Transcript
[0:01] Thank you so much Zoya. Uh it's so
[0:04] lovely to be here with all of you. Thank
[0:06] you for joining this session. I am truly
[0:09] hoping that there will be some benefit
[0:11] in us coming together on this Saturday
[0:15] early afternoon I think for most of you.
[0:17] Saturday evening for some people uh
[0:20] because I know there are some joining
[0:21] from Europe. Um because there are so
[0:24] many things we could be doing instead of
[0:26] this, right? Uh just drinking tea,
[0:28] reading a nice book, taking a leisurely
[0:31] walk. And yet here we are to spend 3
[0:34] hours together contemplating these ra
[0:37] relatively strange uh and unusual
[0:39] Buddhist concepts. Strange at least for
[0:41] those who grew up in the global west.
[0:44] And uh there hopefully will be some
[0:47] benefit in that. some benefit related
[0:49] not just to learning these concepts from
[0:52] a uh cultural studies point of view but
[0:54] also from the point of view of our
[0:56] personal psychology and our communal
[0:59] psychology. Whereas we can hopefully
[1:02] understand a little bit a little bit
[1:04] better how these ancient practices that
[1:07] have been preserved for at least 800
[1:11] years 1500 years we could say uh could
[1:14] contribute to indeed healing the world.
[1:18] And um before we go into the actual
[1:22] presentation
[1:23] um in order to follow this uh
[1:26] traditional approach uh employed very
[1:29] very often by the Indotibetan tradition
[1:32] itself we could spend a few moments a
[1:35] few minutes actually meditating and
[1:37] adjusting our expectations and our
[1:40] aspirations with regards to this time
[1:42] that we're going to spend together
[1:44] hopefully in order to imbue our psyche.
[1:48] with a more powerful sense of purpose
[1:52] that then would affect the results of
[1:55] everything that we do together.
[1:58] So, um this is absolutely optional. Uh
[2:02] if you don't feel like doing this as a
[2:04] meditation, please feel free to just
[2:05] listen or briefly tune out, you know,
[2:08] and do whatever and then come back uh
[2:10] after these minutes. But if you are open
[2:12] to the idea and um through doing this
[2:15] we're also just experimenting with this
[2:16] traditional format to see whether it
[2:18] makes sense to us. If you are open to
[2:20] the idea I would invite all of us to
[2:23] find a comfortable stationary position
[2:25] and um for these periods of practice and
[2:28] we will do some more meditations later
[2:30] today. I would say feel free to turn
[2:34] your camera off if that's more
[2:35] comfortable or to keep it on if that's
[2:38] something that you are also okay with.
[2:41] Either way, you're either entering a
[2:43] little bubble of personal practice, sort
[2:45] of a micro retreat of sorts, or you're
[2:49] generously sharing your presence with
[2:50] others, sharing the positive energy that
[2:53] you're generating in your body and mind
[2:55] through doing the practice. And I think
[2:56] both things are extremely cool. So
[2:59] whatever works for you really. But
[3:01] what's important is to be comfortable
[3:03] right now. So just finding that
[3:06] comfortable position. Uh it can be an
[3:10] upright position. So we can be sitting
[3:12] with our legs crossed or with our feet
[3:14] flat on the ground or it can be the
[3:17] supine position if you prefer to lie
[3:18] down briefly and meditate while lying
[3:21] flat on your back in the shavasana
[3:23] position as it's known in yoga or any
[3:25] other similar position.
[3:28] And the idea here is to first come back
[3:31] to the body and just ground ourselves in
[3:35] observing the sensations.
[3:40] Noticing the current tactile experiences
[3:43] of the body.
[3:53] In particular, the experiences that have
[3:55] to do with the element of earth,
[3:58] which is simply the property or the
[4:01] quality of firmness and stability.
[4:10] We probably primarily feel that in the
[4:14] parts of the body that are currently
[4:15] touching the ground.
[4:17] So for a few moments we can just watch
[4:20] those sensations.
[4:34] And release the tension that's present
[4:36] in the associated areas such as our feet
[4:40] and our legs.
[5:13] inviting.
[5:14] the experience of relaxation into our
[5:16] body. And if we wish imagining that it's
[5:19] flowing into our body mind complex
[5:24] from the earth that is holding us.
[5:33] And this is where we can perform an
[5:34] abbreviated body scan if we want.
[5:38] visiting different parts of the body and
[5:40] releasing the tension that's present in
[5:43] them. Starting with our feet and toes
[6:00] and then extending this experience of
[6:02] relaxation to our legs in general.
[6:16] Exploring the area of our pelvic floor.
[6:32] Our abdomen and lower back.
[6:49] and then our torso.
[7:02] Then similarly our shoulders,
[7:11] upper arms,
[7:22] forearms, hands, fingers.
[7:42] shoulders once again.
[7:49] And then our neck and throat,
[7:57] the back of our head,
[8:06] our crown.
[8:18] and our facial muscles.
[8:24] And this is where we can not only soften
[8:26] the muscles themselves,
[8:29] but also enjoy the very fact that we are
[8:31] aware of these sensations.
[8:36] that we're alive and present here in
[8:40] this domain of experiences
[8:46] where we can experiment with our
[8:47] creative energies in order to generate
[8:50] greater levels of compassion and wisdom,
[8:53] mental stability and generosity and so
[8:56] forth.
[8:58] All to experience greater degrees of
[9:00] happiness and freedom.
[9:16] And so in thinking
[9:19] how we want to use our current creative
[9:22] energies, our current creative freedom
[9:24] to live the life that we would like to
[9:26] live, we can ask ourselves, what are my
[9:29] highest
[9:31] psychological or spiritual aspirations?
[9:33] generations
[9:40] both with regards to contemplative
[9:42] practice and my life in general.
[9:48] What kind of being, what kind of person
[9:50] would I like to become?
[9:53] And what kind of qualities
[9:56] would I like to share with others in
[9:59] terms of my presence, my words?
[10:04] My awareness.
[10:20] We can find a vision that works for us
[10:23] personally, a wording perhaps that works
[10:26] for us personally.
[10:31] But there's also this traditional
[10:33] formula that might resonate with us as
[10:36] well expressing the powerful aspiration
[10:39] known as bodhicitta or the attitude of
[10:42] awakening, the mind of awakening.
[10:45] And that is simply put the wish to fully
[10:49] wake up to reality
[10:52] in order to share happiness and freedom
[10:54] with others.
[10:58] They wish to fully uncover our amazing
[11:01] nature
[11:04] which is luminous and spacious.
[11:10] All in order to bring happiness and
[11:12] freedom to all who live.
[11:17] If that resonates with us somehow,
[11:21] we are also very welcome to play with
[11:23] that. That's the traditional motivation
[11:26] for exploring medicine Buddha practices.
[11:34] And just for a few moments,
[11:36] whatever motivation, whatever vision we
[11:39] found that works for us, we can just
[11:41] breathe life into it, strengthening it
[11:44] with each new natural exhalation.
[12:08] laying that foundation. Since in this
[12:10] psychological model, everything we do
[12:13] afterwards will be strongly affected by
[12:16] this initial aspiration.
[12:31] And then once we feel that it has truly
[12:37] been born in our mind, it has become
[12:39] somewhat stable for the time being.
[12:43] With that as the foundation, we come
[12:45] back to the body, noticing the
[12:47] sensations once again.
[12:52] And then slowly when we're ready
[12:53] introducing a tiny bit of movement,
[12:56] maybe by rocking back and forth,
[13:00] maybe by stretching our neck or
[13:02] reactivating our fingers,
[13:08] and then eventually re-engaging our
[13:10] vision, coming back to the physical
[13:14] space around us.
[13:18] And then when we're ready, also slowly
[13:20] transitioning back into the shared
[13:23] online space that we're using together.
[13:36] Thank you.
[13:40] And um while I'll be
[13:45] yapping away and tricking you through
[13:48] the slides and all that um I would
[13:51] invite those of you who want to do this
[13:53] to maybe share some of these aspirations
[13:56] or these initial visions or this initial
[13:59] these initial uh motivating thoughts in
[14:02] the chat if you feel like it. Of course,
[14:04] it's deeply personal in a way, but if
[14:06] there is an element of it that
[14:09] u spoke strongly to you and that you
[14:11] would like to eventually realize, but
[14:13] also you think yeah, it's absolutely
[14:15] appropriate to share that because we all
[14:16] have these extensive aspirations
[14:19] somewhere. U then yeah, that's what the
[14:22] chat is for in this case.
[14:25] On a technical note, the chat is also
[14:26] for your comments, observations, and
[14:29] questions that I would do my best to
[14:31] address as we roll along. Uh sometimes I
[14:36] would take um some time to do that
[14:40] because uh maybe it's coming up later in
[14:42] the slides, so I would just postpone my
[14:44] response. But in some cases, I would
[14:47] address the things that you're bringing
[14:48] up immediately. And uh that's what I'm
[14:51] here for. uh to show my uh misprint
[14:56] filled slides on um one hand but on the
[14:59] other hand also to uh respond to your
[15:01] experiences maybe with these types of
[15:03] practices and um in this initial stage
[15:08] it's also important to say a few words
[15:10] about um one's role as a presenter. So
[15:14] traditionally teachers including capital
[15:17] T teachers would say a few words about
[15:19] their lineage of transmission and say
[15:21] here here's how I came to receive this
[15:24] practice and so it's not just something
[15:25] that I I made up it has this historical
[15:29] background behind it in this case and uh
[15:32] it's very important to make it extremely
[15:34] clear from my side I am not here as a
[15:37] teacher capital T teacher lowercase
[15:40] teacher not a teacher at all uh at least
[15:43] not in the Buddhist sense of that word
[15:46] because in Buddhism this concept of a
[15:48] teacher uh is quite lofty. A proper
[15:52] teacher has to have a lot of amazing
[15:54] qualities and I don't possess any of
[15:57] those to any discernable degree. Uh so
[16:01] I'm not here as a teacher. I'm and and I
[16:03] always say this um with extreme
[16:06] sincerity. This is not me just being
[16:08] cute or gettish. Um, I'm only here as
[16:12] the worst student in class who was
[16:15] tasked with making a presentation for
[16:18] the more advanced students and the more
[16:21] advanced students obviously know more
[16:23] already have more practical experience.
[16:26] So, you know, there's no question about
[16:28] that. Uh but because they were students
[16:31] still tried their best to quote from um
[16:36] genuine sources, the material itself
[16:39] might be valid and valuable and it also
[16:42] should contain ample references to the
[16:46] sources that could then be explored and
[16:49] read and metadata and so forth. So it's
[16:52] from that point of view that there might
[16:54] be some benefit in us coming together,
[16:56] not because I have anything of value to
[16:58] bring to the table. But again, I'll do
[17:00] my best to do this uh presentation as
[17:02] the worst student in class. And one
[17:05] thing that I can at least say is that uh
[17:07] as a Buddhist interpreter and
[17:09] translator, I've had the great fortune
[17:11] to meet an amazing array of teachers
[17:14] primarily from the Indo Tibetan
[17:16] tradition. Many of them were Tibetans.
[17:18] Some were not because they belong to
[17:19] other Himalayan ethnic groups like the
[17:22] Sherpas and uh many of my teachers are
[17:24] also first generation uh non-Himalayan
[17:28] practitioners which adds uh a variety of
[17:32] visions I guess that I could rely on in
[17:34] this case a variety of perspectives and
[17:37] uh amongst all the amazing things that
[17:39] I've heard from these teachers were
[17:42] plentiful teachings on medicine Buddha
[17:44] and the medicine Buddha practice which
[17:48] uh I've had the great joy of
[17:49] participating in uh in many occasions in
[17:52] different Buddhist communities across
[17:53] the world and sometimes facilitating
[17:56] again as the uh worst student in class
[17:59] who just got tasked to guide this
[18:02] practice because no one else was
[18:03] available blah blah blah. So um I have
[18:06] received a lot of benefit personally
[18:07] from this systems uh system of methods
[18:10] both the general bandwidth of practices
[18:13] that we know as Mahayana and within
[18:16] Mahayana as Vadriana and also
[18:18] specifically from the medicine Buddhist
[18:20] system of methods that has played a very
[18:22] positive role in my personal well-being.
[18:24] So that's something that I'm very
[18:26] excited to share hopefully with uh
[18:29] proper references to the original
[18:31] material and I think there uh some
[18:33] beautiful aspirations here in the chat.
[18:35] Twofold bodhicitta which is supposed to
[18:38] be the proper motivation for doing these
[18:41] methods when we dive into them deeply.
[18:43] Absolutely. So for those who are maybe
[18:46] new to this um conceptual framework
[18:49] again one level of bodhicitta is this
[18:51] wish to fully wake up for the benefit of
[18:53] all uh the wish to become fully awakened
[18:56] for the benefit of all that's known as
[18:58] the relative or conventional bodhicitta
[19:01] and then that's eventually accompanied
[19:04] by the so-called ultimate bodhicitta
[19:06] sometimes translated absolute bodhicitta
[19:09] and that refers to the wisdom in the
[19:12] mind of a being who is either are fully
[19:14] awakened or is in the process of waking
[19:17] up. So it's both the compassionate
[19:20] aspect of wanting to wake up so as to be
[19:23] of benefit and then the actual wisdom
[19:26] that has awoken that has woken up I
[19:31] guess that that woke up in the depth of
[19:34] our being and it's gradually unfolding
[19:37] uh as we're continuing on the path until
[19:39] it reaches its full fruition and then it
[19:42] is indeed boundless spacious luminosity
[19:45] that sees all things as they are. So
[19:47] what could be better than that
[19:49] motivation right u and uh medicine
[19:51] Buddha himself is a symbolic
[19:53] representation of those uh two-fold
[19:56] attitudes amongst other things and then
[19:58] another beautiful aspiration searching
[20:00] for a heart of gold I think uh materic
[20:03] horror has this beautiful idea of us
[20:06] just removing the dust from the gold of
[20:09] our heart uh sort of purifying the gold
[20:12] that's already there just removing some
[20:14] of the dust that's covering it up and uh
[20:16] then relying ing on that heart of gold
[20:18] to be happy ourselves and also to be
[20:20] altruistically sharing uh good vibes
[20:23] with others in order to make their lives
[20:25] better and more meaningful. Um and
[20:28] another one here, a healthy and
[20:29] ultimately in its natural state, body,
[20:31] speech and mind. And I think this is
[20:34] right where we are in terms of the theme
[20:36] for this meeting in that medicine Buddha
[20:39] represents the union of these two types
[20:42] of wholesomeness or health in a way
[20:45] where at the initial stage we mean
[20:48] health in a conventional conventional
[20:51] sense of that word. uh as in we do want
[20:53] to feel healthy, not burdened by
[20:57] disease, not burdened by different types
[20:59] of physical pain amongst other things.
[21:01] And not just physically, we also want to
[21:03] have that for our speech which includes
[21:05] sort of our subtle nervous system uh as
[21:09] well and the movement of energies within
[21:11] that. And also we want our mind to feel
[21:13] healthy, not burdened by extremely
[21:15] destructive patterns that sometimes do
[21:17] come up in the domain of our
[21:18] experiences. And then but eventually the
[21:22] ultimate health as they sometimes say
[21:23] and that's something that we're going to
[21:24] talk about in this case the ultimate
[21:26] health is the health of or kind of the
[21:29] healing the ultimate healing as well
[21:31] that's full awakening that's the full
[21:33] return to our true nature the full
[21:36] awakening of our amazing potential so
[21:38] whenever we do practices like medicine
[21:40] Buddha and there are plenty of other
[21:42] healing related methods in this
[21:44] tradition as well we are connecting to
[21:47] both levels of health the conventional
[21:50] one which of course is just so valuable
[21:53] to be leading a relatively happy and
[21:56] problem-f free life but then also the
[21:59] ultimate one which is a full
[22:01] transcendence of suffering associ
[22:02] associated with illness
[22:05] so in this case um again that's on the
[22:08] technical side I will be showing some
[22:10] slides I apologize in advance for any
[22:13] misprints in them I will be commenting
[22:16] on what's on the slides uh so if you're
[22:19] listening to this webinar while you're,
[22:21] I don't know, doing the dishes or
[22:23] walking around the park or doing
[22:25] something similar. I will always be
[22:27] reading out what's on the slides as
[22:29] well. So, not to worry about not having
[22:31] the chance to see them perhaps. And of
[22:33] course, because this is recorded and as
[22:36] so I mentioned, you will find the
[22:37] recording in your personal account uh on
[22:40] uh thus.org, you will um also see these
[22:45] slides in the video version of it all.
[22:48] Additionally, uh to uh simplify the
[22:51] process a little bit, I made a tiny
[22:53] reference page. We've used similar ones
[22:54] for our previous webinars on Tara uh in
[22:58] some cases.
[23:00] So, uh yeah, this I'm happy to share the
[23:02] slides as well. I'll probably share them
[23:05] on this resource resource page that I
[23:07] just posted in the chat. It's just
[23:09] lopsa.com/madison
[23:12] Buddha. Uh and that's going to be
[23:15] updated later down the line. This
[23:17] recording will probably appear there at
[23:19] some point. But it already contains also
[23:21] some guided meditations from years from
[23:25] many years ago. Uh texts including the
[23:28] two texts that we are going to talk
[23:30] about today. Some additional books and
[23:32] again I will just keep adding stuff to
[23:34] it. Uh this is just for maybe those who
[23:39] are interested in medicine but the
[23:40] practice and exploring it to a greater
[23:41] degree but also so that I don't have to
[23:43] post every link that I mention in the
[23:46] chat again and again. So, uh, we're
[23:48] going to talk about two medicine Buddha
[23:50] sutras. They are linked there already on
[23:53] that page. So, when you eventually
[23:55] choose to read them, if you do, oh, no
[23:57] pressure, no expectations regarding
[23:59] that, but if you do, you will find the
[24:01] links to the sutras on that web page.
[24:04] And, uh, the only thing that's not on
[24:06] that page is uh, the source for some of
[24:08] the amazing artwork that we're going to
[24:09] be uh, using. And all of that artwork is
[24:12] traditional. It predates the 20th
[24:14] century at least. And that's of course
[24:17] the extremely famous Himalayan art
[24:19] resources platform. So um I just shared
[24:23] that in the chat. It's an amazing
[24:25] website at amazing um compilation of
[24:28] data on traditional Himalayan art
[24:31] accompanied in many cases by amazing
[24:34] educational videos usually short format
[24:37] that talk about the different figures
[24:39] involved different arts art styles
[24:43] involved artists involved and so forth.
[24:46] So um that's just an extremely precious
[24:49] resource in general and a valuable
[24:52] resource for any sort of deity related
[24:54] exploration. So if you put medicine
[24:56] Buddha in the search box on that
[24:59] website, it will give you many pages
[25:01] related to medicine Buddha including the
[25:03] main page and then on that main page you
[25:05] will see some uh uh resources uh some
[25:09] short videos explaining um the sort of
[25:12] visual components of medicine Buddha's
[25:14] uh image itself, Medicine Buddha Mandala
[25:18] and so forth. And of course it's only a
[25:22] container for the incredible artistic
[25:25] legacy of the Himalayan region itself.
