling you what health problems you have. However, are there further explanations later on? This doctor said that by relying on eating nutritious food and on breathing, ‘qi’ will ‘come forth’ and be with us. By this interpretation, when we practice Dharma methods of chi-channel, there will be a few minutes that our ‘qi’ is not moving; are we not dead then? If, by relying on eating nutritious food and on breathing, ‘qi’ will ‘come,’ the medical treatment will be very simple. A patient can be on tracheal intubation continuously, and oxygen is provided into the lungs. Will the patient die? Yes, the patient will. If the patient is given injections for nutrients, will he or she die? Yes, the patient will die. So, the medical terms are found by physicians to explain reasons for illnesses or treatments, but there are no fundamental theories in what have been presented.

Why are there many physicians wanting to learn Buddhism towards the later stage of their career? Their learning Buddhism does not mean they want to learn these things I just explained. Rather, they wish they will become very amazing that they can have a ‘heavenly eye’ to see what kinds of ghosts are behind them or what types of causes, effects, or conditions are with them. These are nonsense. If you see these things, there are nothings that you can do to solve the issues these things have been created. It is equivalent to the fact that I saw a ghost that had died a little over 100 years ago. If I could not have gotten it liberated, what had been the use of my seeing it for? It is just like in the past there were many people coming here often to tell me that ‘Rinpoche, someone says there are so-and-so following me behind me….’ Then, I said to them, ‘That was very good! Whoever told you that should take the responsibility for you.’ Is it right or not? If you are the one who saw the so-and-so doing the following, you need to solve the issue for the person who has brought it up. Do not come to me making me responsible for you because I do not see that so-and-so. When you say that someone has seen it, you go to that person for help.

Thus, those who are doctors are not to tell their patients again that ‘Your karmic hindrances have been very heavy.’ There are heavy karmic hindrances for doctors themselves. If no one is ill, how will they make money? Therefore, doctors absolutely should not say that other people’s karmic hindrances being heavy, or talk with them about causes and effects. Even if you want speak on causes and effects, just exhort others to do good deeds; that will be enough. Do not act in a way that you seem to become a guru, speaking a bunch of Dharma theories to other people. If this is how you behave, what do patients come to see a doctor – you – for? They can simply come here to learn Buddhism! By learning it, one can become healthy gradually.”

Rinpoche inquired the doctor-disciple of Chinese medicine about this: “How long have I not taken the Chinese medicine you usually prescribe for me? (The doctor answered, ‘One year.’) It is not just one year! (The doctor responded, ‘It is at least a little over one year.’) See, this person is not mindful oftreating his patients. He does not even keep the period of my absence – not seeing him for my Chinese-medicine prescription – in his mind. Has my health deteriorated? (The answer from the doctor: ‘No, it has not.’) Tell me the truth. Do not say that I am handsome, all right? (The said doctor responded, ‘On the contrary, your health has been getting better and better.’ You are not qualified to have a good health unless you have done your practices to the extent we have achieved. What is this kind of health used for? It is not for me to enjoy good fortune but to let me do things. What kind of things? The things are those that I can do to help sentient beings eliminate suffering. If you wish for getting a good health so as to enjoy good fortune, you will not obtain such a health. If you hope to be healthy so that you can have physical strength to chant mantras or pay homage to the Buddha, then the Buddha and Bodhisattvas will help you. Nevertheless, the help is absolutely not to get you comfort. You might think, ‘Today, I am very comfortable. The Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara is compassionate, making me very comfortable.’ No, this will not happen. It is said ‘transforming illness into a tool for practices,’ and its meaning has been stated very distinctly. Only when you get sick do you realize how much negative karma you have created, and only then can you thoroughly give rise to a mind of repentance from your heart. Otherwise, you would have still thought that you were the Invincible Iron King, fighting over the world to be invincible throughout the world.

