His Eminence Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche’s Puja Teachings – April 9, 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.

After Rinpoche ascended the Dharma throne, he chanted the Great Six-Syllable Mantra for quite a while. With pity and compassion for the suffering of sentient beings, Rinpoche continuously chanted the mantra and blessed them with the compassion of Emptiness. His voice was deep, far-reaching, and sonorous, possessing greatly the all-embracing power. Rinpoche’s ‘noble body’ presented itself in a solemn and sacred appearance, irradiating a dazzling golden light. Many attendees felt being ‘injected’ a wave of a warm current whirling and flowing in the body, and had a feel that bodily heat and sweat emitted from their whole bodies. The performer of the Dharma ritual was attuned to the yidam. It was like what has been mentioned in the Sutra of the Questions of Bodhisattva Subahu-Kumara that a practitioner has attained accomplishment in chanting of mantras. Through compassionate blessings of Rinpoche, the attendees could not help having their tears streaming down their faces.

Then, Rinpoche bestowed precious teachings.

“Sutra: ‘Thus, you should know that being born is nothing to be happy about. One should accumulate and gather resources diligently for future lifetimes. Do not get indulged in ease. Practice the methods of pure living diligently. Do not get lazy. On the paths and deeds of benefiting, of the Dharma, of merits, and of the good in purity, practice and learn from them frequently and happily.’

In the previous and this sections, Shakyamuni Buddha spoke and warned us that we need to constantly accumulate resources of good fortune and merits ‘for future lifetimes.’ We ‘should accumulate and gather resources diligently’ and not have any indulgence in ease.

What is the definition of ‘indulgence in ease’? It means you live a life indulging in things you like. However, the opposite of it is not that you are not allowed to sleep, not given some entertainments to enjoy, or not permitted to chat with friends. It does not mean any of these. The term ‘indulgence in ease’ has two different sayings for monastics and the laity. From the perspective of a monastic and a formal practitioner, who truly practices the Bodhisattva Path, refraining from making false speech is one of the Five Precepts. The definition of not observing this precept is this: making any speeches that are irrelevant to the Dharma. Do not think that ‘I am just chatting.’ What is there to chat about ‘with the sky’? The sky is so high; how do you chat with it? Are you going to take it down to tease or make fun of it? Did you think it would have been like flirting with a girl? (Translator’s note: In Chinese, the word ‘chat’ consists of two words, ‘chat’ and ‘sky.’ That is why ‘the sky’ is spoken of here.)

Many people misunderstand about the term ‘indulgence in ease.’ What does it mean? We cannot slacken off. Do not consider, ‘Now, my learning of the Dharma is almost there. My health becomes better; many things have changed for the better. I can relax a bit.’ This is what ‘indulgence in ease’ is. Many people have started learning Buddhism because, at the beginning, they had been unlucky. At that time, how diligent they were! They have learned and learned; their karma has been cleansed a little, and their negative karma has also stopped being created. Then, they will begin to consider, ‘Ah, I have mastered the practices.’ Whether they are monastics or the laity, this kind of situations will happen to them.

There is another type of ‘indulgence in ease,’ and it is that some people feel they have not attained enlightenment no matter how much they have practiced. Then, they think that ‘I am still not clear on what I have learned. I still cannot realize the states described in sutras – I cannot reach that level of practices. Ahi! (Translator’s note: a sigh.) Whatever! Every day, I will just recite a Buddha’s name, some sutras, or chant mantras a bit, burn incense, or make some prostrations to the Buddha. That will be fine.’ This is also ‘indulgence in ease.’

I have spoken to you many times about the definition of enlightenment. It is not that you know how Buddha had achieved attainment; it is not that you know clearly about every sentence stated in sutras; it is not saying, ‘I am now very amazing in that I can fly up to the sky or go down to hells.’ Any of such a situation is not the definition of enlightenment!

The definition of enlightenment is whether you yourself are now actually an ordinary person or a saint. What does a saint mean here? It is a person who has the determination to get liberated from birth and death. If you have not made up your mind on that, what kind of enlightenment have you achieved? What are you enlightened for? The definition of enlightenment means you truly understand the suffering of reincarnation, and you really know distinctly that returning to this world is still to suffer. This is what enlightenment is. Many people feel that ‘If I continuously do sitting-in meditation – to just sit, sit, sit, sit, sit…. Oh! I will “understand my mind and see my nature!”’ Or, ‘Sitting there for a long time to become a stone, I will be enlightened!’ No, you will not be. Quite a lot of people think that ‘If I constantly recite a Buddha’s name as Amitabha, Amitabha will certainly tell me how to get to the Pure Land.’ No, this will not happen either!

So, look closely on the meanings of two Chinese words for ‘enlightenment.’ The first word refers to ‘open’ and on the second word, there are two sides with the left side showing ‘mind,’ in an upright form, and the right side being ‘I.’ The meaning of these two words combined is ‘My mind needs to be opened up,’ and only then is there a term called ‘enlightenment.’ What is a mind ‘being opened up’ for? It is for accepting the Dharma teachings of the guru, Buddhas, and Bodhisattvas. Now, on all of you, the mind has totally been closed tightly. You have sealed your mind by ‘cement’ but that is not enough; you even want to seal it with the most unbreakable thing in the world. Hence, what have been taught in sutras cannot be gotten into your mind! It is like the story shared just now by a disciple who has taken refuge in me for 15 years. This is what it means that there is no enlightenment as one’s mind is not opened up.

The Chinese characters are formed very wonderfully, and are different from those with symbols as writing forms. Chinese characters derived from hieroglyphs; therefore, every word definitely has its own meaning and connotation. For the term ‘my mind,’ it is in one word in Chinese with two sides, left and right, showing ‘mind’ and ‘I,’ respectively. Look at the right side showing ‘I.’ On top of it, there is a character, ‘five,’ and beneath the ‘five,’ there is a character, ‘mouth.’ When the two characters of ‘five’ and ‘mouth’ are combined, the result is ‘I.’ What does this mean? The Five Sense-organs – eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body – are to be ‘spoken up’ by the mouth. Many people think that enlightenment is this: ‘Ah, now I understand! So, it turned out that this was the way to do practices!’ No, this is not it! Rather, it is that whether your mind has been opened up to accept the Dharma completely without any tiny bit of doubts remaining. This is what enlightenment is!

You think all the time that ‘By listening to it, I need to understand. I want to figure it out.’ You are a human, one who is in the reincarnation’s sea of suffering. You are not a Bodhisattva or a Buddha. Then, how can you understand Dharma principles spoken of by the Buddha and Bodhisattvas? This is a very simple principle. It is like an elementary school student asking a university professor to talk about something on a college-level course; will the child comprehend it? No, the child will not! Every one of you had been in an elementary school. When you were in first grade, on the first day of the class, did you understand what your teacher said? Why did you listen to the teacher? Because you did not know the subject. You understood that ‘I do not know anything; I need to attentively listen to what the teacher teaches.’

However, contrarily, you think, ‘One will understand the Dharma by just reading the words.’ The term ‘words’ in the Dharma is an expedient Dharma method. In fact, in Zen School, there is a mention of ‘No setting up words’ eventually – the Dharma cannot be explained by spoken languages completely. Why are there no spoken languages for the Dharma? They are communication tools needed for us humans. In the Heaven Realm, the Hell Realm, and the Buddha’s and Bodhisattvas’ states of being, there are no spoken languages entirely. Shakyamuni Buddha only used such an expedient Dharma method for the purpose of letting us humans discern what He said. It is the so-called wisdom of words, meaning using spoken languages to record His experiences so as to tell us what they were. Nevertheless, your understanding of words in sutras does not indicate that you know the meanings and connotations of the Buddha’s teachings, unless you have achieved attainment in enlightenment. What has been enlightened? It is opening up your mind to accept the Dharma, and you are to do your practices unceasingly. At least you understand the Dharma.