[25:28] So Himalayan Art Resources does not
[25:30] claim to be owner the owner of all of
[25:33] this material. uh it's it was mainly
[25:36] created uh like some other organizations
[25:38] like TVRC now known as BDRC
[25:42] BDRC I think it was mainly created to
[25:44] preserve some of the legacy that was
[25:46] endangered uh especially at the height
[25:49] of the cultural revolution and to give
[25:51] uh global audiences some access to these
[25:54] materials but um all the proper uh
[25:58] credit goes to the amazing artists of
[26:00] the Himalayan region themselves uh of
[26:03] course from all multiple centuries. Uh
[26:05] also in some cases Mongolian artists as
[26:07] well and artists from the Buddhist
[26:09] regions of Russia as well. So it's just
[26:11] an incred incredibly rich legacy that we
[26:14] are in this case relying on. And this
[26:16] also goes of course for the medicine
[26:17] Buddha practice itself which arose
[26:19] originally uh I believe in India
[26:21] eventually found its way to Tibet and
[26:24] China then Korea, Japan and Vietnam and
[26:28] is now available globally to all of us
[26:30] for all of us to explore and potentially
[26:33] play with. That's the general idea. So
[26:36] if you've never seen an image of
[26:37] medicine Buddha, here's one. This is
[26:40] again from the Himalayan art resources
[26:42] and this is a tona uh which is an
[26:47] applique tunga. So it's uh usually silk
[26:50] on silk. Uh many tongas are painted
[26:54] which is an easier technology in a way
[26:56] even though of course extremely
[26:57] sophisticated and requiring extreme
[26:59] levels of mastery. But applique tongas
[27:02] are valued more generally speaking in
[27:05] the uh Tibetan Buddhist world uh because
[27:08] um there's a lot of highly valuable
[27:10] materials that go into that but also the
[27:12] artist has to be very skilled uh to
[27:15] properly create it and to have it be
[27:18] something that can be preserved for
[27:19] multiple centuries. And in this case,
[27:21] this is uh Tonka that's uh extremely uh
[27:24] quite old. And in this tanka, you see
[27:28] the medicine Buddha himself, the main
[27:30] medicine Buddha. We could say that's the
[27:32] blue one. And um it's the blue one that
[27:34] many people think of when they think of
[27:37] the healing Buddha or the medicine
[27:39] Buddha. But he in he is in this case
[27:42] surrounded by other Buddhists. And those
[27:45] are the other medicine Buddhas that
[27:46] we're going to talk about uh today. plus
[27:50] uh two bodhic sattvas. So here uh at the
[27:52] bottom you see two figures that are more
[27:55] princely looking in terms of their
[27:58] attire and their position. They're not
[28:01] exactly the same as the Buddhists in
[28:03] terms of how their figures look. And
[28:05] these two additional figures are the two
[28:07] bodhicattvas that are said to accompany
[28:09] the medicine Buddha as his main uh
[28:12] attendants. And um all of this comes
[28:16] from the two sutras that we're going to
[28:18] explore. All of this is described in the
[28:20] sutras, but also all of this is used in
[28:23] actual meditations that are meant to
[28:25] strengthen our levels of well-being. And
[28:29] uh this is where I would like to sort of
[28:31] add another technical note. Um, so I'm
[28:34] seeing many of my old friends in the
[28:36] chat and in the participant list for
[28:38] this and um, I would just like to kind
[28:42] of bring awareness to the fact that in
[28:44] this case we're all coming to this with
[28:47] different backgrounds, right? with
[28:50] different background knowledge and some
[28:54] people might be coming to this already
[28:57] on the basis of extensive exposure to
[29:01] these traditional systems of practice.
[29:03] So some people might have done a lot of
[29:06] medicine Buddha practice already or have
[29:08] used many of the similar methods of the
[29:11] Vajriana tradition and you know you
[29:14] never know I've I've had uh events that
[29:16] I was co-f facilitating or a part of and
[29:19] there were people who have done threeear
[29:21] retreats and whatnot just joining for
[29:23] fun probably uh but um already
[29:26] possessing incredible levels of
[29:28] experience and understanding that are so
[29:32] way beyond what anything that's
[29:33] currently available to me with my
[29:36] extremely humble uh you know uh levels
[29:39] of non-understanding mostly. And then uh
[29:43] we also have and that's inevitable at
[29:45] any similar event people who are coming
[29:47] to this more from the side of just
[29:50] psychology of well-being in general.
[29:52] people who are primarily interested in
[29:54] just feeling better, becoming more kind,
[29:57] becoming more compassionate, being a
[29:59] better human being, you know, maybe
[30:00] helping the world in terms of the
[30:02] environmental issues, social justice
[30:04] issues and so forth, but without
[30:06] necessarily that exposure to these again
[30:09] traditional methods of practice that
[30:11] involve such things as visualization,
[30:13] recitation and so forth. And there's
[30:17] always um kind of things to bridge
[30:20] there, right? there are always
[30:22] connections to make. So for some people
[30:25] they're more um
[30:29] attuned to this type of practice and so
[30:31] they have no problem with you know
[30:33] different colored Buddhas and uh
[30:36] different mantras and things like that.
[30:38] they're very at home in this type of
[30:41] thing and u so they say yeah totally
[30:43] fine but sometimes there's uh maybe an
[30:46] additional exploration to be done there
[30:48] in terms of the connection between the
[30:51] images the mantras and so forth and the
[30:53] associated psychological states that we
[30:55] are meant to cultivate through using
[30:58] these types of practices and on the
[31:00] other side for people who are more on
[31:01] the well-being and the psychology of
[31:03] well-being side again mental states that
[31:06] psychological states physical ical
[31:08] experiences, sematic experiences,
[31:10] they're familiar with that. They're
[31:11] curious about that. They've been maybe
[31:12] exploring that for years, if not
[31:14] decades. But the weird imagery, the
[31:17] strange Sanskrit combinations of
[31:19] syllables, even the sutras themselves,
[31:22] which are written in a style that's so
[31:24] vastly different from our uh western
[31:26] literary styles, you know, that might be
[31:29] something new. So a gentle slowpaced
[31:33] exploration of those things can also
[31:36] lead to u an appreciation of these
[31:39] things and even if we never choose to
[31:41] use these methods in our personal
[31:44] practice and there's no expectation with
[31:46] regards to this webinar that anyone
[31:47] would uh you know keep rolling with
[31:50] medicine Buddha methods later on. No,
[31:52] this is more of an introductory webinar
[31:55] uh in nature. But even if we never
[31:57] choose to use those personally, we can
[31:59] at least understand why they are used
[32:02] and why they have been historically used
[32:05] again for at least 15600 years uh first
[32:09] in India and then in Tibet, Mongolia and
[32:12] now all over the world. So we're kind of
[32:14] doing this bridging work here and for
[32:17] that reason in terms of what's presented
[32:19] on the slides, it has to be a little bit
[32:21] of both. Sometimes we are diving more
[32:24] into oh this is the symbolism this is
[32:26] the imagery this is what it says in the
[32:28] original texts themselves and sometimes
[32:30] it's more well what's the psychological
[32:32] meaning and application of these things
[32:34] without wearing off too much into kind
[32:37] of western psychological interpretations
[32:40] and therefore becoming a bit colonial
[32:41] about this but also without just
[32:43] assuming that everyone already
[32:45] understands what this means in terms of
[32:47] our mental states that are meant to be
[32:49] generated. So that's kind of the
[32:51] framework for it or the context for it.
[32:54] And inevitably when it's presented like
[32:56] that, there would be people who would
[32:57] wish there was more of the traditional
[33:00] material presented. And there are always
[33:02] people who are who wish there was less
[33:04] traditional material and more
[33:06] psychological modern explanations. You
[33:08] know, I'm kind of trying to find middle
[33:10] uh ground here. So you again my thing is
[33:13] just this clumsy presentation but there
[33:16] are amazing sources on that resource
[33:17] page that I quoted that you can read
[33:19] later on including fantastic teachings
[33:22] from um some of the greatest masters of
[33:25] the 20th century so and the early 21st
[33:28] century. So please feel free to explore
[33:30] those later on and maybe they will um
[33:33] highlight some things for you that I'm
[33:35] truly not capable of highlighting at
[33:37] least at this stage. So that's the
[33:39] general idea and this blue person uh
[33:42] gracefully present in front of us is the
[33:45] medicine Buddha. So um we are going to
[33:49] connect to this figure and contemplate
[33:52] their role and the Himalayan Buddhist
[33:55] practice and now uh the practice that's
[33:58] slowly spreading all across the world
[34:00] and hopefully positively affecting the
[34:03] lives of many. So here's the overall
[34:06] structure of what we're going to
[34:08] explore. We will first talk a little bit
[34:10] uh on the idea of sacred text and the
[34:13] connection between the sacred texts and
[34:15] this concept of healing the world or
[34:18] transforming the world bringing greater
[34:20] wholesomeness to the world. Uh this I
[34:23] think is a necessary conversation
[34:26] because of the name of the webinar on
[34:28] healing the world. So we're going to
[34:29] briefly consider this idea in particular
[34:33] of Buddhist sutras playing and also
[34:36] shastras or treatuses playing a certain
[34:39] role in uh the positive transformative
[34:43] processes that might if we choose to
[34:45] support them unfold in this world.
[34:48] Right? The sutras themselves are not
[34:51] necessarily unless we take them and we
[34:54] start reading them and reciting them and
[34:56] working them. they don't necessarily
[34:58] apply that positive or share that
[35:00] positive influence from their side. Some
[35:02] people believe they do even if they're
[35:03] just present there as a physical copy.
[35:06] Um some Buddhists believe they are
[35:08] already radiating uh good vibes and
[35:11] transforming the energy of the place
[35:13] around us in a positive way. But uh
[35:16] leaving that to the side, the primary
[35:20] way that they have of affecting the
[35:22] world is through us as individuals
[35:24] working with them and hopefully deriving
[35:27] uh greater levels of compassion, wisdom
[35:29] and so forth from them so that we can
[35:31] then spread that to others and uh
[35:34] participate in this world as more
[35:36] compassionate beings who are also more
[35:38] wise. Right? So um we'll look at that
[35:41] very briefly to see the connection
[35:43] between medicine Buddha's sutras and
[35:46] sutras in general and uh the world in
[35:49] which we live and hopefully the positive
[35:51] influence that we could apply to the
[35:52] world. Then we'll briefly talk about
[35:54] medicine Buddha practice and its
[35:56] sources, its historical evolution and
[35:58] also the current form that it takes in
[36:01] the Himalayan Buddhist communities and
[36:03] these days all over the world. And
[36:05] finally we'll dive into the two sutras
[36:08] that we are meant to explore today. The
[36:11] sutra of the seven brothers or the seven
[36:13] tatagatas and uh the uh sutra of the
[36:16] king of medicine which is most commonly
[36:19] known just as the medicine Buddha sutra.
[36:22] Very fortunately these two texts largely
[36:24] overlap in that the medicine Buddha
[36:26] sutra is basically the second half of
[36:30] the seven tatagatas sutra. So we do not
[36:34] have to have two separate conversation.
[36:36] We'll just talk through the seven uh the
[36:38] sutra of the seven tatagatas which
[36:40] already includes uh largely the sutra of
[36:43] the king of medicine as well. And
[36:46] through doing that we will have sort of
[36:49] a working understanding or preliminary
[36:51] working understanding of the general
[36:53] ideas covered in the sutra. And then the
[36:55] invitation is to if you found some
[36:58] inspiration in this to read the actual
[37:00] sutras at your leisure and uh to see
[37:03] whether there's something in them that
[37:05] you find to be applicable. So we'll talk
[37:08] about how the sutras are used
[37:09] traditionally and then we'll consider
[37:11] some ideas for how so on uh what we
[37:14] might choose to do with them. Again if
[37:16] any of this resonates with us and some
[37:19] of those ideas would be applicable to
[37:21] sutras in general. There are many
[37:22] wonderful sutras. So many have been
[37:25] translated by the amazing team at 84 at
[37:28] the uh 84,000 project which uh as many
[37:31] people would know is a fantastic project
[37:34] that's undertaking the translation of
[37:36] the entire Tibetan Buddhist cannon
[37:39] specifically as it pertains to the
[37:41] teachings of the Buddha himself. So the
[37:43] congre part of the Tibetan Buddhist
[37:45] cannon the teachings of the Buddha um
[37:48] the levels of sutra and tantra. So many
[37:50] sutras have been already translated even
[37:53] before the project uh was uh conceived
[37:56] or initiated but then so many more have
[37:59] been translated uh more recently
[38:02] including the two sutras that we're
[38:03] going to explore and um some of the
[38:06] points that we will cover will be uh
[38:08] relevant for many of these sutras not
[38:10] just the ones that we're talking about
[38:12] today
[38:14] and um uh yeah so that's kind of the
[38:17] general structure we will also take a
[38:19] that's more in the format. It will also
[38:21] take a short bio break somewhere around
[38:23] the middle to make sure that we're all
[38:25] comfortable and well hydrated and uh
[38:27] that we've had a chance to visit the
[38:29] bathroom and so forth. So that will be
[38:32] somewhere around kind of the middle of
[38:33] our time together.
[38:36] Uh yeah and um so with regards to this
[38:39] first topic sacred texts and healing the
[38:42] world uh this another beautiful image
[38:44] from Himalayan art resources there's the
[38:47] medicine Buddha in the center above him
[38:50] you see uh the 16 bodhic the bodhic
[38:53] sattvas associated with his practice way
[38:56] above in this case you see the lineage
[38:58] teachers uh and because this is a ton of
[39:01] the gill tradition you see tonkapa who's
[39:04] the founder of the gill tradition of
[39:06] Rimpiche as he's also known. So flanked
[39:08] by his two primary disciples. Then you
[39:12] have a Tisha flanked by two disciples on
[39:15] one side. Uh you have uh one of the
[39:17] ancestral kings of Tibet on the other
[39:20] side. And then uh around the medicine
[39:23] Buddha you see the other medicine
[39:24] Buddhist, the seven totas that we're
[39:26] going to uh talk about. They're here
[39:28] together. And then uh you have
[39:31] supportive worldly forces, the worldly
[39:34] deities and the dharma protectors of
[39:36] different kinds sort of supporting that
[39:39] overall uh gathering of holy beings who
[39:44] are all meant to represent the different
[39:46] aspects of our own basic goodness uh and
[39:49] our mind as we cultivate our mind. So
[39:53] it's both a gathering of beings that we
[39:55] can consider as actual beings. Hey like
[39:58] enlightened beings of different kinds
[40:00] please come into my life and inspire me.
[40:02] And also it's a gathering of beings many
[40:04] of whom represent different facets of
[40:08] our own mind in its most positive aspect
[40:13] with its most positive dimensions and
[40:15] qualities. So that's sort of the overall
[40:20] logic of exploring these types of
[40:22] practices. Um, in the past with Tibet
[40:26] House, we ran a few webinars on Tara and
[40:28] Tara practice and Tara, many people
[40:31] would know her as the female Buddha of
[40:33] enlightened activity. Tara has many
[40:36] forms, many manifestations. There are
[40:38] lists of 21 TAS. Uh, and there are at
[40:41] least five primary lists of those.
[40:43] That's a lot of TAS. And there are lists
[40:45] of 108 Taurus. There are lists of three
[40:47] Taurus, seven Taurus. So it's basically
[40:49] there's a bunch of Taurus a bunch of
[40:51] many different colored enlightened
[40:54] ladies in peaceful and wrathful aspects
[40:56] all over the place and um when we
[40:59] consider them and when we meditate on
[41:01] them which is what's done in the
[41:02] Himalayan tradition we are yes thinking
[41:05] about some in some cases different
[41:07] enlightened masters of the past female
[41:10] masters in particular but we are also
[41:12] thinking about different facets of our
[41:14] own Buddha nature and we're trying to
[41:15] connect to them and activate them if
[41:18] they have been for some reason
[41:20] unavailable to us or suppressed. So Tara
[41:25] for example has many rasful aspects. So
[41:27] in some some cases we when we meditate
[41:29] on them we think hey what are the more
[41:31] forceful parts of my own psyche uh or of
[41:36] my deepest nature that I need to bring
[41:39] into this particular situation or every
[41:42] situation? Have I lost touch with my
[41:45] ability to be strong and direct? And in
[41:51] some cases, it's the full opposite.
[41:52] They're peaceful and sometimes extremely
[41:55] peaceful, extremely gentle aspects of
[41:57] Tara as well. And when we contemplate
[41:59] those, when we meditate on them using
[42:01] different technical methods, we also
[42:04] consider, hey, have I lost touch with my
[42:06] ability to just pacify something, to
[42:09] just be at peace and therefore transform
[42:11] everything through my peaceful presence.
[42:14] And um similarly, we connect to
[42:16] passionate aspects. We connect to
[42:18] enriching aspects. There's a whole bunch
[42:20] of different uh figures and forms there.
[42:22] But we are through these types of
[42:25] practices uncovering something within
[42:27] our own repertoire of skillful means
[42:30] within our own repertoire of uh ways of
[42:33] communicating to the world and being in
[42:35] the world. So it's the same for medicine
[42:38] Buddha practice I would say in large
[42:40] ways. Uh we will look at a list of seven
[42:42] or sometimes eight Buddhas and each one
[42:46] of them represents a particular aspect
[42:49] of enlightenment in general but also our
[42:52] own deepest nature and how that can
[42:55] slowly start flowing through us into the
[42:58] world that we participate in. But then
[43:01] because it's not just the eight Buddhas
[43:03] themselves, they are accompanied by many
[43:05] bodhic sattvas who are more of these uh
[43:08] dynamic expressions of the same
[43:10] enlightened nature. And then also
[43:12] protectors uh or guardians of different
[43:14] kinds. Again there's this exploration of
[43:17] well am I a guardian in different
[43:20] situations? Am I doing my job of
[43:22] guarding this and that these things that
[43:24] I think are important for the well-being
[43:27] of the world? Am I being a bodhic sappa
[43:30] in this situation or that am I being a
[43:32] source of hope and joy for others
[43:34] through my compassionate activity? So
[43:37] that's kind of the vibe and the the
[43:39] general idea and the different technical
[43:42] methods that we're going to look at uh
[43:44] later on exist in order to help us to
[43:48] connect to these energies to these
[43:50] qualities uh to these systems of
[43:53] qualities even because they're not just
[43:55] isolated qualities. their whole
[43:56] interpenetrations of different uh facets
[44:00] of wisdom and compassion. These methods
[44:02] allow us to connect to all of that and
[44:04] then bring it into our behavior into our
[44:06] thinking into what we say. So that's the
[44:10] general idea for those who are new to
[44:11] this. Then uh for our first major point
[44:15] sacred text and healing the world I
[44:18] think in general to understand medicine
[44:20] Buddha practice tara practice any
[44:22] similar practice and also to understand
[44:23] a lot of these original texts it's
[44:26] important to go all the way back to the
[44:29] more foundational aspects of the
[44:32] Buddhist view of the world and uh it is
[44:35] always a possibility that there's
[44:37] someone who has never been exposed to
[44:39] Buddhism before. So let me just say a
[44:41] few words about that. So first of all,
[44:44] if that's that's kind of a popular
[44:46] exercise. Um sometimes we are invited to
[44:51] summarize the entirety of Buddhism in
[44:53] just one phrase or one word. And even
[44:57] even though it's not fully fair to be
[45:00] asking something like this of any rich
[45:02] philosophical uh tradition or tradition
[45:05] of of practice or you know tradition of
[45:08] uh religious practice as well kind of
[45:10] how can you summarize the entirety of
[45:12] this incredibly rich thing in just one
[45:14] phrase it's still a kind of a fun
[45:16] exercise to do and I think sometimes it
[45:18] really gives birth to fantastic gems
[45:21] that are very helpful for our own
[45:23] practice. So in one case for example uh
[45:26] I think it was Shinu Roshi the founder
[45:28] of San Francisco Zen Center who when
[45:31] invited to summarize the entirety of Zen
[45:33] Buddhism said something to the effect
[45:36] that it's about seeing things as they
[45:39] are and helping them be the best they
[45:42] can
[45:44] which I think is an incredible summary.
[45:47] Then I think on another occasion when u
[45:49] asked a similar question he also said
[45:51] that kind of all boils down to the fact
[45:54] that things change
[45:56] which is also a fantastic summary. Then
[46:00] um you have similar summaries from
[46:03] different masters of other traditions
[46:05] including the Himalayan Buddhist
[46:07] tradition or the Indotibetan tradition.
[46:09] And in some cases you would hear
[46:11] statements like well what's the summary
[46:14] of the entire Buddhism? Don't believe
[46:17] everything you think.
[46:19] Which again, fantastic and really true.
[46:22] It is really true that pretty much many
[46:25] many of the points if not all of the
[46:27] points in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition
[46:29] can be brought down to that to
[46:32] challenging the incorrect assumptions,
[46:34] incorrect acts of perception that we
[46:36] have of reality and rather seeing
[46:39] through those to connect to reality as
[46:41] is and therefore be happy in the process
[46:44] of doing that.
[46:45] a fantastic summary as well I would
[46:47] think and uh there is a wonderful book
[46:49] by uh Benel Tukton Chudron uh by that uh
[46:54] same name so I'm just going to drop the
[46:56] name in the chat don't believe every
[47:00] thing you think it's uh commentary on
[47:02] the 37
[47:04] uh practices of the bodhic satwas and
[47:06] sort of just an elaborate explanation of
[47:09] this whole summary but another summary
[47:12] and this is a summary that we find quite
[47:14] commonly across Ross the Indotibetan
[47:16] lineage of Buddhism brings the entirety
[47:19] of Buddhism, its psychology, its
[47:21] philosophy, its ethics, its practice,
[47:25] its practical element, its cosmology as
[47:27] well. It brings it all back or it brings
[47:30] it all down to the to one key principle
[47:33] and that's the principle of
[47:35] interdependence.
[47:37] And so you would have sometimes have
[47:40] teachers asked, hey, well, what's the
[47:41] main teaching in Buddhism? And um then
[47:44] they would sometimes give different give
[47:46] different answers but quite a few of the
[47:48] ones I've met would say the main
[47:49] teaching is that of interdependence.
