The Dalai Lama - Tenzin Gyatso

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"The mind can and must transform itself. It can get rid of the impurities that contaminate it, and rise to the highest level. We all start off with the same capacities, but some people develop them, and others don't. We get very easily used to the mind's laziness, all the more easily because laziness hides beneath the appearance of activity: we run right and left, we make calculations and phone calls. But these activities engage only the most elementary and coarse levels of the mind. They hide the essential from us.
"Happiness is a man's prerogative. He seeks it and each man is equally entitled to his pursuits of happiness; no man seeks misery. Justice and equality belong to man's

A WORLD WITHOUT TEARS!

"It is because of the intimate relationship between mind and body, and the existence of special physiological centers within our body, that physical yoga exercises and the application of special meditative techniques aimed at training the mind can have positive effects on health."

prerogatives too, but these should derive their practice from altruism and should not have been corroded by the stations of power and wealth. To build such an altruistic motivation so that justice and equality may coexist, the creation of a staunch moral fabric for the social environment is a prerequisite.
"On the subject of love and marriage, my simple opinion is that making love is all right, but for marriage, don't hurry, be cautious. Make sure you will remain together forever, at least for this whole life. That is important, for if you marry hurriedly without understanding well what you are doing, then after a month or after a year, trouble starts and you will be seeking divorce. From a legal viewpoint, divorce is possible, and without children maybe it is acceptable, but with children, it is not.
"As long as you are not completely Enlightened, there will always be an inner obstruction to knowledge that will make your task of helping others incomplete." The Dalai Lama

Once, the nun Soma, having returned from her alms round and after her meal, entered the woods for a noonday rest. Plunging into the depths of the woods, she sat down under a tree. Then the tempter Mara, desirous of arousing fear, wavering, and dread in Soma, and wishing to cause her to interrupt her concentrated meditation, went up to her and said, "The goal is hard to reach, hard even for sages; it cannot be won by a woman with whatever wisdom she may have." Then Soma thought, "Who is this, a human or a non-human, who is saying that? Surely, it is the evil Mara who wants to interrupt my concentrated meditation." Knowing that it was Mara, she said to him, "What does one's gender matter to one whose mind is well-composed, in whom insight is functioning, and who comprehends the Dharma?" Then the evil Mara thought, "The nun Soma knows me." Being sad and sorrowful, he vanished there and then.
"Develop a state of mind like the earth, Rahula. For on the earth people throw clean and unclean things, dung and urine, spittle, pus blood, and the earth is not troubled or repelled or disgusted. And as you grow like the earth, no con-tacts with pleasant or unpleasant will lay hold of your mind or stick to it. Similarly, you should develop a state of mind like water - for people throw all manner of clean and unclean things into water and it is not troubled or repelled or dis-gusted. And similarly with fire, which burns all things, clean and unclean, and with air, which blows upon them all, and with space, which is nowhere established. Develop the state of mind of friendliness Rahula, for, as you do so, ill-will will grow less; and of compassion, for thus vexation will grow less; and of joy, for thus aversion will grow less; and of equa-nimity, for thus repugnance will grow less." Buddha
Endowed with this noble aggregate of moral discipline, this noble restraint over the sense facilities, this noble mindful-ness and clear comprehension, and this noble commitment, a monk resorts to a secluded dwelling, sits down, crosses his legs, holds his body erect, and sets up mindfulness before him. Having abandoned covetousness for the world, he dwells with a mind free from covetousness; he purifies his mind from covetousness. Having abandoned ill will and ha-tred, he dwells with a benevolent mind, sympathetic for the welfare of all living beings; he purifies his mind from ill will and hatred. Having abandoned dullness and drowsiness, he dwells perceiving light, mindful, and clearly compre-hending; he purifies his mind from dullness and drowsiness. Having abandoned restlessness and worry, he dwells at ease within himself, with a peaceful mind; he purifies his mind from restlessness and worry. Having abandoned doubt, he dwells as one who has passed beyond doubt, unperplexed about wholesome states; he purifies his mind from doubt. Suppose a man were to become sick, afflicted, gravely ill, so that he could not enjoy his food and his strength would decline. After some time he would recover from that illness and would enjoy his food and regain his bodily strength. He would reflect on this, and as a result he would become glad and experience joy. Again, suppose a man were a slave, without independence, subservient to others, unable to go where he wants. After some time he would be released from slavery and gain his independence; he would no longer be subservient to others but a free man able to go where he wants. He would reflect on this, and as a result, he would become glad and experience joy. Again, suppose a man with wealth and possessions were traveling along a desert road where food was scarce and dangers were many. After some time he would cross over the desert and arrive safely at a village which is safe and free from danger. He would reflect on this, and as a result he would become glad and experience joy. When he sees that these five hindrances have been abandoned within himself, he regards that as freedom from debt, as good health, as release from prison, as freedom from slavery, as a place of safety.