The so-called understanding is not ‘knowing’ either. It is just that you have realized something. It is equivalent to the situation of my chanting of the Great Six-Syllable Mantra just now. Will you be able to chant the way I did? (Rinpoche named a monastic present and asked him a question.) ‘Are there differences on my chanting today? Say a bit on what you think.’ (The monastic answered, ‘I am reporting to you, Rinpoche. Today, Rinpoche chanted the mantra very powerfully and stunningly with a force of embracing the mind. Also, Rinpoche’s chanting was without totally opening his mouth but his voice was very sonorous.’) I have a good health. (Rinpoche named another monastic in the audience and told her to express her thoughts.) (Rinpoche said this to her.) You were a lead monastic before. (She replied, ‘I am reporting to you, Rinpoche. About Rinpoche’s chanting of the Great Six-Syllable Mantra today, here is my understanding of it. Rinpoche is always in the state of “mindfulness of the Buddha in the self-nature” that he gives rise to compassion from his self-nature, knowing the suffering of sentient beings in the Six Realms and the suffering of reincarnation. When Rinpoche was chanting the Great Six-Syllable Mantra, it seemed that I continuously felt very sorrowful in my mind; it was like I felt the sorrow too of knowing the suffering of reincarnation of sentient beings in the Six Realms. What I felt about Rinpoche’s chanting was a little like the way that I just described. Tears almost sprang to my eyes.’ (Rinpoche asked her a question.) Did your tears spring to your eyes because you said ‘almost’? (She answered, ‘No, I was not in tears because I am quite hard-hearted.)

As I am the same Rinpoche, why is there a difference in my chanting of mantras each time? It is not that my performances of them are different. Rather, it is from the law of cause and condition. Today, the minds of attendees who came for this puja are purer; my responses are thusly different. It is termed ‘the path of response-interaction.’ Buddhas and Bodhisattvas response to sentient beings’ minds. Whatever sentient beings’ minds are, the force of capability appeared in Buddhas and Bodhisattvas will be different. Such a force is produced because of sentient beings. If you do not believe in the Dharma, the force of capability of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas will not come forth. If you believe in the Dharma, especially like today when you hold high esteem of it in the mind, Buddhas’ and Bodhisattvas’ self-nature and their compassion of Emptiness will arise. These are their responses to sentient beings’ minds. That was why my chanting of the mantra just now was different – it was not because that I was amazing.

Why do you need to participate in pujas? It is because when you attend pujas, I – your guru – with my power of compassion, respond to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and let them bless me; in turn I bless you. Earlier, in a sutra of entering a womb, the subject of monthly karma-winds of our birth has been constantly mentioned. What do karma-winds represent? They are good and negative karma you brought forth through lifetime after lifetime. This kind of karma cannot be eliminated by relying on usual recitation of sutras.

Now, whether you perform penitential rites or make repentances, you only eliminate your external hindrances. What is called an ‘external hindrance’? It is a hindrance given to you by your family members or a hindrance by your eating meats. Nonetheless, for those real karma-winds or ‘qi’ – the flow of energy – of karma, you cannot eliminate them. Why not? Because they are innate in you; they always follow you. For whatever number of years you live, the karma-winds follow you for that number of years. Thus, these karma-winds will hinder and disturb you inside your body. Only Tantra and mantras can instantly get such karma-winds stopped being ‘flowed,’ and only then can you realize your pure, original essence.

So, when I chant mantras, you will say, ‘Ah! My mind is so calm!’ Why is your mind not calm in normal times? It is not because you are at home or at wherever you are. Rather, the reason that you are not calm is because the karma-winds in your body move; they have never stopped moving. In 24 hours a day, such karma-winds move every 0.001 second. While you sleep, they still move. Otherwise, you will not have dreams. Where do dreams come from? They are from the moving karma-winds in your body. What do such winds contain? They contain greed, hatred, ignorance, arrogance, and doubt. Why is it difficult to get humans liberated from birth and death? Because humans had brought their karma-winds with them since birth. Hence, Shakyamuni Buddha went out of His way to instruct this to us: ‘Do not be in “indulgence in ease,” absolutely!’

Do not think, ‘Today, I have recited the Buddha’s name or sutras or chanted mantras 10,000 times. I have been practicing very diligently recently. Now, I should be able to slacken my practices a bit.’ When you say ‘slacken,’ you are to indulge in ease. When you say, ‘It is all right if I do not recite the Buddha’s name or sutras or chant mantras for a few days. I am very tired; I am not in good mood either….I will recite or chant again in a few days.’ This shows that you are in the state of ‘indulgence in ease’ too.

There is a phrase ‘deeds of the good in purity.’ What does ‘purity’ here mean? It means there is no ‘self’ in all deeds in the Dharma. Every mantra, every act of paying obeisance to the Buddha, including burning an incense or lighting a lamp as making an offering to the Buddha, and other acts are all for helping sentient beings. These deeds are good and pure without any things that are not good mixing in. Because you act on deeds of ‘the good in purity,’ the fruition level you attain will be one with ‘the good in purity.’ If you mix other things in these deeds, like a thought that ‘I make my dedication to my daughter-in-law so as to definitely get her becoming a vegetarian,’ the deeds are not ‘the good in purity.’ Then, what will the result be? You will still ‘walk’ in the Six Realms.

To do deeds of ‘the good in purity,’ you need to unceasingly tell, or train, yourself about them. Do not consider that ‘I have not made dedication to my son yet today. What should I do?’ When you have such a thought, it is not the deed of ‘the good in purity.’ However, if you treat anyone of your family members as one of sentient beings too, that will be fine. Therefore, I often teach you to make dedications to all sentient beings in the ten directions of the Dharma Realm; that will include all your family members then. You do not make dedications to a particular person or a situation unless you have attained the fruition level of a Rinpoche. Then you can make a point of selecting someone and saying ‘I will then bless him or her.’ Otherwise, you do not have this kind of ability to bless a particular person.

Of course, there are many such types of stories, like someone saying that ‘I recite the Buddha’s name or sutras or chant mantras every day, and he becomes better.’ Nevertheless, you do not know why he gets better. So, ‘the good in purity’ is mentioned here that the motives of our acts are very important. What is the motive of our attending pujas? If it is for fulfilling some of your own desires, it is not the deed of ‘the good in purity.’ If the deed is not that, when you attain a certain fruition in the future, that fruition is not one with ‘the good in purity’ either. There must be surely some things mixed in the fruition.

Some people will have hindrances in the processes of their practices. For example, there is a story mentioned in sutras. Shakyamuni Buddha and Amitabha were practitioners who appeared and taught the Dharma in the same era. Shakyamuni Buddha liked to expound profound Dharma, as in Emptiness; Amitabha expounded the general or the most basic subjects of the Dharma which sentient beings needed. Hence, Shakyamuni Buddha felt that Amitabha’s practices were inferior to His own practices. Both of them were doing the same thing that they liberated sentient beings from birth and death! Because Shakyamuni Buddha had given rise to this thought, He attained Buddhahood in the Saha World (this solar system) in that lifetime. Amitabha attained Buddhahood in the World of Utmost Bliss, a world created by himself. This difference derived from just one thought. Shakyamuni Buddha compared Himself with Amitabha and considered that ‘My thoughts are profound and I am very knowledgeable. You have liberated those people of ‘proletariat’ – the laboring class. Is that useful? I have specialized in liberating those with high wisdom.’ This was exactly what had occurred.