[47:52] And that's also not just their personal
[47:54] opinion. It seems that that was the
[47:56] opinion of Nagarjuna who's one of the
[47:58] greatest philosophers and practitioners
[48:00] in the history of Indoibetan Buddhism.
[48:03] That was the view of Tonkapa whom we saw
[48:06] on the previous slide here above in his
[48:08] yellow hat. Um and that seems to be an
[48:12] opinion shared by many masters
[48:14] throughout history. So in saying
[48:16] interdependence is the summary of it
[48:18] all. We're not again exactly going
[48:20] against the grain in any way whatsoever.
[48:23] And it's important here to understand
[48:24] that interdependence in the Buddhist
[48:26] sense of that word is not just
[48:28] interconnectedness
[48:30] of all life which is often the
[48:33] association that kind of comes up for at
[48:35] least Westerners or at least the English
[48:37] speakers in my experience. also Russian
[48:39] speakers and probably people who operate
[48:43] in different European languages as well.
[48:45] So oftentimes when you say
[48:47] interdependence to someone if they have
[48:49] not been exposed to let's say Buddhist
[48:51] thought they would think well
[48:52] interdependence is me being
[48:54] interconnected with other beings maybe
[48:57] different countries being interconnected
[48:59] with each other affecting each other and
[49:02] essentially all of life being connected
[49:04] and influencing
[49:07] uh like these waves of influence flowing
[49:09] every which way affecting everything.
[49:12] And because of this principle of
[49:13] interconnectedness, interdependence,
[49:16] interbraiding, we need to be really
[49:18] careful with what we do in the world
[49:20] because we are constantly affecting each
[49:23] other through each and every act.
[49:27] So this level of seeing interdependence
[49:29] is absolutely valid and it is a part of
[49:33] what's meant by interdependence in
[49:35] Buddhism in general.
[49:37] But there are other types of
[49:39] interdependence which are also
[49:40] considered by the Buddhist tradition
[49:42] very powerfully. And so sometimes we
[49:44] have a presentation of the three primary
[49:46] types of interdependence that need to be
[49:48] mastered and fully understood on the
[49:51] deepest level of our being in order for
[49:53] us to gain true spiritual freedom uh and
[49:57] true spiritual joy. So one of those
[49:59] levels is the interdependence between
[50:01] cause and effect.
[50:04] uh not necessarily what comes up when we
[50:06] say interdependence for many people but
[50:08] that is a part of what interdependence
[50:10] means in Buddhism. So my actions of this
[50:14] nature would lead to certain results. If
[50:18] I treat these people this way that would
[50:21] evoke certain emotions in them or
[50:23] trigger certain feelings in them. If I
[50:26] create system that looks like this later
[50:28] down the line that would lead to this
[50:30] and that. if I have this pattern of
[50:33] behavior, it will lead to that result in
[50:36] the future. So understanding this is
[50:39] already such a huge thing because we
[50:42] actually quite often struggle with it.
[50:44] It is often times the job of a skilled
[50:48] therapist to very very slowly, gently
[50:50] and primarily through questioning lead
[50:53] us to the understanding that our own
[50:56] actions and maybe patterns of thinking
[50:59] and patterns of speech as well create
[51:02] this type of reality for us. And if we
[51:06] were to change the cause, this process
[51:09] that we're maintaining, the result would
[51:11] accordingly change as well. And we are
[51:14] often times really unable to see that at
[51:17] least for extend extensive periods of
[51:19] time. We're struggling with it. We are
[51:21] not seeing how our let's say being mean
[51:24] to people uh or constantly complaining
[51:27] pushes people away and makes them avoid
[51:30] us. We just can't see it for whatever
[51:33] reason. And it happens to all of us all
[51:34] the time. And so then Buddhism comes in
[51:37] and essentially says, well, you have to
[51:40] explore these things. You have to
[51:41] contemplate them. You have to study
[51:43] them. You have to meditate on them until
[51:45] this type of understanding really goes
[51:47] deeply into your heart and transforms
[51:50] the psychological processes that happen
[51:52] within you. But then that would not be
[51:54] enough because there's a different level
[51:56] of interdependence as well and that is
[51:58] the interdependence between the parts
[52:00] and the whole and that is uh the type of
[52:05] interdependence that's related to the
[52:07] interconnectedness of all life that we
[52:09] just briefly considered before. the one
[52:11] where whatever is happening in this
[52:14] region is affecting all the other
[52:15] regions of the planet. Whatever is being
[52:17] done here is inevitably affecting
[52:19] everything else all over the world. You
[52:21] know, sort of the butterfly effect
[52:23] amongst other things. Uh the butterfly
[52:26] uh moving its wings in Brazil could cost
[52:30] uh could cause that's kind the famous
[52:33] analogy that's given could cause a
[52:35] hurricane in Texas. And it's not just
[52:38] about Brazil and Texas per se. It's just
[52:40] that things here in this little part of
[52:42] the hole would affect that other part of
[52:44] the hole and would also affect the whole
[52:46] itself. And uh it's this type of
[52:50] systemic understanding, this types of uh
[52:53] these types of systems thinking that are
[52:56] also quintessential for us a
[52:58] successfully solving many of the
[53:00] problems that we have created as species
[53:03] living on this planet and b us just
[53:05] having a more whole and more extensive
[53:08] or more vast understanding of reality in
[53:11] general.
[53:12] So these types of interdependence are
[53:14] also deeply explored and meditated on
[53:16] and um integrated into our experience
[53:19] hopefully. And then the third part and
[53:22] that's the tricky one but the one that
[53:24] is said to be sort of the key one to
[53:27] understand for gaining the deepest types
[53:30] of wisdom and this is something that's
[53:32] especially strongly emphasized in
[53:34] Tonkapa's tradition actually the one
[53:36] that um again in is in his yellow hat
[53:40] here above and Tibet house has a very
[53:42] strong connection to the tradition of
[53:44] Tonkapa. So uh in Sonapa's tradition in
[53:47] particular but also all across the
[53:48] Himalayan Buddhist tradition there's
[53:51] also a strong emphasis on the third type
[53:52] of type of interdependence and that is
[53:55] the interdependence between our
[53:57] experiences
[53:59] and our interpretations of the
[54:01] experiences
[54:03] where our labeling our projections our
[54:08] mental projections upon reality affect
[54:10] that reality for us. So whatever we
[54:14] label upon reality, whatever we
[54:16] superimpose upon reality from the side
[54:19] of our cognition creates essentially
[54:21] that reality for us. So if we describe
[54:24] things in this manner, we would
[54:27] experience the associated types of
[54:30] reality. If we describe things in this
[54:32] manner, then our experience would be
[54:34] completely different. And uh this gives
[54:37] us a lot of freedom. But also
[54:41] this is the thing that truly binds us
[54:43] because at the end of the day it's this
[54:46] deeple deepest deepest level of
[54:48] cognitive activity, interpretational
[54:50] activity we could say. Uh most of it all
[54:53] of it conceptual that makes us see
[54:56] reality in a very limited and in large
[54:59] ways very primitive ways. primitive as
[55:01] in we are actually quite strongly
[55:03] disconnected from the sophisticated
[55:06] types of understanding reality. We're
[55:10] disconnected from a truly wholesome and
[55:13] whole integrated vision of reality and
[55:16] instead we are seeing just this tiny
[55:17] bubble that we created for ourselves
[55:19] with our thoughts and interpretations
[55:20] and we're living in that and feeling
[55:22] suffocated by it.
[55:24] So this third type type of
[55:25] interdependence which is usually
[55:27] explored last because it's the most um
[55:31] advanced uh it's the most sophisticated
[55:33] one. It really does take a lot of study
[55:36] and contemplation and meditation and the
[55:38] pro uh the proportions between the three
[55:40] might be different but we will need all
[55:42] three eventually. This one is done last
[55:45] and the first two I usually covered
[55:47] before it. So all of these three types
[55:50] of interdependence coexist at the same
[55:52] time and all of reality is seen through
[55:54] this lens, the lens of interdependence.
[55:57] So everything that arises such as us
[55:59] being healthy or unhealthy, such as our
[56:02] planet being healthy or unhealthy from
[56:04] an environmental point of view, our
[56:06] water being drinkable or non-drinkable,
[56:09] our air being breathable or non-
[56:11] breathable, all of the all of these
[56:14] things and of that also goes for the
[56:16] healthyness
[56:19] of our societies. All of that arises
[56:22] interdependently.
[56:24] So these results arise on the basis of
[56:27] their causes and multiple contributing
[56:29] conditions.
[56:30] What happens to the whole arises on the
[56:33] basis of whatever is happening to
[56:35] different parts of it all. And also it
[56:38] all fully depends on the interpretations
[56:41] we have as sensient beings on the
[56:44] projections we place every which way
[56:48] therefore affecting how we see reality
[56:50] and how we act within that reality.
[56:53] And um that's how reality arises and
[56:57] that's how the reality that we
[56:59] experience collectively and individually
[57:00] is maintained
[57:02] on the basis of this principle of
[57:04] interdependence.
[57:06] So as many people would know and his
[57:07] holiness the talama used to emphasize
[57:09] this quite often in the beginning of
[57:11] each and every public teaching that he
[57:13] gave for decades. Um there are different
[57:16] religious traditions in the world and
[57:18] different philosophical traditions in
[57:20] the world. um obviously but there are
[57:23] some major differences between them in
[57:25] particular. So most traditions assert
[57:27] the existence of a higher being that is
[57:32] a being that is sort of a little bit
[57:35] like a person or quite like a person and
[57:38] that higher being uh sometimes a group
[57:42] of higher beings they decide what
[57:45] happens to the world. They have created
[57:48] this world. They maintain it and manage
[57:51] it in different ways. Or maybe they
[57:52] created and then they're not managing it
[57:54] anymore. There are traditions like
[57:55] that's a reality like that as well. But
[57:57] essentially it all arose on the basis of
[58:00] this one being's wish or vision. And if
[58:03] the world is to come to an end
[58:05] eventually, which some traditions
[58:07] maintain that's what's going to happen,
[58:09] then again that depends on that ultimate
[58:11] being's wishes or vision or plan. So the
[58:16] primary cause for all things happening
[58:17] is this higher being right and Buddhism
[58:21] does not really belong to this category
[58:22] of teachings. It does not not only does
[58:25] it not assert the existence of a higher
[58:27] being that created at all the existence
[58:29] of a creator. It actually strongly
[58:32] disagrees with a very concept and it
[58:34] offers certain logical um arguments
[58:37] against that idea saying it is
[58:39] impossible for there to be a first cause
[58:42] which doesn't have a cause of its own
[58:44] because any cause is the result of
[58:46] something else and there are elaborate
[58:48] philosophical presentations on that
[58:49] which we're not going to go into today.
[58:52] But the important point here is that
[58:53] Buddhism says everything that arises
[58:56] arises on the basis of causes and
[58:58] conditions within this interplay of
[59:01] interdependence. And so the underlying
[59:04] principle that creates reality,
[59:06] maintains reality, transforms reality
[59:08] because reality cannot be ultimately
[59:10] destroyed. It's always going to give
[59:11] rise to more results. But the underlying
[59:14] principle of it all is interdependence.
[59:18] And all of this actually does not mean,
[59:20] and that's also a popular misconception,
[59:23] that Buddhism therefore denies something
[59:26] that we could called higher reality or
[59:28] ultimate reality or ultimate levels of
[59:31] love and wisdom and compassion and so
[59:33] forth. No, it does not deny those
[59:34] things, but it presents them in a very
[59:37] different way. And this is a um also an
[59:40] observation made by the famous historian
[59:42] of religions Karen Armstrong who
[59:45] primarily works actually with the
[59:46] Abrahamic traditions uh and she points
[59:49] out that whereas the Abrahamic
[59:52] traditions and the theistic traditions
[59:54] in general say that high these highest
[59:57] levels of love, wisdom, compassion are
[1:00:00] supernatural
[1:00:01] in nature. They transcend nature. These
[1:00:04] highest degrees of goodness belong to
[1:00:05] something that is beyond nature.
[1:00:08] namely to God. From a Buddhist point of
[1:00:10] view, it's sort of the opposite. The
[1:00:13] highest degrees of wisdom, love,
[1:00:14] compassion, all of it are within the
[1:00:17] core of our very being. So, they're not
[1:00:20] supernatural. They're natural. And
[1:00:22] they're natural to such a degree that
[1:00:25] they are the our deepest nature
[1:00:28] underneath all the nonsense, all the
[1:00:30] neurosis, all the horrible stuff that's
[1:00:33] happening to us and that's done by us as
[1:00:36] human beings and non-human by non-human
[1:00:38] beings as well. Sometimes they eat each
[1:00:39] other, you know, and um sometimes quite
[1:00:42] wild with it. Uh underneath all that
[1:00:46] there is a level of awareness, a level
[1:00:48] of consciousness you could say, a level
[1:00:51] of mental activity that is pure and
[1:00:55] luminous and is free of any old stains
[1:00:58] and is infinitely imbued with love,
[1:01:01] compassion, wisdom, generosity and so
[1:01:03] forth. And that's our true nature.
[1:01:06] So that's uh a general description of
[1:01:10] this higher love and higher power and
[1:01:13] higher wisdom that's offered at least by
[1:01:16] the Himalayan Buddhist tradition
[1:01:17] especially when it comes to uh its part
[1:01:20] that has to do with the so-called Buddha
[1:01:22] nature theory. So within the Himalayan
[1:01:24] Buddhist tradition there's a large
[1:01:26] bandwidth of teachings that talks about
[1:01:28] this ba deepest level of goodness that's
[1:01:31] within us and that's explored both for
[1:01:33] practical reasons because it this idea
[1:01:36] can be used in our practice of
[1:01:37] meditation to transform our mind but
[1:01:39] also in order to motivate us because if
[1:01:42] we hear that actually at the core of our
[1:01:44] being what we are is infinitely good we
[1:01:47] might be motivated to keep working on uh
[1:01:50] the transformation of our mind and we're
[1:01:52] less likely to give up. Then if we think
[1:01:54] that we are, let's say, primordially
[1:01:58] sinful and there's very little we can do
[1:02:00] about this sin other than, let's say,
[1:02:02] relying on another being that will
[1:02:04] hopefully wash that sin away. Or if we
[1:02:08] think that we're just piles of meat
[1:02:10] mowing around, uh, but then when we die,
[1:02:12] nothing else is left there. So there's
[1:02:14] there was no basic goodness to begin
[1:02:16] with because awareness doesn't even
[1:02:18] exist. consciousness doesn't even exist
[1:02:20] which is something that's maintained by
[1:02:22] reductionist materialists of the world
[1:02:24] you know so Buddhism here has a very
[1:02:26] different working hypothesis
[1:02:28] and within that working hypothesis since
[1:02:31] everything is interdependent and is
[1:02:34] therefore devoid of independent
[1:02:37] existence of inherent existence pretty
[1:02:39] much everything can affect everything
[1:02:41] else
[1:02:43] that's sort of the big conclusion from
[1:02:45] Nagarjuna's view of emptiness so the
[1:02:47] flip side of interdependence is
[1:02:49] emptiness. Emptiness refers to the
[1:02:51] absence of independent existence. Right?
[1:02:55] It's not about there being a vacuum.
[1:02:57] It's not about nothing existing at all.
[1:02:59] Um it's about things not existing in the
[1:03:01] way we habitually see them. And we
[1:03:03] habitually see them as in independent as
[1:03:07] being sort of wrapped in invisible
[1:03:10] layers of plastic which separates things
[1:03:13] from each other. So instead of being
[1:03:15] indep independent they are
[1:03:16] interdependent and that's how they
[1:03:18] exist. And uh when people hear about
[1:03:20] this theory of Nagarjunas about how
[1:03:22] everything is empty and nothing can be
[1:03:24] truly found under analysis. Of course
[1:03:27] there is always a risk of falling into
[1:03:29] the extreme of nihilism and and saying
[1:03:31] hey well these Buddhist dudes and gals
[1:03:35] um they think well that nothing truly
[1:03:37] exists and the key word here is truly or
[1:03:40] uh independently but they think nothing
[1:03:42] truly exists and kind of that's fun.
[1:03:44] Nothing truly exists at all means
[1:03:45] nothing matters.
[1:03:47] uh that's sort of the big dilemma or the
[1:03:49] big debate that also lies at the core of
[1:03:52] um famous movie uh which I do recommend
[1:03:55] from my side everything everywhere all
[1:03:57] at once uh at a key turning point in the
[1:04:00] movie and some of you might have seen it
[1:04:02] there's kind of a big debate between a
[1:04:05] mother and daughter about whether things
[1:04:07] matter or not and somehow the nihilism
[1:04:10] part is represented by a dark donut or
[1:04:14] bagel I think a dark bagel yeah that's
[1:04:17] kind of the symbol for this nihilism
[1:04:18] part. And uh the daughter kind of having
[1:04:21] fallen into this nihilism part says,
[1:04:23] "Well, nothing matters. Look, there's
[1:04:26] this dark bagel here." I keep saying
[1:04:28] donut probably because I want a donut.
[1:04:30] There's this dark dark bagel here and
[1:04:32] nothing matters at all. So why bother?
[1:04:35] Why you bo why why why are you doing
[1:04:37] whatever you're doing? Why are you
[1:04:39] trying to save me amongst other things?
[1:04:40] Why do you care what happens to me? And
[1:04:42] the mother says, "Well, just because
[1:04:45] it's like this doesn't mean nothing
[1:04:46] matters. Things do matter regardless of
[1:04:50] it all being this complicated mess." And
[1:04:54] u that's kind of the argument of
[1:04:55] Nagarian as well. You could say the pro
[1:04:58] the real consequence from his philosophy
[1:05:01] is that since everything is empty,
[1:05:04] everything we do matters or everything
[1:05:07] matters in general. Everything has an
[1:05:09] effect. everything is a cause or a
[1:05:11] condition that leads to something else.
[1:05:13] Right? So that's that's a big thing uh
[1:05:15] also for understanding medicine or the
[1:05:17] practice in general. Uh because later on
[1:05:20] when we talk about this practice, we
[1:05:22] will need to consider how to do these
[1:05:24] specific individual things that we can
[1:05:26] do with our mind such as generating a
[1:05:27] visualization affect our overall
[1:05:30] experience of existence and affect our
[1:05:32] health amongst other things. So this
[1:05:34] underlying principle of interdependence
[1:05:36] is important for that reason. And it's
[1:05:38] also important because without realizing
[1:05:40] it, we will not have this highest wisdom
[1:05:42] that makes a Buddha a Buddha. And so for
[1:05:45] that reason the amongst the different
[1:05:48] things that affect reality and our lived
[1:05:50] experience, we find such things as
[1:05:52] texts, narratives and stories.
[1:05:55] And uh this is now quite well known uh
[1:05:59] in the therapeutic community amongst
[1:06:00] other things because there's a whole
[1:06:02] branch of therapy known as narrative
[1:06:04] therapy. And I have a lot of friends and
[1:06:06] colleagues who work in that approach.
[1:06:08] And it's basically about how your lived
[1:06:10] experience is created by your way of
[1:06:13] narrating it. So, a narrative therapist,
[1:06:17] a narrative therapist kind of again
[1:06:19] gently guides you in the exploration of
[1:06:21] your own narrative by usually asking
[1:06:24] questions and sometimes using additional
[1:06:26] techniques and means and games and so
[1:06:28] forth to just help you see, hey, your
[1:06:31] experience is totally dependent on this
[1:06:34] text that you're mentally writing for
[1:06:36] yourself about what your life is, your
[1:06:40] dilemas and the way you deal with them,
[1:06:42] your dramas and the way you overcome
[1:06:44] come them or you don't your feelings in
[1:06:47] a particular situation that's all
[1:06:49] underpinned by the sort of inner
[1:06:52] narration that you have at all times and
[1:06:54] that narration is not a fixed entity it
[1:06:56] can be changed it can be transformed and
[1:06:59] it can be questioned because maybe it's
[1:07:00] completely not valid not realistic
[1:07:04] maybe yes from a certain point of view
[1:07:07] you could think of yourself as this and
[1:07:08] that and the victim of circumstances and
[1:07:11] this and everyone hates you all no doubs
[1:07:14] these stories. I catch myself daily
[1:07:16] thinking thoughts of that nature uh with
[1:07:19] regards to specific triggering events.
[1:07:22] But then could that narrative be
[1:07:25] challenged and maybe uh seen through?