spond to the soul within western or certain Eastern thought. This lack of eternal self-nature is sometimes referred to as a "lack of svabhava" - self-existence. This includes both self in the personal sense and God. There is no God - an eter-nal, self-existent, unchanging being. The Buddha did teach reincarnation. In fact, this is one of the lynch pins of his teachings. Without reincarnation, the law of karma - central to the Buddha's teachings - falls flat on its face. The ques-tion of what reincarnates - given that there is no soul - is one that confuses many people. This confusion is more com-mon in the West as we are acculturated towards a 'soul" concept and tend to think in either/or structures. Either there is a 'soul' or there could be nothing that reincarnates. To solve this question however is not extremely difficult. What reincarnates is not an eternal soul but an aggregate process of imprints - whose existence is not dependent upon a gross physical body for their existence. Buddha did not teach that there was nothing more subtle that the physical body. In the same way he did not teach that there were 'no gods.' There might be gods - very powerful super-natural beings - but they are not self existent eternal gods - in the Judeo-Christian sense. There is no eternal soul that can attain eternal salvation in some heaven realm somewhere - in the Judeo-Christian sense. But.. a human being is a set of aggregates, a compound of many differing aspects (form, consciousness, feeling etc.). This compound is not limited to or dependent primarily on the form aspect but upon the mental aspect. The stream of mental imprints is what reincarnates. This was not meant to be at all consoling - the stream of mental imprints is what makes us sentient beings who exist in the six realms all tinged by suffering. It is this stream of mental imprints that flowers as a body in a time and place. Basically it means that what reincarnates is a set of habit patterns that has at its root the basic perceptual and cognitive habit pattern of assuming the reality of a 'self.' Enlightenment is the complete transcendence of the effects of this patterning and the patterning itself. I imagine - though can not speak for them - that the Roshi is referring to no 'eternal soul' that reincarnates in a heaven realm like the Christian soul goes to heaven. As for 'When a Lama passes, what is it then that 'enters' a young person to make him the reincarnate of the Lama who passed?' It is exactly the same. What reincarnates is a habit pattern that is consciously cultivated for the purpose of compassion. When a Lama takes the Bodhisattva vow - to remain for the sake of all sentient beings until every one of them is liberated, then he, or she, creates a purposeful habit pattern that is the locus of a variety of other habits. It becomes the center of gravity of the collected patterns. The collection of patterns can be better or worse in every being - including Lamas. High Lamas de-velop the ability to control the after death bardo through the power of their meditation and so are able to have some say in the direction, sex, and attributes of their next birth. Still, what reincarnates is a relative set of patterns, NOT an absolute or eternal 'soul'. In most people the process of incarnation and reincarnation is totally unconscious as are the habit patterns. It is possible for one, who is a very strong meditator, to navigate this process consciously. Reincarnation is central to every Buddhist vehicle. The system of conscious reincarnation was developed in Vajrayana based on the unique yogas within this system. While the system of reincarnation of Lamas has had many benefits, it has also been shamefully abused as a tool of political concern. This was not invented by the Chinese with their current issue of the Panchen Lama, but has been a political tool since its earliest days. Buddhists are people like all others and they fall un-der the sway of the eight worldly concerns. The precious Buddhadharma is a path beyond suffering, but only if we walk that path with integrity and ruthless honesty. Often we all fall short - but we can always pick ourselves up and start again. I hope this helps a little." (Lama Traktung)