Where do illnesses come from? The Buddha said that they come from illnesses relevant to karma and from the disharmony of four major elements in our body – elements of earth, wind, water, and fire being inharmonious. So, the doctor-disciple of Chinese medicine did not listen clearly to the teaching of what has been mentioned in a sutra of entering a womb about which month the wind element or the water element will be arisen. Really, he had listened to the explanation but had not gotten it through his head. Has the subject been mentioned in that sutra? (The attendees answered, ‘Yes, it has been.’) In this sutra of entering a womb, is there a mention that because a mother eats nutritious food, the ‘qi’ will be generated? (The attendees responded, ‘No, there is not.’) What have been spoken of continuously are about karma-winds. If you do not believe in this, what have you been learning Buddhism for? What do physicians do? They comfort you or care for you in your illnesses. It is stated in the Sutra of Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha’s Fundamental Vows that caring for, or paying attention to, patients is one type of merit. It is not that physicians must cure patients’ illnesses. Why is that? Because patients’ illnesses are derived from their karma. To be able to alleviate the suffering in patients’ minds is the most important aspect of treating patients.

It is tantamount to what the Buddha and Bodhisattvas say incessantly that ‘You need to know about suffering.’ Nonetheless, did they say they will help you solve your suffering? No, they did not. The Buddha told His younger brother that ‘You need to surely evaluate, be cautious about, and observe, things.’ Did the Buddha tell him this: ‘Do not worry. I will absolutely not let you reincarnate. You just follow your older brother – me – and you will be fine’? (The attendees answered, ‘No! He did not say that.’) Even the Buddha could not do that. As a minor Rinpoche, what will my promise to you base on that by following me, you will not be in reincarnation? You yourself need to make the determination to get liberated from birth and death. If you do not make such a decision, many Dharma methods I have been practicing on will not be a bit of help or advantages to you. Even if you constantly say that I am handsome, it is of no use to you because you are not prepared to renounce reincarnation.

For that elderly gentleman I just spoke about, in the later stage of his illness, he knew distinctly in his mind that he was to pass away, so he did not think of things anymore. Do you really want to wait to make up your mind for the renunciation of reincarnation until you are so ill to be lethargic-looking, and lie in bed with much suffering? Sometimes, there is not enough time, or there being lack of such causes and conditions, to get you liberated. You need to make the decision now for this renunciation; on making it, you cannot be late even for just one second or one minute. What we do on ‘homework’ – Dharma practices – every day are to help us renounce reincarnation, and are not to help us become better, to ‘see’ one’s illness, or what ghost being behind the illness. Our practices are not for this type of thoughts.

If all of you are willing to act in this direction, in your current life, the Buddha, Bodhisattvas, Dharma protectors, and your guru will definitely protect you. What do they protect? There are some things that you can be helped by them. For example, if someone has been given wrong medicine, he or she will be protected in not taking it. Why is that? Because these protectors wish that this person will not fall into the Three Evil Realms. In this way, you will then clearly understand what knowledge or experiences you have gained from learning Buddhism after all. Otherwise, when the time comes, you will leave here and me again because I cannot fulfill your desires. In fact, I could have done that too – doing what you want; I could have just spoken sweetly to you and not forced you to walk on this path – leaving the Center and me. That would have been fine. I could have said to you, ‘If you come to attend pujas, you will have good fortune; all attendees will naturally have it; it will arise then. Come here for attending pujas.’ Will there be good fortune by participating in pujas? No, there will not be good fortune unless you have the mind of the renunciation of reincarnation. Only if you have such a mind, will you get some good fortune which is produced from pujas held. If you do not have the mind of this renunciation, no matter how you attend pujas, how you recite the Buddha’s name or sutras, or how you chant mantras, you are still an ordinary person. What is called ‘ordinary person’? It is a person who still needs to be in reincarnation.

We all hold the wish that things will be transformed by doing grand prostrations. Or, we hold the wish that if we handle a certain matter, the Buddha and Bodhisattvas will help us making things better. Actually, there is no need for such a wish. If you are willing to do things, their results will naturally be turned into what you want. It is exactly like how I get our monastery built. You do not know how many difficulties or hindrances there have been. If there had not been protection, support, and help from the Buddha and Bodhisattvas, many hindrances would have been almost impossible to overcome. This indicates that my motive of having the monastery constructed is impartial and selfless; the construction of the monastery has been for the benefits of sentient beings.