[1:07:28] Yes, absolutely that as well. So um such
[1:07:32] approaches as narrative therapy
[1:07:33] primarily work with let's say altering
[1:07:36] that narrative whereas Buddhism
[1:07:37] sometimes invites us to not just alter
[1:07:40] that narrative even though that's done
[1:07:41] as well using certain mind training
[1:07:43] techniques but Buddhism does not li does
[1:07:45] not stop at that it says well eventually
[1:07:47] you have to look through all of that to
[1:07:50] the spacious luminosity that's
[1:07:52] underneath all of the stories that
[1:07:53] you're telling yourself and all the
[1:07:55] stories that everyone is telling
[1:07:56] themselves.
[1:07:58] There's the uh many people probably have
[1:08:00] heard of the amazing uh 20th century
[1:08:04] Buddhist Yogini um who was known as
[1:08:07] Deepama and who affected very largely
[1:08:10] amongst other things the rise of
[1:08:11] mindfulness in the west. So there's a
[1:08:15] lovely book about Deepama written by uh
[1:08:19] Amy Schmidt. Um I'm just going to drop
[1:08:22] the name um of the book and of the
[1:08:25] author um in the chat. And also you're
[1:08:27] just very very welcome to just look up
[1:08:28] Deepipama herself. She's had an
[1:08:30] incredible life story and is a guiding
[1:08:32] beacon of inspiration for so many people
[1:08:34] I think. But amongst other things in the
[1:08:36] book there's a little bit in which it
[1:08:37] says that Deepipama
[1:08:40] one of her characteristics as a truly
[1:08:42] realized duini and she's recognized as a
[1:08:44] realized dugini by many masters of other
[1:08:46] traditions as well. His colonist the Dal
[1:08:48] Lama mentions her in one of his more
[1:08:50] recent books uh as a person who has
[1:08:52] reached genuine realization on the path
[1:08:54] towards um our hardship. Um amongst
[1:08:58] other things in the book about her as
[1:09:00] book just called Deepama um it said that
[1:09:03] she could always see through stories she
[1:09:06] knew that we are sort of as in um a
[1:09:10] Russian doll made of stories. That's of
[1:09:12] course my analogy here. That's not the
[1:09:14] term she used. She was a Bengali
[1:09:16] housewife. But it's as if there's a
[1:09:18] layer and then underneath that is
[1:09:19] another layer and then underneath that
[1:09:21] another layer. And all of these layers
[1:09:22] are stories. Stories upon stories. You
[1:09:25] tell yourself this story and underneath
[1:09:26] there's that story and then blah blah
[1:09:27] blah blah blah. And you have to
[1:09:28] eventually peel them all away to see to
[1:09:32] the very core which is sort of pure
[1:09:34] spacious awareness. That's where you
[1:09:36] need to go eventually in the long run.
[1:09:39] And um that's an amazing thing to just
[1:09:42] even recognize, hey, all of my dramas,
[1:09:44] they are all old stories and eventually
[1:09:47] somehow I will be able to transcend my
[1:09:51] unquestioning faith towards them. So
[1:09:53] that's one thing we do in Buddhism.
[1:09:56] But another thing that's done in this
[1:09:57] Buddhist tradition, I think that's not
[1:09:59] unique for the Buddhist tradition, is
[1:10:00] that we also
[1:10:03] introduce stories to change stories. So
[1:10:07] we don't just endlessly aspire to go to
[1:10:09] that very core where all the stories are
[1:10:11] transcended. That's the ultimate goal
[1:10:13] maybe and it does work and it worked for
[1:10:15] many practitioners across history but it
[1:10:17] takes time and a lot of effort and a lot
[1:10:20] of very informed effort because we need
[1:10:22] to learn so many different aspects of
[1:10:24] these story transcending practices
[1:10:26] practices that have to do with an
[1:10:28] emptiness amongst other stuff. Now we
[1:10:30] have to really work hard to get to that
[1:10:32] bagel. So until we get to that bagel, we
[1:10:35] are busy doing other stuff and we're
[1:10:37] still living in this, you know,
[1:10:38] dualistic reality and we're trying to do
[1:10:40] our best, blah blah blah, moving around,
[1:10:42] trying to be kind, trying to be patient,
[1:10:44] getting pissed, then trying to be
[1:10:45] patient again. And while we're doing all
[1:10:47] of that, we can work with the stories at
[1:10:50] the level of the stories themselves. And
[1:10:52] one way of doing that is introducing new
[1:10:54] narratives h or reinvoking the existent
[1:10:59] narratives that already have a lot of
[1:11:01] power to them and bringing those
[1:11:03] narratives into the fabric of our
[1:11:05] current daily experiences. And this is
[1:11:08] how these traditional narratives and
[1:11:10] texts and hymns and extensive prayers
[1:11:14] are used in the Tibetan Buddhist
[1:11:16] tradition amongst other things. We take
[1:11:18] these little chunks of relative reality,
[1:11:20] a conventional reality known as this
[1:11:23] story, that story, this sutra, this that
[1:11:25] sutra. So sutras essentially are the
[1:11:28] teachings of the Buddha uh himself or
[1:11:31] teachings attributed to the Buddha and
[1:11:33] in some cases also teachings of the
[1:11:35] closest disciples of the Buddha which
[1:11:38] received the seal of approval from the
[1:11:39] Buddha who was present there. So that
[1:11:42] those those are what are known as sutras
[1:11:44] in the Tibetan Buddhist I mean Buddhist
[1:11:46] tradition in general. Then the poly word
[1:11:48] for them is sutras. So in the southern
[1:11:50] Buddhist countries you would know them
[1:11:52] as sutas. The Sanskrit word is sutras.
[1:11:54] So that's what what sutras are. But on
[1:11:56] top of them uh on top of that we also
[1:11:58] have a genre of text known as shastras
[1:12:00] which are treatuses written by the great
[1:12:03] masters on the basis of sutras.
[1:12:06] And we also have a very important
[1:12:08] category of text called tantras.
[1:12:11] uh which are also often associated
[1:12:13] either with the Buddha or with different
[1:12:15] other expressions of enlightened energy.
[1:12:18] Uh and um the tantras are different from
[1:12:20] the sutras in that they teach uh more
[1:12:23] advanced practices for realizing wisdom
[1:12:27] more quickly. But those more advanced
[1:12:30] practices all have uh certain
[1:12:34] u technical elements to them that make
[1:12:37] them not necessarily suitable to
[1:12:38] everyone. So for that reason, tantras
[1:12:40] are sometimes known as the esoteric
[1:12:42] teachings which are meant for specific
[1:12:44] individuals who have the appropriate
[1:12:46] level of preparation and skill in order
[1:12:50] to be able to use these more advanced uh
[1:12:52] meditative techniques quite often in
[1:12:55] order to progress towards wisdom more
[1:12:57] swiftly. And the tantras and the
[1:12:59] teachings contained uh within them are
[1:13:01] always used on the basis of sutras.
[1:13:04] can't you really properly use tantras if
[1:13:06] you have not trained in the foundational
[1:13:09] aspects that are described in the sutra
[1:13:10] and the shastra teachings and those are
[1:13:12] the three main uh categories of texts
[1:13:14] that came from India to Tibet so the
[1:13:17] sutras and the tantras collectively were
[1:13:20] gathered in the collection known as
[1:13:21] kongure the translated words of the
[1:13:23] Buddha that's what the 84,000 project is
[1:13:26] translating into English at the moment
[1:13:29] with the aspiration to later down the
[1:13:31] line have it available in most languages
[1:13:33] you
[1:13:34] And the chastas are contained in the
[1:13:36] second collection known as Tangure. So
[1:13:39] that's more than two the Kongur the
[1:13:41] teachings of the Buddha the sutras and
[1:13:42] the tantras that's 18 volumes. Uh so
[1:13:46] that's a very elaborate collection of
[1:13:47] texts already. So you know for some
[1:13:50] traditions they have one big holy book
[1:13:52] like the Bible the Kuran uh or something
[1:13:55] similar adigrant in the sik tradition
[1:13:58] right and you have probably some others.
[1:14:01] uh but for the Tibetan Buddhist
[1:14:02] tradition even the words of the Buddha
[1:14:04] are just 89 volumes but those are not
[1:14:07] enough on their own because we can't
[1:14:10] really properly understand them without
[1:14:11] additional commentaries we're just too
[1:14:14] far removed in terms of history so we
[1:14:16] have also 220 volumes of shastras the
[1:14:19] tangura the m works of the great Indian
[1:14:22] masters and then when all of that is
[1:14:24] combined that's just the foundational
[1:14:26] Tibetan Buddhist cannon and then you
[1:14:27] have all the texts written by Tibetans
[1:14:28] themselves in the 10th 10 centuries of
[1:14:31] the Tibetan Buddhist history. And then
[1:14:33] you also have these days books written
[1:14:35] in English and French and Portuguese and
[1:14:37] Spanish and Russian and all the other
[1:14:40] languages commenting on all that
[1:14:42] incredible wealth. So there's lots to
[1:14:44] choose from if we want to use some of
[1:14:47] that to alter our view of reality and
[1:14:49] our experience of reality here and now.
[1:14:51] Right? Right. So he says on here on the
[1:14:52] slide, the Buddhist view is that of
[1:14:53] interdependence and texts, narratives
[1:14:56] and stories play a role in transforming
[1:14:59] the interdependent web of reality,
[1:15:01] especially when they are connected to
[1:15:03] the dharma. So connected to the dharma
[1:15:06] of any kind really, but if we're talking
[1:15:08] about Buddhist texts in this case,
[1:15:10] connected to the Buddhist dharma. And
[1:15:12] dharma, yes, in more general terms is
[1:15:15] sometimes understood as just the
[1:15:17] teachings of the Buddha when it comes to
[1:15:19] the Buddha Dharma. But the more um
[1:15:22] strict understanding of it as many
[1:15:24] people would know is that the uh root d
[1:15:27] is to hold means to hold in Sanskrit.
[1:15:30] And u dharma the term dharma itself has
[1:15:33] many different meanings all of which
[1:15:35] have this idea of holding something. But
[1:15:37] when we capitalize it and we talk about
[1:15:39] the holy dharma or the Buddha dharma we
[1:15:41] talk about a system of methods and the
[1:15:44] view of reality which can hold us back
[1:15:47] from suffering. So capital D dharma is a
[1:15:51] system of practice that holds us back
[1:15:52] from suffering essentially and leads us
[1:15:55] to happiness to a more genuine sense of
[1:15:57] well-being. So any story, any narrative,
[1:16:00] any text that's connected to that job of
[1:16:04] holding us back from suffering is
[1:16:07] connected therefore to the dharma.
[1:16:10] And uh anything that's connected to the
[1:16:12] dharma and therefore connected to the
[1:16:14] qualities of wisdom and compassion and
[1:16:16] to the understanding of interdependence
[1:16:17] and to being generous and to having
[1:16:19] mental stability yada yada yada all of
[1:16:22] that is you know good psychology
[1:16:25] something that's helpful to us
[1:16:26] potentially at least we don't have to
[1:16:27] believe it is but through experimenting
[1:16:30] and taking it all on as working
[1:16:32] hypothesis as venerable Rubina always
[1:16:35] says we can see whether it works for us
[1:16:37] and then if it does we can keep rolling
[1:16:39] with it for as long as it does. So that
[1:16:43] was the experience of many of the early
[1:16:45] practitioners of Buddhism. Uh they found
[1:16:48] that let's say a couple of centuries
[1:16:50] after the Buddhist passing when they
[1:16:52] heard narrations of his teachings uh or
[1:16:56] when they heard stories about his life
[1:16:59] that had a positive effect on them that
[1:17:02] transformed their mind that helped them
[1:17:04] train their mind and become happier. And
[1:17:07] many of them actually discovered that
[1:17:09] through applying these methods they can
[1:17:11] liberate their mind from certain levels
[1:17:13] of suffering uh irreversibly. That was
[1:17:17] always the main theory of the Buddha.
[1:17:19] It's not that just we can temporarily
[1:17:21] lower the levels of stress that we're
[1:17:23] experiencing. It's not just that we can
[1:17:25] temporarily bring in a tiny bit of
[1:17:27] emotional intelligence or emotional
[1:17:29] balance. All of these things yes they
[1:17:30] matter but at the end of the day
[1:17:32] eventually in the long run that was the
[1:17:34] Buddhist main point amongst other things
[1:17:37] we can re remove suffering completely
[1:17:41] and it will be removed in layers sort of
[1:17:45] one layer after the another and with
[1:17:47] each new layer that's removed
[1:17:48] irreversibly we will be feeling so much
[1:17:51] happier and so much more free and so
[1:17:54] much more at ease. That's actually what
[1:17:56] happened to Deepipama. So we have proof
[1:17:58] of the pudding right there uh in the
[1:18:02] 20th century and uh we have the same
[1:18:05] things happening to the earlier
[1:18:06] practitioners of Buddhism all across
[1:18:08] this history of 2,500 years and I would
[1:18:11] no in no way from my side say that it
[1:18:14] only happens to Buddhists that these
[1:18:15] types of irreversible transformation or
[1:18:17] mental shifts paradigm shifts only
[1:18:20] happen with this this tradition. No, I'm
[1:18:22] not at the liberty to to confirm or deny
[1:18:25] anything. I'm mainly familiar with this
[1:18:27] tradition even though I'm very curious
[1:18:28] about others and I keep reading on them
[1:18:30] but I'm mainly working um in this
[1:18:32] tradition. I've been translating and
[1:18:34] studying and blah blah blah for a long
[1:18:35] time. So that's the one I can speak to.
[1:18:38] And here in this tradition, yes, there
[1:18:40] is this idea that uh oops
[1:18:44] uh here in this uh tradition there is
[1:18:46] this idea that um
[1:18:49] um these narratives when we hear them
[1:18:52] already transform our life and if we
[1:18:54] keep working with them regularly the
[1:18:56] transformation can be so much more deep.
[1:18:59] The same amazingly is true of powerful
[1:19:02] names. That's also a Buddhist working
[1:19:03] hypothesis. we don't have to accept it
[1:19:05] immediately. But there's this idea that
[1:19:07] names have power that's um developed in
[1:19:12] them because of what the carrier of that
[1:19:15] name did and then that's also encoded in
[1:19:18] the name because uh of how the name is
[1:19:21] constructed. Right? So many of our names
[1:19:25] have a translation
[1:19:27] in one of the multiple different
[1:19:29] languages. You know, many of our names
[1:19:31] are derived uh for westerners and
[1:19:33] including those living in the English-
[1:19:35] speaking world. Many of the names are
[1:19:37] derived from Greek uh or from Hebrew uh
[1:19:40] and are biblical in nature or come from
[1:19:43] uh ancient Greece. But of course, there
[1:19:44] are many many names coming from other
[1:19:46] cultures and other backgrounds. And if
[1:19:48] we trace them back to the source,
[1:19:50] there's usually some kind of translation
[1:19:52] there. And on that level, when we start
[1:19:54] contemplating even our own very name and
[1:19:56] thinking, hey, what does that mean? and
[1:19:58] what could be kind of the effect of that
[1:20:01] name on me and how does it reflect my
[1:20:02] own qualities and can it inspire my
[1:20:04] heart to be something more than it
[1:20:06] currently is blah blah blah we see that
[1:20:08] there is already on that level certain
[1:20:09] efficacy there just because you know
[1:20:12] 3,000 years ago someone was named that
[1:20:15] same thing and they did this and that
[1:20:16] and I am inspired by that 3,000 years
[1:20:19] later or 5,000 or 10,000 years later. So
[1:20:22] that's one aspect of it but from a
[1:20:24] Buddhist point of view it goes beyond
[1:20:26] that. When a truly powerful being
[1:20:28] carrying a specific name truly develops
[1:20:31] their mind to its highest potential,
[1:20:34] uncovers fully their amazing potential,
[1:20:36] their name acquires a certain energetic
[1:20:40] signature that can then be used by other
[1:20:42] beings to invoke positive types of
[1:20:45] interdependence.
[1:20:47] Again, this sounds very Einsteinic from
[1:20:49] a western point of view or it certainly
[1:20:52] uh clashes with a materialist
[1:20:54] reductionist view of reality. But again,
[1:20:56] that's also a theory that's shared by a
[1:20:58] working hypothesis that's shared by many
[1:21:00] traditions which do invoke names of
[1:21:03] power to transform at least their
[1:21:05] psychological state but also maybe the
[1:21:07] outer realities to a certain degree as
[1:21:09] well. From a Buddhist point of view,
[1:21:11] this does not only work because it's
[1:21:13] magic, because you say that name and
[1:21:15] then immediately something happens. It's
[1:21:17] more about introducing a new factor into
[1:21:21] the field of interdependence. In the
[1:21:23] same way that when you read out or you
[1:21:25] recite a sutra, let's say, or a shastra
[1:21:27] or anything else, if you narrate a
[1:21:29] story, you tell a story to your
[1:21:30] children, even through just doing that,
[1:21:32] you're already introducing a new factor
[1:21:34] into the interdependence. And then that
[1:21:37] interdependence with this added factor
[1:21:39] will keep flowing, will keep
[1:21:41] transforming and things will eventually
[1:21:43] change. So it's with that view, it's
[1:21:46] with that view that Buddhists recite
[1:21:48] certain names and repeat certain names
[1:21:49] millions of times in meditation and just
[1:21:52] in group chanting sessions and whatnot.
[1:21:55] And it's with that view that Buddhists
[1:21:56] recite sutras and chastras and tantras
[1:21:59] all over and over again because you are
[1:22:02] introducing a new factor to the
[1:22:03] interdependent system of your psyche.
[1:22:06] Your psyche keeps growing and changing
[1:22:08] with it. Then that extends to others.
[1:22:10] Then and that's again the butterfly
[1:22:12] effect. The overall flow of reality
[1:22:14] changes because you recited a page long
[1:22:16] text and that affected you somehow and
[1:22:19] then through that butterfly effect it
[1:22:20] also affected others. So that's the
[1:22:23] underlying foundational hypothesis for
[1:22:25] why sutras are read and recited and
[1:22:27] revisited. Not just because of the
[1:22:29] lessons they contain, but also because
[1:22:30] of this energetic potency that there is
[1:22:33] that there's present there. And in the
[1:22:36] earliest centuries of Buddhism that was
[1:22:38] done by professionals. So there's this
[1:22:40] there was this class of dharmabanakas
[1:22:44] and dharmabanakas were the people who
[1:22:46] were essentially tasked with memorizing
[1:22:48] the teachings of the Buddha and then
[1:22:51] narrating them to others before those
[1:22:53] teachings were written down. So many of
[1:22:55] them were monastics
[1:22:58] uh monks and it seems nuns as well. uh
[1:23:01] but over time it seems that the layi
[1:23:04] institute in kind of the lay group of
[1:23:07] dharmabanakas developed as well and um
[1:23:11] uh they usually eventually at least uh
[1:23:14] had specialties. They were specializing
[1:23:16] in different teachings. No one could
[1:23:18] memorize the entirety of the Buddhist
[1:23:21] cannon but they would specialize in
[1:23:22] different categories of teachings or
[1:23:24] then eventually maybe even in one big
[1:23:26] sutra. And uh as the teachings got
[1:23:29] written down the dharmabanakas were less
[1:23:33] responsible for just preserving
[1:23:35] something in their memory which was
[1:23:36] important for the first 600 700 years
[1:23:39] and more responsible for keeping the
[1:23:42] meaning of a particular sutra alive in
[1:23:45] their heart and sharing that meaning
[1:23:47] with others. So even at that stage in
[1:23:50] the first 2nd century of uh you know our
[1:23:55] historical age it was already sometimes
[1:23:57] different difficult for people to
[1:23:59] understand the meaning of the words of a
[1:24:00] sutra. They were already removed from a
[1:24:02] historical Buddha by 500 600 700 years.
[1:24:06] So there was already a cultural gap
[1:24:08] there. And so the ger the job of a
[1:24:11] dharma banana was to explain the meaning
[1:24:13] of what's happening in the sutra and how
[1:24:15] to adopt those lessons psychologically
[1:24:17] and in our meditation. But on top of
[1:24:19] that, it was believed that the
[1:24:21] Dharmabanakas teaching the sutras,
[1:24:23] reciting the sutras, just reading the
[1:24:25] sutras out to people from memory or
[1:24:27] maybe from a recorded page eventually
[1:24:30] from a page with records on it
[1:24:31] eventually that already was altering
[1:24:34] reality to a certain degree. And the
[1:24:36] sutras themselves contain ample
[1:24:38] references to that to the job of a
[1:24:41] dharma. That includes the sutras that
[1:24:43] we're going to look at today. uh they
[1:24:45] already were saying the sutras
[1:24:47] themselves when when once they were
[1:24:48] written down that through the act of
[1:24:51] reciting this teaching and studying it
[1:24:52] and contemplating it and sharing it with
[1:24:54] others especially if it's done in an
[1:24:56] elaborate context and you set up a
[1:24:57] throne and you put the dharma bananaka
[1:24:59] on it and they share it and then the
[1:25:01] others are listening attentively and
[1:25:02] trying to integrate into their mind blah
[1:25:04] blah blah through all of that visible
[1:25:06] and invisible forces of nature shift
[1:25:09] their balance shifts the dynamism shifts
[1:25:13] and the world is already transformed
[1:25:15] just by doing that. And again, this is
[1:25:18] such a fascinating idea. I'm not
[1:25:21] inviting you to believe in it blindly.