Thus, when Shakyamuni Buddha attained the fruition of a Buddha, ‘the good’ in Him still had something mixing in. Therefore, we all know that there are a whole lot of troubles on the earth. When we read sutras, we notice that Shakyamuni Buddha did not say, ‘You are to be born in my pure land.’ Did He say that? No, He did not. Why not? It was because He liberated those suffering sentient beings who were in the world of suffering by saying this to them, ‘Just go! Go! Go!’ Would He still have called you back to this world? In sutras, there are no mentions that Shakyamuni Buddha spoke of this: ‘I have a pure land. Come to my pure land.’ Did He have a pure land? He certainly had it. Yet, why did He not exhort us to ‘go’ there and be at His side? It is not mentioned in sutras. Is it? (A monastic present answered, ‘No, I have not read it.’) You – and we – have not read it. Is it not something very strange?

From the perspective of people of the mundane world, Shakyamuni Buddha was the head of a religious sect – the Dharma – on Earth. The head of such a sect should have been getting all his disciples and family members to go to his place! Shakyamuni Buddha did not say that. He just told us to go to the Land of Amitabha, the land of Immovable Buddha, or the land of Medicine Buddha. It was strange that He did not say, ‘Come to my land, the land of Shakyamuni Buddha.’ Then again, there are two things we can see here. He was so great. He did not think that ‘As I am a Buddha, you are surely to become my disciples; you definitely need to be my family members.’ He also conveyed this thought to us: ‘I have come to this world just to help you leave this sea of suffering so that you do not need to reincarnate again. I will tell you all the good pure-lands of Buddhas. You are to go there then!’ He is a very great Buddha. So, those people who do not listen to what Shakyamuni Buddha said are really awful people. You cannot be arrogant! It is like that there is one line in a mantra shown in the Dharma text that I practice every day. In this line, it is said that ‘hoping the arrogance in the mind does not arise, absolutely.’ The reason that this phrase is mentioned is that this is a very vigorous Dharma method to practice. Why is there this line in the mantra? It is because of the fear that you may become arrogant by practicing this method. If you become arrogant, you will go to the Asura Realm. With just a little arrogance, you will be there.

Shakyamuni Buddha continuously exhorted us that ‘Humans on Earth, you need to listen.’ He had not been selfish, and He did not expound the Dharma for His own benefits. The land that Shravasti is on is very beautiful, just as described in sutras, and is flat as a palm. There are no hills or stones; the land is flat. Shakyamuni Buddha did not tell people this: ‘Come back to this world to be people of Shravasti.’ He did not say that! It was unlike in Taiwan that there is a saying here telling people that ‘You are to return to this world and be a member of so-and-so religious organization.’ There are no such mentions in sutras!

What did the Buddha say? He warned and exhorted His younger brother that ‘You need to evaluate, be cautious about, and observe clearly, the reincarnation’s sea of suffering. You need to make the determination to renounce reincarnation.’ Shakyamuni Buddha possessed great supernatural powers so He could have created a pure land for His brother to live in! The Buddha had been able to take His brother to heavens and hells to view the situations there. Then, could He have gotten a pure land to be seen by His brother or not? Yes, He could have, absolutely. Why had He not done it? Because, through His brother, the Buddha told us that ‘Earth is not a place worthwhile for us to be attached to.’ We have come to this life and it is for us to have an opportunity to learn and practice Buddhism, and to be liberated from birth and death. All things that have happened to us in this life, like having family members around us, working on our career or businesses, or suffering illnesses and pain, had occurred before and been brought forth by us. These are just from the law of cause and condition. When these causes and conditions come to their end, they cease to exist. There is nothing worthwhile in this world for us to remain for; we have nothing to leave in it. This world will be destroyed; it will not exist eternally. Even if a few dozen trillion years have passed, the world will still be destroyed. If you are born inadvertently here at the time of this destruction, it will be abominable for you.

If we think about what have been mentioned in sutras, we will notice that at the later stage of the existence of the earth, things occur in it are very miserable. They have now started happening. Why is temperature getting higher and higher? It has begun showing the change. Why is water scarcer and scarcer? Its deficiency has started happening. In the United States, there are strong winds prevailing and some strange hurricanes appearing. They have begun occurring. These instances are just the beginning. We hope that within these few hundred years, Tantra can constantly pass unimpededly, and we always have good fortune to help humans, making the coming of time on Earth-destruction slow down a bit. Before that destruction comes, whatever number of humans who can be liberated to leave the earth, we will help those humans leave. So, we cannot be indulgent in ease.

If Shakyamuni Buddha thought that Earth was a good place to live in, He would have told us, ‘Come to Earth! I, Shakyamuni Buddha, will return to Earth. Come!’ He did not say that! He never mentioned that. Hence, to what has been said by two lovers in romance novels or movies that ‘We will come back to this world to be husband and wife,’ I say ‘peh peh peh’ – what a nonsense! Perhaps when they return to this world, one lover becomes the son of the other lover, and the latter becomes a husband. These things happen!

All the things that have happened to us in this life are good and negative karma we created in accumulated past lifetimes. As this past karma has become manifest in this life, we just live through it then! After this life is over, we do not want our next one being in the same way! That is why the Buddha exhorted us to energetically accumulate our resources; we are to do it unceasingly without stop.

The phrase ‘practice and learn…. frequently and happily’ means you need to practice Dharma methods and learn the Dharma eternally and happily. Do not treat them as a type of suffering. Why did some of my disciples leave this Center and me? Because they felt the learning process was very painful. They thought, ‘Rinpoche scolds people; Rinpoche gives us pressure; Rinpoche wants us to do this thing, that thing, and so forth.’ They had such thinking because they were not happy about doing practices. Why were they unhappy? Because they were delighted in things on mundane path, but not in the supramundane. They requested me to do all mundane things for them so as to fulfill their desires. How could that have been possible? If that could have been, Shakyamuni Buddha would have fulfilled His brother’s wishes first.

Was the Buddha’s brother not like you? He loved his wife, his wealth, and his position. Shakyamuni Buddha kept on exhibiting His supernatural powers to block His brother returning to his prior life. It was a good thing for him that he had root capacity to remain. What about you? No matter how I block you to leave, you will still run away from here. You do not have such a root capacity. I have blocked you with many things! My scolding you is blocking you. As a punishment to me, I have refused to accept the offerings you made to me – that has been blocking you too! Some people say, ‘That is very good. It saves me a lot of money then.’ Some people say, ‘That is very good. Then, I can get together more often with my family members first. When I have time later, I will implore him anew for learning Buddhism.’ You all have acted like these!

When we listen to sutras being expounded, we should not treat the contents as stories, or stories about Shakyamuni Buddha. No, what are stated in sutras are not stories! The Buddha used His brother as an example to describe the brother’s experiences to us because he was a layman. Was he not? He had status or position, and his wife was incredibly beautiful. She even instructed him, ‘You need to come back.’ He replied, ‘Okay, I will. If I do not return, you can give me a fine as a punishment to me.’ This kind of conversation was the same as we usually say nowadays. Many husbands will treat their wives the same way. A wife says to her husband, ‘Come back earlier tonight! Do not stay out for too long and return too late.’ Then the husband will answer, ‘All right, all right! If I come back after midnight, I will buy you a one-carat diamond as a gift.’ Is this talk not the same? My disciples do not have such conversations though.

