Week 11: The Definition of Having Completed the Analysis of Right view
[12] If [these two realizations] are happening simultaneously without alternation,
And from merely seeing dependent relation as completely unbetraying
The definite ascertainment comes that completely destroys
The way all objects are apprehended [as truly existent],
At that time the analysis of the ultimate view is complete.
Today we are here and then perhaps I tried to do or I arranged too many things in the Tuesday, one of the reasons is the birthday of His Holiness Dalai Lama, and another reason is the time when many people try to engage in something positive. If we don’t do something positive, maybe we can also through this help some people to be more positive, it more like an inspiration if we do something on particular this day, by seeing this, maybe in future, many more other people may also get inspire from what we are doing, they also can do something good. For example, I’m trying to arrange planting trees, fruits, we have here in my Monastery 1,000 avocados (butter fruits) and 750 orange trees, and some charity here and there.
One of the reasons that I’m doing this is, of course, it’s a special day. By another reason is that many other monks, especially my student’s monks, they can see this as a sort of example. So, if you are a teacher, if you are a parent, I think this is quite important to try to lead, not just by taking care of them in some sense, but try to lead them by showing them a sort of an example. If you have to take care of some students who around you, it’s very important to try to show the situation in the most positive as it is possible, because they not only get effective by it, but they also learn from it. And this will leave as a very nice imprint in them so that in future, when they face such situation, these also leave some imprint in them, and as a consequence, they will also learn how to deal with the situation in the very positive manner. Especially the kids, when they are quite young, they are pretty much like the receivers, they try to copy everything, they get everything. Hopefully I am able to do the whole class for one hour and I am having a little bit headache, little bit a dizziness, so I wish to go as long as it is as possible.
Today’s verses is again about the emptiness, but today it will elaborate the definition or it will elaborate the time when you can say that you have realized emptiness, one has completed understanding the theory of emptiness.
And also on this day, I would like to recommend all of you to try to understand the emptiness, at least try to have a glimpse of emptiness completely, clearly; and, today we will also have a little bit of questions and answers if possible at the end. I want to make sure that you all understand at least what I’m trying to explain, what I’ve tried to explain.
The life is very short, really short, much shorter than we can imagine, much shorter than we can think of, certainly much shorter than our inner mind think, because our inner mind always thinks as we gonna live long, because we always plan for tomorrow in a way we never are ready to die. If we are supposed to die this day, we always have a plan for tomorrow which means that we are pretty much never ready to die. Because, as I told you earlier, if a person who die after few minutes, he also has a plan for tomorrow which means that he is still not a sort of ready, he still is planing to live tomorrow, even today is his last day.
It’s very important to wake up from the illusion, – the illusion in which we are so dissolved – it’s the time to know, it’s the time to literally wake up from the sleep, it’s the time to wake up from the illusion that we are living in. Because there must be a reason why we are so selfish in nature, there must be a reason why each and every sentient being, they gets angry. They know that love brings peace and happiness, but still, they get angry, they don’t have control of it. Each and every sentient being, as long as they are practicing, they get jealous very easily. It’s quite obvious that all jealousy brings pain and problem, but still, people get jealous. We all know that others also want happiness as much as we do, but still, we are so selfish.
As I told in one of the previous classes, even a small happiness that we experience in our life, we rely on others. Without other’s contribution, there is no happiness that we achieve, all the practitioners or normal person, there is no way. As long as you are able to develop inner peace within yourself in any condition, the happiness which people achieve there are very much conditions. We always have to rely on something to be happy, we always have to rely on sort of materialistic things to be happy. As long as we rely on some materialistic things to be happy, we got to understand that happiness or that materialistic things come from lots of effort of others. So that happiness is not something that you produce by yourself but that happiness is very much condition that many others have contributed.
From that perspective, we understand that even a small happiness that people try to achieve in their life, it’s because of many others contribution. Many people think that “If I become a famous, I would be happy, if I become a rich, I would be happy, if I become this I would be happy and if I become that, there would be happy”. A student who graduated think that “Oh, I’m really happy that I graduated”, then they have the ego, and if they look down others or this and that, they might see their parents are uneducated, their parents are nothing, this and that. But the reason why he or she graduated is because of their parents, there are lots of contributions of their own teachers, their friends, their parents. And likewise, there are many contributions of the workers, of the staff. If a person think that he is very successful in business, he or she need understand that there are lot of contribution of those staffs, those people who he works with, who he deals with, who he does the business.
Even in the family, we all rely on each other in many ways. As a sentient being, as a person who lives on the same planet will very much rely on each other, the air we breathe is also contribution of others, the flowers that we have experienced, is also because of somebody and to those who eat honey, we need to understand each and every drop comes from many bees. The water we drink, the air we breathe, clothes we wear, food we eat… all come from others. We know all those things, but still, we are selfish, but still we think about ourselves, but still we think our happiness is more important than other’s. This is a problem! If this is not the problem, that’s what else, so what can be a problem? Because this selfishness is also a reason why people are throwing bombs, why people are creating nuclear bombs, this selfish is the reason why there is a break up in any relationship, this is the cause. As I usually say in my classes, that the actual terrorist is within us, nothing can give us more pains and problems than our own emotions. It is our own emotions that give all pains and problems.