[1:25:23] Buddhism is not exactly asking us to do
[1:25:25] that. But maybe to consider it and also
[1:25:28] to consider it from multiple points of
[1:25:30] view. Are there similar practices? Are
[1:25:34] there similar techniques? Are there
[1:25:35] similar beliefs in the cultures that I'm
[1:25:38] connected to? Right? because we all come
[1:25:40] from a bunch of different cultures and
[1:25:42] maybe some of them had similar ideas and
[1:25:44] similar practices that maybe are even
[1:25:46] preserved to this day. Have I seen
[1:25:48] something in fantasy and science uh
[1:25:51] science fiction which are also not to be
[1:25:53] discarded as sources of inspiration and
[1:25:55] influence? Have I seen something in
[1:25:57] shows and movies and have I seen
[1:26:01] something like that in dreams? Have I
[1:26:02] been doing that? Have I been reciting a
[1:26:04] particular text and seeing how it
[1:26:06] transforms me? Have I had a favorite
[1:26:08] book that calms me down and then I'm
[1:26:11] more present and compassionate and
[1:26:14] graceful with others because of that
[1:26:16] book which calms me down and maybe I've
[1:26:18] read it a hundred times and it just
[1:26:20] keeps working you know uh or has this TV
[1:26:23] show because TV shows are also
[1:26:25] narratives has this TV show been having
[1:26:27] a similar positive effect on me or a
[1:26:30] negative effect has it been making me
[1:26:32] more and more neurotic and then I'm just
[1:26:34] this mess that's showing up in a
[1:26:36] situation and making everything worse.
[1:26:38] So things to play with, things to
[1:26:40] consider. And um uh on the note
[1:26:43] regarding science fiction and fantasy,
[1:26:45] you know, we were already quoted
[1:26:46] everything everywhere all at once. So
[1:26:48] mission accomplished and my job is done.
[1:26:51] But beyond that, uh some people would
[1:26:53] know that uh David Ly uh who uh is
[1:26:57] especially famous for his lovely book on
[1:27:00] uh ecodharma.
[1:27:02] uh um David Loy uh who is a Zen teacher
[1:27:06] and uh scholar and um Buddhist
[1:27:08] practitioner has a book also on the
[1:27:11] interplay between dharma and fantasy and
[1:27:14] I guess science fiction as well to a
[1:27:16] certain degree. So I'm going to drop the
[1:27:18] name in the chat as well and it's called
[1:27:20] the dharma of dragons and demons
[1:27:22] Buddhist themes in modern fantasy. Now
[1:27:25] he doesn't in the book cover the
[1:27:26] totality of you know classics sci-fi and
[1:27:31] fantasy literature. It's impossible to
[1:27:33] accomplish something of that uh nature
[1:27:35] in just one book. But he kind of points
[1:27:38] out how fantasy is filled obviously and
[1:27:42] I would say the same is true of science
[1:27:43] fiction is filled with dharma related
[1:27:46] ideas and can serve as a wonderful
[1:27:48] source of inspiration for our dharma
[1:27:49] practice teaching us valuable dharma
[1:27:51] lessons. That's actually how it began
[1:27:54] for me personally. I was just an avid
[1:27:56] reader uh of uh the fantasy collection
[1:27:59] that my parents had and amazingly some
[1:28:03] of the things that I learned when I was
[1:28:06] seven uh years old and older when I was
[1:28:08] reading that some sometimes prematurely.
[1:28:10] Absolutely. Those are not good books for
[1:28:13] children in some cases. But some of the
[1:28:14] ideas that I picked up at that age are
[1:28:16] not only still with me, I know somewhere
[1:28:18] in my uh in the deeper levels of my
[1:28:21] mind, they resonate quite directly with
[1:28:25] what's said in the Buddhist teachings
[1:28:27] and uh what's used in Buddhist practice.
[1:28:29] And here's a quote with one of the
[1:28:30] earliest books that I chose as my
[1:28:33] favorite, one of the books that I read
[1:28:35] many, many, many times. Still one of my
[1:28:37] favorites. And I actually had the great
[1:28:38] joy of writing a little article, a
[1:28:41] little well kind of imitation of an
[1:28:43] article for tricycle on that. Um uh and
[1:28:48] uh the book is called So You Want to Be
[1:28:50] a Wii Wizard. That's by Diane Dwayne who
[1:28:52] is um originally an American uh fantasy
[1:28:55] and science fiction writer. I think
[1:28:57] she's based in Ireland primarily. And um
[1:28:59] in this book, which is very New York, so
[1:29:02] very appropriate for Tibet House in New
[1:29:04] York. Um there's a sequence of books in
[1:29:07] which she covers the adventures
[1:29:08] adventures of young wizards essentially
[1:29:11] from Long Island and her book cycle
[1:29:13] predates Harry Potter by a couple of
[1:29:15] decades at least. Um uh so she wrote an
[1:29:19] extremely powerful and cosmology infused
[1:29:23] uh cycle which I think she's still
[1:29:24] working on it like 40 years later but
[1:29:27] this first book was so powerful and it
[1:29:29] had a huge effect on me and at the key
[1:29:31] turning point in the book the characters
[1:29:34] have to in order to kind of preserve
[1:29:37] reality as we know it read a text that
[1:29:40] describes reality in its pure form which
[1:29:43] is a very Buddhist thing. That's what
[1:29:45] the tantras actually do. They describe
[1:29:47] reality in its pure form and help us
[1:29:49] connect to that purer vision of reality.
[1:29:52] So they're they're in Central Park.
[1:29:54] Actually, I think the characters that is
[1:29:56] they're in Central Park and in order to
[1:29:59] save the world, they're reading out from
[1:30:00] this text. And here's how it's
[1:30:02] described, which is sort of the vibe
[1:30:05] that should come up when we are reading
[1:30:08] these major Buddhist sutras in order to
[1:30:10] voice them for the entire world, even if
[1:30:13] we're reading them alone in our little
[1:30:15] room. That's the motivation. That's the
[1:30:17] vision that we're invited to maintain.
[1:30:19] For it was not the wizard who read the
[1:30:21] book. It was the other way around. That
[1:30:24] silent power that had written the book
[1:30:26] reached through it now and read what
[1:30:27] life had written in her body and soul.
[1:30:30] joys, hopes, fears, and failings
[1:30:32] altogether. Then took her intent and
[1:30:34] read that truth, turning it into fact.
[1:30:37] The power rose with the rhythms of the
[1:30:38] old old words rose with the wind as all
[1:30:41] about her the earth and air and waters
[1:30:43] of the park began began to remember what
[1:30:45] they were. Matter and energy created
[1:30:48] indestructible no matter what darkness
[1:30:51] lay over them. And you would think,
[1:30:54] well, okay, uh maybe. But that's kind of
[1:30:58] the general idea with which many of the
[1:31:01] my own teachers so the 20th century late
[1:31:04] uh early 21st century Buddhist masters
[1:31:07] would invite their students to recite
[1:31:09] some of their more elaborate sutras. So
[1:31:11] some of you might have studied with
[1:31:13] llama operiche or at least heard of him.
[1:31:16] He is one of the biggest gill llamas uh
[1:31:19] teaching in the west uh in the early
[1:31:21] 21st century late 20th century ever
[1:31:24] since the 1970s. And some would know
[1:31:26] that um he established 150 Buddhist
[1:31:29] centers and communities which is not a
[1:31:31] small feat and no small feat. And so
[1:31:33] Lamopra amongst other things was very
[1:31:36] very strongly advocating for people to
[1:31:39] read uh three sutras and amongst them
[1:31:42] one in particular stands out the golden
[1:31:44] light light sutra which was historically
[1:31:47] very important in the Mongolian region
[1:31:49] but also in Japan and came out of India
[1:31:52] originally. We still have the Sanskrit
[1:31:53] text for it. Um, lambza was always
[1:31:57] saying this is one of the most important
[1:31:59] practices to do. It should be done
[1:32:00] daily. Read read out at least a few
[1:32:02] lines every day yada yada yada. He
[1:32:05] talked about its benefits uh endlessly.
[1:32:07] He recommended it for so many people who
[1:32:09] are facing regular problem problems in
[1:32:12] their life such as unemployment or
[1:32:13] relationship problems or health problems
[1:32:15] and so forth. And if you read the golden
[1:32:17] light sutra, it kind of is this. It kind
[1:32:21] of is the text that as you narrate it is
[1:32:23] supposed to not only teach you about
[1:32:25] compassion and wisdom which it does. It
[1:32:26] contains chapters covering that but
[1:32:28] beyond that what it does it calls out to
[1:32:31] certain forces in the external universe
[1:32:34] in order to reactivate them and their
[1:32:36] compassionate intent. So there is a
[1:32:39] chapter which is one of my favorite
[1:32:40] chapters in any Buddhist sutra in
[1:32:41] general in the golden light sutra on the
[1:32:44] earth goddess. So sort of the
[1:32:47] consciousness that's in the earth that
[1:32:49] is the en the kind of the mental
[1:32:52] presence of the earth. It invokes her it
[1:32:56] praises her and she from her side the
[1:32:58] goddess of earth con uh says that she
[1:33:02] will protect this teaching and support
[1:33:03] this teaching and wherever this teaching
[1:33:05] is voiced she will imbue the soil with
[1:33:08] vital energy and she will give energy to
[1:33:11] the grasses and the bushes and the
[1:33:12] trees. So essentially she's saying this
[1:33:15] that she will reimbue the matter that
[1:33:18] we're communicating with that we're
[1:33:19] dealing with with this vital energy. She
[1:33:22] will bring that energy back because it
[1:33:24] gets depleted and we we damage it all
[1:33:26] the time and so forth. But she will keep
[1:33:28] re uh re she will keep bringing it back
[1:33:31] when these types of teachings are
[1:33:33] voiced. And then similar promises and
[1:33:35] similar commitments are given by other
[1:33:38] sort of types of invisible forces. And
[1:33:41] again, if our worldview does allow for
[1:33:44] the existence of beings that are just
[1:33:46] not visible with the uh naked eye, but
[1:33:49] are maybe visible to those with uh
[1:33:51] highly developed perception, then that
[1:33:54] would be a fascinating idea. Whenever we
[1:33:56] read out a text like that, it said that
[1:33:58] these types of forces respond in a very
[1:34:00] particular way that's extremely positive
[1:34:02] and extremely helpful for things like
[1:34:04] world peace and environmental protection
[1:34:06] and so forth. The sutra still does teach
[1:34:08] us compassion and wisdom. That's the
[1:34:10] core of it. Without that, that would
[1:34:12] just be um you know, an invocation to
[1:34:15] outer powers, but nothing within us is
[1:34:17] changing. So, it does still teach the
[1:34:19] Buddhist sat for path and emptiness and
[1:34:21] compassion and the qualities of our own
[1:34:23] Buddha nature and all those types of
[1:34:24] things. But at the same time, a large
[1:34:27] chunk of it is this invocation to our
[1:34:29] forces to rebalance the overall flow of
[1:34:32] interdependence in the universe or
[1:34:34] multiple universes in a way. And again,
[1:34:38] we don't have to believe in it. We don't
[1:34:39] have to do it unless we feel inspired
[1:34:41] to. But we can think hey well there are
[1:34:44] definitely similar practices all over
[1:34:46] the world in which people recite a
[1:34:48] particular prayer or perform particular
[1:34:49] ritual all in order to rebalance the
[1:34:52] flow of interdependence to fix it to
[1:34:54] heal it to transform it and all of that
[1:34:57] is done here through narration through
[1:34:59] narrative and through invoking the
[1:35:01] powerful names.
[1:35:03] So I suggest we take uh just a seven
[1:35:06] minute bio break uh because I want to be
[1:35:08] respectful of your bodies and their
[1:35:09] needs and also of my own maybe. So let's
[1:35:11] just take a seven minute break and in
[1:35:13] seven minutes if I hopefully hopefully
[1:35:15] that's okay but you're welcome to take
[1:35:16] more if you need to. But in seven
[1:35:18] minutes we'll come back and I'll
[1:35:19] continue my clams ination of the whole
[1:35:22] thing as we dive into the practice of
[1:35:24] medicine Buddha and then into his two
[1:35:26] sutras which need to illustrate this
[1:35:28] point that we just made. So enjoy your
[1:35:30] break and see you very soon. Just in 7
[1:35:32] minutes at 45 uh or at 15 minutes to the
[1:35:35] next hour. See you soon.
[1:35:47] And so
[1:35:50] gradually returning
[1:35:53] not just to the physical space in front
[1:35:55] of our device perhaps
[1:35:59] but also to this idea of hey how can
[1:36:03] this all help me uncover my deepest
[1:36:05] potential.
[1:36:07] How can I
[1:36:09] uncover that amazing nature that
[1:36:11] according to this view is my true
[1:36:15] deepest awareness that is the true thing
[1:36:19] that's within me that is the core of my
[1:36:21] being so to say the thing that's
[1:36:23] underneath
[1:36:24] all the stories and narrations and how
[1:36:27] can I skillfully use stories and
[1:36:29] narratives and legends and recorded
[1:36:31] texts and commentaries to them the
[1:36:35] entirety of you know the textual
[1:36:37] tradition of sorts. How can I use that
[1:36:41] to imbue the conventional reality within
[1:36:44] which we all live with greater goodness?
[1:36:47] Well, here's one of the working
[1:36:49] hypothesis for that. It said that when
[1:36:52] we renarrate something or maybe also
[1:36:55] when we narrate it for the first time of
[1:36:57] course as well but in this case mainly
[1:36:59] when we retell or recite repeat reread
[1:37:03] something uh at least introducing it to
[1:37:06] our own very mind if we're reading
[1:37:08] something quietly but also when we
[1:37:09] repeat it out loud we share it with
[1:37:11] others or we just read it out loud even
[1:37:14] within other visible without other
[1:37:15] visible beings being there with us that
[1:37:18] has its own effect.
[1:37:21] So an interesting thing here and again
[1:37:23] that's fairly common for all the
[1:37:26] traditional worldviews and traditional
[1:37:28] systems of practice from a Buddhist
[1:37:31] Himalayan Buddhist point of view. It's
[1:37:33] very good when we are working with a
[1:37:35] particular text uh such as any of these
[1:37:38] sutras and I'll just drop the name of
[1:37:40] the sutra I've already mentioned which
[1:37:42] was very highly recommended by lamaze
[1:37:44] the golden light sutra it has three
[1:37:47] versions all three have been translated
[1:37:49] by the 84000 project so you can find all
[1:37:52] three of them there uh but there are
[1:37:54] other translations as well some quite
[1:37:56] old some relatively recent so when we
[1:37:58] read out a text like the golden light
[1:38:00] sutra or the medicine Buddha sutras that
[1:38:02] we're going talk about today. We're
[1:38:04] often invited to not just read it as we
[1:38:07] would a normal book, not just read them
[1:38:09] quietly or silently. We would be invited
[1:38:12] to read them out loud at least by
[1:38:14] whispering, maybe out, maybe with our
[1:38:16] full voice. Uh we would also be invited
[1:38:18] to put on the recordings of them being
[1:38:20] read and so forth. And all of that with
[1:38:22] this idea that entirety of uh reality is
[1:38:26] filled with visible and invisible
[1:38:27] beings.
[1:38:29] Buddhists sometimes quote this idea that
[1:38:32] in every atom of space there is a
[1:38:34] sensient being present and there's
[1:38:36] literally no part of space that's not
[1:38:38] filled with some being there and this is
[1:38:41] not just about the tiny minute beings
[1:38:44] like bacteria and other beings that live
[1:38:47] within our own body as symbiotic
[1:38:49] entities that that's all also true it's
[1:38:51] said sometimes in Buddhism that there's
[1:38:53] 27 million types of beings living within
[1:38:56] our own very body So there's a large
[1:38:59] group of friends we have there. We're
[1:39:01] never truly alone. You know, that's
[1:39:02] that's the joke. You're never alone
[1:39:04] because there's always these tiny mites
[1:39:05] living on each every person's face. So
[1:39:08] at least from that point of view, we
[1:39:09] always have company. But Buddhism then
[1:39:11] says, and there's, you know, 27 million
[1:39:14] other types of beings, 26 million blah
[1:39:16] blah blah blah blah uh 99999 types of
[1:39:19] beings that live within your very own
[1:39:21] body. So that's a large group of beings.
[1:39:23] But of course, Buddhism also accepts the
[1:39:25] existence of invisible beings or at
[1:39:27] least beings not visible with our human
[1:39:29] eyes but are visible with mental
[1:39:31] perception such as different types of
[1:39:34] quote unquote spirits. Uh and um from
[1:39:37] that point of view there's just a whole
[1:39:40] lot of being a whole lot of beings all
[1:39:42] around us. And that's the next point
[1:39:45] there. When they hear us somehow hear us
[1:39:49] with whatever faculty of hearing they
[1:39:51] might have or faculty of their body
[1:39:53] vibrating with our body when we are
[1:39:55] reciting something. You know when they
[1:39:57] hear us reciting those texts powerful
[1:39:59] imprints are planted in the stream of
[1:40:02] their mind affecting them either over
[1:40:04] time or in some cases immediately. And
[1:40:07] it's from that point of view also that
[1:40:08] we are encouraged to read these texts
[1:40:11] out loud. And so one of the greatest uh
[1:40:14] masters of the 19th century
[1:40:18] um Patrol Rimpiche who is very famous
[1:40:21] for his lineage of transmission of
[1:40:24] bodhicattva teachings and his holiness
[1:40:27] inherited that lineage amongst other
[1:40:28] masters. So whenever his holiness the
[1:40:30] Dal Lama used to teach Shanti Deva's
[1:40:32] main text the way of the bodhic sattva
[1:40:35] he would do it usually by relying at
[1:40:37] least partly on partache's lineage of
[1:40:39] transmission and many would be familiar
[1:40:41] with partache in general or might want
[1:40:44] to eventually read book the book
[1:40:45] compiled about him by Matthew Ricar
[1:40:48] called enlightened
[1:40:50] vagabond.
[1:40:52] Uh so um
[1:40:55] one thing about Patrick Rimpiche who was
[1:40:58] very keen on teaching Shanti Devas text
[1:41:00] and taught it very extensively all over
[1:41:02] the place in the monasteries of all the
[1:41:04] different traditions using all sorts of
[1:41:06] commentaries to um be in to accord with
[1:41:10] the local customs. He would sometimes
[1:41:13] just go uh towards an empty hill or an
[1:41:16] empty field and sit there and recite the
[1:41:20] root verses of Shanti Deva's text. the
[1:41:22] way of the bodhic sappa out loud but
[1:41:25] there would be no humans there and no
[1:41:28] even animals that were obvious probably
[1:41:30] there were rodents and you know snakes
[1:41:32] and whatnot but there were no sheep or
[1:41:34] cows but he was reciting the text not
[1:41:37] for himself it's said by his students
[1:41:40] but for the multiple minute and
[1:41:43] invisible beings that were there so he
[1:41:45] was essentially again performing this
[1:41:46] very act of introducing the teachings on
[1:41:49] the bodhic sattva path into an seemingly
[1:41:52] empty field of interbeing that was not
[1:41:54] at all empty because every atom of
[1:41:56] reality is filled with sensient beings.