It is the same! Is it not? Was the event occurred a little over 2,000 years ago not the same as what happens today? Here is another example of what a husband will say to his wife. ‘Ah! My dear, do not be angry. I have to go out to socialize. If I do not, I will not have business deals. After I get back, I will buy something for you as a gift.’ Is this not the same? The only difference is that nowadays, men use the words ‘doing businesses’ as a method to make the reasons of their going-out confusing or unclear to their wives. There was something good about the wife of the Buddha’s brother. She knew that Shakyamuni Buddha was a Buddha, a saint. She was then still soft-hearted, thinking, ‘It is all right! I will let my husband go because there will certainly be advantages for him if he goes. As long as he is willing to come back, it will be fine.’ In the later part of the sutra, did Shakyamuni Buddha say that His sister-in-law went to see Him and cried about His brother – her husband – not returning home? Did she sue the Buddha?

If, today, I had done the same thing as what the Buddha did to His brother, reporters would have come and waited at my door the next day to make news. The report would have been this: ‘Destroying families. Ruining some families’ children…..this thing, that thing, and so forth.’ Thus, it is not easy to propagate the Dharma in the Age of Dharma Decline. Shakyamuni Buddha demonstrated to us the way He did it, and His brother also showed us how he reacted on and accepted it. In the end, why did the Buddha speak so clearly in a sutra of entering a womb? He distinctly told you that after your birth and in decades of your life, there have been delight, happiness, the negative, sorrow, and suffering for you. Who give these to you? It is you – your karma has brought them forth with you. Why are siblings in the same family different, like having ‘black’ or ‘white’ personality or habits? Because such differences have also been carried forward by your own karma.

Only after we have listened to the Buddha’s teachings, can we have courage or bravery to face our lives. It is not to push our problems to the Buddha and Bodhisattvas, saying, ‘Buddha and Bodhisattvas, please save me! Do not let me continue to suffer; I will then learn Buddhism diligently.’ Did you think that the Buddha and Bodhisattvas lacked one disciple? I have told you so many times that when I was at the most painful period of my life with no money for food, I did not even implore Buddha and Bodhisattvas for helping me by saying, ‘Buddha and Bodhisattvas, give me money to buy food so that I will have physical strength to do grand prostrations.’ I have also told you many times that when I did grand prostrations, I had no money to pay electricity bills. What is the indoor temperature in the summer in Taiwan? Although at that time it was not so hot as it is now, if there was no air conditioner or an electrical fan turned on, the indoor temperature was at least 40° Celsius.

Could you bear it? I did prostrations as usual. The blue carpet which I did prostrations on turned the color from blue to white. How did that happen? It happened because my sweat exuded on the carpet. That was why I cannot gain weight now as I lost it at that time! I did not turn the air conditioner on because I knew if I did, I would not have money to pay electricity bills. I cut off all things connected to the air conditioner; I dared not turn it on. When the heat became unbearable, I would open the window to get my head out, catching some breeze, and then get the head back in. People thought I was going to jump from the building. This was how I endured my hardship! I did not burn incense and implore for this: ‘Buddha and Bodhisattvas, I implore you for your help! Please truly help me pass this stage of my practices. If I fail, I do not know how to do my practices.’ I did not implore the Buddha and Bodhisattvas for help!

I am grateful to the Buddha and Bodhisattvas for giving me this opportunity to repay my debts! Why was I in poverty suddenly in a period of this life? Because I was reluctant, and stingy, to make offerings in past lifetimes. I was like some of you now, who wait slowly to make offerings. Then, in one of your future lifetimes, you will be in such a situation of being poor. Who do you think having harmed you into poverty? It is you yourself because you were reluctant to make offerings in one past lifetime; after you made them, you regretted what you did. Also, when others had made offerings, you still watched the situations from the side, thinking, ‘Oh, have all of them done it? I am the only one remaining. All right! I will make an offering too.’

Therefore, I was very joyful. When I was in poverty, those days were the most delightful days for me; there was no one bothering me. What was the first thing I did when I became poor? I cut up my checks and credit cards. How about you? You will quickly use your credit cards, incurring additional debt by interest charge on unpaid credit-card balances. If it does not work, you will think of other ways. I did not do those things; I ended once on my former spending habits then. Of course, you have not had so much hardship as I had. Do not learn the ways I suffered either. This is just to tell you that the appearance of a practitioner is absolutely not what you have imagined that he or she is eloquent. Such a practitioner must have gone through much suffering which you cannot endure.

It is mentioned here that one cannot be indulgent in ease. This includes the time when you suffer; you will then slacken. You think that ‘I have made prostrations many times but things have still been the same. The Buddha and Bodhisattvas are not veracious and efficacious. I will stop doing prostrations.’ Or, ‘No matter how I have made prostrations, the Buddha and Bodhisattvas do not listen to me.’ These are also examples of ‘indulgence in ease.’ Monastics also give such a thought a try: ‘I have made many prostrations but I am still the same. I have not attained enlightenment yet; I still have not seen the Buddha. Forget it. I will not do prostrations tomorrow. I will sleep first.’ This is ‘indulgence in ease.’

What will happen if you indulge in ease? The ‘qi’ of karma inside your body and external karma outside your body will ‘come and call on you’ very quickly. So, Shakyamuni Buddha went out of His way to instruct us not to get indulging in ease and to ‘practice and learn…. frequently and happily.’ You are to be joyful every day. Do not feel that there is seemingly something hard for you to do today with this kind of thinking, ‘Ah! I have to do it. If I do not, I will be punished.’ You should be very happy to do it. I am going to tell you this. I am 76 years old now. I do my practices for about a little over two hours or three hours every day. My hours of practices of ‘a little over two hours or three hours’ is equivalent to your hours of practices of five or six hours.

Sutra: ‘Observe two types of one’s own karma – good and negative karma – eternally. Bind this exhortation in the mind.’

Shakyamuni Buddha made a point of instructing us this: ‘Observe….one’s own….eternally.’ It is to observe oneself eternally and not to look at others’ karma. What does the phrase ‘two types of one’s own karma – good and negative karma’ mean? It means you are to see clearly on deeds of the good and of the negative you have done; can you distinguish them? At many times, your mind has done ‘mischiefs,’ and they keep on accumulating to a certain extent. Then you will think, ‘I might as well leave.’ This is what happens if you do not observe yourself. Before, I have taught you that before you go to bed, think of what you had done on that day; on those things done, what acts were for the good, and what acts were for the negative. On the latter – the negative acts – do not do them again on the following day. How many of you have done such a self-review? There is none.

The Dharma I have expounded is not invented by me. It is mentioned here ‘Observe….eternally,’ which means observing oneself perpetually. You feel that ‘No! I have not done anything bad today! The things I did today were all the same as before, like being at work, riding in a vehicle, eating meals, or sleeping.’ If you are asked what things you have already done, you will say, ‘No, there is nothing.’ Then, it is also distinctly mentioned about thoughts, words, and actions. If all things you have done are for your own benefits, then those things are not ‘deeds of the good in purity.’ If they are not ‘the good in purity,’ they are deeds of the negative. Do you still need to kill someone with a knife to call that act negative? Do you still need to defraud people on their money to consider that fraud being negative? The act of not clearly understanding what things I do is also the negative!

Shakyamuni Buddha taught us that ‘Observe two types of one’s own karma – good and negative karma – eternally. Bind this exhortation in the mind.’ The word ‘bind’ is ‘to tie.’ For these two things, you cannot slacken or indulge in ease. The term ‘indulgence in ease’ is included in this quote in that the mind is not bound to what has been exhorted. People have this thought: ‘I scolded someone with a few words today. Will anything happen then? No, there will not be. At most, I only scolded him a bit. It is nothing.’ This is exactly not believing in the teaching of harsh speeches producing negative effects. Or, people think that ‘Is it all right if I just scold him in my mind?’ No, it is not. Every thought generated is either the good or the negative; there is more of the negative than the good though. Hence, Shakyamuni Buddha instructed us to ‘Bind this exhortation in the mind,’ remembering it in our minds that actually, how many deeds of the good, and of the negative, that you have done today. I have already taught you how to do this; have you practice it yet? Every day, you handle things to exhaustion, seemingly to have truly done some things. Then you will lie in bed, falling asleep in two minutes, and then start snoring. Have you contemplated things? No, you have not! When you have issues, you seek my help, giving me troubles again.