As you are Glorious Jewel disciples and are on this Dharma ship, if you do not attentively grasp the only opportunity in this life to follow the Dharma principles, this opportunity will pass once the life is over. I do not dare to say how amazing I am, but using my current methods to propagate the Dharma, I have worked very toilfully. It is truly a toilsome work because sentient beings do not wish to live with such methods. These are what sentient beings wish for: ‘If I pay homage, or make prostrations, to the Buddha, I will gain wealth, will have a good health, will get my parents not bothering me, will make my son or daughter marry well, or will get my daughter-in-law becoming a vegetarian.’ These are not mentioned in sutras; how can I teach you these then? I have learned the Dharma and no one has taught me these either. Although I understand the Jambhala and a whole lot of Dharma methods, they are not to be performed or practiced by me to fulfill these kinds of desires of yours.

Look back and think a bit, everyone. Since I started to propagate the Dharma in 1997, in this Center of mine, no matter how many people have come or gone, not counting those having passed away, to this day, there has not been a single person who died of an accident. What does this indicate? It indicates that I still protect you. I still do that even though you are worthless. Here is the key point: the net of my protection is limited. If your behaviors are beyond the scope of the Dharma, you will not be protected. I am reminding you again that if you have made the determination to renounce reincarnation, then the ‘protection umbrella’ of the Dharma will protect you – protecting you not to fall into the Three Evil Realms. Since you will not fall into them, before you pass away, there will be very few negative events happening to you in that you will not be ‘under the knife’ – under various surgeries.

Some of my disciples have gotten sick and continuously come to implore me for help. I asked them, ‘What are you imploring me for?’ You do not implore me for getting liberated from reincarnation; rather, you implore recovery from your illness. If you do not implore for being free from reincarnation, your illness will not be cured. Why is that? Because your illness has been caused by your karmic creditors. If you are liberated from reincarnation but they are not, whom will they find to get them free from it? Hence, after you are clear about the Dharma, you will not walk on a roundabout, or an unnecessarily long, path; you will not live and pass a confusing life. One’s life passes very quickly. With difficulties, I have ‘muddled along’ in my life and is now 76 years old. In the blink of an eye, again, I will be 86. Then, I will say goodbye to you and will be gone.

Now, I am telling everyone clearly that so long as I stop practicing the Dharma methods that I have been currently working on, I will be gone. I still look at things now, which I should have done in this mundane world, whether I have completed them or not. If, or when, I have, I will leave. What do I remain here for? Do I stay to look at, or watch over, you? I only have eyesight in one eye now; I cannot say that, in my mind, I am depressed or troubled. Rather, I am worried – about you. What should you do? When, one day, I am no longer around, see, what are you going to do then? Of course, you will not care about it. It is like those who left this Center and me did not mind it. However, when they are about to pass away, they will then know whether they care about it or not.

I do not hope that any of my disciples will have so much suffering before they pass away. Where does such suffering come from? You get it yourself; I do not give it to you. So, you need to make the determination to have the mind of the renunciation of reincarnation. It is exactly like what Shakyamuni Buddha instructed His own younger brother or like I am instructing you now, and the instructions are these: You are to evaluate, be cautious about, and observe what a life is; you need to make up your mind to renounce reincarnation; you should not have a mindset of fluke. Now, your decision to have the mind of this renunciation does not mean you do not handle what you should do at work. Instead, it is that in your mindset, you make such a determination. Once it is made, the Dharma will be so much simpler to learn or to practice. If you do not determine to renounce reincarnation, the Dharma will be very profound and abstruse to you as it is irrelevant to you. If you want to seek wealth or a good health, do not come here to learn Buddhism. Go to non-Buddhist religionists to implore things; that will be faster for you to get what you want. Nevertheless, non-Buddhist religions cannot help you get liberated from birth and death.”

Rinpoche led the disciples in the Dharma Protector Achi ritual. After it had been completed, Rinpoche continued the teachings.

