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Transcript of 82068357 Pedicure Manicure and Beyond
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Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche
PEDICURE, MANICURE AND BEYOND
Teachings on the Heart Sūtra
&
The Perfection of Wisdom
Frankfurt, Germany
August 2003
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Quintessential Sūtra ............................................................8
Mind at the Height of Normality...................................................9
Defining Normality .................................................................. 10 Creating a little Abnormality to Reach Normality ......................... 10
The Fundamental Ignorance of a Buddhist .................................. 11
There Is Nowhere to be Led ....................................................... 11
Without Wisdom, Morality Is a Cause of...................................... 12
Pride and Ego .......................................................................... 12
Absolute Normality Is Wisdom................................................... 13
Stickiness and Comfort Zones:................................................... 13 The World of Abnormality......................................................... 13
The Three Misperceptions ......................................................... 14
Hand Is Emptiness, Emptiness Is Hand ........................................ 15
The Meaning of ‘Thus have I heard’ ............................................ 15
Characteristicless: ................................................................... 16
No Morality, No Absence of Morality .......................................... 16
Shākyamuni Buddha, Nirmāņikāya Buddha ................................ 17
Instead of the Five Skandhas,.................................................... 18
why not a Scientific Breakthrough? ............................................ 18
Explaining the Five Skandhas: going beyond................................ 20
useful and useless .................................................................... 20
Questions Relating to the Five Skandhas..................................... 21
One who Realizes Emptiness ..................................................... 24
Love is Emptiness, Emptiness is Love .......................................... 27
Dwelling in the Profound Samādhi of.......................................... 28
Prajnaparamita Liberates you ................................................... 28
Buddhism Is a Path to Deconstruct the Ego.................................. 29
The Prajnaparamita:................................................................ 30
It Pulls the Rug out from under you............................................. 30
Discussing the meaning of:........................................................ 31
“Form is Emptiness” ................................................................. 31
Don’t try to look for the Emptiness ............................................. 35
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Emptiness Meditation: Beyond pre-manicure, .............................. 36
post-manicure and mid-manicure............................................... 36
Form: shape, color, size, quantity, and quality..............................37
Form exists as a mirage and therefore ........................................ 38 “Emptiness is Form” ................................................................. 38
It is not as if “Form is Real” and it Suddenly................................. 39
becomes Emptiness .................................................................. 39
Form is a bit like a Hideout and Feeling is the ............................... 41
Moody Receptionist.................................................................. 41
Perception as your Translator.................................................... 42
Karmic Formation: ................................................................... 43 the Working Guy, your Staff...................................................... 43
Consciousness: the Man behind the Desk..................................... 44
Each time we Speak, it is a Generalization................................... 45
We are not Negating that Form Exists......................................... 46
We all have Renunciation Mind.................................................. 48
but do it in Slow Motion ............................................................ 48
We have to Learn and Accept .................................................... 49
We are Cookable...................................................................... 49
There is no Emptiness to Meditate on.......................................... 50
The Three Characteristics of No Birth: beginning, middle and
end ........................................................................................ 51
Emotions are also Conditioned................................................... 53
Not Knowing the Mirage is a Mirage, it can.................................. 55
always be Misunderstood as Water ............................................ 55
With Direct Cognition there is No Interpreter between you and
the Experience......................................................................... 56
Happiness comes out of Realizing............................................... 59
that there is no Independent Happiness ...................................... 59
Avalokiteshvara is Negating the thought: ................................... 61
‘the Mirage is Water’ ................................................................ 61
Discussing the Skandhas and the Emotions ................................. 62
Even the Twelve Nidhanas do not Exist....................................... 67
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Different Terms for Different Purposes .......................................68
Visualization comes within the category of:................................. 70
Outer, Objective Phenomena..................................................... 70
Milarepa and Marpa: Sometimes Masters can make a big Deal out of Nothing ......................................................................... 71
When Watching the Skandhas:.................................................. 72
You shouldn’t be doing anything ................................................ 72
The Mantra of Prajnaparamitra ................................................. 74
Two Great Commentators: .........................................................77
Nagarjuna and Maitreya............................................................77
An Interdependent Ceremony of Auspicious ................................. 80 Verses .................................................................................... 80
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PEDICURE, MANICURE, AND BEYOND
Recently, I saw a very good German film called,
“Enlightenment Guaranteed.” On every level, whether it befrom the script point of view, or from the Buddhist point of view,
it is wonderful. If you watch this you don’t need any teachings.
It’s amazing. The film ends with the chanting of the Heart Sūtra.
The Quintessential Sūtra
Probably, the Heart Sūtra is one sūtra that has traveled the most
widely to the most countries. For instance, with the Peacock
Sūtra, it traveled from India to Burma to Sri Lanka and around
India itself and that’s about it. The Sūtra of Rice Heap traveled
from India to China and was also disseminated a little bit in
Tibet. But this sūtra really traversed vast distances, extending as
far as China, Japan, and Korea.
This sūtra is the heart of the Mahāyāna wisdom but
actually, in some of the strongest Buddhist countries, like in
Thailand and Burma for instance, you don’t find this sūtra. In
fact, in some places like Sri Lanka, this sūtra is still disputed.
They want confirmation that this sūtra is really the spoken
words of the Buddha. Also, from a certain point of view, the
contents of the sūtra are quite shocking.
In the Mahāyāna, the Heart Sūtra, or the prajnaparamita,
is the quintessence of many, many sūtras. The hridya of the
Heart Sūtra is the essence of all the sūtras. It is the essence of
prajna. This is the shortest form. The next, slightly longer form
has eight thousand verses. Then beyond that there is another
form that has twenty thousand verses, and then seven hundred
thousand verses and so on.
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We don’t have much of a tradition of studying the actual
text. Instead, this is something that the students or the
practitioners usually chant. So it is not really a text, in the sense
of a study text but if that is your aim, usually you would studythe commentaries such as the Mādhyamakavatara or the
Uttaratantra. As you will see, the Heart Sūtra is not easy to
study. It is basically an afternoon discussion with a few people,
up on the mountain at Vulture’s Peak. Yet still, many, many,
many, commentaries have sprung from this.
Mind at the Height of Normality
Prajna means something like: the supreme mind. It is the
essence, the quintessence of the supreme mind. The supreme
mind is sometimes referred to as jnana, wisdom. Sometimes if
you prefer, or if you are in a more sentimental, romantic frame
of mind then the same supreme mind can be referred to as
karuna, compassion. And when you are in the mood of being a
kind of impossible philosopher, then the same supreme mind is
referred to as shunyata, the emptiness. When you are in the
mood of being a priest who wishes to pat depressed souls on the
shoulders and all of that, then the same supreme mind is
referred to as Buddha nature, the tathagatagarbha.
Basically all these terms are talking about the same thing:
the supreme mind. We call it sherab: supreme mind, or
primordial mind. But what is that? What is this supreme mind?
It’s really difficult to find out. To explain this in a most practical,
easy kind of format, the supreme mind is a mind at the height of
normality. When the mind is absolutely normal, with not even a
small centimeter of a stain – this absolute normality – that is
called the supreme mind.
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Defining Normality
But you see, now we have a problem. How do we define
normality? How do we measure it? For some, handcuffs andchains are normal, leather pants are normal, and piercing is
normal. For others, these are things we can’t even imagine.
These things are considered completely sacrilegious or
something unholy. I am sure that for some people, to even
begin to think of a pierced nipple is something almost beyond
you. For others, this same thing is something that is very much
up your alley.So it is very difficult to judge normality. This is why the
shastras and the commentaries are necessary.
Creating a little Abnormality to Reach Normality
I must say the Zen approach, as can be seen in the film
“Enlightenment Guaranteed,” is a very good way to invoke
normality. It is not the answer for everyone, but it is definitely
one of the more risk free and safest of answers.
What do they say to do? Of course, it might not be
worded exactly this way because I am sort of interpreting this,
but basically, in order to invoke the normality, you have to sit;
do zazen, they call it. You just have to sit, sit, sit. Don’t pray,
don’t chant, don’t think, just sit.
Likewise, consider the Theravadan way of doing things,
which is to shave the head, wear a very nice maroon robe, walk
with a begging bowl, and not eat after lunch. All of that is
actually, another way to invoke the normality. So sometimes, in
order to bring forth the normality, we create some abnormality
such as shaving off our hair. By breaking a certain habitual
pattern, your usual habitual pattern, that then invokes the
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normality. And this is why, in the Shrāvaka tradition, you see
this seemingly very religious, very ethical, morality oriented
approach.
Of course, it is even worse if you travel within theVajrayāna, what with being asked to visualize extra hands and
all of this. But again, this entire path, it is all a placebo: all these
things are placebos. You create a little bit of abnormality so that
you can then reach normality.
The Fundamental Ignorance of a Buddhist
When it comes to the highest methods of the Vajrayāna,
such as the practice of mahāsandhi or mahāmudrā, they don’t
do anything, basically. They don’t tell you to sit. They don’t tell
you to visualize extra hands, and nor do they tell you to shave
off all your hair. It’s so simple. The mahāsandhi master will say:
“Can you see the flowers? Can you see this beautiful orange
color? Can you feel your earring, hanging from your ear?” Then
they will say, “That’s it.” You say: “Yes, I can see the flower. I can
see the window.” And then, they say, “That’s it.” Supposedly,
this is the most profound, greatest teaching of all. And I believe
that it is. But it is too simple. We just miss it, always. The guru
says, “Can you see the flower,” and we say, “Yes, I can see the
flower, and so what’s the big deal?” Do you know why we
always miss it? The fundamental problem is this thinking: as a
follower of a spiritual path there is a goal . Our being Buddhist,
our goal is to become that, become something. We have a goal.
That is the fundamental ignorance of a Buddhist.
There Is Nowhere to be Led
Do you know why we become Buddhist? If you seriously
want to become a practitioner of the buddhadharma, it is your
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job to destroy the system. In other words, even the very aim of
having a goal, even that needs to be destroyed.
You will find that being Buddhist is like peeling an onion.
You peel and peel until you think there is a real onion, but thenthat is also just another layer. All along, expecting some kind of
an essential, quintessential seed, there inside all these layers:
that is the problem. That is what usually causes all this hope and
expectation, and of course, almost 99 percent of the time, hope
and expectation lead to disappointment. So it’s very difficult. It’s
a path. Buddhism is a path. As soon as we say, “this a path” we
somehow believe that it leads somewhere, whereas in fact,there is nowhere to be led and it is quite important that
information is always very much present in our head. This is why
Buddhism is really difficult.
Without Wisdom, Morality Is a Cause of
Pride and Ego
I really think Buddhism should be simplified. It should be
something like: at least once in your lifetime you visit Bodh
Gaya, a Buddhist wife must have more than four husbands, and
since the Hindus have already reserved the cow, and the
Muslims the pig, I guess as Buddhists, we should not eat Chicken.
In other words, the problem with Buddhism is: wisdom is the
highest value. It is not just all morality and ethics, for that comes
later. But people like rules. People like to think of morality and
ethics as the highest aspect. It attracts people. Of course, we are
not denying discipline, morality and all of that, but as the
masters of the past have said: these things must always be
accompanied by wisdom. Without the wisdom, morality is a
cause of pride and the ego. In Buddhism, this is something that
is taught again and again.
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Absolute Normality Is Wisdom
The mind at its height, in a state of absolute normality,this is the wisdom. But it’s difficult, because our mind is almost
always like honey. It is a bit similar to honey, not contained
within its bottle or jar. It collects things or leaves stains
everywhere. It is so sticky. Either you stick to the object or the
object sticks to you. You will realize this.
Stickiness and Comfort Zones:The World of Abnormality
Through sitting it makes us realize our mind is very sticky.
When sticky, the mind collects garbage and you become
abnormal; when mixed with all kinds of things the honey is not
only honey, it is not pure.
Once in a while, you may experience being very much in
the present, but most of the time, mind goes here, there and
everywhere. It drifts into judging, feeling and we get lost in that.
In fact, in this world, billions of dollars have been spent on just
that, losing ourselves. It is such a big thing, and so precious to be
lost in thought that we spend a great deal of money on it. Again,
ultimately, you become abnormal. But how do you become
abnormal?
First of all, the object, or the place within which you lose
yourself, is usually what we call “comfort zone.” Now while we
may label it as a comfort zone, it is actually something causing
us a lot of discomfort. It is a place that has only enough space for
one. But strangely enough, sometimes we like to invite our
partners in. Having done so, since it is your comfort zone, you
then want your partner to behave, for instance by walking like
you, and moving like you. Then it gets even more complicated.
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If, everyday, your partner happens to move like you, your
partner is thought to be boring. Within each of your comfort
zones, there are all these subdivisions. On the one hand you
want your partner to move in a slightly different way from you,as it is exciting, isn’t it? But if this happens too much, it again
becomes a problem. There are just so many problems within the
world of abnormality. So normality, the absolute normality, this
is what we are looking for.