[1:41:58] So we can supercharge them all with
[1:42:00] these types of compassionate and wise
[1:42:03] narratives if we choose to at least
[1:42:05] again that's the traditional view. So
[1:42:07] it's from this uh vast textual field of
[1:42:10] sutras and tantras and shastras that the
[1:42:14] medicine Buddha practice arises and many
[1:42:16] of you would be familiar with it. It's a
[1:42:18] system of meditations in which you
[1:42:21] basically meditate on this blue colored
[1:42:23] Buddha uh sometimes with many
[1:42:26] companions, sometimes on his own and you
[1:42:29] recite his mantra uh or the associate
[1:42:32] mantras. There are actually many mantras
[1:42:33] associated with medicine Buddha. You
[1:42:36] recite the associated prayers and hymns
[1:42:38] and the medicine Buddha sutras
[1:42:40] themselves. And you also meditate on the
[1:42:43] qualities of the medicine Buddha. So you
[1:42:46] basically have these three aspects of
[1:42:48] body, speech and mind, the so-called
[1:42:50] three gates. It said that we ourselves
[1:42:53] consist of these three bandwidths of
[1:42:56] energy. We have the material energy
[1:42:58] that's our body and we currently have
[1:43:00] this horse body made of flesh and blood
[1:43:03] and DNA and whatnot. But from a Buddhist
[1:43:06] point of view, we also have uh more
[1:43:09] subtle levels of materiality as well,
[1:43:12] including our um innermost
[1:43:16] uh extremely subtle wind with the which
[1:43:19] is the subtlest level of energy that we
[1:43:21] individually quote unquote individually
[1:43:23] possess as a being. That one goes with
[1:43:26] us from lifetime to lifetime. Then we
[1:43:28] have the speech which includes our
[1:43:30] ability to communicate these sounds that
[1:43:33] we're making using our vocal cords.
[1:43:36] That's how we communicate in this body.
[1:43:38] But that also includes our breathing. uh
[1:43:40] that also includes some aspects of our
[1:43:42] subtle nervous energy that moves through
[1:43:44] energy channels and whatnot. And also
[1:43:46] kind of indirectly it includes what we
[1:43:48] share by let's let's say typing on a
[1:43:52] keyboard uh or um writing something down
[1:43:55] that's also speech obviously right it's
[1:43:57] just not made with our vocal cords
[1:44:00] and finally we have this bandwidth of
[1:44:02] energy called mind and uh its definition
[1:44:06] as many people would know is that it is
[1:44:08] clear and knowing and what it does is
[1:44:11] that it's aware that's the knowing part
[1:44:14] but it also generates It's mental
[1:44:15] holograms and that's what our mind does.
[1:44:18] Our thoughts, our memories, our images,
[1:44:20] our desires, all of these are different
[1:44:22] configurations of mental energy and u
[1:44:25] that's how we experience reality. That's
[1:44:27] the most undeniable part of ourselves,
[1:44:30] the one that we know is definitely true
[1:44:33] even if everything in our experience is
[1:44:35] a hallucination. So again, there's this
[1:44:38] mental experiment that I always
[1:44:40] facitiously quote uh and it goes like
[1:44:43] this. How can you prove definitively
[1:44:45] that you're actually doing this event
[1:44:48] right now? How can you to yourself or to
[1:44:51] others, but at least yourself prove
[1:44:52] definitively that you're not just
[1:44:54] hallucinating? Because what are the
[1:44:56] chances you are listening to this
[1:44:59] presentation on medicine Buddha from a
[1:45:01] former Buddhist monk from Siberia who's
[1:45:04] for some reason speaking English at you
[1:45:07] through Zoom and u it somehow has to do
[1:45:10] with Tibet and you're doing this you're
[1:45:13] quite likely dreaming or hallucinating
[1:45:16] or you're on a trip and when you come
[1:45:18] down you're going to remember that your
[1:45:19] name is George and you live in Texas and
[1:45:21] you're a truck driver. You know, how can
[1:45:23] you definitively prove that you're not
[1:45:25] George? You can't. Very hard. You could
[1:45:27] be hallucinating. There's always a
[1:45:29] little chance that this is some sort of
[1:45:31] weird inception-like moment, inception,
[1:45:34] inception-like dream for you. But what
[1:45:36] you can prove definitively is that
[1:45:38] you're aware. That basic fact of reality
[1:45:41] is undeniable because what you are aware
[1:45:44] that might be a dream, but there is the
[1:45:46] very fact of awareness happening. So
[1:45:48] from that point of view, Buddhists say
[1:45:50] that the mind is the root of it all.
[1:45:52] It's through the mind that everything
[1:45:54] including the body is experienced and
[1:45:56] every appearance can be challenged but
[1:45:58] not the very fact of awareness itself.
[1:46:00] So uh for that reason Buddhists always
[1:46:02] say the mind is the root of it all. The
[1:46:05] body and speech follows suit. They are
[1:46:07] secondary but very important as well.
[1:46:10] That's why we also care about their
[1:46:11] health for example. So when we work with
[1:46:13] medicine Buddha practice or Tara
[1:46:15] practice you know or any other similar
[1:46:17] practice um when we imagine these green
[1:46:20] ladies flying in the sky in front of us
[1:46:22] or red Buddhas blue Buddhas uh or
[1:46:25] figures with many heads and many arms
[1:46:27] and whatnot when we do all of that we
[1:46:30] are again that's um common theme in
[1:46:32] vajana practice and these practices do
[1:46:34] belong to the van vajriana bandwidth of
[1:46:37] teachings we work with the aspects of
[1:46:39] body speech and mind so imagining Tara's
[1:46:41] green colored body or white colored
[1:46:44] body, red colored body. She has many
[1:46:45] different kinds, many different
[1:46:47] expressions. Or imagining medicine
[1:46:49] Buddha in his body of sapphire like
[1:46:52] blue. That's a skillful way of just
[1:46:55] working with the energy of the body in
[1:46:57] general. We are generating this pure
[1:47:00] appearance which is somehow meant to
[1:47:02] gradually shift our relationship
[1:47:05] with bodies and materiality as a whole.
[1:47:10] For speech, we work with mantras and
[1:47:13] other types of textual expressions. You
[1:47:16] know, different strings of syllables and
[1:47:18] words or sometimes syllables that don't
[1:47:20] necessarily mean anything to our
[1:47:23] perception at least. All in order to
[1:47:25] purify our relationship with sound and
[1:47:29] speech. Uh establish a new type of
[1:47:32] perception, establish a new type of
[1:47:34] relationship with this whole bandwidth
[1:47:35] of energy called sound. let's say uh
[1:47:39] that's why we recite mantras and whatn
[1:47:40] not that's the point and then uh for the
[1:47:43] level of the mind we work with the
[1:47:45] wisdom qualities of medicine Buddha
[1:47:48] otara or any other figure like that we
[1:47:51] try to connect with their indivisible
[1:47:54] qualities of wisdom and compassion but
[1:47:56] also the secondary qualities of
[1:47:58] generosity and ethical discipline and
[1:48:00] mental stability and whatnot all of the
[1:48:02] positive qualities they are in the mind
[1:48:04] stem from the mind they abide in the
[1:48:05] mind and that's what we're trying to
[1:48:07] connect with to using this mental aspect
[1:48:10] of the practice, the part of the
[1:48:12] practice that has to do with the mind.
[1:48:14] And when we use these three-fold
[1:48:17] practices for purifying body, speech and
[1:48:19] mind within the tantra and that's the
[1:48:22] true uh defining feature of tantra in
[1:48:27] its original meaning. The tantra that
[1:48:30] arose as system of practice somewhere
[1:48:32] around the 4th century AD or came out
[1:48:35] into the open uh somewhere around the
[1:48:38] 4th century AD and then kept spreading
[1:48:40] in India and um the Buddhist tantra
[1:48:43] stayed there until approximately the
[1:48:44] 11th century and then it um remained in
[1:48:48] existence in Tibet and Japan and parts
[1:48:50] of it small elements of it are present
[1:48:52] in other countries as well. Uh you know
[1:48:54] Hindu tantra continued to exist and is
[1:48:56] still very much in existence uh to this
[1:48:57] day and age. giant tantra as well. So
[1:48:59] those were the three main tantric
[1:49:01] systems of ancient India. Originally
[1:49:03] they were quite strongly connected to
[1:49:04] each other. Eventually for historical
[1:49:06] reasons they drifted apart. So now we
[1:49:09] talk separately about Buddhist tantra,
[1:49:10] Hindu tantra, giant tantra. So the
[1:49:12] defining feature for all of those
[1:49:14] tantras and I'm I'm explaining this so
[1:49:17] that we don't get confused about also
[1:49:19] the so-called neotantra which are these
[1:49:21] you know seminars, webinars, retreats
[1:49:23] and so forth and awakening your
[1:49:25] sensuality male and female energy and
[1:49:27] all those kinds of things. That's
[1:49:28] so-called neoantra. It's about 60 to 70
[1:49:31] years old. It's a different thing that
[1:49:34] tra says it's connected to the original
[1:49:36] thing but they're quite different if we
[1:49:38] look at them from an anthropological
[1:49:40] point of view. So to avoid confusion in
[1:49:43] this case we're talking about the
[1:49:44] original tantra and medicine Buddha
[1:49:46] practice is a part of that. So this
[1:49:48] original tantra the ancient tantra the
[1:49:49] tantra that arose in the Indian
[1:49:51] subcontinent was always tied to this
[1:49:54] concept of deity yoga. So yogic practice
[1:49:57] contemplative practice that's connected
[1:49:59] to a particular archetypal form a deity
[1:50:03] a meditational deity or a Buddha figure
[1:50:06] as Dr. Alex Bersen calls them that we
[1:50:08] use simply as a stencil or a mold for
[1:50:13] uncovering our true potential.
[1:50:16] So these meditational deities like Tara
[1:50:19] and Medicine Buddha and all the other
[1:50:20] Buddhas that are used for similar
[1:50:22] purposes and in Hinduism they have their
[1:50:24] own array of tantric deities in ginism
[1:50:26] as well. These deities are used as as
[1:50:30] strange as it sounds as a tool. They are
[1:50:34] not figures that we pray to in the hope
[1:50:36] that they will come down from Mount
[1:50:38] Olympus and somehow positively affect
[1:50:41] our lives in terms of saving us. They're
[1:50:44] not also omnipotent beings that we pray
[1:50:47] to saying, "Hey, you please help me win
[1:50:50] the lottery and then they flick their
[1:50:53] wand and uh we get a winning lottery
[1:50:55] ticket or something like that." That's
[1:50:57] not how it all works at all in Tantra.
[1:51:00] They are rather tools, stencils, molds,
[1:51:04] containers, windows through which we
[1:51:06] look into our own true nature and the
[1:51:09] true nature of reality in general. But
[1:51:12] because they're all different in terms
[1:51:14] of what they look like and uh their
[1:51:16] mantras, you know, and the associated
[1:51:18] bodies of texts and so forth, they h
[1:51:21] help us strengthen, fortify, express
[1:51:23] different qualities. So each sort of
[1:51:26] Buddha figure, each meditational dity
[1:51:28] has a particular association or a
[1:51:31] particular uh set of qualities that it
[1:51:34] uniquely expresses. Although all of them
[1:51:37] at the same time express the
[1:51:38] foundational qualities of wisdom and
[1:51:40] compassion because those are key to
[1:51:42] getting enlightened. And um again all
[1:51:45] three of the traditions have multiple
[1:51:47] meditational deities that express these
[1:51:48] qualities in very different ways. So in
[1:51:50] Buddhism, in the Tibetan Buddhism,
[1:51:52] there's literally a lineage still
[1:51:54] existent for hundreds of these,
[1:51:58] but no one is practicing hundreds
[1:52:00] actively. Those lineages are preserved,
[1:52:02] but not actively used. Main practices,
[1:52:07] they're probably there for a couple of
[1:52:09] couple dozen. And amongst those, it's
[1:52:12] probably less less than 10 most popular
[1:52:15] ones. And the number one popular ones we
[1:52:18] could say are Abalukeshwara the Buddha
[1:52:20] of compassion. Tara again the female
[1:52:22] Buddha of enlightened activity and Guru
[1:52:25] Rimpiche who was the uh historical
[1:52:29] teacher who brought Buddhism tantric
[1:52:30] Buddhism to Tibet but he's also a
[1:52:32] transhistorical archetypal meditational
[1:52:35] figure. Those three are the number one
[1:52:37] meditational deities in all of the
[1:52:38] Himalayan region. everyone else sort of
[1:52:41] follows them in terms of popularity and
[1:52:43] medicine Buddha is still in that first
[1:52:45] dozen uh in terms of being popular and
[1:52:48] he's extremely popular as a figure for
[1:52:50] meditation as a tool for purifying our
[1:52:52] body speech and mind because he has in
[1:52:55] terms of the origins of his figure has a
[1:52:58] particular connection with the idea of
[1:52:59] physical and mental health and balance.
[1:53:02] So it says here in the slide, medicine
[1:53:03] Buddha is a transhistorical Buddha whose
[1:53:05] vows or aspirations pranidana have a lot
[1:53:08] to do with a physical and ment with have
[1:53:11] a lot to do sorry I'm not a native
[1:53:13] speaker have a lot and I get excited and
[1:53:15] then I start reading really fast and
[1:53:17] then you're like what the hell is
[1:53:18] happening have a lot to do with physical
[1:53:20] and mental health and balance. So
[1:53:23] transhistorical means that unlike our
[1:53:25] historical Buddha Buddha Shakimuni who
[1:53:27] did live 2,600 years ago or so, we're
[1:53:31] quite confident that he was a real
[1:53:32] figure. We have amongst other things his
[1:53:35] uh relics and we have very specific
[1:53:38] places that he visited and we have uh
[1:53:40] archaeological evidence for the
[1:53:42] existence of the earliest Buddhist
[1:53:43] community and so forth. So unlike Buddha
[1:53:45] Shakimuni who was an actual you know
[1:53:47] prince born in Nepal and then he
[1:53:50] traveled all over the Indian
[1:53:52] subcontinent, medicine Buddha did not
[1:53:54] live in our world
[1:53:57] uh on planet earth at any point as
[1:54:01] medicine Buddha. Instead
[1:54:04] uh according to the teachings of Buddha
[1:54:06] Shakimuni or at least teachings
[1:54:07] attributed to Buddha Shakimuni he lived
[1:54:10] in a galaxy far a long time ago in a
[1:54:12] galaxy far far away. So it's very much a
[1:54:14] Star Wars kind of thing which is very
[1:54:16] common to Tibetan Buddhism. In many
[1:54:18] cases Buddha Shakimuni because any
[1:54:20] Buddha is said to possess omniscience so
[1:54:23] you all all knowing Buddha Shakimuni
[1:54:25] would introduce his disciples to other
[1:54:29] Buddhists from other universes and other
[1:54:31] historical times. Not just to narrate a
[1:54:35] helpful parable or to share an inspiring
[1:54:38] story, but also to say, "Hey, and since
[1:54:42] this Buddha got enlightened or since
[1:54:44] this bodhic sata perfected their
[1:54:45] qualities as a bodhicattva, they have
[1:54:48] become a field of energy to which you
[1:54:51] can connect. They are available for your
[1:54:55] use for you to get help from them
[1:54:58] because they have this omnisient mind
[1:55:00] and omnipresent energy as well. So in
[1:55:04] this way Buddha Shakimun introduced his
[1:55:06] disciples to many many Buddhas some of
[1:55:08] them being extremely popular to this day
[1:55:11] and age like Buddha Amitaba the Buddha
[1:55:12] of infinite light who's famous for his
[1:55:14] pure land that anyone is welcome to
[1:55:17] migrate to at the end of their lifetime
[1:55:18] on this problematic planet and medicine
[1:55:22] Buddha who everyone is welcome to invoke
[1:55:25] invite meditate on connect to when some
[1:55:28] healing is necessary. So as it says here
[1:55:31] in the slide on the slide, his practice
[1:55:33] is believed to have been originally
[1:55:34] taught by Shakimuni Buddha have over
[1:55:37] time been expanded to go all the way to
[1:55:40] all the way up to the highest levels of
[1:55:42] Lajayana stretching all the way from
[1:55:44] sutra to ati yoga. So the initial
[1:55:47] sources on the practice of medicine
[1:55:49] Buddha belong to again the level of
[1:55:51] sutras or exoteric teachings. they were
[1:55:53] at least initially uh seen as sutras,
[1:55:57] not tantras, as just being in that outer
[1:56:00] category that's available to everyone
[1:56:02] and that can be used by everyone.
[1:56:05] But over time, especially in Tibet, they
[1:56:07] got moved from the sutra category to the
[1:56:09] tantra category in the Tibetan Buddhist
[1:56:11] cannon because they do contain elements
[1:56:13] that are now identified as being tantric
[1:56:15] in nature. And on the basis of those
[1:56:18] sutras, practices later developed which
[1:56:20] go all the way up to the highest level
[1:56:23] of tantric practice which in the ningma
[1:56:25] presentation of things and nigma is one
[1:56:27] of the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism
[1:56:28] four major schools uh belongs to the
[1:56:31] level of doctrine. So in the 17th
[1:56:34] century uh medicine Buddha practices
[1:56:36] were revealed or I guess created that
[1:56:40] actually belong to this level of ati
[1:56:42] yoga the highest level of uh tantric
[1:56:44] practice the most advanced and because
[1:56:46] of that also the most straightforward
[1:56:48] and direct type of tantric practice. So
[1:56:51] now over this period of historical
[1:56:54] evolution, we basically have a bandwidth
[1:56:56] of practices that goes all the way up
[1:56:58] from the very beginnings all the uh from
[1:57:00] the very beginnings all the way up to
[1:57:01] the most advanced levels. And we are
[1:57:04] welcome to either not use any of it at
[1:57:06] all obviously you know no one's forcing
[1:57:07] us or to choose a level that's
[1:57:09] appropriate to our training. So usually
[1:57:11] if we're a beginner we would start with
[1:57:13] the most foundational aspect and over
[1:57:15] time train and maybe move up to that
[1:57:18] highest level. But because of how things
[1:57:20] run in the kind of the west or at least
[1:57:22] in this process of Buddhism uh different
[1:57:25] varieties spreading across the world, it
[1:57:27] sometimes happens that we just randomly
[1:57:29] bump into a seminar in which we're
[1:57:31] introduced to the most advanced practice
[1:57:33] straight away and then we try to use
[1:57:35] that and sometimes it work and sometimes
[1:57:37] it doesn't. Sometimes we're just lucky
[1:57:38] enough to already have some factors
[1:57:40] within our mind that contribute to our
[1:57:42] success in that practice. Oftentimes we
[1:57:44] do lack that foundational education and
[1:57:46] we feel like we've missed something very
[1:57:48] important at the very beginning on the
[1:57:50] path and we need to we go all the way
[1:57:52] back and relearn the basics you know uh
[1:57:55] mold the bricks burn the bricks prepare
[1:57:58] the bricks and then build that building
[1:58:00] and then put the roof on top that
[1:58:02] building and that's how how we get to
[1:58:04] the roof. So, um, even if you've been
[1:58:07] accidentally introduced to these more
[1:58:09] advanced systems of medicine, Buddha
[1:58:11] practice, there's no shame in that. That
[1:58:12] happens all the time. We can go back go,
[1:58:14] we can go all the way back to the
[1:58:16] beginning and reestablish the
[1:58:18] foundation. And if you're starting from
[1:58:21] the very beginning, amazing. You just
[1:58:23] have all more time to build the house
[1:58:25] and that then put the roof of tantric
[1:58:28] practice on top of that. But regardless
[1:58:30] of which level we use, we would be using
[1:58:34] this medicine Buddha practice for one of
[1:58:36] the two major goals. That's what it's
[1:58:39] used for in the Himalayan region to this
[1:58:42] day. So in Tibet, in Ladak, Bhutan, uh
[1:58:46] the northern regions of India, the
[1:58:47] Buddhist regions of Russia, Mongolia,
[1:58:49] and then in Tibetan Buddhist centers all
[1:58:51] over the world. This is what the this is
[1:58:54] what people would be using medicine
[1:58:56] Buddha practice for for worldly and
[1:58:59] transworldly gains or goals sometimes
[1:59:04] um
[1:59:06] known as pende and uh in in Tibetan
[1:59:08] where pen uh is or benefit refers to the
[1:59:12] worldly benefits and de as happiness
[1:59:15] refers to the deepest type of
[1:59:17] well-being. So pen or worldly goals have
[1:59:20] to do with changing the relative reality
[1:59:22] by introducing positive elements into
[1:59:24] the flow of interdependence. So very
[1:59:26] often people who get sick and get
[1:59:29] diagnosed with a sickness would do
[1:59:31] medicine Buddha meditations to support
[1:59:33] them on their journey of healing.
