Script No. 401
Broadcast live on Hillside 88.0 FM
on Sunday 2 October 2005CE 2549 Buddhist Era
This script is entitled:
Atisha’s Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment, Part IX
Thank you for joining us. Today’s program is part nine of our series, Atisha’s Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment. Atisha Dipamkara was a notable Buddhist Master from India, and upon the request of the King of Tibet, he composed a text called “A Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment.”
The text’s purpose was to dispel the confusion and dispute that had fallen over Tibetan Buddhists of the time.
It achieved that aim, as Atisha was a Master of incredible skill and insight. His conduct was stainless, his mind was controlled and serene, and his wisdom was incisive. His text is still relevant and its clear presentation can still be applied by the modern practitioner in their daily practice.
It was for this reason that the founder of our Temple, the Master John David Hughes, gave an oral commentary on “A Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment.”
Master John Hughes gave this teaching to his students in 1989, during a five-day meditation course.
The teachings were recorded on audio-cassettes and have recently been transcribed.
On last week’s program, Master John Hughes was discussing the need for developing true refuge in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha. He explained that one of the paths to enlightenment is that of the Silent Buddha, the pratyekayana. The Silent Buddha is one who, without relying the instructions of any teacher, forges his way to enlightenment. This path can take hundreds of world cycles and is the most lonely, miserable path imaginable.
The blessing of relying on the Triple Gem, and a qualified teacher, is that one can achieve enlightenment, that has the aspects of bliss and the ultimate wisdom of emptiness, in a much shorter time, with greater ease.
On today’s program he continues along this vein, and explains the various methods of realising this deep refuge for oneself.
He began in the following way:
JDH: You remember sitting Bernie? You didn't do it, and you gave up. So, put that in words.
Bernie: So, by our own efforts you don't achieve that confidence.
JDH: For countless world cycles you've been trying to do things by your own efforts by avoiding the guru, by avoiding the Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha, pure. You wanted to do it.
JDH: Like ego centered. Put your mind inside, quickly. Right.
Bernie: So...
JDH: So you had failure because you had wrong conditions, so tell em'.
Bernie: From time and time and time and time, trying of your own efforts to achieve that confidence...
JDH: Confidence in Guru, better tag it...
Bernie: Lock in your mind by worldly methods prevented the lineage of the Guru being transmitted.
JDH: Because you were never confident. The text said that qualities of the Guru, the correct Guru, the Guru read you the, examine himself, he said I am the correct Guru, if you believe it I am. Their confidence couldn't see that. Your's did.
So you and I will be the only persons who will go the Buddha way because they refused to get the enlightenment wish strong enough and they are so arrogant as to hold their false confidence. They will never attain the full enlightenment. Strike that in to them.
Bernie: Till the, the confidence arises, the certainty...
JDH: See, you're using your confidence, not confidence that the Guru can transmit, your confidence is a barrier to transmission.
Bernie: Till' you grasp the certainty of the enormous suffering that comes from being parted form the Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha, then you cannot develop the will to accept the Guru's transmission.
JDH: See, Bernie meditated and he thought it would be a disaster if I was ever separated from my Guru, which in this case is this one. He went through the enormous, describe what happened in your meditation, I know what happened. How you listened to the meditation.
Bernie: The thought arose...
JDH: In Bernie.
Bernie: I never want to be parted from the Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha and then immediately the thought...
JDH: He could see millions of ways it could happen. Untill you can see the millions of ways you can be disconnect from this Guru.
Bernie: And I saw in an instant the appalling suffering, the desolation, the agony...
JDH: He saw, for himself.
Bernie: Eons and eons of suffering, fear.
JDH: Cause Buddhas are hard to meet. Gurus are hard to meet. It's hard to be born in a Buddha sasana. If he misses it, this connection, this time, where will he ever meet the transient Guru again? How can he do? So he gets panic, or what would you call it?
Bernie: Yeah. Yeah, it was terror.
JDH: Blue funk!
Bernie: The terror (laughs). The terror of endless suffering.
JDH: Now, what did your mind do then?
Bernie: At that moment, when I saw that enormous suffering, the mind became clear.
JDH: Why? What did it drop to make it clear? It must have dropped something. If your in suffering the cause of the suffering is grabbing and grasping. If the suffering stops your mind becomes clear, you must have dropped some supposition or something. What did you drop?
Bernie: I dropped...
JDH: Out of your logic construct.
Bernie: I dropped the idea that I could do it myself.
JDH: Good. You gave up.
Bernie: (Laughs)
JDH: (Inaudible whispers) Thank you, Bernie.
Bernie: So, respect the Guru, feed him, water him, spoil him, love him.