The Three Misperceptions
We end up making a lot of mistakes, when dwelling so
much in abnormality. According to the Shrāvakayāna, we make
three constant mistakes. It is quite an interesting way of
thinking. They say, when looking at your hand for instance,
there are three simultaneous mistakes we are making. For one,
you think the hand you see is the same as yesterday’s hand,
which means you think of it as a permanent hand. That is one
mistake. The second mistake is: as you look at it, you only look
at the hand as a whole, not as parts. Like for instance, we say,
“Can I shake your hand,” and would never say, “can I shake your
flesh, blood and bones?” We always have an abstract idea of
“hand.” Now this is important, because it is what determines
your purchase of hand moisturizing cream. The third mistake is:
we think of it as independent. We are always forgetting the
facts. Our hand is moving very nicely at the moment, only
because you haven’t bitten into it, and only because the ceiling
hasn’t caved in and fallen on this hand. It is moving because
your spine hasn’t been broken, and so there is no paralysis to
your hands. We just don’t think like that. Instead, we think of
“hand” as an independent attribute.
It is a very sophisticated way of thinking. These thoughts
of the Shrāvakas are 2500 year-old thoughts that are also the
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fundamentals of Buddhism. It is not something we have to
reform as the years go by. From this day right up to eternity,
never will you one day reach a state where your hand will
become permanent.This is not something negative. It should encourage you
to buy a really good hand cream. If your hand were permanent,
and if yesterday’s hand and today’s hand were identical, why
would you even buy moisturizer? Thanks to the impermanence
there is a chance that such and such a brand of moisturizer will
work. Not only with the hand, but with everything, this is how
the Theravadin sees things, no matter whether it is related tothe political system, leaders, justice, rights, freedom –
everything. All these things are interdependent. They are
impermanent and made up of so many components. So with
these three reasons in mind, we can reach the conclusion hand
is emptiness.
The Heart Sūtra: Hand Is Emptiness, Emptiness Is
Hand
So “Form is emptiness,” this much, we also hear from
the Shrāvakas but the Mahāyāna Heart Sūtra is even more
radical than that. To say, “Emptiness is hand, hand is not other
than emptiness, emptiness is not other than hand” this part is
something taught in the Mahāyāna exclusively, and it begins
with, “Thus have I heard ... ”
The Meaning of ‘Thus have I heard’
In this instance, the “I” in “Thus have I heard,” refers to
Ananda. Basically, by saying, “Thus have I heard,” there is the
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implication: it is not his revelation. Unlike some modern day
authors, who like to plagiarize just about everything and claim it
as their own, it is completely the opposite here. This is
something he has heard; it is not coming out of his ownrealisation. Almost all the sūtras begin with these words, “Thus I
have heard.” There is that aspect, “I was witness,” and it also
indicates that what follows is an authentic teaching of the
Buddha. Of course, not only was Ananda a witness, there was
also a gathering of the sangha of monks.
There are actually two gatherings to talk about here.
With teachings such as the Four Noble Truths, the gatheringconsisted of the sangha of monks, but since this is a Mahāyāna
teaching, in this case, there are extraordinary listeners in the
gathering. There is the sangha of Mahāyāna bodhisattvas.
Ananda also indicates the place as Rājagŗiha at Vultures Peak.
Even to this present day, Vulture’s Peak, this rather
unspectacular, small hill in India, whatever it is or isn’t, this is
one place the Mahāyāna people refer to as the Buddha’s roar, or
the lion’s roar.
Of course, there are other special places such as Sarnath,
Varanasi, where the Buddha taught the Four Noble Truths and
many other teachings, but most of these teachings are designed
to make people enter the virtuous path. The aim is more
focused on diverting attention away from the wrong view of
non-virtue to the right view, which is the virtuous view. Broadly
speaking, you can say that most of these teachings are based on
shila, which is the discipline or the morality.
Characteristicless: No Morality, No Absence
of Morality
Within the Mahāyāna canon of teachings, Vulture’s Peak
is regarded as very significant, because in this given place and
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time, what we call “the teaching of characteristicless” was first
delivered. “No morality, no absence of morality,” so this is a
sūtra that is beyond all that. Interestingly enough, sūtras are
usually the direct words of the Buddha. Even though this is ateaching not spoken directly by the Buddha, it was very much
caused by the Buddha and thus the Heart Sūtra is also
characterized as one of the sūtras.
Shākyamuni Buddha, Nirmāņikāya Buddha
Ananda says:
At that time, the Blessed One entered the
samādhi that expresses the dharma called
“profound illumination,”
Here it almost indicates that the Buddha entered into
meditation. If we were to take it really literally, we would then
be saying the Buddha has “post-meditation time” and
“meditation time.” Even worse, we are assuming he actually
meditates, which shouldn’t be the case because meditation is a
path, and the Buddha is not on the path. In fact, to speak of his
entering samādhi is but one of his many infinite ways of
benefiting sentient beings.
He is seemingly many things. From the Mahāyāna’s
point of view, the fact the Buddha appeared barefoot with a
begging bowl, is a great teaching. First of all, as an omniscient,
or omnipotent being, there was not any real need for him to do
that. Secondly, even completely putting aside his omnipotence,
it was clearly not out of necessity that the Buddha walked
barefoot, and begged for alms in the streets because there were
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many kings and queens included among his patrons and
disciples.
We find this kind of teaching because Shākyamuni
Buddha is what we call the nirmāņikāya Buddha, meaning thereis a manifestation. There are all kinds of manifestations, in order
to liberate sentient beings and begging alms is yet another of
his manifestations to benefit sentient beings. So at that time,
there on the Vulture’s Peak, his method of benefiting sentient
beings was by dwelling in this so-called samādhi of profound
illumination.
Now just very loosely, the benefit of this samādhi, thismeditation; the power of this meditation is to actually cause
other people to understand the emptiness. Or at least, it makes
other people have the curiosity, with the curiosity of ‘happening
very soon.’ They say that profound illumination, the samādhi, is
a bit like chewing something sour, in front of people who know
the taste of sour. It makes the other person salivate in their
mouth. So this happened okay.
Instead of the Five Skandhas,
why not a Scientific Breakthrough?
The great Avalokiteshvara, the mahābodhisattva,
mahāsattva Avalokiteshvara, the noble Avalokiteshvara was
also practicing the profound prajna and he realized that all the
skandhas are empty of their nature. Now Shāriputra is actually a
Shrāvaka and the Shrāvakas don't have the power to
understand the great emptiness. Not only do they not have the
power, they are not really interested anyway. So at that time,
not out of his own power, not out of the Shāriputra's power but
by the power of the Buddha, by the blessings and power of this
profound illumination, this made Shāriputra ask this particular
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question to Avalokiteshvara. Now let's go back to what
Avalokiteshvara had seen. When bodhisattva mahāsattva
Avalokiteshvara was in his deep samādhi, what did he see?
He saw the five aggregates to be empty of nature.
Okay, the question is what is the big deal about this? I
mean, why didn't he see the big bang? The Buddha was there,
and some of the greatest people were there. Shākyamuni
Buddha was sitting there! There was Avalokiteshvara from the
Mahāyāna department, Shākyamuni Buddha from the Hinayānadepartment and then on top of that there were the demigods,
the great kings and the queens! They were all there and all they
could think about is the emptiness. Why didn't they think up
some amazing scientific breakthrough, at that time? They could
have invented some kind of software, or hardware to make us
live forever, I don't know, whatever.
Now you can hear my question. It is a question that is
very much related to why didn't they do something great,
instead of finding something like the five skandhas? Why not
find something like a scientific breakthrough? Now again that is
a question that comes from a longing for happiness, isn't it?
Basically it is a question of longing for a solution to this
problematic world. Science, technology, the economy, the
political system, we have all these things, and we think that we
need these things because it will give us the answers to certain
problems. So naturally, with all these great people present, we
think to ourselves, why didn't they think about something else,
like the big bang, instead of the five skandhas? But you know
what Mahāyāna buddhists are saying? They said, “This is the
answer.”
What is the big bang? With the five skandhas, as long as
you don't know their nature, what it does is: it causes the ego,
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and the ego is the culprit. This is why, the bodhisattva
mahāsattva, deep in meditation, with the help of the Buddha,
and with Shāriputra bugging him here – the great mahāsattva:
he's not thinking about science, he's not thinking abouttechnology, he's not thinking about some sort of political
system, but instead, he thinks: the five skandhas are empty by
nature. That is so important because if you don't know that you
have a problem with everything. The big bang doesn't come,
and nor does technology; there is none of this.
Explaining the Five Skandhas: going beyond
useful and useless
By the power of the Buddha, Shāriputra realized that
Avalokiteshvara had hold of a big solution, and he had to ask:
“How should a son or a daughter of noble
family train, who wishes to practice the profound
prajnaparamita?” And then the noble
Avalokiteshvara said, “Oh, Shāriputra, a son or
daughter of noble family who wishes to pracitice
the profound prajnaparamitra should see in this
way…”
He then gives us the answer, first in summary, then
slightly more elaborate, and then he really elaborated. First he
said:
The sons, and the daughters of noble family
must see the five skandhas to be empty of nature.
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Now that needs a little bit of discussion, because here,
obviously, Avalokiteshvara is not saying that we must bring in
some kind of a chainsaw or a bulldozer to wipe out the five
skandhas. We are not talking about mincing, or burning all of the skandhas and getting rid of them. We are not saying that at
all. We are not judging the five skandhas at all. We are not
putting them down as ‘these five useless things.’ Not only are
they actually not useful, they are also not useless. They do not
even exist. That is what they are saying. To be useful and to be
useless, remember I was telling you right from the beginning,
how outrageous it is? It's outrageous for people like who? Forpeople like us, who make three constant mistakes: looking at
our hand, thinking it is the same hand of yesterday, and just not
understanding why there are more wrinkles. It doesn't make
sense. You know, like constantly. For these kinds of people,
emptiness is shocking.
Questions Relating to the Five Skandhas
So if you have any questions, we will stop here for a
while and you can ask some questions.
S: You said, for the first point, the skandhas don't exist, ..
not useful or useful so…
A: Yes. That's something that we will have to discuss in
the next few days. Because we will have to define, what do we
mean by exist? But what we discussed earlier about the three
mistakes will help you a little bit. Basically, you know, for a
Mahāyāna person, they think that everything is just a label. It's
like this table. There are a few attributes gathered, and some
parts are gathered and to this we ascribe the label of table. If
you really search each part and component, you don't find
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anything that is essential, independent or existing to which you
can point to as: this is the base of the table. It's a difficult one.
Anyhow, it will help you to think more internally, instead of
externally.S: What are the skandhas?
A: The skandhas are the five aggregates: form, feeling,
perception, formation and consciousness. Again, you know how
I was talking about the table. There are the legs, nails, paint and
a rectangular board, all of which when put together, is
something that we call table. Mahāyāna people think, form,
feeling, perception, formation, and consciousness, when puttogether bring a label or a notion, a notion of me. It's really quite
ridiculous.
For instance, just before I came here, I had a heated
argument with an Indian. It was a heated, and a really
passionate argument. I was being a little bit provocative. I was
saying how the British are good. And he really didn't like that.
This person, he's so Indian, and so patriotic. He's so patriotic
about India. Then lastly, I said to him: “Look who created India?
It was the British. The label that you are so proud and patriotic
about, this idea that you can even, give up your life for the sake
of this great name, is something that was created by the
British.” It's a bit like that: the self, the idea, 'I' you know, ‘me’
my friend, my enemy, even the notion of my appearing here.
Especially if it is spiced up with certain characters like George
Bush, then this self becomes really, really truly existing. This is
what the Mahāyāna people are talking about here. It's just so
pathetic, because it does not even exist.
But you know it’s not easy. It’s easier to say than to do.
Like with the notion of India, where they sing songs about India;
they stand up and the Indian national anthem comes up. There's
this attachment and then there is even more than the word, 'I'
me. It's really difficult to know that it's just a label. Because over
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the years, and over the many lifetimes, there have been so
many things that are entangled together now. We are attached
to the notion of 'I' and it is because of that very strong feeling
about me, my country, my philosophy and my way of doingthings. It is very strong. So the feeling and the 'I' are entangled.
Remember, it is this abnormality. Again, that's how we are
becoming abnormal, by thinking that this 'I' truly exists. India is
a good example, because this Indian guy hates British, but loves
India, which is a concept that the British produced. That's how
human beings work.
S: Rinpoche, in such a ridiculous... (several wordsinaudible) is it worth us studying at our level.
A: Yeah, it can have the effect of making your comfort
zones become slightly dented because the outer most level of
comfort zone is vanity. And at least, by hearing some of this
information and by practicing it, this will dent the vanity. It’s not
merely something like a fixable denting. It’s more like
permanent damage. The resale value has completely gone
down. That's about all we can aim for: for some of us, anyway. If
you at least achieve success in making yourself completely lost,
if you have managed to make yourself have ‘no resale value’
that's a good spiritual practitioner. That's difficult though
because profit is quite important.
S: When you talk about the five skandhas being empty,
are they altogether empty, or is each one of them empty at
once? What does being empty mean?
A: I think, it means all of them, all together, one by one.
But to even speak of a limit, to speak of quantity, you will soon
realize that what we have made of the five skandhas is purely
hypothetical. Mahāyāna people don't believe in numbers,
because if form is emptiness, definitely, numbers were gone a
long time ago.
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It's because of that you will hear the Mahāyāna scholars,
always saying that scientists are the most superstitious people
on this earth. Scientists believe in mathematics and
mathematics is completely hypothetical. The Mahāyāna people just cannot understand why two plus two has to be at least four.
I told you, didn't I? This text is a little beyond us, but that is good.
We should hear about these things.