Sutra: ‘Do not give rise to great regret later.’

Do not do things before you understand surely their situations and ‘give rise to great regret later’ for yourself, absolutely. All of you have done this kind of thing: ‘If I had known….I would not have said that.’ Or, ‘If I had known….I would not have done that.’ Or, ‘If I had known….I would not have gone there.’ Or, ‘If I had known….I would not have….’ This is something you need to train yourself how not to have such an occasion happening; it is not a matter that the Buddha, Bodhisattvas, or your guru can help you to cope with. You do need to train yourself. As long as you have a thought of dislike arisen, it is the negative. So long as your guru points out something you have done wrong and there being your immediate talking-back, that is the negative. Why do you talk back to your guru? Because you have a very strong self-view. You feel, ‘Where did I go wrong? You pointed me out for things I did but they were not done wrong. Why can I not talk you back?’ Once you do that, the negative appears – the thought of hatred arises. Also, I have already told you many times how His Holiness ‘fixed’ me and how he deliberately scolded me. Even though I was not involved in things that had been done wrong by others, he would still scold me just the same. If it were you, you would have run off from here to wherever long ago. This is how ‘two types of one’s own karma – good and negative karma’ do not ‘Bind this exhortation in the mind.’

When you took refuge in me, it was said that if you get angry at your guru, you will not receive the guru’s blessings. Have you forgotten it? You will feel that ‘I was not angry!’ If you still think that your talking back to the guru does not indicate that you are angry with him, then what is called ‘being angry’? Think back on it during your childhood. You talked back to your parents when they said something that you were not pleased to hear. What was the result? You would be either beaten up or scolded by them. When you were in schools, if you talked back to your teachers in classes as you felt unhappy about the teachings, what would happen? You would be instructed to remain after the classes ended so as to be punished. Then, why can you talk back to your guru? This is precisely what it has been mentioned earlier in the Ratnakuta Sutra about not listening to the guru’s teachings. The guru does not need your esteem, but he needs your respect to the Dharma he has expounded. Maybe you consider this: ‘The guru does not expound the Dharma; he only speaks of mundane matters to me.’ It is like my saying that this vase is not to be put here on the mandala. You will think that ‘This is not about the Dharma; what relevance does that have to the Dharma?’

Every day – for 24 hours a day – I live in the Dharma principles. It is you who distinguish between Dharma-matters and non-Dharma matters. I do not make any such differences. You think that I am a Rinpoche only when I ascend the Dharma throne, and I am not a Rinpoche when I descend it. In the Dharma Realm, whether I ascend a Dharma throne or descend it, I am always a Rinpoche. Only you, the ‘clever’ people, deem that after I descend the Dharma throne, I am an ordinary person, and only after I ascend it, I am a Rinpoche. If I am not a Rinpoche when I descend the Dharma throne, then, I am not a Rinpoche either when I ascend it. Why? It is because that if I do not handle things that are done by a Rinpoche after I descend the Dharma throne, will I still be a Rinpoche while ascending it? All these distinctions are made by you. That is why you will talk back to me naturally, and your own thoughts appear in the same manner too.

Sutra: ‘On all things that bring affectionate happiness, they are to be parted with.’

It is mentioned very clearly in this quote that all things you love or something that you feel being the happiest thing for you ‘are to be parted with.’ The phrase ‘to be parted with’ does not mean you are to stop doing things now, to get a divorce or to sleep in a separate bed from your wife. Rather, it refers to parting things in your mind. The meaning of the quote is that you are not to be attached to a certain thing, not letting it go. You know distinctly that it is only a process in life, and any things you love or feel happy about will not help you become liberated from birth and death. Thus, when you consider that you will get married first before learning Buddhism, and so on, all such things are what you love.

Can you not learn Buddhism without getting married? You think you need to find a husband who will listen to you and allow you to learn Buddhism; then once you find him, you will come back here to implore me for the Dharma. This is something you love. However, this group of monastics here are not married; how have they been learning Buddhism? On these subtle things, people do not find that they have issues and still discern, ‘Where did I go wrong? I was not wrong! I am a layman.’ You consider that your wife loves you, and takes care of your father, very much; so, you owe her. This is affectionate happiness. Why do you not say that you owe the Buddha, Bodhisattvas, and me?

Do not take this quote out of context, thinking that it is to get you not to keep what you love or to part with things. It is not saying that you are to act now what is mentioned in the quote. Rather, you need to train yourself. Whether or not you have a thing you love the most or things making you feel happy and enjoyable is quite all right. This is because when you are about to die, all such things about love, happiness, and suffering will hinder you. It is like what is shown in this last verse of the Prayer of Four Immeasurables: ‘desires, hatred, and attachments, abandoning them equally,’ meaning ‘the things I love and hate the most, which are attached – dwelled – in the mind, are abandoned with an indiscriminating mind.’ What does ‘abandoning’ here mean? It means not to attach to, or grasp, something; if it comes, that is very good, and if not, that is very good too. If the thing gets away, it is also very good. There will be no regrets, no remembrances of the past, no yearnings for the future. It is exactly this saying: ‘keep calm no matter what happens and live by adapting to each rising condition.’

Do not think that once you obtain a position in a company, you can continuously dream about what your future will be. In the past, before I learned Buddhism, I was like you that I would dream. When I saw some marriageable women I liked, I would dream too. This was normal because I had not learned Buddhism yet. Now, you have taken refuge as a Buddhist to learn Buddhism. Regardless of how old you are, if you are in preparation now to get married, I do not object, nor does the Buddha. Nevertheless, you need to understand that this is just a case of cause and condition in your life; that is all. It is not so serious like a matter of ‘hovering between life and death’ I always remind all of you that if you are young and are learning Buddhism, do your best to find someone who is learning Buddhism as a marriageable person for you to start a relationship. Do not seek someone who is a non-Buddhist religionist. The reason is very simple. When a man and a woman are having a relationship, if they have different lifestyles, habits, or thoughts, and if you are in such a relationship, will you be all right?

Why will the person who has been learning Buddhism find someone who does not learn it? Because the former has a mind of strong desires. Then again, a karmic creditor of this person has appeared – someone who loves this person appears. When that happens, these two people will love each other to the extent of ‘hovering between life and death.’ The word ‘death’ here refers to the fact that they really die – the Dharma dies in their minds; the expression of ‘life’ means they live but then they go to the Hell Realm. Therefore, for you, the young people, if you have already been learning Buddhism and taken refuge in me, and if you consider someone is marriageable, and you like or love that person very much, you need to see surely whether that person can learn Buddhism or not.

You discern that the other person will listen to you, and if he or she will not, you plan to divorce the person later. It turns out that when the time comes, that person divorces you. Many people make this mistake, thinking that they can change the other person. How? You have already gone to bed with each other; how are you still going to change him or her? Before going to bed together, you could have negotiated about the terms! You could have signed a contract! You could have said, ‘You want to go to bed with me. That is fine! Nonetheless, in this life, you need to be a vegetarian! You must take refuge as a Buddhist; you need to make prostrations to the Buddha or do grand prostrations for this number of times every day. Otherwise, I will not go to bed with you!’ Yet, here comes the problem. You cannot put your desires on hold – you cannot help yourselves!