Answer to a question asked about a 'soul' and reincarnation:
"Dear friend,
The basic axiom of the Buddhas path is 'anatman.' In traditional teachings this falls under the heading of the '3 marks' which is closely associated with the four truths. The three marks are a description of the nature of relative existence - 1. compound-ed, conditioned, interdependent origination 2. impermanent and marked by suffering 3. and without self (anatman). It says in the Dhamapada 'All conditioned things are marked by suffering. When you truly understand this, you will no longer be afflicted by suffering.' The word - atman - refers to self. The Buddha's term - an (no) self (at-
man) - refers to the lack of any intrinsic, eternally existent entity that would corre-

the Ocean of Wisdom, the Protector of the Land of Snows, the White Lotus - symbolizes all that's right with the East and wrong with the West. He is the ambassador from Shangri-La, emissary from a magical, peaceful land protected by stunning mountains, dotted with magnificent temples, ruled by wise and benevolent priest-kings. Nearly 50 years after China conquered Tibet, the Dalai Lama and his long-suffering subjects have achieved a victory of sorts: They have be-come the world's champion victims. They are, as Buddhist scholar Robert Thurman (father of Uma) told the New York Times, "the baby seals of the human rights movement." Other trampled nations briefly seize the world's attention, then disappear. No movie stars ever demonstrated for Estonian independence. East Timor is already yesterday's news. China overran the Muslim state of East Turkestan the same year it grabbed Tibet: Have you ever heard of it? Tibet's "god-king" is cornering the market in human rights. A Buddhist theocracy, Tibet was (more or less) independent for thousands of years, mostly because it was so inhospitable to invaders. But in 1950, Mao reasserted an ancient Chinese claim to it, and troops stormed the plateau. The Dalai Lama, then a teenager, cooperated with the Chinese authorities for a while. But in the midst of a failed Tibetan rebellion in 1959, he fled to northern India, where he's lived ever since. In the meantime, the occupying Chinese army murdered hundreds of thousands of Tibetan civilians. Hundreds of thou-sands more starved during a famine caused by demented Chinese agricultural policy. (More than 1,200,000 Tibetans have died since 1950.) The Chinese tried to obliterate Buddhist culture: Celibate nuns and priests were forced to copu-late in the street; others were crucified or dragged to death by horses. All but 13 of Tibet's 6,000-plus monasteries were looted and ransacked. Officially, Tibet is an "Autonomous Region." In fact, China controls its government, economy, and education. The Dalai Lama's only tool is moral persuasion. He wields it magnificently. He feeds his Western audi-ences a softhearted, softheaded universalism, a religion without dogma, an Ansel Adams photograph. He bathes his U.S. audiences in kindly aphorisms: "Be a nice person. Be a good person." "Happiness produces health. Medical scien-tists accept this." "We should learn together as brothers and sisters in the great human family." (We should.) We should also: protect the environment, forgive those who abuse us, know that satisfaction does not come from material things, and escape from hustle and bustle. The Dalai Lama's pop Buddhism is appealingly self-centered: Happiness trumps everything. This is a winning idea in our therapeutic culture: a religion that's about my satisfaction, not God's. The Dalai Lama keeps the message cheerful. Who needs some gloomy Gus who harangues you about torture, rape, and murder all the time? (That means you, Harry Wu!) The Dalai Lama is the Fun Prophet. He laughs. He tells jokes - mostly at his own expense. He even guest-edited an issue of Vogue. He pronounces himself "always optimistic" (though if there's any person whom history should have taught not to be optimistic, surely it's the Dalai Lama). Americans and Europeans, especially those susceptible to New Age spirituality, find his mixture of exoticism, aphorism, and optimism irresistible. In the film 'Kundun,' Martin Scorsese presenst the Dalai Lama's autobiography as hagiography. 'Seven Years in Tibet' tells the story of an escaped Austrian POW (played by Brad Pitt) who befriended the Dalai Lama during World War II - call it The Tibetan Patient. A Steven Seagal movie is also in the works. Celebrity Buddhist Richard Gere is writing op-ed pieces. Harrison Ford is bearing witness at congressional hearings. The Beastie Boys, Smashing Pumpkins, and R.E.M. are headlining benefit concerts with Tibetan performers in New York and San Francisco. In re-cent years, the Dalai Lama's roster of tangible accomplishments has been negligible. The Chinese government refuses to negotiate with him. The crackdown on Tibetan religion has worsened. In 1995, after the Dalai Lama chose a 6-year-old boy to be Panchen Lama, Tibet's second-most powerful religious leader, the Chinese kidnapped him and installed another 6-year-old boy. The original Panchen Lama still languishes under house arrest in Beijing. And the Chinese are burying Tibet with immigration. According to Tibet's government-in-exile, there are now 7.5 million Han Chinese in Tibet and only 6 million Tibetans. Tibet won't be Tibetan very long. In a way, the Dalai Lama may even reinforce Chi-nese authority over Tibet. He insists that Tibetans abjure violence, threatening to abdicate if Tibetans take arms against the Chinese. But nonviolent resistance tends to succeed when - 1) the world is watching and 2) the oppressors care. The Chinese seem indifferent, and the world will only pay attention as long as the Dalai Lama is alive. (Many ob-servers believe the Chinese won't negotiate with the 61 (now 67)-year-old because they are waiting for him to die. Then the outside pressure for a peaceful accommodation will vanish.) Among Tibetans, frustration with the Dalai Lama's placid pacifism is growing. In recent months, bombs aimed at the Chinese have exploded in Lhasa. Saints never ex-haust their patience, but sometimes their followers do. (By David Plotz - Slate's Washington bureau chief. www.slate.com)