Really, as I was saying right from the beginning, the
quintessence of Mahāyāna Buddhism has no information about
how Buddhists should perform the divorce ceremony, for
instance. Or how a Buddhist, should rule or judge. There is noneof that. Because they think that is such a big delusion.
One who Realizes Emptiness
S: What are the consequences for someone who realizes
emptiness?
A: For them? There are many answers for that. I
appreciate this question really. Because it's back to the
normality and non-normality. You know, the Mahāyāna people
think everything that we are doing is abnormal. Now we follow
their normality, right? But from the mundane, emotional,
deluded world's point of view, Mahāyāna normality is
completely abnormal. Likewise, from the ordinary point of view,
it is also this way for the Shrāvaka saying of self, wa nyempa
meaning a handful of earth, and a handful of gold has no
difference. The size of a palm and the size of space are no
different.
You know, at the beginning of the summer, I went to see
my father, and I spent quite a long time there. Now of course, I
received a lot of teachings that I've heard already before many
times. You know, Buddhists have nothing much to teach; they
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actually say the same thing, again and again. But it was very
good for me to be there, because he made me realize that I have
become a sycophant, or a slave of the so-called rational world.
After all, being rational means being a sucker. So spend timewith these people, who not only think and talk, but who actually
live with this kind of absolute irrationality. Like for instance, the
lunch hour is usually around five in the evening, and dinner is
like one in the morning. And just as you are getting quite
comfortable with that pattern, it changes. So it's a little
irrational.
But you know what? Your question is quite interesting.What are the consequences? What is the definition of
consequences?
S: You base it on compassion.
A: Yeah, Yeah.
S: When you realize that everything is emptiness, all the
societies, the laws, there must somehow be a personal
consequence for you to realize. The compassion...
A: Let's leave the compassion for now, I will talk about
that but what do you mean by consequences?
S: I mean, two things. First of all, there is the idea that
you have to function in society. I know, lunch at one, dinner at
six but also know it doesn't have to be that way, so I can
manipulate it. It is only because it is empty that you can play
around with the thing.
A: mm, hmm. You are answering quite well.
S: There’s a way of understanding, in the Western world,
through the middle-ages, about the difference between the fool
and the proper fool. It's a whole thing. I see it like a circle and it’s
a huge difference between...
A: Yes. But you know, as long as you know that
everything is manipulate-able, you are free: but we don't think
that way.
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There is another reason, why I asked you this question
about the definition of consequences. Usually, I don't know how
the word is used in general, but ‘consequences’ is meant to
mean you do something and you end up getting that. You aregetting an effect. But someone who realizes the emptiness,
doesn't do anything. His doing something also includes not
doing anything, by the way. So there are no consequences. This
is why people like Nagarjuna said, "I'm innocent." Really, do you
know why people like Chandrakirti are called consequentialists
in the Prasankiga-Madhyamika? Because they think that all of
you who believe in this idea of truly existing will have theconsequences, whereas me, Chandrakirti, I don't have
consequences because I don't believe in anything.
Now there is one important question you asked, where
does the compassion fit in here? Okay, when we talk about
compassion, usually we talk about some kind of a painful
emotional mind. It is sort of teary, and it is a touchy feely kind of
thing. But as I was saying right at the beginning, the very
understanding of the emptiness is the compassion. You see,
when you understand emptiness, you will have no arrogance. I
mean, how can you be arrogant? You are only arrogant if you
understand some part, and not all. The lack of arrogance is what
we call compassion. It's a much better word, this word
compassion. Compassion is a more beautiful word, and that's
why we use it and it works. Usually when we portray
compassion, we think of Avalokiteshvara's beautiful form. You
know, his eyes are slightly touched with tears. There is all of that.
People like to associate compassion with more of this soft stuff.
When you understand that the five skandhas do not exist
truly, then you also understand that the self does not exist truly.
When there is no self, there is no attachment to the self. Lack of
attachment to the self is compassion, is it not? So such kind of
person, actually works for people, tirelessly. Do you know why
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there is this ability to work tirelessly? It is because they have no
goal. Someone who has a goal just ends up getting so tired,
because there is a finishing line. But I tell you, for someone who
understands emptiness, not only do they work tirelessly, butthey also don't rest, because there is no opposite of what is rest.
It's kind of a very, very tricky thing this one. We can only
talk about it but I must say, we are already quite fortunate to be
talking about it. There are so many other things to talk about.
We can talk about how there are sixty-four virgins waiting in
heaven and stuff like that. I personally think that this is much
more worthwhile, because sixty-four virgins is a big pain. That'svery dangerous.
Love is Emptiness, Emptiness is Love
S: Can one manipulate love?
A: I think so. Are you talking about the Heart Sūtra? Love
is emptiness. Emptiness is love. Emptiness is not other than love.
Love is not other than emptiness. That's what Avalokiteshvara
said, on Vulture’s Peak, about 2500 years ago. That's how he
handled the idea love. You know, he is also referred to as the
bodhisattva of love.
S: I have the feeling, when we have a difficult time, when
we know about me, myself and I: it's my house, my car, my
woman, my children, my success. I have to deal with this sticky
honey, I have to say, my sweet form, my beauty-less form, my
good feeling, and get the impression that they have good
perception about the diet, that they are getting clear
consciousness. So I think this author has them as the five
skandhas are empty...
A: What is your question? Are you saying that normal
people...
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S: The question is what is there for our society, for our
economy, and what are the consequences if you really realize
the five skandhas are empty because then we go off.
A: No, no, we don't. We don't go off. Because if you dogo off, that means you don't understand the five skandhas are
emptiness. Emptiness is not a denial. It is just understanding
what it is. Nothing stops! You go on with your same hairdresser,
and the same grocery shopping, nothing stops. It is just that the
truth is realized. Actually if you keep on doing these mundane
things, it's even better, because then you are not trapped. These
things are not going to trap you anymore. They can't trap you.S: So it's a good protection to be aware.
A: Yes, very much. That's the only thing.
Dwelling in the Profound Samādhi of
Prajnaparamita Liberates you
So, the Noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva
mahasattva was dwelling in this profound samādhi of
prajnaparamita. And he saw the five skandhas to be empty of
nature.
I think we should think about the purpose of this
samādhi, the samādhi of prajnaparamita. Of course, we
obviously say it is for the purpose of liberation, for the sake of
enlightenment. But the term, this concept of enlightenment, is
so jaded. As soon as we talk about enlightenment, we imagine it
is something to do with what can happen, after twelve years of
practice, or a lifetime of practice. Now I am stressing this
because, when you think like that, then even the profound
teachings such as the Heart Sūtra, become like: ‘just another
religion’ or some kind of theistic approach. At the same time, to
be thinking of enlightenment as something you will obtain, after
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a while, after a certain practice, is also a correct way of thinking.
It's not like it is an incorrect way of thinking or something. It can
be correct. That is a very human way of thinking and it is the
only way to think, I guess.But why dwell in this samādhi of prajnaparamita?
Because it liberates you. What does it liberate you from? The
hell realm. Actually, enlightenment is an experience of an
absence of paranoia. Right now, everything we are experiencing
is paranoia after paranoia. There is the paranoia of dwelling too
much in the rational world. There is the paranoia that is
produced out of our hope and fear, and reference. Having areference makes you feel you have to compete, or that you have
to refer to that reference. That's another paranoia. To always,
always be forgetting that the reference is only something that
your mind has produced. You look at something beautiful and it
is your mind that thinks this is beautiful. But then you think you
want to be like that . You want to be beautiful in the sense that
you have created.
So by dwelling on the profound prajnaparamita samādhi,
it releases you from this paranoia. It is to release you from these
inhibitions and hang ups. That’s difficult because many of these
inhibitions and hang-ups are also part of our comfort zone and
who would like to get rid of that? We are used to the inhibitions,
and the hang-ups that we have. Because there are these certain
areas that we are used to we are therefore quite comfortable
with them. To go against these things is too outrageous. Not
only is it too outrageous, it is also too irrational.
Buddhism Is a Path to Deconstruct the Ego
There is something important that we talked of
yesterday, which I should interpret slightly more: the issue of
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why Avalokiteshvara and Shāriputra weren’t discussing
scientific things, breakthroughs, atoms, and mathematical
questions and all of that. I am just mentioning this because
some of you may think in that way. After all, this whole path,leads to the same thing, so why do we need the Heart Sūtra, for
instance. But you see, with things like atoms, all kind of things,
like the universe for instance, although it comes from intention
of making a better society, better mankind and all that, it is not
really going against the ego.
You can say, Buddhism, and the whole path of Buddhism
is a path to deconstruct the ego. It is a path to destroy yourself.That is the irony and the challenge of the Buddhist path,
because we have to destroy ourselves. Of course, this in itself is
not a good thing to do, at least not from a human, emotional
point of view. And then, while we talk about destroying
ourselves, we also talk about helping sentient beings and we
talk about a sense of responsibility. We talk about compassion
and we talk about achieving enlightenment. So then,
immediately, we think there is something, another self that
does all of this.
The Prajnaparamita:
It Pulls the Rug out from under you
I think if there is any singular path that is really
concerned with deconstructing the self, even without having the
name: prajnaparamita it is actually the quintessence of
Buddhism. When we talk about deconstructing the self, we are
not talking about some kind of affordable renunciation, like
living a simple life, living in a cave, deconstructing our jobs, and
deconstructing our family life. We are not only talking about
that kind of thing. What we are talking about is: there is nothing
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to deconstruct. If that works, that's kind of frightening. If you
have something to deconstruct, it's slightly better still. Here we
have to learn there is nothing to deconstruct, and that's so
important.You know, the Buddhist concept of renunciation. When
it is initially taught to people, we hear of how we have to shave
our heads, live simply and all of that. Eventually, they will tell
you, there is nothing to renounce, and that is the quintessence
of renunciation. So the purpose of prajnaparamita is to
deconstruct your ‘self.’ Its purpose is to pull the rug out from
under you.That's the whole purpose. The rug is sort of the five
skandhas. But you see, again we are falling into a trap, because
it again makes you think that there is something on the rug. Of
course, you then also think that there is a rug. Here what we are
saying is: there is no rug. There is nothing on top of the rug and
therefore there is no pulling and that is the meaning of pulling
the rug out from under you. This is quite an important analysis,
if you want to understand the emptiness.
Discussing the meaning of:
“Form is Emptiness”
When you hear “form is emptiness” what does it tell you,
as a human being? Don’t tell me, as a jaded Buddhist.
S: There is no ability to discriminate. I know the
difference between nothing and a car.
A: Mm, hmm. What else? Emptiness, what is that?
S: What are we considering emptiness? I mean, is this a
vacuum or maybe it is clear of what I know of. Or maybe there is
something else there. What do you consider empty? I mean,
how can I know what emptiness is? It doesn't really have a
concept.
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A: Okay. What is the emptiness?
S: Nothing.
A: What do you mean by that? I mean, when you say
'nothing' is it an absence? When you say 'everything' is it apresence?
S: Everything is codependent, lacking in inherent
existence.
A: That's a jaded Buddhist answer.
S: When I first came to Buddhism, it was really a pain for
me, feeling the emptiness. I was desperate and I didn't
understand the meaning. Slowly, I have come to say to myself,“Maybe I can get used to it.”
A: But when you hear the word ‘emptiness,’ what is the
first impression you have, even today?
S: Lack of anything. It is connected to quantum physics,
as in time and space.
A: Mm, hmm.
S: There is a box, which is empty, but still there is a box.
A: I keep on hearing negation. I keep on hearing form is
emptiness; I am not hearing emptiness is form.
S: Can emptiness exist without form?
A: Can emptiness exist?
S: Not exist. It's like form is essential somehow.
A: This is very philosophical now but it might help. You
know, in Mahāyāna Buddhism, emptiness is used and there are
many, many different terms and names. There is all this
terminology. One very interesting one is the emptiness, but
especially when we study Buddhist philosophy, more often than
not we don't use the word emptiness. Instead we use the word,
‘the great character’, ‘the great characteristic.’ It is the only
characteristic, the only definition. That's a very, very, very,
interesting approach, because when you study Buddhist
philosophy, you study the definitions of things. Now as for this
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term definition, I don't know how it works in the German
language, what do you say?
S: (German word).
A: What's the meaning of that? What is the definition of definition? The characteristic of definition is that it should
identify a particular thing and only that thing, nothing else, isn't
it? Now according to the Buddhist philosophers, they think, all
the definitions that we human beings make, or construct are a
generalization. There is only one characteristic of the definition
that really cannot be changed: what else, but the emptiness.
The characteristic of everything is emptiness.You know, I think the challenge for you, in not
understanding emptiness, is always making a big gap between
the object and the subject. If you think the object exists
independently from the subject, then you will have a hard time
understanding the emptiness. Because as we spoke of
yesterday, then the Buddhist's concept of the emptiness, is a bit
like a bulldozer. You apply the emptiness meditation. When the
bodhisattva mahasattva Avalokiteshvara dwells in the
emptiness meditation, he is chopping down the trees, leveling
all the mountains, and drying up all the oceans. That's not the
right way to understand the emptiness.
But then, remember, when we look at our hand, we look
at in three ways. Of course, we don't call it a mistaken way, to us
it is the right way, and we see a hand. That hand. It is the same
hand as yesterday's hand. It is a hand, as in a hand, but not as in
parts. It is an independent hand. Now the thing is none of that is
an externally, independently existing object. It's all
manifestation of your mind. When you try to find anything that
is solid, or anything that is truly existing, you don't find
anything, but what is hand? There are so many components.