“It is explained very distinctly in the section of dedication prayer in the Dharma text of Dharma Protector Achi ritual that the merit of our practicing this ritual is to ‘keep far away from all hindrances.’ The phrase ‘keep far away’ does not mean eliminating something. Many people think of ‘eliminating karmic hindrances’ or ‘purifying karmic hindrances.’ Like ‘eliminating’ being different from ‘keep far away,’ ‘purifying’ and ‘eliminating’ are two different things too. What does ‘purifying’ here mean? It does not mean karma becomes clean. Instead, it is that you understand all karma, hindrances, causes, and effects are Emptiness. Their essence is pure, has not been defiled, and is in the law of cause and condition. When hindrances occur, because you know that their nature is pure, you will not give rise to affliction in your mind. It is like Bodhisattvas that they have no fear; this attribute is included in this aspect just described. Nonetheless, as you have not achieved attainment in Emptiness, you can only ‘keep far away from all hindrances.’ It is that all hindrances hindering your practices or your learning of Buddhism will keep far away from you, and will not be near you. Even if they are, Dharma protectors will block them, making them be far away from you.

It is stated in this dedication prayer that ‘When I gain the wisdom of a Mother Buddha….’ This phrase does not mean you are the same as Dharma Protector Achi gaining such a wisdom. The quote refers to our wisdom and Dharma Protector Achi’s wisdom. When you have mastered your practices, and when you constantly practice the Dharma Protector Achi ritual by following its Dharma text, then one day your wisdom will be unlocked. It will be indistinguishable from Dharma Protector Achi’s wisdom. When you gain such wisdom, you will not be in the suffering of reincarnation. The meaning of this is that when your wisdom is unlocked, it is not for attaining enlightenment or for showing that you are different from other people. Rather, it is for being free from the suffering of reincarnation.

It is just like what is mentioned in sutras that how can wise people think the suffering of reincarnation is a kind of happiness? This thought of reincarnation being unhappiness is a type of wisdom. If you still consider that reincarnation, being a human, returning to this world as a human, or wanting to be a certain kind of human when coming back to this world, is happiness, you do not have wisdom then; you absolutely cannot break away from reincarnation. We are in the mundane world for a short period of 70 or 80 years. No matter how amazing, how capable, how smart, or how this or that, you are, such an attribute is the good fortune you brought with you from your practices in accumulated past lifetimes. It is not wisdom. Wisdom needs to rely on our original wisdom we possess and acquired wisdom we obtain from learning Buddhism and doing its practices. After the combination of both types of wisdom, we will then understand very surely that reincarnation is suffering.

For the purpose of not getting suffering of reincarnation, we are to ‘keep far away from all hindrances.’ What kinds of hindrance are they? Any things in the mundane world are hindrances to us. When you understand that matters are hindrances, you will not be attached to, or captivated by them, grasping them and not letting go of them. The reason that we are now in reincarnation is because of the fact that we create hindrances for ourselves. For example, the disciple just mentioned wanted his wife to live longer; was this a hindrance or not? Before these two people went to the hospital, they had been together 24 hours a day. For whatever the husband thought, his wife definitely sensed them. Then, by following his thoughts she had this thinking: ‘This is fine! I do not want to die then. Since he does not want me to die, I will not die.’ Was this not a kind of hindrance? This was her thought too: ‘He loves me so much; I need to hold on to my life no matter what. I do not want him to see me die.’ Was this a hindrance or not? Thus, there is a large part of hindrances that is created by yourself, and a small part of them had been created by you in your past lifetimes. The latter can be interpreted that because you had hindered other people in things in your prior lifetimes, then in this one, others hinder you in matters too.

What is the definition of ‘keep far away’? It does not mean a thing disappears and you cannot see or touch it. Instead, it keeps a distance from you; naturally, you will keep a distance from it too. It is precisely like me. As I am a layman, I keep a distance from many things. I do that once I know they are hindrances. Are there people who want to get close to me? Yes, certainly! There are lots of such people. Yet, you need to know keeping a distance from them. I am not saying that I do not see them, do not accept them, or just ignore them. Rather, I need to understand to keep a distance from them. This is what the phrase ‘keep far away’ means. It is not that other people will leave you on their own; it is that you yourself are to make the decision of keeping a distance from them.

