08. Week 1 - Teaching 6
2025.07.30
4 verses in Requesting the Lord of All Lineages prayer are on emptiness. But all previous verses are important because they’re giving us our good heart.
With a pure mind we enjoy everything as pure. There is no samsara. As long as our mind is impure, there is samsara. Samsara existing from its own side does not exist. Suffering, happiness from its own side does not exist. They are appearances to mind. Samsara, hell realm, animal realm, hungry ghost realm, pure realms - are appearances to mind.
There is no enlightenment other than this experience. There is no Buddhahood other than this.
How fortunate we are. I am not saying that I have realisations. I deeply enjoy this. Lama Tsongkhapa when he was thinking of the correct view of emptiness there are many levels of meaning - sutra, the lower classes of tantra, even in HYT there are different levels. The highest level, non dual appearance and emptiness. JT said, “whenever I am alone I am making a noise like too much happy. Then saying woo woo because I am so much happy and enjoying. " Geshe-la said, “Making this special noise, I have this.” In my very early time when I was in retreat reading JT’s instructions on sutra and tantric teachings - I was making this noise because I understood the real meaning of Guru Sumati Buddha Heruka.
The way to prove enlightened worlds and beings is through understanding emptiness. I am not saying I am a special or realised being, but I have strong confidence, I have no doubt about this.
What’s the difference between the dream appearances and the enlightened world? Our dream experience is mistaken, and the enlightened world experienced by enlightened beings is unmistaken. The knowledge of emptiness is superior to any other knowledge. The teacher who teaches emptiness is superior to any other teacher.
There are 4 conditions necessary for realising emptiness:
- Reliance upon a qualified spiritual guide
- Purification of negativity
- Accumulation of merit
- Frequent meditation on emptiness
Meditation on emptiness is like a seed, the other conditions help to grow the seed.
We may have to meditate for a long time but eventually we will realise emptiness and experience greater joy than finding a rare treasure.
Remember the story of Ajatashatru. King Ajatashatru was a disciple of Manjushri. He had no teachings or intellectual knowledge. But he put on Manjushri’s cloak and was blessed to think, “the things I normally see do not exist”. Then he had the question, “then how do things exist?” And he realised emptiness.
He did this through his faith. This is most important. If you have faith you can realise emptiness.
Remember the story of Geshe Jayulwa. He spent his life in service of his spiritual guide. He did not have much time to attend teachings or meditate. But his practices of faith and imagination were strong, and he attained higher realisations.
Geshe-la said to Gen-la Dekyong:
In a teaching on non-dual appearance and emptiness, Geshe-la said:
The main point is moral discipline is important, giving is important, patience is important. It doesn’t matter if things exist or don’t exist.
If we love others they will love us. If we respect others they will respect us. This will make for a happy life. All problems will disappear. Through practising Buddha’s teachings all our problems will disappear. Please keep this in your heart and help to show people. We should humbly help others to realise the benefit of Buddha’s teachings.
We’re encouraged to be humble. There is a connection between our love and our humility. In NESTH - we need to practise humility because there is no self or I that we normally see. So we have to view our self as the lowest of all, as something we need to forget. Then our love for others will grow stronger. The view thinking I am the lowest comes from wisdom. It’s a deliberate imputation to make our I smaller. It will never cause us discouragement or disappointment because it comes from wisdom. So it cannot cause us loss of confidence, in fact the opposite. “I’m incapable, I’m stupid” is the voice of self-cherishing - if we become discouraged and our energy disappears, then this comes from ignorance. We create the view ‘I am the lowest’ for a purpose - to reduce our self-grasping - with wisdom - to diminish our pride, to increase our confidence. This is spiritual humility. We need to distinguish between these 2 types of humility - one from wisdom and the other from self-cherishing ignorance. When a teacher sits on the throne they should think, “I am the lowest”. There’s not much sense in checking too much are we the lowest, because the self we normally see does not exist. It’s very important to understand correctly Geshe Langri Tangpa’s teachings in NESTH.
Confidence and humility together. They are both aspects of our mind as faithful Kadampa disciples. Our only wish is to benefit living beings through the flourishing of Kadam Dharma.