With each component, take for instance the blood, when you
divide it all up, there are cells, DNA and atoms and you again
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lose any solid or truly existing entity that you can call 'blood.' So
then what do realize? We realize that this is just a label. It's
functioning just as a label. Okay, what does it tell you? It
destroys the paranoia.Let's say you have a really good car. What's the best car,
at the moment?
S: A Porsche.
A: Porsche, that's a label. It's a label. If you can accustom
yourself to thinking: “I am going to drive my labeled, moving
machine that is labeled as a Porsche. I am going to drive the
moving machine that has been advertised as the best car.” Thenit really pokes a hole in the net of paranoia. Definitely.
So that is what we are talking about here. Emptiness is a
very slippery subject. But as long as you know, and if you are not
caught up with this notion that the object exists independently,
and externally, you then have a very good chance to understand
the emptiness. Of course, you know, even the concept, even the
things we talked of yesterday, this normality. Why have we
become abnormal in the first place? It is when you think that the
label is not a label but a real thing. A label is just a name. It is a
symbol. It's not the real thing. We become abnormal when we
think the symbol is the real thing.
Culture preservation is one of the biggest movements of
label preservation, basically. And, there are all kinds of systems
that we have. Yet it is all basically a label. Buddhists are not
saying that you should renounce the real thing. Buddhists are
not saying you should not drink orange juice. Buddhists are only
saying that you should renounce thinking that the label of
‘orange juice’ is the orange juice. All this is trying to explain,
‘form is emptiness.’
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Don’t try to look for the Emptiness
So Avalokiteshvara, dwelling in the profound samādhi of
prajnaparamita. Let's pretend that this is Vulture’s Peak; feel thevultures, circling up in the sky. The temperature is kind of
similar. Think that we are all Avalokiteshvara, and let's try to
dwell on the profound prajnaparamita. But don't try to look for
emptiness. Don't treat yourself as a fisherman with a fishing rod,
and emptiness as a rare fish. Because you don't have any bait.
There is no bait that the emptiness will want to have a little bit
of a taste of.So let's begin, initially with just watching the skandhas.
For instance, as we sit, we have a body. You have two hands,
and two legs and it’s amazing, you know. With these hands, how
did it happen that this is a hand? You can even invoke a little bit
of a manicure and a pedicure. But this is pre-manicure state, and
by the time you have a manicure, you are in a complete state of
abnormality, and so before the manicure, you just observe the
hand. Why is it a hand? How come it is a hand? How come you
have it? All kinds of ridiculous questions, you should ask. I think
the ridiculous questions are amazing, and you know, they are
like a life opener. And then, I'm sure, pain, itchiness, you know,
feeling discomfort, whatever. Watch the feeling. Basically,
watch your form, feeling, what else?
S: The suffering.
A: The suffering. Formation, consciousness. If you've got
ankle ache, a backache, or like a blissed out kind of feeling,
watch that. There are all kinds of perception: the perception of
noticing a sound, such as the humming of the air conditioner.
There is the unbearable awkwardness of the back of someone
else's head and the shape of your back. Everything is
perception. There is always this constant perception. Even this
irritating voice is perception. Then there is formation, such as:
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“When is this going to end? Will there be a toilet break? Oh, I
forgot to call my home.” There are all kinds of activities and
agendas and especially, if you are an American – there are
issues. Then there is consciousness. To have a clearconsciousness, to have a dull consciousness, basically that very
fact there is a constant cognition.
Emptiness Meditation: Beyond pre-manicure,
post-manicure and mid-manicure
Okay, sitting. So there are many different ways to
approach an understanding of emptiness. You see, because of
the nature of emptiness; basically you can take any vehicle to
approach to that. You can elaborate in all kinds of ways to
approach that. But I think, as we talked yesterday, the safest,
most risk free way is sitting and to watch, basically just to
watch. You watch your form, feeling and all the rest. But when I
say watch that means a lot. That can stretch from the
Theravada tradition, all the way to the atiyoga, to the
mahāsandhi tradition. Because when we say watch, we are not
necessarily saying you should involve. We are not necessarily
saying that you should engross. We are not necessarily saying
you should be doing any judgment. You simply, observe.
Simply, look at that. Hear the sound, do not listen. Because if
you are making a judgment, then that is post-manicure, or mid-
manicure. But it is more likely post-manicure, I think.
When we do emptiness meditation, it should be beyond
pre-manicure, post-manicure and mid-manicure. Simply look at
the hand. Okay, the question is what is the big deal? The big
deal is when you simply look, you become less and less honey-
like. You don't get sticky, and nothing sticks to you. What will
that do? You become less and less manipulate-able. You rely
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less and less on those comfort zones and you become less and
less abnormal, I guess. But at the same time, you become more
and more irrational. Am I talking in a very coded language? Am I
confusing you totally, here?
Form: shape, color, size, quantity, and quality
So when Shāriputra asked Avalokiteshvara how should
one approach to prajnaparamita? Avalokiteshvara's answer is by
seeing the skandhas as emptiness. To know they are empty of an independently or externally existing nature. To see the five
skandhas as a mere label. To see the five skandhas as an
interdependent phenomena, that was the summary of his
answer. And then he elaborated, "Form is emptiness."
What we are talking about is shape, color, size, quantity,
and quality. We are talking about a body, in the sense of
something united. Of course, we are especially talking about
this form that we have. The external form, of course, is included,
like citizenship, nationality, government, blue chips, and the
Dow Jones and it's a form that people get so paranoid about.
The label given, you understand.
Now of course, apart from those things, something more
important is the very form that you have. It is quite important,
diet, gym, yoga, ab-building, six pack, you know, to become a
kind of a Schwarzenegger-like form. We are not talking in the
way of only form is emptiness; it actually includes a lot of things.
It includes Jennifer Lopez, it includes Arnold Schwarzenegger,
and of course, above all, you – we are also included. And me,
and my, are very much included. The weighing device is
included, and so are all those things, related to form, basically.
You can see it’s all your paranoia, isn't it? Like for instance, I
have a paranoia that I'll never even find it hard – never becoming
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like a Schwarzenegger. Likewise, I am sure some of you have a
certain paranoia about becoming deformed.
This paranoia is good for business though, especially for
nutritionists, and yoga masters and all of that. And for facialtreatments, it's really good, good for business.
Avalokiteshvara's finding on the other hand is not so good for
business. So can you see there is this form that we imagine we
are trying to have, or that we think we have and don't want to
lose. Or we think we have it but it is not that perfect so we then
think let's make it perfect. All of these things happen when you
don't know that form is just a label. It's just your projection.Take for instance the concept of beauty; I think in the oil
paintings of the past, they thought that being quite fleshy was
beautiful. You know, in two hundred years time, our great, great,
great, great grandchildren will be looking at our pictures,
thinking how we look like skeletons. And here we are being
quite proud of being like that.
Form exists as a mirage and therefore
“Emptiness is Form”
You see, form is emptiness, and beauty is just a label.
Therefore "Form is emptiness," what is it that we are saying? Is
there no such thing as beauty, or ugliness? Is there no such thing
as big, or small? All of that? No, no, no, they all exist. They
function, they manifest. Small exists compared to something
bigger. Something that is very small then changes to something
big when it is compared to something that is smaller than it.
Everything exists. Beauty exists, ugliness exists but not as
independent form, it is an interdependent reality. It exists as an
illusion, as a mirage, and therefore emptiness is form. We are
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not talking about negating. There is no negation at all. In fact,
we are very much, making things very comfortable.
Let's say you don't look like a Schwarzenegger. And let's
say that you have been brooding about it for the past 30 years,and suddenly you hear the second verse, "Emptiness is form."
Then you realize there are actually millions of people who like
you because you do not look like Schwarzenegger. It's amazing,
isn't it? There are people who like you because you are not what
you want to be. Or there are people who don't like you because
you become who you want to be. It's just amazing that some
people are turned on by a certain size or turned off by a certainsize. So because of lack of information on the second verse,
that's why, again the business is good. It is especially good for
some people, like for penile enlargement or implant specialists.
So Avalokiteshvara's information can be quite beneficial for
these people. It's amazing. The lack of a given size for a certain
part of your body is the very reason why millions of people like
you. And all along, here you are thinking that is your downfall.
So that's the emptiness is form. It's very difficult to explain. I
have to talk like this, you know. It's a tough subject this one.
It is not as if “Form is Real” and it Suddenly
becomes Emptiness
Well, the next two are kind of easy to understand.
“Emptiness is no other than form.” So then we think, okay form
is like the noun, and emptiness is like an adjective of that noun.
You know, like form is one thing and then the emptiness is
another thing. It's like two separate entities. Actually, this is
quite an important subject again.
S: What was the noun?
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A: Okay, take for instance a flower that is red. There are
two entities here, the flower and the redness. They are kind of
two separate things, aren't they? So we might think, when we
say form is emptiness, emptiness is form, then there is a danger,we think we have to apply the emptiness over the form. But that
is not it. We don't apply. Emptiness is not other than form. They
are not two separate entities. If they become separate entities,
again, business will become good. Because that means there is
an ultimate decision that is universally agreed upon. It means
that if you have Arnold Schwarzenegger's body, you will be
universally admired. It's not like that. There is no universalagreement - on anything! Nothing!
This is why, when a Buddhist prays, "May all sentient
beings be happy" that happiness should always be based on the
wisdom. Otherwise how are you as a Mahāyāna Buddhist, going
to cater to the happiness of different people? The long life of
Saddam Hussein, is an unhappiness for George Bush. The fact
that there are no chemical weapons is bad news for people like
Donald Rumsfeld. So when we Buddhists say, "May all sentient
beings, like Donald Rumsfeld be happy," does that mean as a
Buddhist we go and plant some weapons everywhere? That will
contradict, Saddam Hussein's wish. So it’s all like that.
Happiness, unhappiness, everything should be based on the
wisdom.
Emptiness is no other than form. Form is no
other than emptiness.
It's not as if the beginning part of the form is real and
then it slowly becomes emptiness. The moment that a concept
emerges and forms, it is emptiness.
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Form is a bit like a Hideout and Feeling is the
Moody Receptionist
In the same way, feeling is emptiness, emptiness isfeeling, emptiness is no other than feeling, feeling is no other
than the emptiness. Again, feeling. Now that is one big
phenomena in our life. For a lot of people actually, feeling is
probably, the most up front agent of the five skandhas. It's like a
receptionist. It is a kind of moody receptionist. It's really bad,
when you go to an office building and you face a moody
receptionist. How would you feel facing this short temperedness?Again, mind you, there are other people who have this
completely, left wing, bleeding heart, liberal kind of feeling.
Like you know, there are people who have no doubts, or
no second thoughts in joining empty war protests, and carrying
a banner such as 'no blood for oil.' Yet after the protest, you will
drive your car, and there you use your oil. Though they are quite
sweet; actually, they are quite sweet. Then there are politically
correct people, who are really so much into politically correct
things. There are people who are caught up with the concept of
doing the right thing: the people whom the Mahāyāna thinks of
as having idiot compassion.
So there are many different kinds of feelings. There are
so many different kinds of feelings that we have. Feeling
changes all the time. But anyway, feeling really plays an
important role.
Again, if you don't know the feeling is emptiness, it is
good for business. Most of the cards, like for instance Happy
Birthday Cards, 25th Anniversary Cards, or a card to say ‘Sorry;’
all of these things work. It works because we don't know what
these guys have discussed. These guys they think feeling is
completely pathetic. There is a reason you feel good now, but
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you cannot say, “this same reason will always make me feel
good.” In the future, the same reason will make you feel bad.
So feeling is impermanent. It is not independent; it's
dependent. And feeling is made out of a lot of components. Andas for the components, some of the components make you feel
good. Let's say they are very strange component, everything
from a standard heart shaped bed, to a handcuff. All are
components to make you feel good. It's really amazing.
Amongst these things that turn us on, among the components,
the cause and conditions that turn us on, if we could film all of
that, every year we would win a prize in the Cannes Film Festival.But only in Cannes, because the French like this kind of thing.
French components, that turns them on. There is that whole
phenomena, and they like it. And it's called sophistication.
Perception as your Translator
Then there is perception. It is another important part of
us. Form is a bit like a hideout and feeling is the moody
receptionist, remember. As for the perception, it like having a
very ambitious and a bad lawyer as your translator.
You don't speak the language, right? So you need a
translator. If the translator doesn't have any other job, that's
fine, but when the translator happens to be a bad and ambitious
lawyer, it is very dangerous. The first impression this lawyer, this
perception encounters, will determine the rest of the
phenomena that you are going to go through. It is the first
perception. You look at someone, and your perception about
this someone, good or bad, whatever it is, that is going to
determine how you relate with this person. Not only your
perception with people, but with situations as well and your
perception about yourself, on that particular day, in that
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particular moment, will also make you decide things. When you
wake up, if your translator is in a bad mood, there is a tendency
to ruin your whole day.
But you see, this is also impermanent. You wake up in abad mood, so you perceive things in a really bad way, and
logically you have the right to be in a bad mood. You really see
things in a bad way and then you receive a call from I don't know,
from a long lost friend or something, and then everything
changes! Your mood, the way you perceive things or do not
perceive things, all this changes. When you got up in the
morning, you thought your coffee had too much sugar, but afterreceiving the call, you drank the same coffee and didn't notice.