JDH: I'm un-spoilable, cause' if you try to do something that was bad for me, the glass of water would tip over or I'd throw it outside. Many times people give me a cup of coffee and I accept it with a sanctimonious look, and I say to someone, throw it outside. They're so stupid they don't even know, they never followed through, what did I do with the cup of coffee. I threw it outside. They give me water, I look, threw it outside. Later on, I get them backwards and forwards, many of them done. Won't accept, throw it outside. I get them to throw it outside. Tell em' again what you did.
Bernie: (Clears throat)
JDH: This is the correct confidence when the, as the text says, the Atisha text says, when you know the Guru is correct, when you've found the correct Guru you'll get the transmission.
Bernie: I created the intention...
JDH: Your confidence, of the sort you have isn't, not the full Saddha, it's good enough for where you got to, but for the full transmission of the Atisha knowledges, you have to have Saddha absolute. But the Saddha is not your confidence, ego-mania confidence, it's confidence that the Guru is a transmitting point for what you need to know.
(Scream)
If your mind jumped at the Guru’s voice, it was hanging on to something. If it didn't jump it was all right. (Laughs) You see, you shouldn't jump, you, if your mind is correct it's free from shocks and alarms. Ask him if his mind jumped. We know, we know.
Now, if the mind jumps at the sound of the Gurus voice, if you, if you pick up a logic system now, if your mind jumps when the Guru farts in a bottle or pisses in the sink or does something, if your mind farts at the action of the Guru, or the sound of the Guru's voice, then there must be some error in your confidence towards the Guru.
Now, if your Guru is Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha teaching reservoir, and your mind jumps at a Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha reservoir teacher, then you don't want to learn. So you, whatever system you had, whatever jumped in the mind, whatever you called that logic system, put it down and try again. Tell em' how to do it.
Bernie: Generate the intention...
JDH: Go at them!
Bernie: ...to attain...
JDH: Be free from shocks and alarms, for a start, like that's the result of great, Minnie, you're been lashing your metta around and I've been letting ya'.
Students: (Laughing)
JDH: One of the, look, if you read the Sutta one of the blessings of doing metta is you become free from shocks and alarms. Your mind won't move under world. So the mind, the Guru's voice sounds sweet and it doesn't shock you.
Bernie: Generate the intention to attain enlightenment.
JDH: Rapidly! Not slow.
Bernie: Then make...
JDH: In this case, rapidly. Later on slowly. But in this case follow the instruction rapidly. Want to become to the next level of enlightenment rapidly, like Monica saw it yesterday. Sottopan access, she went right through fruit and then to non-returner. Half, she's halfway through. No, not non-returner, once-returner, in just a few minutes because all day long respect for the teacher, respect for teacher, correct attitude, and attitude. In god we trust the other's cash. Try that, try again Bernie.
Bernie: Arouse the intention to become enlightened, quickly.
JDH: That is the enlightenment thought.
Bernie: Make the effort that thoughts which will be obstructions to your intention...
JDH: Vanish.
Bernie: Vanish.
JDH: Or, you drop.
Bernie: Arouse the energy that you need in whatever way is going to be appropriate for you.
JDH: See, if you wanted to travel with, say at three hundred miles an hour, thee hundred kilometres an hour, and you had a motor-car that would do only two hundred miles an hour, it's the wrong vehicle. It's no good sitting in the wrong vehicle, either the small vehicle or the inferior vehicle, or the mediocre vehicle. If you want to go in a car that will do three hundred kilometres an hour, you must get in a car that can do three hundred kilometres an hour. Sitting in an inferior, we'll call the car that does the three hundred kilometres an hour the superior vehicle. So gotta means lineage. The text, the Atisha text, describes the three types of people, the inferior, the mediocre, and the superior. The text is only for the superior. If you want to go at three hundred kilometres an hour and your car can only do sixty kilometres an hour, in this frame of reference it is inferior, therefor you must drop that car. Get out of it and get into a new vehicle.
If the vehicle, the new vehicle you get into is mediocre, can only do a hundred and eighty kilometres an hour, and your task is say three-hundred kilometres an hour, then you must get out of the mediocre vehicle into the superior vehicle.
When you get in the superior vehicle, I don't know, I guess Ferraris do three hundred kilometres an hour, a Ferrari, and a good track, with no effort. Effortlessly, in your Ferrari you'll do three hundred kilometres an hour because you’re in the right vehicle.
So the text, upfront if you remember, says this text is not for inferior vehicle. This text is not for mediocre vehicle, this is for superior. If your confidence in the Guru is suitable for sixty kilometres an hour then you can only practice slowly. If your confidence is sufficient for a hundred and eighty kilometres an hour, then you can practice mediocre, which is faster. But if your confidence is suitable for three hundred kilometres an hour, then you are in superior vehicle. The superior vehicle is the one that this text is designed for.