The Ambassador From Shangri-La The Dalai Lama sells the romance of Tibet. The West is buying. It's the "Year of Tibet"--again. The press proclaimed the "Year of Tibet" when the Dalai Lama won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. America and Europe cele-brated an "International Year of Tibet" two years later. Now, Hollywood is feting the Land of the Snows with the "Year of Tibet in Movies:" Two panegyrics will open in theaters by year's end, and a third is in the works. At the center of the latest round of adulation is the Dalai Lama, making another triumphal world tour. Last month, crowds of 40,000 greeted him in Taiwan. This week, he visits Washington, D.C., for a Tibetan-rights conference, an awards dinner with Richard Gere, and the kind of gushy press coverage that other world leaders fantasize about. The Dalai Lama is, by all accounts, a true holy man: humble, de-vout, warm, funny, as sweet inside as outside. He casts himself as a Himalayan Forrest Gump - the accidental guru: "I am just a simple Buddhist monk." But this humility, which is undoubtedly sincere, also serves the Dalai Lama's shrewd PR campaign. His Holi-ness is cashing in on the West's romance with Eastern spirituality, using it to attract in- ternational sympathy. Dressed in his maroon robes and beatific smile, the Dalai Lama -

"It is necessary to help others, not only in our prayers, but in our daily lives. If we find we cannot help others, the least we can do is to desist from harming them.
"Our experiences and feelings are mainly related to our bodies and our minds. We know from our daily experience that mental happiness is beneficial. For instance, though two people may face the same kind of tragedy, one person may face it more easily than the other due to his or her mental attitude." The Dalai Lama

"We cannot rely upon our perceptions; it is a fact that we misapprehend many situations. If this is general fact, how can we still stubbornly maintain that our perceptions about our own spiritual masters must be true?
"If you have fear of some pain or suffering, you should examine whether there is anything you can do about it. If you can, there is no need to worry about it; if you cannot do anything, then there is also no need to worry." The Dalai Lama

March 14, 2004

WORDS OF THE BUDDHA: May all creatures, all living things, all beings one and all, experience good fortune only. May they not fall into harm.
"As I am, so are others; as others are, so am I." Having thus identified self and others, harm no one nor have them harmed.
The worse of the two is he who, when abused, retaliates. One who does not retaliate wins a battle hard to win.
Wonderful it is to train the mind so swiftly moving, seizing whatever it wants. Good is it to have a well-trained mind,
for a well-trained mind brings happiness.
Were there a mountain all made of gold, doubled that would not be enough to satisfy a single man: know this and live accordingly.
Good are friends when need arises; good is contentment with just what one has; good is merit when life is at an end,
and good is the abandoning of all suffering.
One who, while himself seeking happiness, does not oppress with violence other beings who also desire happiness,
will find happiness hereafter.