Perception. Perception is emptiness; it doesn't stay. In the same
way, emptiness is perception.
Karmic Formation:
the Working Guy, your Staff
Next is formation. This is a real working guy, like a
machine. So you have a castle as form, feeling as a receptionist,
perception as a translator, and now you have karmic formation
as your staff. Busy. You will be quick to respond, to reply. It's like
when you respond to things, with a good intention, and with
what we call virtuous actions. Or when you respond with not
such a good intention, with bad karma of non-virtuous actions,
or with an indifferent kind of motivation. There is a simple sort
of a reflex or some kind of automatic response to whatever
situation is happening. Basically you function or there is an
action produced as a response to a situation. So that's a big part
of you again. Formation is a big part of you. It is like putting on
some lipstick. You see, these things are all interrelated, like for
instance, doing push ups, especially if you are an Arnold
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Schwarzenegger oriented person. Or your eating meat only, if
you want to build your muscles. Actions, you immediately,
perform a certain action. So action is a big part of you. In fact,
that is one big part of you, by which other people will judge andvalue who you are. That's how they judge you, by your action.
What do they call it? “Actions speak louder than words.” It's a
very big part of you. But actions are impermanent, not
independent, and actions are made out of a lot of components,
therefore actions, or formation is emptiness; emptiness is
formation and so on.
Consciousness: the Man behind the Desk
Consciousness, this is the boss now. This is the man
behind the desk. The one who is responsible for everything,
even though he doesn't think so. He always feels it's all because
of form, perception and feeling but we know that without him,
the whole company no longer exists. Not directly, but indirectly
he is responsible. He is very much responsible.
Basically, this is your mind. I mean, among the five
skandhas, even as we discuss this, we can sort of come to an
agreement that form is not the real me. I think the first thing we
can get rid of is the form. And the second is perhaps the actions.
We can say, okay my action cannot be me. It could be just a
reflexive response. And then, as for the feeling, it is a little
difficult but okay, maybe that is not the real me. After that,
perception can also be regarded as not the real me. But when it
comes to consciousness, if that is not ‘me’ then who am I?
So it's the biggest part of you. But here again, we are not
consciousness. What is consciousness? Being conscious of
something, and as we are conscious of something that is
interdependent. It's impermanent because you are not always
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conscious of that thing. Consciousness is also made out of a lot
of components, and some of them are even external
components, such as the object ‘table’ and your being conscious
of a table. Therefore, consciousness is emptiness and so forth.
Each time we Speak, it is a Generalization
Now Avalokiteshvara, elaborates slightly more:
Thus, Shāriputra, all dharmas areemptiness.
Within the five aggregates basically, all phenomena are
included. With all these phenomena, there is no absolute,
unbreakable, unchangeable definition or characteristic. A
defining characteristic of a table, may be: ‘something that can
hold the cup’ and ‘something that can be used as a desk’ and all
that. But if it has another component pasted onto its joint, then
the very idea of the table is deconstructed and a new
phenomena, such as a chair will come out of this. So therefore,
there is no absolute, unchangeable characteristic, and within
any of the phenomena we discuss, all is generalized. It's quite
important and it’s quite a big statement.
For Mahāyāna people, every time we speak, each time
we utter a word, it is called generalization. You might be the
most perfect practitioner of politically correctness, but in reality
you are not, because you are generalizing everything. That is
the only way we communicate in the human world. Like if we
say for instance that Germans drink a lot of beer, I suppose it’s a
generalization. But it would be tyrannical to say, Herman Hess
drinks a lot of beer. You cannot single out because otherwise,
there would be no conversation any longer. So it's much more
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interesting to say, all German's drink a lot of beer. It is nicer to
say, and it will promote tourism, too.
So generalization is the only language that we have and
we should speak it because we have no choice. The English havebad food. Asians are racist. Tibetans are narrow-minded.
Muslims are fanatics. Buddhists are peace loving. Now that last
one is a very big generalization. But generalization is the only
way to work.
We are not Negating that Form Exists
S: Could you say more about "Emptiness is form.”?
A: "Emptiness is form?" First of all, when we say form is
emptiness, we are not negating that form exists. It is two
different things, form is emptiness, and form does not exist. It's
two different things. When the bodhisattva realizes that form is
emptiness, it's not like a sunflower when the sun goes down; it
not as though it sort of stands down. It's not as though when a
bodhisattva realizes emptiness, everything is going to sort of
dismantle and disappear into pieces. It is not like that.
Everything functions! The coffee machine works, or at least it
works in the sense of not working. Whether the coffee machine
works, or whether my coffee machine doesn't work, in both
instances that's also ‘working,’ you understand? Because it is all
a part of the coffee machine phenomena. Today, it is not
working; but all of this will still go on.
If you are having a nightmare of sleeping with an
elephant, then you would really try to wake up, or someone else
might really try to wake you up. Perhaps, someone chases away
the elephant, and all of a sudden, the elephant goes, so you are
relieved. But you see, the elephant is emptiness; it’s a dream.
From the very first moment that you dreamt the elephant, the
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elephant was emptiness. So there is no going of the elephant,
and also there is no coming of elephant. The second part is very,
very important for the Mahāyāna.
When we say ‘table is just a label’ or ‘table is emptiness’that is not saying that ‘table as table’ is going to stop
functioning. It still functions, but only as a label. Now if you
know that , what's the benefit? Your grip towards the table is
slightly loosened, because you know it is just a label. Once your
grip is loosening, you are slightly normal. That's the whole point.
S: …Component?
A: Each component, each part is again, another label. Allthe way up to the smallest atom, and even the smallest atom is
also a mind created label.
S: I guess I wanted to know, what is the cause that makes
us always create labels?
A: What's the cause? Oh, that's a very good question.
There are many reasons. Comfort zone is one big one,
because…
S: Like with children, they don't seem to have that
comfort zone, way of habit,
A: Yes.
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We all have Renunciation Mind
but do it in Slow Motion
S: ... and sometimes we have to create labels to call theirparents.
A: Yes, it’s a very good example. Actually with many
children, especially with very, very young children, their way of
looking at a painting is one of the most well used examples
coming from the great meditation masters. That is how we
should be looking at things. But you know, just to give you one
example. Like when we talk about renunciation mind forinstance, these teachings on renunciation are not really a
religious technique that you have to implement on yourself in
order to achieve enlightenment. Everyone, you, me, all of us, we
all have renunciation mind – it is just that we do it in very slow
motion.
When we were children, the sandcastle was so important,
you understand. Our toys were so important. You were so
attached to these things, even to the point of having to hear
your parents say, "Enough." Once you have become a teenager,
nobody has to say, "Enough," you will renounce those things
without any drama. Then the sandcastle is replaced with a video
machine, video games, roller blades, a skateboard and all of that.
Then after a while, all of that is again renounced. Nobody has to
say anything and there is no need to do a meditation. It is all
automatically, renounced. Then it is replaced with fast cars,
nightclubs, or something else like that, or it’s replaced with
things like job, status, relationship, and all of that. By the time
you are about seventy or eighty, you know, the relationship,
again, nobody has to say ‘this is useless,’ you automatically
renounce it. Then that begins to get replaced by other things,
such as tablecloths, tea sets or saltshakers. And that's it. That's
the end of our life. The saltshaker.
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So all that we Buddhists are saying is: “What a waste of
time. Why can't we speed it up?” Okay, how about four years
for the sandcastle, two years for the roller blades, another year
for the fast car, and since the tablecloth is not that interesting, just half a year for the tablecloth. Half a year. And then you do
something interesting. But you know, it’s back to the comfort
zone. Sandcastles, as much as we think these are so useless,
they are comfort zones for the kids. Some parents even have to
pay a high price for this. They have to fly their children all the
way to Hawaii to build their sandcastles. As if to say, your
neighboring sandpit is not good enough. After that, I don't knowwhat we can do about saltshaker.
We have to Learn and Accept
We are Cookable
S: She has a question about compassion, and she has
heard that in order to love others it is important to love oneself
first. How does it work?
A: Based on this teaching?
S: This question she has in mind since...
A: Okay. Loving oneself is very important but loving
oneself with wisdom is even more important. You see, when we
say loving oneself, we are talking about confidence. Confidence
is what we call loving oneself. If you have confidence, then you
are not insecure, right? So how do we develop this confidence?
We have to accept, we have to learn and accept that we are
cookable. That's it. Know that we are changeable and that we
are manipulate-able. This is a very, very, very important piece of
information.
With most people who don't love themselves, they hate
themselves, because they believe that they are stuck with a
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certain problem. There is this idea that they are not washable,
or that they are not cookable. So basically, you are stuck. Then
they hate themselves for that. It is a bit strange though – why
should they hate themselves for that? Because logicallyspeaking, if they really think that they are stuck, there is no
reason to hate. Even the fact that you hate yourself for being
something, means that you are referring to a reference. It is like
you are referring to something good, and then you want to
become like that. Now, in wanting to become like that there is
this fundamental aspect of, “I can be like that.” But you see, the
thing is in so many situations, “I” will never have a chance to belike that. Even so, you know that you can become like that and
that's the frustration part.
Purifiable. Cookable. Washable. When you know that,
then that is loving yourself. That's how I interpret it.
There is no Emptiness to Meditate on
S: It seems to me, basically I am able to experience this
but how can I know I am really experiencing emptiness, and not
that I have a concept of it?
A: Oh, yes. That's a very important question. Of course,
the real answer has to come from your instructor. Someone has
to lead you. Then they will tell you, what is happening and all of
that. But anyway, theoretically, I can answer you with
something. As long as there is a view to look at, you still haven't
got it. As long as you have an emptiness to meditate upon, it
means that you still haven't got it. That's the theoretical answer.
It's not that I made this up. It is the standard answer. It is very
important. The Buddha, who went beyond all the views, this is
how he addressed it.
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The Three Characteristics of No Birth: beginning,
middle and end
Okay, now for the next. Makyepa – no birth. No birth,this is a very important one. What is the German word for
existence? Existence, what does that mean? Is it something to
do with having an identity?
S: (Discussion in German) We think that it could be that
it stands by itself or out of itself.
A: Good. All these are good. Anyway, broadly speaking,
the Buddhist definition of existence is something that has thecharacteristic of birth, of the beginning, death, the end, and the
middle, dwelling.
So now we analyze that. There are these three
characteristics: the beginning, the middle and the end. What is
most important, for now is the beginning. Everybody is
interested in the beginning. There is the origin, our nationality,
our birth date, DNA, and everything. Birth is so important.
Genesis, for most religious people, genesis is so important. Now
you see, for the Mahāyāna, since everything is emptiness, even
the very concept of genesis or the birth; that too is emptiness.
Therefore, there is no such thing as a primordial birth, or the
primordial creator of birth. There is no beginning. What it is
meaning is: there is no birth. If there is no birth, there is no
cessation.
S:(question inaudible)
A: Yes. We are never negating. Did I negate table as a
label? No. Likewise, I am not negating beginning as a label. But
for religious people and for the theoreticians, they believe in a
real beginning. There is this belief in genesis, "In the
beginning..." so and so came to this earth. That kind of thing is
unacceptable. For us, here in the Mahāyāna, beginning only
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exists as an interdependence. In order for us to qualify this as a
beginning, we need the two other components, which are the
end and the middle. So it is the same thing as the example of
the hand. Basically, there is no such thing as an independentphenomena called beginning. Time, there is no time: ultimate
time. Likewise, there is no end: independent end. If I take away
the four legs of this table, then that is the beginning of one
phenomena, and the end of another phenomena. That is the
end of the phenomena of the table and the beginning of
another phenomena, maybe a tray. Independent from moving
the four legs, one cannot bring in the phenomena called ‘end.’Basically, the end is usually referred to as the dismantling of a
few components.
You see, this is quite important. Take for instance death.
This death that we are so afraid of, again we fear a label, this
thing called death. What is really happening is we are afraid of
losing some of our comfort zones, such as tablecloths. The
death that we are so fearful over, if you really meditate and
really sit as we have been sitting, you will realize it’s like waking
up from a dream. It's the end of one phenomena, but the
beginning of another phenomena. But of course, it is not that
easy because for us, we have been so doomed by our passion,
aggression, and attachment that we have now produced our self
into a gross form. There is this body, sickness and then there are
breathing problems and all of that. And that makes death, much
more real.
Just think, if you were to watch a horror film without the
sound, you would not be afraid. It's a bit similar to death. If you
really meditate, and sit and sit, then you can switch off; then
you are turning down the volume, muting the sound. Then it is
really nothing. But if your paranoia and your abnormality
catches you, then in the horror movie, the camera angle, and
the sound or no sound, the silence, the special effects hypes up
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everything. And then you are really afraid. So this is why
clinging, the grip is not good.
It is like we are all falling from a cliff and have managed
to grab hold of one very, very weak piece of grass. It is about tobreak away, and you are so paranoid that you are not even
looking down. If you are not that paranoid, then perhaps you
look and see the fall is maybe only six inches. It is not so much of
a cliff. But that is easier said than done.