It is just like that many people quarrel with their spouses to the extent of wanting to get a divorce. They have come to ask my advice about it. I often say to them, ‘What do you ask me for? Before two of you went to bed with each other, had you asked me if it was all right to do it? You did not! Why should I be responsible for your marriage then? I have no opinions about it to give you.’ Hence, for those disciples who have already been learning Buddhism and taken refuge in me, if you have married a marriageable person who does not learn Buddhism, after issues occur between you and your husband or wife, do not come to me crying for help! It is because I have already told you in advance that there will be problems appearing, unless it is a very special case. However, even if it is, and if your wife is constantly unwilling to come to learn the Dharma, that is your karma! You will be unable to imitate what I had done. I can give up everything just to learn Buddhism. Do not follow my example, absolutely. If you do, there will be too many Rinpoches – that is not good. (The attendees laughed.)

Sutra: ‘Following good and negative karma and going towards future lifetimes.’

The phrase ‘future lifetimes’ here refers to what you have done in this life on the good and the negative will be enjoyed or taken on in your next lifetime. Thus, if you think that things you love or be happy about in this life will certainly be brought to the next lifetime, then you are wrong; do not be superstitious. In the past, when some Chinese emperors died, all their most favorite things were buried with them; the emperors thought that they could use those things in their next lifetime. This quote breaks such a superstition away. What you will take with you when you pass away are just good and negative karma you have created in this lifetime. The things will not be what you love or enjoy while being alive; you cannot take them with you to your next lifetime.

Sutra: ‘Nanda, there are 10 stages of a lifespan of 100 years. The beginning of the stages is for infants, lying in swaddling clothes. The second stage is childhood with children playing things happily. The third stage is for adolescents, getting desirable and delightful things. The fourth stage is young adulthood with young people in vigor, health, and strength. The fifth stage is the prime of life and one is with wisdom for talks and discussions. The sixth stage is for accomplishment that one is able to be good at thinking and be skillful in planning and strategizing. The seventh stage is one’s gradual decline and knowing well on methods and ways. The eighth stage is aging with things being feeble and weak. The nineth stage is extremely old age, and in such a condition, nothing can be done. The tenth stage is the reach of 100 years of life and should be the stage of one’s death.’

A human’s lifespan is 100 years, and it is divided into 10 stages. The first stage is when one is a baby, it is held in the arms of the parents or lies in bed. The second stage is when one is a child and is very happy, playing children’s games all the time. The third stage is adolescence when adolescents feel many desires and delights; it is so-called a development or growing period. The fourth stage is when one is at the period of youth with vigor and vitality. The fifth stage is adulthood when one begins to have wisdom, talking and discussing things with others. Nevertheless, people do not have such wisdom nowadays because they use cell phones to communicate. So, it is ‘wisdom of cell phones.’ The sixth stage is the period that one considers he or she has learned many things, starting to think about them, and make plans and strategies to gain advantages for oneself. The seventh stage begins after adulthood that one is in ‘gradual decline,’ and the methods of the good also appear gradually. The eighth stage is that one starts the aging and becomes feeble with physical ability for movements weakened. The nineth stage is very old age to the extent that one cannot do any things and needs to be taken care of by others. ‘The tenth stage is the reach of 100 years of life,’ and it should be the time for one to die.

Sutra: ‘Nanda, a synopsis of major stages of a lifespan has been briefly mentioned in such a way. Calculating four months being equal to one season, there are 300 seasons in 100 years with spring, summer, and winter having 100 seasons each.’

In His teachings, Shakyamuni Buddha divided a life into ten stages very sketchily. He just spoke of them very simply.

Here, approximately, we count four months as one season or one cycle. ‘There are 300 seasons in 100 years.’ Last time in His prior teachings, He also mentioned that there was no autumn in India where there being only spring, summer, and winter. What He meant was that spring, summer, and winter there had ‘100 seasons each’ in 100 years.

Sutra: ‘One year consists of 12 months, totaling 1,200 months. If half-month is counted as a unit, there are a total of 2,400 half-months. In that total, the three seasons have 800 half-months each. The total number of days and nights is 36,000.’

There are 12 months in one year. So, in total, there are 1,200 months. ‘If half-month is counted as a unit, there are a total of 2,400 half-months.’ For the three seasons, each has 800 half-months. Then, there are a total of 36,000 days and nights.

Sutra: ‘Eating occurs twice a day. There are a total of 72,000 meals to eat. Although there are affinities which prevent eating, these occasions are also included in this number.’

Eating happens twice a day, totaling 72,000 times to eat. Even if there are affinities that make eating not occur, ‘these occasions are also included in this number.’ The examples are such people being in certain occasions: who are not practitioners, who are on fast, who are on a diet, who are angry with their husbands, or who, at the time of childhood, got angry with their mothers. All these happenings are included in that number of 72,000. Despite non-eating of this particular meal, you will add another one to eat in a few days. Have you done that? These things have almost occurred. If a woman quarrels with her boyfriend, she will say, ‘I will not eat today. By the way, I can lose weight.’

Sutra: ‘On the affinities of non-eating, there are so-called being hateful, encountering suffering, asking or seeking for food, perhaps, but not obtaining it. The non-eating affinities also occur in sleeping, observing precept of fast, playing games, handling matters. There is such a number, totaling the combined eating and non-eating occasions, and this number also includes the drinking of a mother’s milk. On a lifespan of 100 years, I have already spoken of it completely.’

The phrase ‘non-eating….being hateful’ proves what I said was right. When a person quarrels with a boyfriend or a girlfriend, the person will not eat. Some people fast for maintaining some ideals, like protesting against injustice in ancient times. On ‘non-eating….encountering suffering,’ it refers to situations that when people are in suffering, they do not eat either. On ‘non-eating…. asking or seeking for food, perhaps, but not obtaining it,’ it means maybe a person has asked or sought for food but it cannot be obtained. There is a mention in the quote that ‘the non-eating affinities also occur in sleeping, observing precept of fast, playing games.’ Perhaps people do not eat in afternoon while sleeping at that time, and if they play too many games, they do not eat either. The words ‘non-eating…. handling matters’ mean there have been too many things to take care of that meals are skipped. The phrase ‘there is such a number, totaling the combined eating and non-eating occasions.’ This means combining these occasions together, there is a number for the total, and such a number does not vary much. The quote continues as ‘….and this number also includes the drinking of a mother’s milk. On a lifespan of 100 years, I have already spoken of it completely.’ This part explains that drinking a mother’s milk is in the range of eating-occasions as well, and states the Buddha’s words that ‘On a lifespan of 100 years, I have already spoken of it to you in general outline.’

Sutra: ‘On the numbers of years, months, days, nights, and things to eat and drink, you should give rise to aversion in your mind.’

‘On the numbers of years, months, days, nights, and things to eat and drink, you should give rise to’ thoughts of aversion. How is this explained? When you are 29 and a half, you will be 30 in six months. If you think, ‘Ahi! (Translator’s note: a sigh.) I am old,’ you should have a feeling of aversion towards that thought. Many women say this, ‘Do not say I am 30 years old; I am only 29 and a half.’ Nowadays, men are like this too. They say, ‘I am not 45; I am 43 and a half.’