So, you see, what happens with the type of confidence you have in your Guru, when you push it to the limit, there's still some obstructions. Now, then, that's where your ego comes in. You say, that frame of reference got me to stream enterer or whatever it was. It must be all right. You have, well it was alright for that attainment, but we're talking about Atisha transmission, a very great high attainment. The old one has served its purpose you can safely drop and then get a new logic system out of the samsara immediately and then see how good that one is.
Now Bernie got it via dukkha. Others of you might get it through remembering anicca, impermanence. And others might get it through anatta. One of the three marks of existence is either impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, or not-self will be the bridge where you build the correct Saddha, confidence. Confidence that the superior vehicle of the Mahayana Buddhism, and then later on the Vajrayana.
You’re as clear as a breeze aren't you?
Bernie: Unshakable confidence.
JDH: Now, teach them the three ways, some by karmas, some will be scared. You were scared of dukkha, which arose out of impermanence. Some will just see impermanence and get scared, or they'll say I can't stand it, I'd better have confidence, I'd better find the right confidence this minute. Others will be through no-self, so try. They're not correct. Monica's just about right, the rest are still falling around.
Bernie: For some, anicca would be the word, impermanence, understanding...
JDH: You see the, the human birth manifestation, your Guru, won't live forever. You won't live forever. Sooner or later, through death, your death, my death, subjectively you'll think you'll lose my mind. Maybe you think like that. If I don't hurry hurry, this second I must get the correct, to get the transmission, mind to mind transmission.
Bernie: Nothing lasts.
JDH: Nothing lasts.
Bernie: Life's a bitch and then you die.
JDH: And then you take rebirth, that's the bitch! And then it's on again! Then it's to come to a worse rebirth then this. After that I'd rather get the good enlightenment factors this life.
Bernie: Your happiest moment is impermanent. It will not last.
JDH: You're already sacrificing your life because as I said earlier, your life, the only measure of it is time. You've been sitting here practicing the Buddha Dhamma forsaking your life! Of all the million options you had, you didn't take them. You sat here day in day out. So you already sacrificed your life because you sacrificed your time. Time is life.
Now, wouldn't it be better if all that sacrifice wasn’t in vain, if you didn't go the next step and get the great insight wisdom, confidence in. And then you, all your troubles would come to an end. Ask Monica how she's got, she's going nicely I know, but just ask her where, how her mind got there, what did she do? Your on Monica, whatch'a did? Help em'.
Monica: I generated the intention to learn the Atisha transmission quickly...
JDH: Yeah.
Monica: ...and the way that I saw to do it was to put, was to realise that there is no self, so to keep dropping my...
JDH: So you went by anatta.
Monica: Yes.
JDH: Correct.
Monica: So I had to drop, um...
JDH: See, it's not so bad. The Guru is not a self either. So who'd be afraid of a non-self? (Laughs) I like my sense of humor. Do you like my sense of humor?
Monica: Ah, I think it's pretty good.
JDH: Thank you! (Laughs) God, you must be nearly enlightened if you think my sense of humor's funny.
Students: (Laughing)
JDH: No one else does! The clouded people don't know what I'm talking about half the time! Right, you've got the correct, just sit in it for a bit.
Bernie: So that, that is another way through the understanding of anatta. The mind that believed in the self got you to this point.
JDH: And you, you knew there was no-self when you sat in Nirvana remember, you saw that quite clearly. Nirvana's the truth.
Bernie: But the mind that, that says...
JDH: If you believe in you've got self confidence in the Guru, what suppositions are in the logic set that gives you that confidence. In the earlier part of the text we talked about the seven criteria of analysing the sutra, you know, word definitions, is the reason for it and so on. We're up to the responses, objections and responses. See the, it's like saying if you've gotta wall of water and a very solid brick wall the water won't flow. If you've got a reservoir of Dharmakaya knowledge, or Atisha's transmission, and you've got the wrong confidence in the Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha, Guru, then the mental formations won't flow. Not from the Guru's side. The Guru's quite happy, he's swimming in a world of Dharma. He's saturated, he's waterlogged with Dharma if you like. Or bloated corpse with Dharma, like corpse floating on the sea of Dharma. Walking along the bottom of the ocean and smoking cigarettes underwater, great siddhi.
Students: (laughing)
JDH: So if you go near the sea where I walk there's little puffs of smoke, there's no smoking signs on the water, these little bubbles of smoke come up from under the water. So, that's my Guru down there having a quiet smoke. There were so, on land, there were so many non-smoking signs you had to walk under the water to smoke his cigarettes. Maybe give up smoking.
Bernie: So the mind that believed in self that got you here has the delusion that through self it can achieve more. Just ask that mind who can that mind turn to for some self help? So maybe through anatta, the understanding...