Emotions are also Conditioned
No impurity and no purity, this is a very big statement of
Mahāyāna Buddhism. I mean, let us forget about other religions,
but even within Buddhism, there are not so many schools that
talk about such things. It is a very big statement. This seemingly,
stubborn, permanently, and sort of realistic living negativity
that we have: it is seemingly very, very solid. Yet it is only
seemingly so, because it is again just another label. Jealousy,
pride, anger – all of these emotions are conditioned, just like in
the example of the table. There are four legs put together, with
one board and it becomes a table. Just like that, aggression,
jealousy, all of this, there are a few components put together,
and then there is jealousy. There are a few components put
together, and then there is anger. But again, it is easier to say
than to actually practice.
For us, we rely so much on the comfort zones that when
the negative emotion comes, we will be so surprised to have
such a rage inside of us. You know, even as you are ready to stab
your husband, or something like that, right then and there, you
still think, “now this is real,” and it is. I mean it feels real. It
causes your body to shake; you lose sleep, and lose your taste
for eating sausages. All the time you are forgetting how this is
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actually a phenomena; it's a label. It's a phenomena that's made
out of a few components. Each component within itself is
interdependent, and impermanent, and thus, in Mahāyāna
Buddhism, ultimately, there is no negativity.Jealousy is emptiness, emptiness is jealousy, emptiness
is not other than jealousy, jealousy is not other than emptiness.
Since there are no defilements, there is no such thing as
purification of the defilements. Like when you are practicing lots
and lots of meditation, and getting rid of the defilements, you
are dismantling a few components. Or you are gathering a few
other components, which is so called purification. There is noreal defilement that you get rid of. So likewise, there is no
defilement to be reduced, and there is no defilement that gets
reduced. There is no truly existing compassion, omniscience, or
all the other kinds of enlightenment qualities that increase.
These four statements are very powerful statements.
It is these statements that have been taught again and
again by great masters like Chandrakirti. My favorite quotation
from him is one where he says, "Those who are unwise, they do
bad things and they go to hell" and then he said, "those who are
unwise, they do good and they go to heaven." Notice that we
are still talking about ‘unwise.’ Then he said, "Those who are
wise, they go beyond good and bad actions and then they reach
nirvana." It's like peeling the onion. Not to peel the onion is
unwise, and likewise to peel the onion and think that there must
be something there is also unwise, and so you have to go
beyond all that.
S: Does that mean that nirvana is just a symbol or a label?
A: I think that is what he is going to say very soon. Lam
me, ye she me, tob pa me... He says that. But it is not a negation.
Enlightenment is emptiness, emptiness is enlightenment.
Always.
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Not Knowing the Mirage is a Mirage, it can
always be Misunderstood as Water
We should talk about the concept of truth. The truly
existing. What's the truth in German? What does that mean?
What is the definition?
Can't be wrong? And then? Does it have the connotation
of unchanging?
S: (discussion in German)
A: So German truth is kind of flexible? But when you say:‘this is truth’ ‘this is genuine’ ‘this is real’ if it doesn't have this
unchanging aspect, how do you measure the truth? Of course,
ordinary people don't really think like that. I mean, when looking
at this same river that we saw last year, we think, “This is the
river that I saw then” and we think that's the truth. But if you
analyze this a little bit, you will start to think about how you
define the truth. How do you measure it? I think that the ‘truth’
should have a little bit of a connotation of unchanging. It is kind
of independent also. There is that aspect of it having its own
strength to remain, without depending on anything else.
I am bringing this up because, it is part of the reason
why, basically the teachings on emptiness or the meditation of
the path of emptiness is going against this clinging to
something that is truly existent. That's the purpose. It is not the
appearance at all. The appearance is innocent. Enlightenment is
not defined as if to say that when you reach the state of
enlightenment, things change. You know, it is not as though all
these appearance change, externally. It is just that internally you
change, so I guess externally it also changes. Until the mirage is
known as a mirage, it can always be misunderstood as water,
especially when you are hot and thirsty in the desert. You really
think of that as water, as true, and real water. You don't think in
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the way of: “It's water at this minute, but within the next minute
or so it might change, so I had better run fast.” You don't think
like that.
When you believe that something is real, you think interms of an unchanging and a fundamental nature. But let's say,
that very moment when someone tells you that it is just a
mirage, something changes but the appearance, the mirage
doesn't go. The water, this seemingly water-like stuff, just
doesn't go. Of course, it doesn't disappear. But your attitude
towards this phenomena has changed. You don't think that it is
real water! So your attitude towards it has changed. Basicallyyou are liberated from the delusion that this is real water . That's
the delusion, because it is not real water. What has happened is
you have been liberated from that delusion. That is nirvana, and
that is enlightenment. It is easy enough to discuss, when we use
analogies like mirage and all that. But it is very difficult as soon
as you start talking about our bank accounts, or the brain tumor
that is inside our head. Or even, when it comes to the
Schwartzenegger. It is very difficult to accept these things are
not real.
With Direct Cognition there is No Interpreter between
you and the Experience
It's very difficult because for ordinary people like us, this
unchanging, fundamental nature is the way we measure
something as real and genuine. You know, how we measure?
We think we have so-called direct cognition, because if you
touch the hot frying pan, it burns. If you spend too much money,
your bank balance will suffer. There are so many things like that.
I mean, if someone gypped, abandoned, or rejected you, you
would get hurt. Direct cognition, there is no need to use
inferential logic for this kind of thing. It's so real. If you don't eat,
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you will get hungry. What I am trying to say is, all of that, just
forces you to think that what you are experiencing is real. And it
takes so much wisdom and merit to understand, and to break
through that. But, it is not that we have to break through theexternal object so much. And at least, we can begin to learn
about this so-called direct cognition.
To have complete direct cognition, now that is
something that needs to be disputed. Is this a direct cognition?
Now that's the challenge. Really, it is a challenge, because as I
said, as soon as someone rejects you, again you get hurt. It's not
that we are imagining that we are hurt. It's not that whensomeone rejects you, it's a hallucination. It's happened.
So it all comes down to this analysis of whether this is a
direct cognition or not. If you perceive something with your
mind, without any interference in between, that is what we call
direct cognition. There is no interpreter in between you and the
experience. So that is what we call direct cognition. Anything
that is cognized directly, now that makes the experience or the
phenomena real, so called truly, truth, true phenomena, and not
fake, because it is a direct cognition. It's cognized directly. It is
the same thing as what we talked yesterday and the day before.
Okay, but you know, the Mahāyāna Buddhist, they think,
all the way from now, until the last minute, up until the last
moment of the tenth bhumi bodhisattva, we don't have a direct
cognition. Every time we relate to an experience or a
phenomena, there are many, many, many, interpreters, and
many, many different, language experts, interpreting this.
Chiefly, there is pride, jealousy, anger, passion, and ignorance:
the five great translators. Hope and fear, are two other great
translators. The moment we think of something, the moment
we experience something, it's filtered. Each and every fact that
we find, we find it through indirect cognition. Just image
yourself wearing six layers of sunglasses, purple, blue, yellow,
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green, and so on. And then, when you look at Mount Everest
you see it as gray or rainbow colored. That perception is wrong
because there is a filter between you and Mount Everest. So this
is how the Mahāyāna people think.Every fact that we have found is not real. Here we are
talking about the same thing, emptiness. It is empty of what?
Empty of these facts that you have found through the five
interpreters. It is easy to say, but it is very difficult to practice
this one. Especially when the bank account goes down, after all
that's real .
But if you really analyze this, in fact, much of our fear isactually a great hallucination, like inflation. Or just all of this,
especially the financial dramas, I don't have much experience,
but I can see it is one of the most sophisticated hallucinations.
Because we are educated to think that we don't have enough. I
mean, if there is no bank, then there is no phenomena of bank
balance, and there is no phenomena of credits. So you know
what I am saying, much of this phenomena is actually again,
created from a certain system that comes from all kinds of
paranoia. But it's too late, we are already in the system, I tell
you. As for insurance, that is the most amazing hallucination; it's
the greatest hallucination. It is like taking advantage of people's
fear and insecurity basically. Nothing can be insured, ultimately,
right? But it is always good to be insured. One feels good about
it, if one is insured.
But again, even being rejected by someone, I've seen
many people going through rejection, or at least that's what
they think is happening to them. But who rejects whom? Both
sides are waiting, right? Actually, they can't stand each other,
they want to finish with it, but somebody has to say so first.
Whoever has the first word is going to be stigmatized forever.
They are the culprit. You see how there is so much indirect
perception here. And also there are some people who think they
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are not worthy, or that they are being rejected, but then at the
same time, the person whom one thinks has done the rejecting,
this person actually thinks that he got rejected. But having all
this information, won't help you so much, because the very nexttime a new romance starts, you will think: “This is it. This is
special.” If you happen to be Buddhist, you might even add the
Buddhist touch. There is the soul mate idea, and stuff like that,
isn't there? Then you will go through a whole other experience
again, I tell you. We don't learn; that's how our life is. We don't
learn. But that's okay because this is what we call fun anyhow.
You know how we were talking about abnormality?What makes you abnormal? It is when you look at things with six
or seven translators in between. Actually, surprisingly enough if
you sit and watch the skandhas, of course, you may not really
experience direct perception, the absolute direct perception but
you will go really close to it. That's why sitting and meditation is
just so important, because it really, cancels out, many, many
interpreters between you and the object. You and the object
become quite close. You can almost feel the aura of the object.
It is sort of a blessing you know, because it is quite close.
S: Could you say something about dhatu?
A: Dhatu is like a dimension. It's like an element, a
dimension or a system. Sometimes, it is also referred to as
universe, which is also a dimension.
Happiness comes out of Realizing
that there is no Independent Happiness
Anyhow, the reason I was talking about truly existing is it
is something you should really think about. How do we define
truth? You see, in the Mahāyāna, everything is interdependent.
If something is interdependent, you can never, ever say, “This is
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the real one.” You see, it's interdependent, so in the next
instant, it will change. It's like the weather. You can never say
this is the real English weather, or the true European weather.
Actually, most of our phenomena of truly existing is a bit likethat weather forecast that we see on every news channel. I
cannot understand why people watch the weather channels,
because it's so interdependent. How can you say, today it is
going to be sunny so you don't have to take an umbrella or any
suntan lotion. You can only do a guess job. It's a guess job, isn't
it? Obviously, it is because every second is changing. After
hearing the weather forecast we believe it, so we go naked andthen suddenly, it rains on us. It's exactly like this and right now,
as we are looking at each other, even now, everything is a guess
job. You are kind of guessing that there is somebody sitting up
there. You kind of guess that you don't really understand what
he's talking about. It's all a guess job. What is the definition of
guessing?
S: Well it's a probability of experience...
A: Yeah. Can you say this in German?
S: Nein.
A: Interdependent reality is what the Mahāyāna teaches
you. It's really important, I am glad that you are hearing all of
this. This is the fundamental Buddhism. If you accept
interdependent reality, then you are a follower of the Buddha.
You must let people hear this interdependent reality. Because
this brings you happiness, and do you know why? It is because
most of the unhappiness comes out of believing that there is a
happiness, which needs to be sought after. As if there is an
independent happiness. It's not that the interdependent mantra
or whatever other aspect, will somehow give you another exotic
happiness, no, not at all. It brings you happiness by making you
realize there is no independent happiness. It makes you at least
have less hope for happiness. Therefore, there is also less fear of
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losing a seeming happiness that you have. Happiness, the
definition of happiness, is this being completely interdependent.
This happiness that you have today, may not be happiness
tomorrow. This you will realize. It's a very, very, profoundmethod, by which to achieve happiness. This is a Mahāyāna
path and you are allowed to discuss this with anyone.
Avalokiteshvara is Negating the thought:
‘the Mirage is Water’
"So Shāriputra..." Avalokiteshvara goes on to say:
Therefore, Shāriputra, in emptiness, there is
no form, no feeling, no perception, no formation,
no consciousness;
You should underline the words, ‘in emptiness.’ Because
here, Avalokiteshvara is not denying the existence of form,
feeling and all of that. It's not a negation. When Avalokiteshvara
says, the mirage is not water, he's not negating water. He's
negating the thought that the mirage is water. That's the
emptiness.
If you say the mirage is water there are major
consequences, such as major disappointment. In emptiness
Shariputa, life goes on:
There is no eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue,
no body, no mind;
So those are the six sort of inner elements, we call them
the six subjective elements, and within that, within emptiness:
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There is no appearance, no sound, no smell,
no taste, no touch, no dharmas…
So these are the six external phenomena of the objectivephenomena. And then in emptiness there is no eye dhatu up to
no mind dhatu. This has the meaning of any dimensions of the
universe or phenomena that are within the perception of the
eye. Infinite objects, as much as the physical eye, and mind's eye
can see. This is not merely a psychological aspect, it is more sort
of in between outer and inner, so that it is more of a secret
phenomena. It is an in-between phenomena, that is in-betweenthe objective and the subjective. This is relevant both if I am
looking at something, and if I close both my eyes and look at the
tree in Bodh Gaya, for instance. It is using an experience in-
between subject and object, which is to say between: me, the
inner subject, and the inner object. I guess it is imagination.
All over the world, what we have is our imagination and
fantasy. Yet from the eye consciousness all the way up to the
mind consciousness, the fantasy, none of this exists. None of
this exists as a truly existing entity. They are all interdependent.
They are impermanent. They are made out of a lot of
components and given a label.