The phrase ‘the numbers of ….things to eat and drink,’ refers to the numbers of things we eat. Honestly speaking, eating is really very troublesome. We need to go grocery shopping, and think about what kinds of groceries to buy, how to cook them, or how to eat them. After eating them, we need to wash dishes, and then rid of the food from our bodily system by the discharge of stool. In the Land of Amitabha, there are no such matters to deal with. It is stated in sutras that in that land – a pure land – as long as you want to eat, food will emerge; bowls, chopsticks, and plates are all made of gold, and all the food you want to eat is in them. Once you are done eating or do not want to eat anymore, all those things disappear, and nothing needs to be washed. Therefore, those who averse washing dishes should definitely implore for going to the Land of Amitabha. People who dislike cooking or have been forced to cook by their husbands every day, certainly need to be born there. Then, there will be no need to do such things.

Sutra: ‘Nanda, in such ways, one is born and grows up with many illnesses in the body. They are illnesses of head, eyes, ears, nose, tongue, teeth, throat, chest, abdomen, hands, feet, skin-disease, madness, edema, coughing, “wind and yellow,” or inflammation of internal organs. There are many illnesses from malaria and the suffering of joints.’

The Buddha almost spoke of all human illnesses. He said, ‘Nanda, if you can be born and grow up, you will surely have many illnesses in the body.’ They will be in ‘head, eyes, ears, nose, tongue, teeth, throat,’ chest (being lungs), abdomen (being intestines and stomach), hands, or feet, and be about skin diseases, madness (meaning mental disorder), or edema. Many people have had these illnesses. The term ‘wind and yellow’ refers to illnesses that are relevant to high blood pressure or anemia.

On ‘inflammation of internal organs,’ the doctor of Chinese medicine, tell us a bit what ‘diseases from the heart’ means. (The doctor-disciple of Chinese medicine answered, ‘I am reporting to you, Rinpoche. The term “Inflammatory diseases” refers to some inflammatory reactions produced in the body, and the person who has such a bodily reaction will have a feel of heat, with a sense of bitterness in the mouth.’ ‘Inflammation of internal organs’ are the illnesses arisen from liver, kidneys, gallbladder, or lungs.

The phrase ‘the suffering of joints’ means there is arthralgia – pain in joints. Everyone has experienced this. Doctors specialized in arthralgia will have a business of it because there are many people naturally having pains in their joints. Even if the joints have been taken care of, people will feel the pain so long as they get old.

Sutra: ‘Nanda, a human form has such illnesses and suffering. There are also 101 diseases of “wind,” 101 diseases of “yellow,” 101 diseases of “phlegm from coughing”, and 101 diseases of “combining or gathering illnesses,” totaling 404 diseases. They are arisen from inside of a bodily form.’

Shakyamuni Buddha spoke very clearly that humans have 404 kinds of diseases. They are ‘“101 diseases of ‘wind,’ 101 diseases of ‘yellow,’ 101 diseases of ‘phlegm from coughing’, and 101 diseases of ‘combining or gathering illnesses.’”’ This means there are diseases in all five sense-organs in the body, totaling 404 types of diseases. In Chinese medicine, is this mentioned? (The doctor-disciple of Chinese medicine responded, ‘It is not stated in such details.’) If it is not stated, just say it is not. Is this mentioned in western medicine? (The doctor-disciple of western medicine answered, ‘I am reporting to you, Rinpoche. There are no such kinds of mentions in western medicine.’ What are you, medical professionals, doing to mess things up? You say that your field is very scientific. Yet, you do not have statistics to show how many illnesses existing in a human body; meanwhile, you make money from medicine as usual. The words in the quote, ‘They are arisen from inside of a bodily form,’ mean all the diseases are produced in and brought forth from our internal organs.

Sutra: ‘Nanda, a body is like a cankerous arrow and is formed by many illnesses, which are without temporary stops. Thoughts after thoughts about these illnesses never cease. A bodily form is impermanent. Suffering and Emptiness are selfless. For the Dharmas that are forever close to death and destruction cannot be guarded and loved.’

Our body is like a poisoned arrow. All illnesses become manifest in our body, and ‘are without temporary stops,’ meaning illnesses do not stop temporarily. The phrase ‘Thoughts after thoughts about these illnesses never cease’ states that every thought of yours is to wish that such thinking about the illnesses does not end. There are these statements in the quote: ‘A bodily form is impermanent. Suffering and Emptiness are selfless.’ Although you wish that your thoughts about your illnesses will not cease, the nature of your body is impermanent, constantly changing – your body changes incessantly.

It is very difficult to explain the sentence ‘Suffering and Emptiness are selfless.’ They are about suffering and Emptiness and both are selfless. Suffering is the law of cause and condition. This means if you do not have this body of yours, you will not have such suffering. As long as you do not reincarnate in the Six Realms by being born in the Land of Amitabha, you will not have 404 kinds of diseases. If you are still in the Six Realms, you definitely will have 404 types of diseases. Are there illnesses for ghosts? Yes, there are. The heavenly beings in the Heaven Realm do not have illnesses when they have good fortune. When they have used it up and before they come down to other realms, they will have illnesses. In other realms, there are illnesses for all sentient beings there. Now, you can see that animals have many illnesses, and are almost the same as humans to have 404 kinds of diseases. However, thinking that these illnesses do not exist is impossible because your bodily form or the essence of your body is impermanent and changes at any time.

On the words ‘Suffering and Emptiness are selfless,’ although you feel that you suffer much and want to eliminate this suffering, this is your emotional thought and is the bodily reaction from your nervous system. Nevertheless, in our pure Dharma essence, such suffering does not have an existence of a true ‘self.’ This suffering arises from causes and conditions, and will cease to exist when they end. When you feel that you suffer so much from your illness, it is because that your emotion about the pain continuously enhances your suffering of your body or illness.

It was like when I had skin cancer before, Doctor-disciple Xie was the first person who got nervous about my condition. Nonetheless, I lived my life with much delights. I did not ask him to get involved in treatments of my skin cancer, nor did I implore the Buddha and Bodhisattvas for blessings to let my skin cancer not progress further. It was because I identified and approved these two statements: A bodily form is impermanent. Suffering and Emptiness are selfless.

Why did I get skin cancer? Because I loved eating fish when I was young. I had loved eating them before I learned Buddhism. Where did this love of eating-fish come from? My family was very poor and had no money to go grocery shopping. My uncle ran the biggest fish-vendor business in Hong Kong. Hence, my mother would go to his shop every day to bring back fish heads for us to eat. So, my getting cancer was normal. After becoming accustomed to eating fish, once I started making money, the fish I ate were the best. To what extent did my habit of eating fish go? The moment the fish was served, I knew immediately whether it had been steamed correctly or not. I did not even need to use chopsticks to check if the cooking was done right; I knew it by just looking at the dish. There was a six-star hotel in Hong Kong, and in their restaurant, I ‘played’ a knack completely to a server. When the fish was presented to me, the server talked a lot about the dish. I said, ‘If you do not believe me, eat this piece of fish. If its taste is still fully-cooked, I will take your last name as mine.’ It turned out that once the fish was clasped with chopsticks, there was still blood in it – it was not fully-cooked.

I was this kind of a person. Even I was able to become a vegetarian. How about those people who are your friends and relatives? In Taiwan, there is no one who will eat fish to that extent like what I did. Why did I get skin cancer? Because I loved eating fish. Why are my eyes not good? It is because that before, when I ate fish, once my chopsticks clasped it, I went for its tenderest part which was the piece of fish meat right next to the eye. Now, do not eat it, all of you! Thus, having eye problems is a karmic retribution. Many people who are with eye issues complain noisily. I have acted that it appeared as if nothing had happened. So long as I still have my eye sight to drive, I am okay.