[1:59:37] They would not be doing that typically
[1:59:39] uh at least that's not advisable as a
[1:59:41] substitute for medical attention. So of
[1:59:44] course in the traditional Tibetan
[1:59:46] culture, people would go to Tibetan
[1:59:47] doctors who primarily use herbal
[1:59:50] medicine uh but also introduce
[1:59:53] adjustments to the patients lifestyle
[1:59:55] and diet and exercise regime and things
[1:59:58] like that. Uh in the modern day and age
[2:00:01] we are of course also obviously uh
[2:00:03] turning to um alipatic medicine and just
[2:00:06] medicine as we know it. you know, we go
[2:00:08] to hospitals, doctors, surgeons and so
[2:00:10] forth, uh, get modern-day medication and
[2:00:14] whatnot. But as a support for all of
[2:00:16] that, medicine Buddha practice can be
[2:00:18] done just because it at least can help
[2:00:21] us lift our spirits, which plays a huge
[2:00:23] role in the process of recovery. But
[2:00:25] also, and that's uh again the Buddhist
[2:00:27] working hypothesis, it can because it
[2:00:30] changes the state of our mind and it
[2:00:31] changes the flow of energies within our
[2:00:33] body because it affects our nervous
[2:00:35] system. can maybe also contribute to
[2:00:36] some of those uh processes of
[2:00:39] regeneration. Who knows? At least we can
[2:00:41] try this is and if we're trying without
[2:00:43] any particular expectation, it's quite
[2:00:45] likely that some positive effect would
[2:00:47] be visible at least in terms of our
[2:00:49] sleeping getting better and we us
[2:00:51] feeling less stressed. That's already
[2:00:53] such a huge shift for many of us. This
[2:00:56] practice is also done uh for abundance.
[2:00:59] Uh and there are plenty of references to
[2:01:01] abundance, prosperity, wealth, and just
[2:01:03] the the positive flow of abundance
[2:01:06] energy in our life. There's plenty of
[2:01:08] references to that in the sutras that
[2:01:09] we're going to briefly look at. Uh it's
[2:01:12] also done for world peace, which is also
[2:01:14] sort of a worldly goal, but an extremely
[2:01:16] worthy one. Obviously,
[2:01:18] it's just not transworldly because it
[2:01:20] does not transcend samsara. Having peace
[2:01:23] in samsara is wow wouldn't that be
[2:01:25] amazing and it's used for a number of
[2:01:28] other reasons including organizational
[2:01:30] success success for dharma communities
[2:01:32] again llama used to uh very strongly
[2:01:35] recommend that all of his centers do a
[2:01:38] medicine Buddha puja so an elaborate
[2:01:41] medicine Buddha offering practice at
[2:01:43] least once a month for success and just
[2:01:46] to have resources to be able to offer
[2:01:48] teachings on compassion and wisdom so
[2:01:50] there's also that and monasteries often
[2:01:52] do it for that reason and it's also done
[2:01:55] for the dying and the deceased. So uh
[2:01:59] when people are in the process of
[2:02:00] actively passing away obviously any and
[2:02:03] all spiritual support is very welcome
[2:02:05] because it might affect the quality of
[2:02:07] their experiences at that very crucial
[2:02:09] moment and then of course once they have
[2:02:11] passed away from a Buddhist point of
[2:02:12] view they did not stop existing their
[2:02:15] body is kind of now in the state where
[2:02:17] it's returning to the five elements
[2:02:19] through cremation or whatnot. Uh but
[2:02:21] their mind the stream of their awareness
[2:02:23] cannot be broken by anything. Now
[2:02:25] Garjuna has very strong philosophical
[2:02:26] arguments in favor of the stream of
[2:02:29] consciousness being indestructible and
[2:02:31] it continues flowing onwards into their
[2:02:34] next lifetimes hopefully good ones and
[2:02:38] so medicine Buddha practice is done to
[2:02:40] help them in the process of attaining a
[2:02:42] positive rebirth rather than a scary one
[2:02:44] where they would hallucinate for maybe
[2:02:46] thousands of years that they're in some
[2:02:47] scary place where with fire and
[2:02:49] brimstone and whatnot. Why why suffer
[2:02:52] like that when through these
[2:02:54] contributing factors coming from the
[2:02:56] outside medicine Buddha practice being
[2:02:58] one of them that stream of awareness can
[2:03:01] be directed towards something positive
[2:03:03] even if it cannot direct itself yet
[2:03:05] because it has not perfected the
[2:03:06] associated spiritual provice during its
[2:03:09] lifetime which is the optimal thing if
[2:03:11] we can do it ourselves best if not at
[2:03:13] least others can support us with these
[2:03:15] types of practice so again monasteries
[2:03:17] are often uh invited to do a medicine
[2:03:21] Buddha practice practice for the
[2:03:22] deceased once or for 7 days or 49 days
[2:03:27] after the dying after death after the
[2:03:30] passing away of uh a person and that
[2:03:32] crucial period is set to be particularly
[2:03:34] powerful for these types of effects. So
[2:03:37] all of that is still the worldly goals
[2:03:38] because again conventional reality based
[2:03:41] on interdependence we are introducing
[2:03:43] new factors in it with every thought
[2:03:46] every word every physical movement and
[2:03:49] this is where things like mudras came in
[2:03:51] we are introducing little bits of
[2:03:53] compassion wisdom generosity loving
[2:03:55] kindness into the flow and we over time
[2:03:59] develop a trust that there is a certain
[2:04:01] effect there there on this note I should
[2:04:05] share I can share an anthropological
[2:04:08] observation
[2:04:10] as a presenter
[2:04:12] uh who is a modernday white dude. I
[2:04:18] wouldn't be able to say like the llamas
[2:04:20] the the great llamas that I've met do.
[2:04:23] Oh, a medicine Buddha practice 100% can
[2:04:25] change and transform everything. I mean
[2:04:28] I can say something like that but I just
[2:04:30] feel self-conscious making those
[2:04:32] statements because I'm still you know
[2:04:34] just the tiny potato who amongst other
[2:04:37] things does not have the associated
[2:04:38] experience and authority to be making
[2:04:41] statements like that you know making big
[2:04:43] statements about how medicine pract for
[2:04:44] example medicine Buddha practice can
[2:04:46] transform everything in our life but
[2:04:48] what I can say as a translator who's
[2:04:51] been observing this field is that
[2:04:53] sometimes I've seen people do medicine
[2:04:55] Buddha practice
[2:04:57] Medicine Buddha puddas, medicine Buddha
[2:04:59] retreats, especially intensive retreats
[2:05:02] and there's sometimes amazing
[2:05:04] synchronicity
[2:05:06] there with what happens to them and
[2:05:08] their health or with what happens to the
[2:05:10] relatives to whom they have been
[2:05:12] dedicating their practice. So I know
[2:05:13] many stories of that amazing
[2:05:15] synchronicity.
[2:05:17] Now how synchronicity works
[2:05:20] is it truly created and supported just
[2:05:22] that by the medicine Buddha practice
[2:05:23] itself? Is it something that transcends
[2:05:26] medicine Buddha practice and is common
[2:05:27] to all traditions? I cannot from my side
[2:05:30] make any definitive statements regarding
[2:05:32] that. Um you know Jung introduced this
[2:05:35] concept of synchronicity and dwelt on it
[2:05:38] a lot and then later Yungians explored
[2:05:39] it even further but I don't think anyone
[2:05:41] has come to any definitive conclusion
[2:05:43] that we from our side as modern day
[2:05:45] people can um use as the actual
[2:05:49] description of how these things work.
[2:05:51] But again the Buddhist explanation for
[2:05:53] how these things work is that that
[2:05:54] synchronicity is created because we
[2:05:57] introduce new elements to the flow of
[2:05:59] interdependence
[2:06:00] and due to that sometimes people can
[2:06:04] recover or it seems to contribute to
[2:06:06] their recovery. Sometimes we see people
[2:06:08] becoming better at least temporarily you
[2:06:11] know all all sorts of things happen. So
[2:06:12] I leave it at that. I'm not saying again
[2:06:15] we should believe in that. I'm just
[2:06:16] saying that I've observed many things of
[2:06:18] that nature. What was their cause? What
[2:06:20] were the contributing conditions? That's
[2:06:22] beyond my current scope of
[2:06:24] understanding. But it seems that people
[2:06:27] definitely do find benefit in practicing
[2:06:29] medicine Buddha for these worldly goals.
[2:06:31] Now, we also have the transorldly goals.
[2:06:33] That's the ultimate reason for
[2:06:35] practicing uh any of these meditational
[2:06:37] deities, Tara, medicine, Buddha, all of
[2:06:40] them. And that is enlightenment. And
[2:06:42] again, modern psychology would not
[2:06:44] necessarily say yes, enlightenment as
[2:06:46] Buddhists describe it is possible. uh
[2:06:49] venerable Rebina who teaches at Tibet
[2:06:51] House often quite often says if you came
[2:06:54] to your therapist and say hey can you
[2:06:55] give me a method for fully removing all
[2:06:57] attachment all anger all arrogance all
[2:07:00] jealousy permanently and without a
[2:07:02] return they would send you to mental
[2:07:05] institution because that's not something
[2:07:07] that's seen as possible in the western
[2:07:09] world or at least it was not seen as
[2:07:11] possible for a very long time and uh
[2:07:14] even now that we've kind of climbed out
[2:07:17] of the older parad parms uh of
[2:07:20] psychology. We're just making our very
[2:07:22] first early and humble steps into this
[2:07:26] field that says, "Hey, incredible levels
[2:07:28] of compassion are possible. Incredible
[2:07:29] levels of wisdom are possible." Right?
[2:07:31] Positive psychologists making teeny tiny
[2:07:33] steps in that direction. And no one is
[2:07:35] confidently in the western psychological
[2:07:37] world saying or in the modern
[2:07:38] psychological world, I should say,
[2:07:40] saying yes, you can absolutely
[2:07:41] reversibly liberate your mind from all
[2:07:43] neurotic states and just be an omnicient
[2:07:45] Buddha. No one's saying that in this
[2:07:47] modern psychology. But that's exactly
[2:07:49] what Buddhism is saying because from a
[2:07:52] Buddhist point of view, that's the
[2:07:53] definition of a Buddha. That's given by
[2:07:55] the Indian tradition and then the
[2:07:56] Tibetan tradition. A Buddha is a being
[2:07:58] that fully liberated its mind from all
[2:08:02] limiting or distorting states and then
[2:08:05] uncovered all the amazing qualities to
[2:08:08] the fullest degree, becoming infinitely
[2:08:10] compassionate, infinitely wise, and
[2:08:12] infinitely skillful in helping all
[2:08:14] sensient beings for the rest of eternity
[2:08:18] because they now abide beyond time and
[2:08:20] space. But they can freely enter time
[2:08:22] and space to skillfully guide beings
[2:08:25] step by step. So the ultimate goal of
[2:08:28] medicine Buddha practice is this. And so
[2:08:30] there are also medicine Buddha methods
[2:08:32] even though they are practiced less
[2:08:33] often in that uh form. There are
[2:08:36] medicine Buddha practices that can be
[2:08:38] done to become fully awakened. And
[2:08:41] similarly there are Tara practices that
[2:08:43] can be done to be fully awakened.
[2:08:44] Amitaba practices that can be done to be
[2:08:46] fully awakened. It's just less people on
[2:08:48] on that level of pay are on that level
[2:08:51] where they are already fully practicing
[2:08:53] to become fully enlightened in this life
[2:08:55] or as soon as possible. Many of us when
[2:08:58] we practice these traditions we aspire
[2:09:01] to eventually get to that level and
[2:09:03] we're planting some seeds for that. But
[2:09:06] because of how our mind works, we're
[2:09:07] primarily preoccupied with just staying
[2:09:10] alive and being relatively happy. And
[2:09:12] yes, we're planting some seeds. But are
[2:09:14] we actively pursuing that right now?
[2:09:16] That's a big question. Uh certainly the
[2:09:19] Tibetan society was structured in the
[2:09:23] way that it was structured specifically
[2:09:25] to produce enlightened beings. That's an
[2:09:27] observation that Dr. Alex Bersen once
[2:09:29] made and I very much agree with that as
[2:09:31] someone who's been studying Tibetan
[2:09:33] Buddhist history for a long time. Tibet
[2:09:35] as a society was constructed to produce
[2:09:38] saints.
[2:09:39] So it was not constructed to produce
[2:09:41] material prosperity. There's quite
[2:09:43] little of that and it was not impressive
[2:09:45] at all to anyone in the modern world.
[2:09:48] You know, the objects of luxury were
[2:09:50] pieces of turquoise, coral beads, some
[2:09:53] gold, food was uh barley flour mixed
[2:09:57] with dried cheese and butter. You know,
[2:09:59] nothing to write home about in terms of
[2:10:01] the outer luxuries. But it somehow
[2:10:03] happened that a lot of people I know
[2:10:05] personally just over these three weeks
[2:10:08] went to Tibet for a short visit. And
[2:10:11] there was again some mysterious
[2:10:13] synchronicity happened and three or four
[2:10:14] people I know just went to Tibet to do a
[2:10:17] circumambulation of kilas. Why are they
[2:10:19] drown there? All of them are well to do.
[2:10:21] That's how can they afford it? That how
[2:10:23] they can afford it. Why do they go
[2:10:25] there? Well, it seems well yes you can
[2:10:27] just tick the box. Oh, I've been to
[2:10:29] Tibet. That's fun and fancy to a certain
[2:10:31] degree. But I think in the case of these
[2:10:35] friends of mine, they all went and none
[2:10:37] of them are particularly Buddhists kind
[2:10:38] of they're interested but are not deeply
[2:10:41] engaged with it at the moment. I think
[2:10:43] they went there because there's a
[2:10:44] feeling within us that we're curious
[2:10:46] about these contemplative societies and
[2:10:49] what they can offer and we are in some
[2:10:51] ways hungry for a different view of
[2:10:54] reality. And maybe we do want to
[2:10:56] maintain some of the physical comforts
[2:10:58] that we currently have. I do definitely
[2:11:00] want to have access to a bathroom. Thank
[2:11:02] you very much. Uh if I go into a cave,
[2:11:04] it will be a bathroom cave. A cave with
[2:11:07] a bathroom. Uh but still, you know,
[2:11:11] while relying on those levels of
[2:11:13] material comfort, to have this idea that
[2:11:15] mind can be fully transformed is
[2:11:17] incredible. To play with it, even more
[2:11:19] incredible. To devote ourselves deeply
[2:11:21] to it, absolutely incredible. Very rare
[2:11:24] to this day and age. And that's the
[2:11:26] point of this practice in the long run.
[2:11:28] Not just to make us healthier but to
[2:11:30] have us become fully awakened. Again,
[2:11:32] that's the ultimate health.
[2:11:34] So, and this is another quote from Dr.
[2:11:37] Alex Bersen again on one of the senior
[2:11:39] translators uh of Tibetan Buddhism in
[2:11:41] the west work with his holiness the
[2:11:43] Dalama and his tutors for many years and
[2:11:45] then served as a diplomatic envoy for
[2:11:47] the Dalama. And Dr. Bers and amongst
[2:11:49] other things is the creator of the
[2:11:50] amazing website studybism.com
[2:11:52] which I very much recommend to everyone
[2:11:55] as a very trustworthy source on all
[2:11:59] things Tibetan Buddhist. So it's a
[2:12:01] fantastic very elaborate website
[2:12:03] available in many many many languages
[2:12:06] partly sponsored by the private office
[2:12:07] of his holiness the Dal Lama and it
[2:12:09] contains fantastic information
[2:12:11] especially on the foundational aspects
[2:12:13] of Buddhism but also on the more
[2:12:14] advanced ones as well. And so here's a
[2:12:16] quote from one of the pages of that
[2:12:18] website and um Dr. Bersen here explains
[2:12:22] kind of the Buddhist understanding of
[2:12:24] how medicine Buddha practice for healing
[2:12:26] works. For example, how does the
[2:12:28] medicine pra Buddha practice work?
[2:12:29] Medicine Buddha isn't God. He can't cure
[2:12:32] us from disease just through his own
[2:12:34] power. But by making offerings and doing
[2:12:36] the practice and in the practice of
[2:12:38] medicine Buddha, we do mentally present
[2:12:40] different types of offerings and we
[2:12:42] sometimes place them symbolically on our
[2:12:44] altar and so forth. So we kind of do
[2:12:46] things like that which might seem purely
[2:12:49] religious but here it says but by making
[2:12:51] offerings and doing the practice it
[2:12:52] creates conditions for the negative
[2:12:54] karma that is perpetuating our illness
[2:12:56] to ripen in a much smaller way.
[2:12:59] Inspiration from medicine Buddha is
[2:13:01] actually inspiration from our own
[2:13:03] individual clear light minds. So the
[2:13:05] innermost subtlemost level of our own
[2:13:08] awareness that deep deeply hidden Buddha
[2:13:11] nature within us which is pure and uh
[2:13:15] according to some traditions that
[2:13:16] already fully possesses all the amazing
[2:13:18] qualities that's where that inspiration
[2:13:21] flows while we're working with this
[2:13:23] outer image of medicine Buddha from
[2:13:25] within our own being this stream of
[2:13:28] inspiration flows transforming the
[2:13:31] configuration of mental factors in our
[2:13:33] own mind and part of what's in our mind
[2:13:35] is our karma or the compulsive seeds the
[2:13:38] seeds of compulsions. So that gets
[2:13:41] rearranged changed shortened
[2:13:43] strengthened depending on what what is
[2:13:45] it that we're doing and that can
[2:13:47] contribute to the actual shift in our
[2:13:49] circumstances. Right? So uh inspiration
[2:13:54] for medicine Buddha is actually
[2:13:55] inspiration for our own individual clear
[2:13:57] light minds which helps to bring the
[2:13:58] deeper potentials to the surface to
[2:14:00] ripen. This inspiration is usually
[2:14:02] translated as blessing. Uh that's the
[2:14:05] very common translation Tibetan Buddhism
[2:14:07] to this day. Uh as in oh medicine Buddha
[2:14:10] bless me to get better. Essentially
[2:14:13] inspire me to get better. Right? Our
[2:14:14] strong motivation to be healed to be
[2:14:16] able to help everybody. Uh because we're
[2:14:18] daily doing these practices with that
[2:14:20] same motivation of bodhicitta. I will
[2:14:22] awaken to benefit all provides a
[2:14:24] circumstance for the negative karma
[2:14:26] within us to ripen in a much smaller way
[2:14:28] and for the positive karma to come up
[2:14:29] and ripen. The energy of inspiration
[2:14:32] from the individual clear light mind
[2:14:34] within us represented by medicine Buddha
[2:14:36] is what allows that whole process to
[2:14:38] happen. So all these figures, medicine,
[2:14:41] Buddha, Tara and so forth, they are in a
[2:14:44] way from a Buddhist point of view
[2:14:46] related to these beings that lived in
[2:14:49] other universes maybe in in other
[2:14:51] historical eras because those beings
[2:14:53] created the energetic pattern that we're
[2:14:55] now using. But when we connect to that
[2:14:58] energetic pattern, for example, to the
[2:15:00] form of medicine Buddha, to the mantra
[2:15:01] of medicine Buddha, it's not as if that
[2:15:04] individual enlightened being just
[2:15:06] individually comes to our aid. Yes, we
[2:15:09] are receiving inspiration from them by
[2:15:11] just thinking of their example. But the
[2:15:13] main transformative power according to
[2:15:16] this quote of Dr. Bersen comes from
[2:15:18] within our own very mind but not our
[2:15:21] course dualistic mind that we operate
[2:15:24] with on the level of right now. not this
[2:15:26] dualistic mind that thinks hey I'm
[2:15:27] lopsang tenpai you know I'm 37 and uh
[2:15:30] yeah I like cookies you know not this
[2:15:32] level and also usually it just thinks of
[2:15:35] its own dramas not of cookies not this
[2:15:37] level but the innermost level that's
[2:15:40] infinitely aware and luminous and bright
[2:15:43] and clear
[2:15:46] right so that's the overall logic of it
[2:15:48] and other Buddhist traditions even
[2:15:50] within Tibet itself would maybe use
[2:15:52] slightly different explanations of this
[2:15:54] whole process there are slightly
[2:15:55] different interpretations of how Buddha
[2:15:57] nature works and exists. Uh and there's
[2:16:00] of course always debate about the best
[2:16:03] ways to word it all. There are slightly
[2:16:06] different technologies when it comes to
[2:16:09] meditations on medicine, Buddha and so
[2:16:11] forth uh offered by different traditions
[2:16:13] and by different levels of practice. But
[2:16:15] the overall kind of key principle is
[2:16:18] captured beautifully here I think. And
[2:16:21] um one of the main things that have to
[2:16:23] do with medicine Buddha's origins as
[2:16:26] described in the two medicine Buddha
[2:16:28] sutras have to do with this beautiful
[2:16:30] concept of pranidhana or aspiration or
[2:16:33] vow.