JDH: Those self help groups always looking for someone to fund them.
Bernie: (Laughing) Yeah, that's right!
JDH: Self help. Who are you looking, on what does your confidence depend. Look in your own mind, if you have confidence in Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha, Guru, what suppositions, what evidence is there that your logic system that generates that confidence, what, like every logic system has axioms. Examine the axiom. If you say my confidence is because I, my, my, me ego says this is the correct confidence, your Guru will say to you, you can't have the proper Saddha, the proper confidence, on an ego-centered, validating system. In other words, you can't validate your confidence because you're in it. It needs an outside observer who can see the, say ah that's correct.
Pull the ego away from your logic system, and then it will be a superior logic system. It will be a superior, if it's got high ego content in it and if you study the text remember we, remember we're, in the last couple of days, you'll remember.
So what is that mind? What is that knowledge that's forming on your mind now? Monica? Relief?
Monica: Yes.
JDH: One of the characteristics of transmission is there's a sense of relief. When did it begin, the Dharma?
Monica: When I dropped my logic systems...
JDH: The Dharma never has a beginning or an end, it's true immortality. But then you access it from your side, you suddenly see the true Dharma on your mind, Dharmakaya mind arises the minute you drop your, it's hard to describe. Try. Try to explain how you did. Bernie did one way, you did another. The net results the same.
Monica: Um, so you can either choose a hard or an easy way...
JDH: I like the easy way, of course.
Monica: Um, so when you realise...
JDH: If you've got some pain you’re holding onto something that's unwholesome. Drop it. You shouldn't be in any pain. If you've got pain in your mind, dukkha in your mind, you are hanging on to some mental object, some logic system, that is off, therefore drop what you've got. Cut, like Manjusri's sword cuts, and then another logic system appears and it cuts. It's characterised by what'd you'd call ease, peace, whatever you like. Talk.
Monica: Because the mind is so quick, you have, you think that the logic system you may be using is right. Um, but then...
JDH: There's a hint, Minnie.
Monica: It doesn't serve you because, um, you know, you'll find pain in it. So you have, again you have to drop it and find something else which is a, which is better, which is right. So to have the right conditions for your mind to have the confidence in your Guru...
JDH: So the correct confidence, like Nirvana is unconditioned mind. It doesn't depend on any set of conditions. So you might come to realise that the correct confidence is similar to Nirvana, it doesn't depend on conditions. It just is, if you like. It's not your property or my property, and it's realisable, each for himself or herself.
Press on!
Bernie: So, impermanence...
JDH: So, all your suffering is to no purpose.
Bernie: Another way may be through an understanding of Dukkha.
JDH: Nearly right, Nick. One more time and you've got it. Nearly right, Nick. Ask him to talk to me, where he's at.
Nick: It's just working on no-self.
JDH: Yeah, keep going Nick. You'll get there. Keep going.
Bernie: The other way is through an understanding of Dukkha and...
JDH: Offer light to Buddha, offer flowers to Buddha, offer images. I do perfect offering for the sake of the sentient beings, and by the merit made by me, now or at some other time, be shared among all beings here, however many they be. My mind went to Japan and shared my merit in Japan, with some, Leanne. That's my merit! Have you got an obstruction to, have you got any obstructions to blessings?
Bernie: Not at this moment.
JDH: No. Any obstructions to blessings, Monica?
Monica: No.
JDH: Good. Come to the blessing supermarket. Have as much as you like, there's an infinite reservoir of them. Those blessings are accumulated by the thoughts, efforts of countless beings past, present and future who dedicated their merit for the sake of other beings! It's like if they had no money, they'd give em' money. Had no food, give em' food!
This concludes part nine of our Atisha's A Lamp on the Path series. Atisha invites us to travel the path of the superior person in the following verses:
In that they are Inferior, Mediocre, or Superior,
Persons should be understood as three:
The characteristics of each are very clear, and
I shall note how they differ from one another.
One who by every means he finds,
Seeks but the pleasure of Samsara,
And cares but for himself alone, that one
Is known as the Inferior Person.
One who puts life's pleasures behind
And turns away from deeds of sin,
Yet cares only about his own peace,
that person should be called Mediocre.
One who wholly seeks a complete end
To the entire suffering of others because
Their suffering belongs to his own conscious stream,
That person is a superior.
Thank you for joining us. We hope that you will join us for the tenth installment of “Atisha's A Lamp on the Path” on Sunday, the ninth of October.
May you be well and happy.
May all beings be well and happy.
May all beings see the Buddha, hear the Dharma, and join the Sangha.
This script was prepared and edited by Alec Sloman, Evelin Halls, Anita Hughes, Pennie White, and Leanne Eames.
References
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