The reason why we have these negative emotions, like anger, jealousy, envy, greedy, and of course, the selfishness, this is all the ignorance of the phenomena, ignorance of the way thing exists, ignorance of ourselves, we also don’t know ourselves- ignorance of who we are. We always have been believing something that exist, we’re always in a sort of mirage. That mirage is seeing because we see everything inherently existent. When we see a flower, we see that the flower exists by itself without depending on anything. When we look at the flower, it appears as it inherently exists. That is the problem! That is why even when we think about ourselves, we think as we inherently exist without depending on our five aggregates, without depending on even our mind or our body. We think as we are there independently existing without depending on anything else or anyone else. That is a misunderstanding, because of which, all the others misunderstanding arise. That is a misunderstanding or ignorance, because of which, all the other negative emotions arise.
Only when you realize emptiness, you will be able to realize the fault of the ignorance, you will be able to remove that ignorance. Only at that time, you receive the truth, you receive the reality of phenomena. Only at that time, you will be able to wake up from the illusion, only at that time you realize that you have been sleeping the whole life.
The verses today say that when we are able to see the interdependence, if we are able to see that nothing exists inherently, at the same time we are able to see interdependence, that is the time we realize the truth, that is the time we complete the theory of emptiness. We not only realize emptiness but we realize interdependence, and we realize the emptiness which is not other than interdependence, and because of the interdependence, the existence of the emptiness, we will be able to establish emptiness because of the interdependence, the existence of emptiness is possible. At that time, we can say that we truly understand the emptiness.
When we see a thing, we always see and feel it appears as a thing inherently exists, although they are not. Only when we realize that it is emptiness because it is interdependence. It is interdependence because it is emptiness, it doesn’t exist by its own so that why it has the interdependence. When we are able to understand these two, it’s not like when we think of interdependence, we can think of emptiness or when we try to understand the emptiness we can think of interdependence, it’s not like that.
When we are able to see – if we think of interdependence – the existence of interdependence because of emptiness, because thing doesn’t exist by its own, because it is emptiness, because it is empty of inherently existence. When you are able to see these things, then you can say that I have realized the truth, I’ve realized the fact, I’ve realized the nature of existence, I’ve realized the real nature of phenomenon or I’ve realize the knowledge that Buddha cherishes the most, the knowledge that Buddha wants all of us to understand, the knowledge by which we can be able to awake from the ignorance, the knowledge by which we can awake from the sleep. That when we will be able to get out of the mirage that we all are in.
That is the time you will be able to affect the whole negative emotions: jealousy, envy, ego, greedy… Because that is the base, that is the misunderstanding because of which, all of the negative emotions arise. When you remove that misunderstanding, all the other emotions have no base from where they can grow, it’s more like you literally remove the field, now no base for all the negative emotions to grow from.
Now let’s look at the verses, it gonna make sense, it says that:
The Definition of Having completed the analysis of Right View
1If [these two realizations] are happening simultaneously without alternation
2And from merely seeing dependent relation as completely unbetraying
3The definite ascertainment comes that completely deytroys
4The way all objects are apprehended [as truly existent],
5At that time the analysis of the ultimate view is complete.1If [these two realizations] are happening simultaneously without alternation
Here, ‘two realizations’ are realization of emptiness and realization of interdependence – dependent origination. If these two happening simultaneously without ‘alternation’, even you think about emptiness, if you can’t think about interdependence or when you think about interdependence, if you are not able to think about impermanence, then it becomes ‘alternation’. If it becomes alternation, it means that you haven’t realized the real emptiness, you haven’t understood the emptiness. So, it happens simultaneously, at the same time.
2And from merely seeing dependent relation as completely unbetraying
3The definite ascertainment comes that completely destroys.
Yes, all objects are apprehended as it exists by its own without depending on anything.
4The way all objects are apprehended [as truly existent],
5At that time the analysis of the ultimate view is complete.
When you are able to see these two things at the same time, not as an alternation, but as a simultaneity, as a definition of each other, that is the time you realize emptiness. So, it’s very important to try to understand emptiness, because it is interdependence. The more you think about interdependence, the more you will be able to understand emptiness more clearer. Because emptiness is no other best way than interdependence, through which you can realize the way thing truly exists and that is the best way to understand emptiness, because through that, you can be able to get rid of the two extremes at the same time. It is through this, you will be able to eliminate the whole negative emotions, because that acts as a base, when you remove that, all the emotions automatically can be removed.
Question and Answer:
Can you recommend a meditation on emptiness to eliminate the negative state of the mind?
Emptiness of the person ourselves and also emptiness of feeling, emptiness of expectation, emptiness of the relation, emptiness of the happiness. So, these kinds of thing really help if we think about these things like, where are the feeling, life, happiness, relationship, worldly mundane things ? If we see all these things just being projected by mind and if we see that those things don’t exist by the way we perceive, especially expectation from the world or for many things else. This really help, and that’s something I find very effective.
Noted down from the Dharma Talk by Lama Nawang Kunphel on July 6th 2021, organized by Aura of Wisdom.
Source.
https://e.pcloud.link/publink/show?code=kZo6zkZhop5WuXEceJR9nc9bJcFpjptGuvV