Even if there are nothings that can be done now for you to solve an issue or a hindrance, as it really happens to you, you need to ‘keep far away’ from it in your mind. Do not feel attached to the thought that ‘I must get this matter changed.’ Then, you do not ‘keep far away from…. hindrances.’ This is an example of such a thought: ‘I must make prostrations to the Buddha until there is a transformation or a change of this matter.’ It is equivalent to what I did before upon my father’s passing away. I made repentance on behalf of him and made prostrations to the Buddha every day. I did not ‘tell’ the Buddha and Bodhisattvas to what extent I would surely do for my father. I only knew that making prostrations to the Buddha and making repentance on my father’s behalf will definitely help him. As I believed in the Buddha and Bodhisattvas, I made prostration to the Buddha. I did not make a premise in ‘telling’ the Buddha and Bodhisattvas this: ‘Buddha, Bodhisattvas, I make prostration every day, so you need to help me to do this or that.’ This is a hindrance. All of you behave this way.

Why is there no need to make a premise imploring for help? It is because that only the Buddha and Bodhisattvas understand distinctly how much good and negative karma we created in accumulated past lifetimes and know surely with what kinds of useful methods to help us. Such methods are absolutely not from your thoughts. It is exactly like the situation that a disciple of mine wanted her father to take refuge in me and I continuously refused her request. She must have muttered in her mind that ‘Is not taking refuge in Rinpoche a very good thing to do? Why has Rinpoche not let my father take refuge in him?’ I have my own methods and reasons doing things so long as they are beneficial to her father. If, on the contrary, taking refuge in me is a hindrance to him, I will take it away from him. You will not do that. You will preconceive your idea like this: ‘Buddha, Bodhisattvas, Rinpoche, you need to do what I want. If you cannot do it, then you are not effective, and you are not my Rinpoche either.’ This is the hindrance you set up in front of you for yourself.

The so-called belief is to believe that Buddha, Bodhisattvas, and me will certainly hep you. However, the subject of ‘when’ – when they will help you – cannot be thought of by your human brain. This is because what you can see about the matter are just what have been presented to you, and you want the matter solved immediately. Now, let us not talk about something that is so far away. Even if you want to eat a meal today, and even if you do not want to cook it, you go to a restaurant for your meal. From the time you leave your home, taking a ride to the restaurant, to the moment you sit down in it to eat the meal, it will take at least three to four hours. This is just eating a simple meal at a restaurant unless it is eating a bowl of noodles at a street food-stall. Then again, that will take at least half of an hour, right? For the issues you have, do you wish they will be gone once you have been blessed, will be solved once you have talked about it, or will be unlocked – on their confusing points – once issues have been spoken of? In sutras, this is not mentioned.

Of so many disciples of Shakyamuni Buddha, there was only one who attained enlightenment immediately right then and there when the Buddha expounded the Dharma. Who was the disciple? (The attendees replied, ‘Venerable Mahakasyapa.’) Who do you think you are that by coming here to attend pujas for a few years or 10 years, you will clearly understand all that have been taught to you? Learning Buddhism is like water from a spring. It trickles and flows unceasingly without stopping in the middle of the flow. It is not a ‘boom’ to be washed over by the water just once and its flow ceases. If you hope to get washed over only once and let the water disappear, then when it gets you in that way, you will be dead. So, learning Buddhism needs perseverance, and is utterly not for just one year’s, 10 years’, or 20 years’ learning; rather, it is a perseverant learning.

It is exactly like this question: why do you need to eat every day? Are you so perseverant about it? (Those in attendance laughed.) If you are capable of not needing to eat for a year, let me see such an event. Why are you so perseverant about eating? You shop very hard for groceries and think hard about how to cook a meal. Then you eat it but all the food comes out – through bodily waste-discharge – after a few hours. In this way, you are still very perseverant about eating. Why do you not have perseverance or patience in learning Buddhism, wishing that all your complicated and difficult issues can be solved immediately? This is precisely not believing in the Buddha and is disdaining the Three Jewels. Listen carefully. Do not walk a wrong path; do not consider that leaving this Center and me is something nonchalant. I will feel nonchalant about your leaving – what does it have to do with me? If you leave, at the later stage of your life, you will know what your problems have been.”

« Previous - Puja Teachings - Next »

Updated on May 10, 2025