In the Mahayana tradition we experience a sense of gentleness toward ourselves, and a sense of friendliness to others begins to arise. That friendliness or compassion is known in Tibetan as 'nyingje,' which literally means 'noble heart.' We are willing to commit ourselves to working with all sentient beings. But before we actually launch into that project, we first need a lot of training. The obstacle to becoming a Mahayanist is not having enough sympathy for others and for oneself - that is the basic point. And that problem can be dealt with by practical training, which is known as 'lojong' practice, 'training the mind.' That training gives us a path, a way to work with our crude and literal and raw and rugged styles, a way to become good Mahayanists. Ignorant or stupid students of the Mahayana sometimes think that they have to glorify themselves; they want to become leaders or guides. We have a technique or practice for overcoming that prob-lem. That practice is the development of humility, which is connected with training the mind. The basic Mahayana vi- sion is to work for the benefit of others and create a situation that will benefit others. Therefore, you take the attitude that you are willing to dedicate yourself to others. When you take that attitude, you begin to realize that others are more important than yourself. Because of that vision of Mahayana, because you adopt that attitude, and because you actually find that others are more important - with all three of those together, you develop the Mahayana practice of
training the mind. Hinayana discipline is fundamentally one of taming the mind. By working with the various forms of unmindfulness, we begin to become thorough and precise, and our discpline becomes good. When we are thoroughly tamed by the practice of shamatha discipline, or mindfulness practice, as well as trained by vipashyana, or awareness, in how to hear the teachings, we begin to develop a complete understanding of the Dharma. After that, we also begin to de-velop a complete understanding of how, in our particular state of being tamed, we can relate with others. In the Maha-yana we talk more in terms of training the mind. That is the next step. The mind is already tamed, therefore it can be trained. In other words, we have been able to domesticate our mind by practicing Hinayana discipline according to the principles of the Buddhadharma. Having domesticated our mind, then we can use it further. It's like the story of cap-turing a wild cow in the old days. Having captured the cow, having domesticated it, you find that the cow becomes com-pletely willing to relate with its tamers. In fact, the cow likes being domesticated. So at this point the cow is part of our household. Once upon a time it wasn't that way - I'm sure cows were wild and ferocious before we domesticated them.
Training the mind is known as 'lojong' in Tibetan: 'lo' means 'intelligence,' 'mind,' 'that which can perceive things;' 'jong' means 'training' or 'processing.' The teachings of lojong consist of several steps or points of Mahayana discipline. The basic discipline of mind training or lojong is a sevenfold cleaning or processing of one's mind.
Compassion is based on some sense of "soft spot" in us. It is as if we had a pimple on our body that was very sore - so sore that we do not want to rub it or scratch it. During our shower we do not want to rub too much soap over it because it hurts. There is a sore point or soft spot which happens to be painful to rub, painful to put hot or cold water over it.
That sore spot on our body is an analogy for compassion. Why? Because even in the midst of immense aggression, in-sensitivity in our life, or laziness, we always have a soft spot, some point we can cultivate - or at least not bruise. Every human being has that kind of basic sore spot, including animals. Whether we are crazy, dull, aggressive, ego-tripping, whatever we might be, there is still that sore spot taking place in us. An open wound, which might be a more vivid
analogy, is always there. That open wound is usually very inconvenient and problematic. We don't like it. We would like to be tough. We would like to fight, to come out strong, so we do not have to defend any aspect of ourselves. We would like to attack our enemy on the spot, single-handedly. We would like to lay our trips on everybody completely and
properly, so that we have nothing to hide. That way, if somebody decides to hit us back, we are not wounded. And hope-fully, nobody will hit us on that sore spot, that wound that exists in us. Our basic makeup, the basic constituents of our mind, are based on passion and compassion at the same time. But however confused we might be, however much of a cosmic monster we might be, still there is an open wound or sore spot in us always. There always will be a sore spot.
Sometimes people translate that sore spot or open wound as 'religious conviction' or 'mystical experience.' But let us give that up. It has nothing to do with Buddhism, nothing to do with Christianity, and moreover, nothing to do with anything else at all. It is just an open wound, a very simple open wound. That is very nice - at least we are accessible somewhere. We are not completely covered with a suit of armor all the time. We have a sore spot somewhere. Such a relief! Thank earth! Because of that particular sore spot, even if we are a cosmic monster - Mussolini, Mao Tse-tung, or Hitler - we can still fall in love. We can still appreciate beauty, art, poetry, or music. The rest of us could be covered with iron cast shields, but some sore spot always exists in us, which is fantastic. That sore spot is known as embryonic
compassion, potential compassion. At least we have some kind of gap, some discrepancy in our state of being which al-lows basic sanity to shine through. Our level of sanity could be very primitive. Our sore spot could be just purely the love of tortillas or the love of curries. But that's good enough. We have some kind of opening. It doesn't matter what it is love of as long as there is a sore spot, an open wound. That's good. That is where all the germs could get in and begin to impregnate and take possession of us and influence our system. And that is precisely how the compassionate attitude supposedly takes place. Not only that, but there is also an inner wound, which is called tathagatagarbha, or Buddha na-