Discussing the Skandhas and the Emotions
S: Could you please define emotion as opposed to the
feelings? Is it one of the five skandhas?
A: Yes, it is one of the five skandhas.
S: The five skandhas are a combination that people have
created?
A: Yes. With everything that has an intention and an
action, that’s a formation.
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S: Feelings and emotions are two different things?
A: In this case, yes. Some of the so-called emotions in
the West can be part of feeling, some can be part of perception,
and others can be part of formation. What do you mean byemotion?
S: It is always quite difficult because it is so subjective but
generally one can say that emotion has a physical basis so that
with fear and anger, there's a lot of adrenalin in the body. The
muscles tighten and the heart rate goes up and so on. Besides
this, tears will come, and there is a tightening of the chest. So
emotions generally have a physical base, whereas a feelingreally tells us our relationship to something, the value to us.
A: Yeah. I think the definition of emotion is certainly
different from this. When the Buddhists use the word emotion, I
don't think they say ‘kleshas.’ I think it is good to use an
emotion. Kleshas. Nyön mong. Basically, the cause of many of
the kleshas is actually emotion.
The Tibetan word, Nyön mong has something to do with
every mental process that comes out of not knowing the truth.
It is very difficult to interpret, but it is basically paranoia. You are
looking at the mirage, and because you are thirsty, you think it
is water. Then, the moment you drink the water that is outside
of the truth. Now from that point on, there are all kinds of
processes and each process is a klesha. Not only the thought,
“Oh, what a beautiful stream!” even when one thinks, “maybe,
this is a mirage” even that is actually a klesha. Since you think it
is a mirage in reference to “this is water,” it therefore falls within
the department of a klesha. If right from the beginning, you see
the reality of the water, the truth, then the idea of mirage
doesn't even exist. Of course, truth is a very big word. But
anyway, for now, in very simple language, you can say that all
the mental processes spring out of ignorance. That also includes
these holy thoughts such as devotion and compassion.
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S: ... Direct cognition should be to go beyond that?
A: Yes.
S: Is there a chance, or a possibility for let's say, two
Buddha natures, which I know is only...A: A fabrication?
S: to communicate? For example, with a dying person, or
a sick person, there are these kleshas, and I would like to know
when the person is confused or if they are not conscious, is there
still a chance?
A: Oh yeah, very much so. Not only for a dying person,
but even for us, because we too are a kind of dying person,ideally a Vajra master will always try to find a gap, within the
five skandhas, within and then beyond, and then, they will point
out the Buddha nature. That's the most ideal situation. But that
requires a very special ability, and it is not only the actual ability,
but it is also a matter of the master expressing it with the right
amount of words, the right amount of analogy, at the right time,
and at the right place. It could be during that time of drinking a
simple coffee. We never know. Also, the listener has to have the
ability to interpret it correctly. And that is difficult, and this is
why I call it the ideal situation. This ability is what the Buddhists
would call merit. You can collect that merit, and that's the good
thing about the Vajrayana. You can actually gather it. You can
learn. This is equally relevant, even if you are the most stupid of
vessels, and actually, sometimes the more stupid one is the
better one is in collecting this aggregate. But it's difficult
because the collecting of this ability has got a lot to do with
combating the ego. It has got a lot to do with exposing the ego.
So that's why it's difficult.
So we can always opt for a path that is not the most ideal
situation: a gradual path. And at least a link is created. You
know, based on karmic formation, the skandha, it creates a link
and again this is interdependent. Remember, we don't believe in
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independently existing, we believe in interdependent
phenomena.
Now with this dying person whom you are talking to, you
know, in those last few moments before they die, and at theirdeath, they can't hear what you say. He's blind so and he can't
write a letter and say this is what you should be thinking. He's in
a coma so he can't even feel. Yet based on the interdependent
reality, you can always, meditate. You can do things like
Tonglen, for instance. It is slightly difficult for modern people to
believe but actually it has very good logic. This is very much
based on a link. See for instance, there is the fact that he or shehas you there, and perhaps you have the intention to do tonglen
meditation. But for him to have you doing that shows that he
has merit. That part is like the Vajra vow, and then we can plant
based on that. This is quite an important thing that one should
know.
When I was in San Francisco recently, this time I was
teaching compassion and there is something to this, which is
very simple but somehow people really couldn't understand.
Many people had a really hard time. You know, Buddhists think,
each and every being has the potential of compassion. Okay of
course, when we talk in terms of touchy, feeling teachings, then
we say this is because everybody has the Buddhanature. But to
talk more theoretically, we say that everybody can have
compassion, because once someone knows how to hurt
another, that knowledge of knowing how to hurt someone is
very much the cause of compassion. So there's a twist there. It
means that you know what hurts you, and therefore, you are
doing this to others. That's good. As long as someone knows
how to hurt another that's a very good piece of news. It means
this is a potential mark of the bodhisattva. It is precious. Like
take for instance, this cup, if it falls on my hand, the cup doesn't
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think, “Okay, I am going to make you have some pain.”
Therefore I can never teach compassion to the cup.
There are things like that in the Buddhist theoretical
canon. It is very important piece of information; very important.For instance, what is one of the most important causes or
attributes, for a human being to become a monk? It is a working
penis, one that is sort of in good condition. Either you have it
now, or you had it before at some time in the past. The Buddhist
teachings are really very thorough, just everything is taken care
of, really. And it makes sense. I mean if you don't have that what
are you trying to become? By your becoming a monk, what doesthat mean? It's a bit like that. So when you have compassion
towards sentient beings, it works based on sentient beings
having the merit to have you. You know, that is saying a lot.
S: I have a question on the meditation. We watch all of
the five skandhas?
A: You can watch all the five skandhas at the same time
or watch each different one. Watching the form is good. It's very
amusing. Watching the form is a bit like watching a garbage
can. We can call form: a whole lot of garbage. It's very funny,
this form that we have. There is one head, a nose on the inside,
and with the ears, here we are not knowing whether to ferment
more wax or not; there are just all kinds of things. It's amazing
to watch the form. From time to time, there are things coming
out of this form, things that come out from the different parts.
Some are in a lighter function, and some are quite subtle, like
for instance, some can excite others, but some can also be really
disgusting; for the others though. It's really important to watch
the form. It's a good one to watch, and it's my favorite. The
feeling is really unreachable, the rest are even worse, they are
just so subtle. Beginning with form is good. There are things like
the small luggage that is hanging from your ear. Then there are
socks; you know, how we wear socks? That's very interesting.
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Actually, most underwear is very funny. I mean, no need to
mention, all the different kinds of really exotic underwear.
Even the Twelve Nidhanas do not Exist
Shāriputra, there are no nidhanas, therefore there is no
cessation of nidhanas:
…no ignorance, no end of ignorance up to
no old age and death, no end of old age and death;
This part is talking about what we call the nidhanas or
the twelve interdependent originations. It is a very difficult
subject. It begins with ignorance, of course. Ignorance creates
and then there is formation. Then there is the consciousness
and so forth, all the way up to the death. Basically the twelve
nidhanas are how our so-called life functions. Not only are we
talking about life in the sense of our body, and this life, but also
when it comes to a simple idea, like the moment you see the
mirage as water, even that's also ignorance. It is ignorance that
then leads you to the action of going there, craving it and
labeling it as water. And in taking the water, or at least in our
attempt to try and take the water, during this process, the idea
of water is getting old, aged, decayed. And when you realize
that there is no water, and that it is just a mirage, then this is the
death of this idea. Within our relationships, and with just
everything, we have these twelve nidhanas. Now we are hearing
that these twelve nidhanas, do not truly exist . That's what
Shāriputra, and Avalokiteshvara are saying. Therefore there is
also no cessation of these twelve nidhanas. In emptiness, there
is:
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no suffering, no origin of suffering, no
cessation of suffering, no path…
There is no path to see the suffering. Since there is noignorance there is no wisdom. Since there is no wisdom there is
nothing to obtain. Since there is no wisdom there is no non-
attainment. Now this last one is very important: there is no
enlightenment to attain. Therefore Shāriputra, since the
bodhisattva's have nothing to attain and since there is no
attainment, this is what we call the prajnaparamita. No hope,
and no fear is to abide in the means of the prajnaparamita. It isbecause of that the bodhisattva’s have no obscurations of the
mind. Because there is no enlightenment, there is no fear; the
bodhisattva is beyond all this falsity, such as having something
to attain, something not to attain, something to lose, and all of
that. That is what we call complete nirvana. All the past
Buddhas and bodhisattvas, have gone through this. To reach
the awakened state, both the present Buddha and the future
Buddha traverse by means of the prajnaparamita. This
awakened state is unsurpassable because it is beyond samsara
and nirvana. And that is the only truth: the complete
enlightenment.
Different Terms for Different Purposes
S: These words nirvana, buddhanature and
enlightenment, are they the same?
A: You see, during the path we use the word
“emptiness.” It is the same thing but it is taught using different
names, because there are different purposes: one as a power,
one as the being, and one as the result.
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S: I have a question regarding translation. We always
hear and use the term “emptiness” and the first question is: In
Tibetan, is the prajnaparamita a different word from what is
usually used for emptiness, or is it the same?A: No, in Tibetan it is not the same word as the word for
emptiness. Prajnaparamita in Tibetan is what we call sherab chi
parol tu chin pa, which means ‘the supreme mind that's gone
beyond.’ Prajnaparamita has this meaning. Emptiness in
Tibetan is referred to as stong pa nyid . In fact, they are exactly
the same, you know. It is just that when we talk about the view,
the word emptiness is better. This is only because there is that aspect you are supposed to understand. But in reality, there is
no object called emptiness, which you should be understanding.
S: Should we always translate all the Tibetan terms for
emptiness, as “emptiness” as seems to happen in the English
language? Because some people say that the term openness is
better. Or does that make it 'nice'?
A: I think, after all the numerous discussions, emptiness
is still the safest term. Openness can be okay, some of the time,
but not all of the time.
S: Because you were asking us about emptiness, and
there is always this negative conception.
A: Yeah, I know.
S: It's always the opposite of full.
A: You see, for a Mahāyāna Buddhist, nihilism and
eternalism are equally bad. The thing is openness may lead to
the eternalist. But there is something interesting here. If there is
a nihilist and an eternalist, and you have to defeat both of them,
most of the classic Buddhist texts, would choose the eternalist
first. This is because in the past, eternalism was such a big
problem. You know, there is God, the Almighty and all that.
There is the permanent soul and all of that. But, I think maybe
now, we should choose the nihilist first.
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S: So for now, like for instance with view, meditation,
and action, you have path and you have three different terms,
and there is no chance to translate and make it clear.
A: Oh yes, it's already translated. For instance, when wetalk about view, we use the term emptiness, right? And most of
the time during the path, we use the term Buddhanature, and
for the result, we use the term dharmakaya. What you (are
doing is that?) Anyway, this will help you. You know the
Buddhist concept of nirvana? Let's forget the touchy feely bit for
a moment. If you really want to study this theoretically, then
academically, the identity of Buddhist nirvana is a state of absence. You see, when we talk about a clean window, we are
talking about an absence of dirt. That is what we call a ‘clean
window.’ You cannot make the window clean. But you can make
the dirt go away. And you can prove logically and scientifically
that the window can be cleaned based on the fact that dirt is
temporal.
Visualization comes within the category of:
Outer, Objective Phenomena
S: If one kind of experiences something when doing a
meditation, it's imagination, and there is a danger to cling on to
that.
A: Yes, as with everything.
S: When we perceive something that is there. You
connect an experience, and there is this imagination and with
that it’s more unreal. But I am just asking because of
visualization actually.
A: Yes, all of visualization comes within this category,
within that of the six groups. You know, this outer, objective,
within the objective six groups, which includes for instance,
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form, body, sound, taste and all that? And then there is the eye,
the inner, and there is also the sort of more in between, at the
consciousness level.
Milarepa and Marpa: Sometimes Masters can make a
big Deal out of Nothing
S: He heard a story and would like you to maybe clarify
the story. The story is about Marpa and Milarepa. When Marpa's
son died, then Marpa was crying and Milarepa was asking him,why is it of great importance that your son was dying since
everything is empty? Marpa answered by saying that to lose
one's son is the biggest teaching of all.
A: It must be. I have heard something like that too.
S: He is asking if you could clarify this, because he is not
really understanding it.
A: Oh, Marpa must have been giving Milarepa another
lesson. These things happen a lot. To strengthen an
understanding of emptiness, just as the practitioner, the disciple
is getting a little comfortable with the notion of emptiness, the
masters can make a big deal out of nothing. Like, if you happen
to purchase the wrong brand of toothpicks, he can just go crazy.
He might be saying how this is not the right type and all of that.
There are just so many things like that. Like with Shakyamuni
Buddha, the last deed was the passing, and that was a big lesson
for his disciples. Here we are, now talking about beyond death,
beyond birth and all that. And the lesson is usually something
that is playing with your imagination: to strengthen the
devotion, I guess. Just as Milarepa is beginning to see Marpa as
Chakrasamvara, to be confronted with the sight of a wailing
mother, might damage that. You know, it might shake that
perception of Chakrasamvara, and that's important. It's quite
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important for the students to look for that. Basically when it
comes to a relationship between Marpa and Mila, there is never
a written rule. There are no rules.
That's the very difficult part. You cannot complain. Norules, no complaining. You just have to begin this, thinking that
you will be unfairly treated all the way. In any case, fairness is
also interdependent. Actually, fairness and equality are very,
very big delusions.