‘A bodily form is impermanent. Suffering and Emptiness are selfless.’ These two sentences are very important to those of us who have been learning Buddhism. Why do we often say ‘transforming illness into a tool for practices’? It is not that I am supporting you not to get medical treatments on your illness or not to see a doctor. Yet, on the suffering of your mind, you do not need to feel that there are no hopes in your life as if the end of the world has come. It is like the story that a disciple had shared with us today before the puja started. His godmother implored Bodhisattvas for help that she wished to die sooner because of her illness. This was an example that she did not know about these two statements: A bodily form is impermanent. Suffering and Emptiness are selfless. Such a suffering is something that you have imagined for yourself. If you know that your illness arises from your own causes and effects, your mindset will be in an acceptance mode for the occurrence of the illness. Once you accept it, on the contrary, it will be all right.

My skin cancer was healed without medical help. Regarding my eyes, according to my ophthalmologist, the blood vessels in my brain should have ruptured. However, that did not happen either. These had exactly been the case examples of these two sentences. You ask that to what level of the Dharma methods I have been practicing. It is precisely the level on these two statements that my practices are about. I ‘performed’ the show for you to see. When I had skin cancer, did I cry noisily? (Doctor-disciple Xie reported, ‘It was as if nothing had happened.’) Did I furrow my brow and frown? (The disciple responded, ‘No. You looked very happy.’) Did I ask you to touch my head every day? (The disciple replied, ‘No. You ignored me completely.’ I did not even go for a medical examination. Nevertheless, in accordance with the medical experiences of Doctor-disciple Xie, I believe what he said was correct.

I am not like what you say about letting go of things, or having seen through them. Rather, my attitude and mindset are in these two sentences: A bodily form is impermanent. Suffering and Emptiness are selfless. My body has certainly been changing. How could it not have been? It is impossible not to have it changed. Nonetheless, I clearly understand that all suffering is brought forth by causes and effects. If you know that suffering arises from causes and effects or from causes and conditions, your mind of attachment to the suffering will not exist. Without such a suffering, the essence of the illness is Emptiness. If it is in Emptiness, is there a ‘self’ being in suffering? No, there is not. It is my skin that suffers; my pure, original essence does not suffer, nor does my Dharma essence suffer. It is you who think you suffer. Is this explanation very profound? (A disciple who has been ordained for 30 years answered: ‘Yes, it is very profound.’) If you can understand thoroughly these two statements, even if you have an illness, your suffering will not exist, truly.

Why do many people, who are in terminal cancer, give rise to faith in me and do not feel the suffering of cancer after I have blessed them? It is because of these two sentences. I demonstrated to them what are mentioned in those statements. Do you understand them after listening to what I said? It is not that I ‘told’ the cancer cells, ‘Do not move.’ That is not the meaning here. I have made those people’s pure Dharma essence appear. Then, their suffering of the body or this kind of energy on suffering can be reduced. Dr. Ye knows about this very distinctly. If we continuously feel suffering, that will stimulate brain cells, and their reactions will be very intense. (Dr. Ye responded, ‘What Rinpoche said is correct in that the functions of psychology and physiology interact each other. If one can control the mind – psychology – with the methods taught by Rinpoche, one’s suffering of the mind will actually become another matter.)

The meaning of what she said is this: it is not that we do not feel the suffering totally because we still have our nervous system in the body. It is like what has been stated in sutras that in the body, there are 80,000 acupoints and 1,000 tendons. Before our physical body has not died, in any day of our lives, these tendons and acupoints will affect it, and the combination of their functions in the body is what we call the nervous system. There is a Chinese saying, ‘Pull one strand of hair, and the whole body moves.’ Therefore, the senses of the nervous system in our physical body exist. When you are in illness or in pain, I exhort you that you chant more and more mantras. This is because the power of mantras can let you reduce such a mind of affliction in you. When that happens, your pure self-nature will be revealed, and your feel of suffering will be reduced accordingly.

I had died many times but I would not die. There was no other reason for me not to have died; it was exactly because I have mastered the practices on methods that involve these two sentences: A bodily form is impermanent. Suffering and Emptiness are selfless. It is not easy for you to accomplish such practices; they are also very difficult to do. Yet, when your body really suffers so much and there are many things happening to you, it is not saying that you are to exhaust your physical strength to chant mantras. Instead, the force of your mind needs to be enhanced so that you can chant more and more mantras. When you have done that about right, your suffering will be reduced. If this is looked at from the perspective of neuroscience, you use the force of capability in your chanting of mantras to suppress the stimulating energy in brain cells, getting it reduced. Hence, the stimulation of this energy will make the perception of pain-nerves or brain cells sluggish or slow down. Your suffering will then be reduced.

I have S-type scoliosis. How is it possible for me to sit here and expound the sutra to you unceasingly? Before, my cervical vertebrae were in serious condition with much swelling. Now, through some adjustments, that problem has become less severe. Of course, I myself have also been practicing the methods on ‘solar plexus and bindus’ system in the body, and these practices have ‘forced’ out the internal thrombosis from my cervical vertebrae. I feel much comfortable now about my neck. Is there pain there? Yes, I feel it. However, have you seen me not ascending the Dharma throne just because I have pain in my neck and spine? No, you have not. People think that I do not have a nervous system. I do though. How is it possible that I do not have it? It is just that I have attained realization on these matters. Once you have achieved that, you will naturally accept the situations. After you have accepted them, the feel of the pain caused by your brain cells having been stimulated will be relatively, and very quickly, reduced. This is because the reactions of our brain cells happen very fast. All these are done by yourself.

Thus, the Dharma is helpful for treating illnesses, and it is not because there are medicines to give us. Rather, the Dharma train us on our fundamental mindset and the force of capability so as to guide them back to a normal path. It is not for us to think things with our desires. In this way, your pure, original essence will be gradually revealed. Then, when you chant mantras, every verse of them is the good in purity. When the deeds of that appear, those cancer cells of the negative in purity will be suppressed slowly. How do such negative cancer cells come about? It is you who mess things up because you have been negative in your mindset and behaviors. You have been creating much negative karma. You will say, ‘No, I have not had such negative karma in this life.’ How about in your past lifetimes? So, many people say, ‘What did I do wrong to get cancer in this life?’ People who have asked me this question do not believe in causes and effects; they do not believe that they have karma. They only want to find where their problems lie in. As long as they know where the problems come from, they will then deal with those issues. They will still not make amends, and if not, there are nothings that can be done to help them.

Why was I very happy when I got skin cancer? I did not worry, or was anxious; I believed deeply in causes and effects. Even accepting them was not enough; I believed firmly in them! Do you? You do not believe in causes and effects. You say, ‘Rinpoche, help me quickly; get rid of cancer cells in my body so that I can continue to learn Buddhism.’ On the contrary, if today you have some illnesses, there should be a driving force for you to let you see clearly what your problems are. When you live happily, you do not know you have done things wrong. In your life of a few decades, you have not stopped doing negative deeds, not even to stop for just one day. The total number of times of those deeds having occurred will amount to an ‘astronomical figure’ – an enormous figure. Therefore, the Buddha taught us, expounding the subject earlier in the sutra, that we need to contemplate this every day: On two types of karma – good and negative karma – one is to bind them in one’s mind. Do not forget this, absolutely. Do not think you are a very good person, assuredly. Think of these things every day. I have taught you about them. Have you done the thinking? Before you go to bed every night, do you consider distinctly how many negative acts you have done today? If there are any, repent immediately, and those acts cannot be done again the next day. What have you done then on these? You will say, ‘He irritated me; he mocked me; so, of course, I scolded him or messed things up for him.’ Then, you have not thought and behaved on what you have been taught.

In the later part of the sutra, there are still a lot of subjects mentioned. This sutra of entering a womb is a great help to us for our practices.

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Updated on June 19, 2025