ture. Tathagatagarbha is like a heart that is sliced and bruised by wisdom and compassion. When the external wound and the internal wound begin to meet and communicate, then we begin to realize that our whole being is made out of one complete sore spot altogether, which is called 'Bodhisattva fever.' That vulnerability is compassion. We really have no way to defend ourselves anymore at all. A gigantic cosmic wound is all over the place - an inward wound and an external wound at the same time. Both are sensitive to cold air, hot air, and little disturbances of atmosphere which begin to affect us both inward-ly and outwardly. It is the living flame of love, if you would like to call it that. But we should be very

careful what we say about love. What is love? Do we know love? It is a vague word. In this case we are not even calling it love. Nobody before puberty would have any sense of sexuality or of love affairs. Likewise, since we haven't broken through to understand what our soft spot is all about, we cannot talk about love, we can only talk about passion. It sounds fantastic, but it actually doesn't say as much as love, which is very heavy. Compassion is a kind of passion, com-passion, which is easy to work with. There is a slit in our skin, a wound. It's very harsh treatment, in some sense; but on the other hand, it's very gentle. The intention is gentle, but the practice is very harsh. By combining the intention and the practice, you ae being 'harshed,' and also you are being 'gentled,' so to speak - both together. That makes you into a Bodhisattva. You have to go through that kind of process. You have to jump into the blender. It is necessary for you to do that. Just jump into the blender and work with it. Then you will begin to feel that you are swimming in the blender. You might even enjoy it a little bit, after you have been processed. So an actual understanding of ultimate Bodhichitta only comes from compassion. In other words, a purely logical, professional, or scientific conclusion doesn't bring you to that. The five ultimate Bodhichitta slogans are steps toward a compassionate approach. A lot of you seem-ingly, very shockingly, are not particularly compassionate. You are not saving your grandma from drowning and you are not saving your pet dog from getting killed. Therefore, we have to go through this subject of compassion. Compassion is a very, very large subject, an extraordinarily large subject, which includes how to be compassionate. And actually, ulti-mate Bodhichitta is preparation for relative Bodhichitta. Before we cultivate compassion, we first need to understand how to be properly. How to love your grandma or how to love your flea or your mosquito - that comes later. The relative aspect of compassion comes much later. If we do not have an understanding of ultimate Bodhichitta, then we do not have any understanding of the actual working basis of being compassionate and kind to somebody. We might just join the Red Cross and make nuisances of ourselves and create further garbage.

A man can only rise, conquer, and achieve by lifting up his thoughts. He can only remain weak, and abject, and miserable by refusing to lift up his thoughts. Before a man can achieve anything, even in worldly things, he must lift his thoughts above slavish animal indulgence. He may not, in order to succeed, give up all animality and selfishness, by any means; but a portion of it must, at least, be sacrificed. A man whose first thought is bestial indulgence could neither think clearly nor plan methodically; he could not find and develop his latent resources, and would fail in any undertaking. Not having commenced manfully to control his thoughts, he is not in a position to control affairs and to adopt serious responsibilities. He is not fit to act independently and stand alone. But he is limited only by the thoughts which he chooses.
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