When Watching the Skandhas:You shouldn’t be doing anything
S: I come to this teaching because it comforts me. It
makes me happy. So I have developed so much attachment. I
have the thinking I want more and more. Recently, when I was
thinking that I wanted to go to Dordogne, I was thinking maybe
I would die on the way, right? I had so much fear! I came here to
hear the prajnaparamita and emptiness and I don't understand
why I have so much fear, which I shouldn't have. Also, I noticed
that even as I listen to this teaching, I feel that I am getting more
attached to it.
A: I think, with all this, you should just watch the
skandha, the feeling.
S: Yeah, I do.
A: Good. You know, the word nyamshak . In Tibetan we
call this watching, nyamshak which I think is translated as
meditation. I don't think it is the right translation. Actually
nyamshak is really such a beautiful word. N yam means equal but
let's forget that for the moment. Now shak that's also a very
beautiful word. That means ‘leave it alone.’ Just let it be. And
there is that connotation of let it be. It is usually different when
it is taught in a form, like with things like a mudra, the gesture.
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You know, there is a mudra, like this. That is what they call the
teaching mudra, and then there is another mudra like this,
which is giving. You see, all of these mudras have no feeling of
‘letting it be.’ But this one has. Usually this is called nyamshak ,the mudra for samādhi.
Now, letting it be, that's a very important one. When we
watch the skandhas, as I said yesterday, you watch but you don't
involve. Don't judge. Don't follow it. Just watch. And what is
that? That's letting it be. You are not responding to it, basically.
Now that is what they call the greatest art of indifference. It is
the greatest art of ignoring also. You stare it. That's it. You justcompletely ignore it. Out of ignoring and because you are not
involved this is why it's called the great rest. So when you are
watching the skandhas, you shouldn't be doing anything, such
as involving; that's the rest. Of course, for the beginners, that's
also the cause of restlessness.
This is also a bit like a Vipashyana, or very much so. You
watch the skandhas, the five aggregates basically. Watch is, I
guess, the only language that we can use, but basically, it is to
notice. Just notice, that's all. Nothing more. It's very simple,
that's the challenge. The challenge is that we don't believe that
this will achieve enlightenment. It's too simple. We just can't
accept it. Okay, but, “How can this liberate me, by just noticing
my form?” But it does because if you notice and if you just watch
it, everyday for a few minutes, without engaging, without
judging, as I've told you many times that really undoes lots of
knots. Anxiety for instance, and depression, there are all these
things functioning. Why? It is because you are involving with
them.
I had a student and she was very much in love with this
guy but the man was in love with another man and she was so
jealous. Because it was not your standard competition, but
rather, it was a kind of special competition. I told her, you know,
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I've taught this vipashyana, and so every time you are jealous,
you should just watch. Then she comes back complaining,
because she doesn't want to meditate. She said when you do
that then jealousy dismantles, it disintegrates. Jealousy is therebut it is sort of like tasteless jealousy, not spiced jealousy. I
thought that is a very good thought. It means she is meditating.
So don't involve. If you involve then you are not meditating. Just
apply this art of watching and noticing, until it really dismantles,
misinterpreted things. You know what happens is it slows down
the speed of your thoughts. It confuses the normal pattern, or
normal habit of how our mind glides within us. It confuses, thenormal channel. Because when you involve, and once you pay
attention, it becomes a food for the thoughts. But when you just
watch, there is no fuel. You are not giving any fuel. Then they
become very weak. You then begin to see a different world. It is
a world without these filters.
The Mantra of Prajnaparamitra
Of course, eventually, our aim is to understand the
interdependent prajnaparamita, or the interdependent reality.
But for those who cannot understand right away, here
Avalokiteshvara is going to give us the mantra of prajnaparmita.
You see, as I have been telling you, the emptiness is never a
negation. It is not a nihilist kind of negation. Otherwise, why
else is there a mantra of prajnaparamita? You chant the mantra
of emptiness. The path, the method, is never denied. Method is
accepted. And methods are limitless.
If there is somebody looking at a mirage and thinking
that this is water, our aim is to make the person realize that it is
a mirage, not water. As to how you do it, or how you make the
person know this, the methods are infinite. There is complete
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diversity. With some, right from the beginning, you say, that's a
mirage. If you, the listener have the ability, you get it: right
there. There is no need to waste time, with all this struggling to
see whether it is mirage or not; there is none of that. For others,which is the case for most of us, it's difficult to accept that it is
not water. For some, maybe intellectually, it is possible to
accept but not emotionally. So for these people, for some of
them it’s important to say, “Yes. That's actually water. Let's go
and drink.” All along you know that it's not. There are infinite
methods, and this we cannot deny. It is a very important
message, this one.As I was telling you, through not understanding this, it
has caused so many problems among the Buddhists, because
some think they are so minimalist. Like with the Zen people,
they laugh at the Vajrayana mandala: “You know the sand
mandala? What is it? God, this is Buddhism?” Then the
Theravadin Buddhists get so shocked when they see the
Vajrayana’s practice of male and female, nakedly embracing,
replete with a skullcup and skull ornaments. And then again, the
Mahāyāna and Vajrayana chauvinists, they look down on the
Theravada: “Oh you know, shaving one’s hair off, what is that?
It's like self-flagellation.” It is comes back to not understanding
that the methods are infinite and that each of those methods
are important for different people.
And here is another method, the mantra: the great
mantra of prajnaparamita. It is the mantra of great insight. It is
the unsurpassed mantra; the unequalled mantra; the mantra
that calms the suffering. It is a mantra that has soothed all the
suffering and one must trust, without any deception and one
must know that this is the truth. (Rinpoche chants the mantra)
OM GATE GATE PARAGATE
PARASAMGATE BODHI SVAHA
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That's the mantra. Gone, gone, the supremely gone, the
supremely perfect gone. So be it. That's a mantra. Form is
emptiness: that's gone. Emptiness is form: that's the second
gone. “Emptiness is no other than form” that's supremely gone.And, “Form is not other than emptiness” that is the supremely
perfect going. And what do you do about it? Nothing. Just: Let it
be. Of course, ideally you meditate on this, but if you can't
mediate all the time, at least by just chanting that it really pokes
some holes. It dents our vanity box.
Thus, Shāriputra, the mahasattva,bodhisattva should train in the profound
prajnaparamita. One should practice the profound
prajnaparamita just as you have taught, and all the
tathagatas will rejoice.
Then the Buddha arose from the samādhi of the
profound prajnaparamita and the all illuminating or the
profound illuminating samādhi and confirmed this with
Avalokiteshvara, by saying:
Good, good, O son of noble family; thus it
is, thus it is.
All the Buddhas are happy with this. After Buddha had
said this, all the retinue such as Shāriputra, Avalokiteshvara and
all the other assembly, including the gods, the humans, the
asuras, and gandharvas, they all praised the words of the
Blessed One. Now that's the end of the Heart Sūtra.
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Two Great Commentators:
Nagarjuna and Maitreya
Even though the Heart Sūtra is not spoken directly by
the Buddha, it is a discussion that springs from the Buddha's
blessing, which is why it is characterized as a sūtra. Well, if we
are looking for a bigger more extended praise, there are the
eight thousand verses or there are the twenty thousand verses,
and then there are also the seven hundred thousand verses.
People read those verses even today. As a Mahāyāna Buddhist,it is almost a tradition to read the Heart Sūtra, once each day.
It's very much revered by many, many, Mahāyāna people. Take
for instance Khublai Khan, one of the Chinese emperors. The
eight thousand verses of the Heart Sūtra were written down
using five different kinds of jewels. Actually there are many
Chinese emperors, who have done amazing stuff. But anyway
with most of the sūtras, traditionally these are read in the
monasteries. Now if you want to study this, then usually, we
study the shastras, and the commentaries to these verses.
Of particular mention, there are the two great
commentaries, by Nagarjuna, and Maitreya. Both have their
distinctive elements. Nagarjuna puts more into, “Form is
emptiness” and Maitreya is leaning more towards, “Emptiness is
form.” Nagarjuna talks so much about emptiness and
deconstruction, whereas Maitreya talks more about the
potential or rather, he talks about the benefit and great qualities
of the emptiness. Nagarjuna talks more of the absence and
Maitreya talks about the presence of that absence.
Take for instance, how a glass of water can be seen by
different beings as different things. As a human, we see this as a
water, as a fish they see this as a home. Nagarjuna talks about
all of that perception, and about whatever you think, “It is not
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real.” You cannot say that one of these things is real. You cannot
say because we are feeling these things, thus our human
perception is real. How do you judge what is real? We cannot
vote because we lose that. Then more fish. So whose perceptionis real? Nobodies. These perceptions are all a hallucination. They
are all a mental projection. That is how Nagarjuna talks. But
with Maitreya, he goes into why different people see this as
different. What is there that causes different people to see
different things? Is there something? Nothing. But what kind of
nothing is it? That is how Maitreya talks. Okay, so to be precise,
'empty' is what Nagarjuna talks on, whereas 'ness' is whatMaitreya talks about. Both of them are great commentators. It
is amazing. Sometimes I feel it is a pity they didn’t write some
other books, like plays or politics, or something like that. They
could have been very famous now. I think both of them are also
contemporary to the Greek philosophy, like the Plato’s and the
Aristotle’s and all of that.
There were also many great disciples that they produced
such as Aryudeva, Chantrikirti, up to the Nagarjuna. And by the
way, these figures are not just some dry, nerdy, sort of
philosophers who irritate everyone, by wearing a beret, and
chewing on some leftover cigar. They are great mahasiddhas,
too. They are saints. They did all kinds of impossible things. Like
with Chandrikirti, the follower of Nagarjuna, when he needed
milk, he milked a painted cow. So they are very interesting
characters not merely book worms. And this milking a painted
cow also has a great significance because to milk a painted cow,
indicates an understanding of emptiness. And then with
Maitreya he has some really amazing disciples, and has perhaps
even a higher number of disciples. It’s amazing, and really
compassionate, very compassionate. Nagarjuna and company
have this feeling of being the destroyer of your concepts.
Maitreya and company have more of a feeling of compassion
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towards your concepts. They are amazing people, the Maitreya
followers.
There is this one story of a nun, a Buddhist nun, who was
living in India, within this male dominated country, at a timewhen Buddhism in general and especially Mahāyāna Buddhism,
was in real danger of extinction. Now this Buddhist nun, she
slept with a king, with the intention of wanting to produce a
child. It's kind of an outrageous thing for a nun to do. Out of this,
came the great Asanga, but then as if this wasn’t enough, she
slept with a Brahmin, as well. This was in India where you can't
think of having two men! But from this, came the greatVasubandu, the great, great commentator. Asanga, the older
brother, was known for being, very, very, very compassionate,
and he was someone who really, really admired Lord Maitreya.
In fact, he prayed and practiced Maitreya for twelve years but
without even having one good dream. Feeling depressed he
comes out and he sees a female dog about to die. This dog was
dying of starvation. And out of great compassion he cuts his
own flesh and is about to give this to the dog. Suddenly, the
delusion of the dog disappeared and Lord Maitreya was there.
After that Lord Maitreya taught him and gave him all the
teachings. Lord Maitreya was in the Tushita heaven at that time,
so Lord Maitreya took Asanga to Tushita and for five heavenly
days, he taught him.
Nagarjuna also wrote many books. His greatest, and
most respected one, is the Mula-Madhymaka-karika. He
analyzed everything, from the concept of coming and going all
the way to the concept of enlightenment. Maitreya has five
main texts, and one that is quite popular is the Uttaratantra.
Anyway, all of this is a commentary to the Heart Sūtra teaching.
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An Interdependent Ceremony of Auspicious
Verses
So that's the end of the Heart Sūtra, and now we will doone more interdependent ceremony. Someone's getting merit.
Where are they? The bride and the groom, please approach. Oh
good, there are so many flowers coming.
Well you know, there is no Buddhist marriage ceremony
but we have what we call auspicious verses, and we recite these
verses. The auspicious verses are quite nice. There is talk about
how one should appreciate what we have, as if every moment inour life is worth a celebration. Even if you manage to go to the
toilet successfully, it is actually worthy of a celebration. If you
breathe out and then you manage to also breathe in, it's also a
cause for celebration, so you see, life is just full of reasons why
we should celebrate instead of feeling unsatisfied or whatever.
So these are very beautiful verses and this is what I am going to
recite. It is sort of coming from the Sanskrit shlokas, so again
there is a lot of Indian influence, which is bound up with making
a mess with flowers.
The last verse is written by the great Ashvaghosha. He is
saying, in our lives, in our relative world, happiness is most
important, and happiness is basically a freedom. Now as a
Mahāyāna Buddhist, our aim is to give everyone freedom. But
that's difficult, and it's a little bit idealistic. So we begin with
giving our self this freedom. That is if you are a single person.
Now if you are getting married, you then have a really good
chance to practice how to give freedom to the other. So you
give her freedom and she gives you freedom. You see, this is
how the Buddhists talk. It is completely the opposite of what
people normally think. Usually marriage is a bit of a chaining to
each other. But from the Buddhist point of view, the whole
purpose of marriage is so that you learn how to give freedom to
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each other. So with the last verse, it's the verse of the Three
Gems, the Triple Gems:
May we be protected by the Three Gems.