[2:16:35] So here's the general meaning of this
[2:16:38] term pranidana that's the Sanskrit term
[2:16:40] obviously special vows generated by
[2:16:42] bodhic sattvas or we could say special
[2:16:44] aspirations generated by bodhic sattvas
[2:16:46] while they're still on the path and
[2:16:48] eventually perfected for these
[2:16:50] bodhicattvas to evolve quote unquote
[2:16:52] into Buddhas. So bodhic sattvas are
[2:16:54] beings who have generated genuinely
[2:16:57] bodhicitta this wish to become fully
[2:16:59] awakened and who they are also beings
[2:17:02] who have made certain or very
[2:17:05] considerable progress on that path.
[2:17:08] So they have been working on fully
[2:17:12] uncovering their amazing nature for
[2:17:14] quite a while many of them and they have
[2:17:16] generated this true intent to fully wake
[2:17:19] up and they have along with this
[2:17:22] trajectory that they're on generated
[2:17:24] certain but very powerful compared to
[2:17:26] our current level levels of wisdom and
[2:17:29] generosity and many of these other
[2:17:31] beautiful qualities. So because of that
[2:17:33] they are compared to us
[2:17:38] it's as if we are two-dimensional
[2:17:39] compared to them and they are
[2:17:41] three-dimensional except in our case I
[2:17:43] guess we're three-dimensional and there
[2:17:44] are multi-dimensional beings in terms of
[2:17:47] their awareness and how much they can
[2:17:50] perceive with just their mind in terms
[2:17:52] of their understanding of
[2:17:54] interdependence how much more deeply
[2:17:55] they see interdependent reality we could
[2:17:58] barely see connection between a simple
[2:18:00] cause and simple condition you
[2:18:02] You gossip about your co-workers, that's
[2:18:04] why they hate you. And we're like, what?
[2:18:07] How could that be? I don't understand.
[2:18:09] You know, we're shocked by these very
[2:18:11] simple causal sequences. If we pollute
[2:18:13] the environment for 40 plus years, it'll
[2:18:16] probably mess up the environmental
[2:18:18] systems, you know, and the environment
[2:18:19] again, we're like, what? What are you
[2:18:21] saying? Are you saying I'm, you know,
[2:18:23] it's like, come on, we can't even figure
[2:18:25] that out. But the bodhicattvas not have
[2:18:28] only figured that out. They have also
[2:18:30] understood the other two types of
[2:18:31] interdependence to such a degree where
[2:18:33] it's obvious to them. It's as obvious
[2:18:36] sometimes as our own palm is to us. We
[2:18:38] can look at the palm of our head and
[2:18:39] say, "Yeah, that's the palm of my hand."
[2:18:41] So that is obvious for us, you know, we
[2:18:42] don't have to be introduced to it and
[2:18:44] we're not shocked by it. I guess you
[2:18:47] could be under the influence of
[2:18:48] psychedelics and then you're like, "Wow,
[2:18:50] what is this?" You know, but pending
[2:18:51] that we're more or less okay with our
[2:18:53] hands being our hands. We figured we
[2:18:55] have figured that out. So the Buddhist
[2:18:56] out of us equally they understand
[2:18:58] interdependence and its flow on a very
[2:19:00] deep level not completely yet because
[2:19:02] that's the job of a Buddha but quite
[2:19:04] deeply and they have a very strong
[2:19:07] ability to affect the flow of
[2:19:08] interdependence. So as they're
[2:19:10] progressing towards full Buddhahood they
[2:19:13] generate these personalized and unique
[2:19:16] aspirations that will then um be their
[2:19:20] defining characteristics as Buddhists.
[2:19:23] So usually these are worded in the way
[2:19:25] if A is not true then I won't be then I
[2:19:30] want something something
[2:19:33] or it could be worded and that's how
[2:19:35] it's sometimes translated in the
[2:19:37] following way I won't get enlightened
[2:19:39] until I can make sure that something
[2:19:42] something something
[2:19:43] or another way to uh word it when I
[2:19:47] become enlightened it will only be
[2:19:50] because this and this and this is now
[2:19:52] True.
[2:19:54] So let's say I'll give a simple example
[2:19:56] of a pranidana. Let's say someone says
[2:19:59] when I become enlightened for any being
[2:20:02] that recalls my name, my name is a
[2:20:06] Buddha which by then I will be a Buddha
[2:20:09] 33 billion eons into the future. You
[2:20:11] know when for any being that recalls my
[2:20:14] name I will dispel their hopelessness
[2:20:17] and give them hope. So as soon as they
[2:20:20] hear my name they their hope will be
[2:20:22] born in their heart and they will no
[2:20:24] longer feel hopeless. That's a
[2:20:26] pranidana.
[2:20:27] And so each Buddha when they were bodhic
[2:20:30] sattvas they made a bunch of these vows
[2:20:32] or aspirations.
[2:20:34] It's not just the Buddhas that we hear
[2:20:36] about with regards to this. also bodhic
[2:20:38] sattvas and one particular powerful
[2:20:39] example is the bodhic sattva
[2:20:41] samandabadra
[2:20:42] whose aspirations are described in the
[2:20:45] power powerful and extremely popular
[2:20:47] text in the Tibetan tradition called the
[2:20:50] king of prayers. This text called the
[2:20:52] king of prayers um is basically a bunch
[2:20:56] of aspirations h and it comes from a
[2:20:59] sutra known as the avatam sutra. So this
[2:21:03] king of aspiration prayers expresses the
[2:21:06] aspirations of bisattva samanda badra
[2:21:08] personally prayer is al actually very
[2:21:10] often recited for the deceased but also
[2:21:12] for the sick for world peace for whatnot
[2:21:15] it's recited all the time probably the
[2:21:17] number one prayer in Tibetan Buddhism
[2:21:18] aspiration prayer that is so this prayer
[2:21:21] basically has is the words of samant
[2:21:24] himself from aatamsa sutra he's sharing
[2:21:27] his practice with a different character
[2:21:29] in the sutra and what he basically says
[2:21:32] is
[2:21:33] I'm I'm summarizing or simplifying it.
[2:21:35] Yes, all these Buddhas they have their
[2:21:37] individual aspirations. You know, some
[2:21:39] Buddhas have made four, some have made
[2:21:41] 12, four, eight, you know, any number.
[2:21:44] Uh Amitaba Buddha made 52 to create his
[2:21:46] pure land for beings to easily migrate
[2:21:49] to. But Samantha said, "Yeah, that's
[2:21:51] that's not enough for me. I'm going to
[2:21:53] fulfill the aspirations made by all the
[2:21:55] Buddhas. I'm going to take all the the
[2:21:58] aspirations that all the Buddhas of the
[2:22:00] past, present and future have made and
[2:22:02] I'm going to copy and paste them into my
[2:22:05] personal file of practice. So Sam Badra
[2:22:08] said yeah like why you make eight when
[2:22:10] you can have the infinity of all of them
[2:22:12] and make them part of your practice. So
[2:22:14] he's famous for that. He's seen as sort
[2:22:16] of the body sata of the greatest
[2:22:18] aspirations and practitioners recite
[2:22:20] this prayer to connect to all of those
[2:22:23] aspirations at the same time to connect
[2:22:24] to Sandabad's practice to be inspired by
[2:22:27] him sort of in this view of yeah why
[2:22:30] limit yourself to 52 even when you can
[2:22:32] put them all into your dharma body and
[2:22:35] embody them all when you get awakened.
[2:22:37] It's a very powerful way of practicing,
[2:22:40] very brave and um truly when people read
[2:22:42] this text, it stretches their mind very
[2:22:44] very strongly. Uh again, of course, to
[2:22:47] understand everything that's said in it,
[2:22:49] you need a commentary and you usually
[2:22:51] need some foundational grounding in
[2:22:53] Buddhist philosophy. But even if you
[2:22:56] don't understand many of of the things
[2:22:57] in it, if you're just reading it as a
[2:22:59] complete beginner, it does stretch the
[2:23:00] mind quite a lot. So, a very beautiful
[2:23:03] text. Again, I dropped the link to it in
[2:23:05] the chat. So um when we do uh medicine
[2:23:08] Buddha practice or Tara practice or
[2:23:10] anything similar uh we this is a summary
[2:23:13] from Tulando pimpache which we unpacked
[2:23:15] in greater detail in the Tara seminar.
[2:23:18] So you're welcome to revisit the
[2:23:19] recording of that. I'm going to drop
[2:23:21] that uh in the chat as well. Uh we use
[2:23:24] these uh four psychological tools.
[2:23:26] That's just to uh explain how it works
[2:23:30] psychologically for those who are new to
[2:23:31] these types of practices. So for the
[2:23:33] Tara talk, I dropped the link in the
[2:23:35] chat with the Tara resource page.
[2:23:37] There's our previous webinars on Tara. I
[2:23:39] think they're there as well as links in
[2:23:41] the video section. So four tools, pure
[2:23:43] images, meaning images that are
[2:23:45] associated with some positive symbolism
[2:23:48] like the image of medicine Buddha. But
[2:23:49] it could also be abstract like blue
[2:23:51] light, green light, light light of any
[2:23:53] color or uh you know uh a flotus flower
[2:23:58] that's pure imagery because lotus flower
[2:24:00] represents something. Usually in the
[2:24:01] Buddhist tradition, it represents
[2:24:03] renunciation. But there are more
[2:24:05] associations that could be brought in.
[2:24:07] And pure words, just words expressing
[2:24:09] positive qualities. It could just be the
[2:24:12] word compassion itself or the word love.
[2:24:14] But it could also be a mantra that
[2:24:16] expresses the qualities of compassion
[2:24:18] and love like Oman expresses wisdom and
[2:24:20] compassion at the same time. Or it could
[2:24:23] be a very elaborate text, a sutra, uh
[2:24:26] especially an elaborate sutra like
[2:24:27] avatam sutra which is a huge volume
[2:24:30] that's also an example of pure words.
[2:24:32] It's all a gigantic expression of um
[2:24:35] love and compassion and wisdom uh
[2:24:38] expressed in the form of this star wars
[2:24:40] like narrative that's there in the
[2:24:42] sutra. It's extremely elaborate in
[2:24:44] what's happening and intradimensional
[2:24:46] travel and bodhicattas performing their
[2:24:49] brave acts and you know so much
[2:24:51] happening there and finally pure
[2:24:53] feelings and trust. So pure feelings uh
[2:24:55] that means that when we're doing these
[2:24:57] types of practice like medicine, Buddha,
[2:24:58] Tara, any of that or something in which
[2:25:01] we involve imagery at all, we need to
[2:25:03] just not just visualize, not just recite
[2:25:05] words. We also need to generate feelings
[2:25:07] like warmth, openness,
[2:25:10] tenderness,
[2:25:12] inspiration. These are all feelings.
[2:25:14] They're not just words. They're not just
[2:25:16] images. They are experiences that have a
[2:25:18] preverbal nature in a way. And those
[2:25:21] need to be at play for these practices
[2:25:23] to be effective. But the final seal that
[2:25:27] needs to be present in the practice for
[2:25:28] it also to work is trust. We need to
[2:25:31] once we have done any of these practices
[2:25:33] including just reading the sutra and
[2:25:35] hoping that it would affect
[2:25:36] interdependence. We need to also say hey
[2:25:39] I've introduced new elements to this
[2:25:41] system of interdependence
[2:25:43] and for that reason it's interdependence
[2:25:45] is probably now transformed.
[2:25:48] So having at least a foundation level of
[2:25:50] this trust is seen as important and of
[2:25:53] course we know that trust is important.
[2:25:54] That's how placebo effect works and
[2:25:57] Buddhism loves placebo effect because
[2:26:00] yes place effect is just the power of
[2:26:02] our mind to believe something and make
[2:26:04] it real. Our clear light mind can
[2:26:06] manifest things quite literally uh in
[2:26:09] our body in our experience in our outer
[2:26:11] reality to a certain degree. So the same
[2:26:13] thing here is just we're putting this
[2:26:15] trust to use consciously instead of just
[2:26:18] hoping it would somehow magically occur.
[2:26:20] So these are the elements out of which
[2:26:22] medicine Buddha practice of any kind is
[2:26:23] born. We generate images, we recite the
[2:26:26] words, we generate feelings, maintain
[2:26:28] feelings, we bask in the feelings and
[2:26:31] there needs to be a certain degree of
[2:26:32] trust there for all of it to work. So
[2:26:34] again all the positive synchronicity
[2:26:36] stories that I've heard or witnessed
[2:26:38] personally had these elements involved.
[2:26:40] people were doing practices built of
[2:26:42] these elements and then something
[2:26:44] shifted in the flow of interdependence
[2:26:46] for them.
[2:26:48] Um actually one of the books uh on the
[2:26:50] medicine Buddha resource page um is a
[2:26:53] lovely book by Lamas Puche uh called
[2:26:55] ultimate healing. It just explores
[2:26:57] healing practices in Tibetan Buddhism in
[2:26:59] general. Again, not as a substitute for
[2:27:02] proper medical care but as sort of an
[2:27:04] assist um additional thing that we can
[2:27:07] add to the mix. And in that book because
[2:27:10] it was based on just a number of talks
[2:27:12] that Rimpichi gave I think in Australia
[2:27:14] not fully sure. Um and all those talks
[2:27:17] were later edited into a book. Um in
[2:27:20] that book he also tells stories of
[2:27:22] similar things that he has observed or
[2:27:24] that his students all over the world
[2:27:25] have observed. So again positive
[2:27:27] synchronicity based on these
[2:27:29] psychological tools that we employ.
[2:27:32] uh and uh two powerful elements that are
[2:27:34] employed psychological also there are
[2:27:37] the mental factor of faith that's the
[2:27:40] traditional translation for this Tibetan
[2:27:42] term depa but it could also be
[2:27:43] translated as trust or conviction and uh
[2:27:47] the mental factor of appreciation or
[2:27:49] devotion or mer in which we appreciate
[2:27:53] quite literally we have to turn it on in
[2:27:55] our mind we appreciate quality of
[2:27:57] compassion we appreciate the quality of
[2:27:58] wisdom we appreciate the system of
[2:28:00] practices because it's been preserved
[2:28:02] oberved and tested and tried and used
[2:28:04] for so many generations. We appreciate
[2:28:07] things like sutras or our teachers or
[2:28:09] our communities of practice and all
[2:28:11] that. And the more we're able to
[2:28:13] generate this appreciation, the stronger
[2:28:15] our own mind becomes in transforming
[2:28:18] reality. So these two factors that's the
[2:28:20] the bridge to the sutras. These two
[2:28:23] factors are for many people strengthened
[2:28:26] when we read things like the medicine
[2:28:29] Buddha sutras.
[2:28:31] Now that is conditional though because
[2:28:34] if we are completely new to Buddhism and
[2:28:37] all of these systems and we have not
[2:28:40] even heard the whole elaborate uh
[2:28:43] introduction that I've just given right
[2:28:45] we have not been introduced to any of it
[2:28:47] and we just open these sutras and
[2:28:48] there's also no one to clarify some
[2:28:51] points in them for us we might be more
[2:28:55] dismayed than inspired because these
[2:28:58] sutras are written in a language that's
[2:28:59] so wildly different from ours. You know,
[2:29:03] maybe in this day and age, we're more
[2:29:04] inspired by self-help books, right?
[2:29:06] Because self-help books speak to us in
[2:29:09] the language that we can understand. So,
[2:29:12] people pick up a book that talks about
[2:29:14] how to, you know, change your daily
[2:29:16] habits, build habits, remove habits,
[2:29:19] feel happier. And the book is written in
[2:29:22] modern English, modern Spanish, modern
[2:29:24] Portuguese. We read it and then we say,
[2:29:26] "Okay, I can relate to that. That's
[2:29:28] inspiring." There are actual stories
[2:29:30] here. The language is modern. Yeah. When
[2:29:32] we take medicine Buddha Sutra, either
[2:29:34] one of the two uh from the conger, we
[2:29:37] read it and the language is from 2,000
[2:29:40] years ago at least. And there are many
[2:29:43] references that we don't understand many
[2:29:44] terms, technical terms, technical
[2:29:46] psychological terms that we have never
[2:29:48] been introduced to. And there are also
[2:29:50] some weird things for example and this
[2:29:53] is the thing that I did want to uh
[2:29:54] mention in advance uh because sort of
[2:29:57] the idea with this webinar is that I'm
[2:29:59] not going to read the sutras in full
[2:30:01] here. There's not enough time and also I
[2:30:03] certainly don't possess enough knowledge
[2:30:05] to comment on every point but the idea
[2:30:06] is that I'm going to sort of advertise
[2:30:09] them uh and uh contextualize them and
[2:30:12] then some people might if they wish to
[2:30:14] read the sutras because they're now
[2:30:15] available in English. But what might
[2:30:17] happen is that you open the sutras, you
[2:30:19] start reading them and you see for
[2:30:21] example that when uh the Buddha
[2:30:23] describes the pure land of each and
[2:30:25] every of these seven medicine Buddha uh
[2:30:28] Buddhas he says that in all of them
[2:30:31] there's no female gender. So he says
[2:30:34] this Buddha lives in this pure land blah
[2:30:35] blah blah it looks like this it has
[2:30:37] these qualities this is what happens to
[2:30:38] the beings there and amongst other
[2:30:40] things there's no female gender there.
[2:30:43] So maybe once we hear that, okay, weird.
[2:30:45] Then second time, even weirder. Third
[2:30:47] time, okay, it's getting weirder and
[2:30:49] weirder and then it just sounds like
[2:30:51] it's a like a big sausage party. You
[2:30:52] know, there's no women, no female gender
[2:30:54] in any of these pure lands. What does it
[2:30:56] mean? It's all boys. So it's like a what
[2:31:00] what's happening there? The actual
[2:31:02] meaning is that the beings that are born
[2:31:05] there are genderless bad beings that uh
[2:31:09] migrate to these pure lands to study
[2:31:11] under these Buddhists. They don't have a
[2:31:12] gender. That's the actual meaning of it.
[2:31:15] Because if you don't have female gender,
[2:31:16] you also don't have male gender. You
[2:31:18] know, our our current gender dynamics,
[2:31:22] binary or non-binary, develop within the
[2:31:24] context of this planet. What the Buddha
[2:31:25] is saying is that beings in those pure
[2:31:27] lands, they're just beings of light and
[2:31:30] their job is to study under these
[2:31:31] Buddhas and practice. So there's no
[2:31:33] gender there, but it's worded in a way
[2:31:35] that's archaic. So with we kind of
[2:31:37] misunderstand that point and we might
[2:31:39] feel weird about it. Uh yeah, so I just
[2:31:42] wanted to mention that and give that as
[2:31:44] an example of how contextualizing these
[2:31:46] teachings over time is also an important
[2:31:49] thing to over uh undertake. And so if
[2:31:52] there is a point when we read the sutras
[2:31:53] that we don't understand and it's kind
[2:31:55] of confusing to us, it's totally fine to
[2:31:57] be confused and to mentally market for
[2:31:59] ourselves or physically market for
[2:32:01] ourselves for later. And then when we do
[2:32:03] have access to someone who might know
[2:32:06] what's going on, especially an actually
[2:32:08] capital T teacher, a qualified teacher,
[2:32:10] a kempo, a llama, someone who's really
[2:32:13] wellstied, we can ask them, hey, what
[2:32:15] what's going on here? What does this
[2:32:17] statement mean? Or what does this
[2:32:18] particular quality refer to? And of
[2:32:20] course we can also use resources like
[2:32:22] study Buddhism and many other sources of
[2:32:24] information. But let's look at the
[2:32:27] sutras briefly you know. So um uh before
[2:32:31] that a brief quote from lamatupteshi the
[2:32:33] one of the main teachers of llama
[2:32:36] because he kind of summarizes what's
[2:32:37] what's described in the medicine Buddha
[2:32:39] sutras. How did the medicine Buddha
[2:32:41] become so special having this energy to
[2:32:43] heal disease and so forth. The medicine
[2:32:45] Buddha was once a sensient being like
[2:32:47] us. So living in a galaxy far far away
[2:32:50] uh in a different cosmic era. Uh again
[2:32:53] Buddhism describes multiple universes
[2:32:55] that coexist uh thousands billions of
[2:32:58] universes that coexist and that go
[2:33:00] through their own stages of develop
[2:33:02] development existence and dissolution
[2:33:04] asynchronously.
[2:33:06] So our universe is still in the period
[2:33:08] of expansion it said um but some
[2:33:11] universes are currently collapsing uh I
[2:33:14] guess back into singularity or whatever
[2:33:16] and then some universes are currently
[2:33:17] abiding. So there's you know all sorts
[2:33:20] of stuff happening to these multiple
[2:33:22] universes for Buddhism. There's nothing
[2:33:24] particularly challenging about that idea
[2:33:26] of the multiverse or the omniverse. And
[2:33:29] so medicine Buddha was a sensient being
[2:33:31] that lived in a different era in a
[2:33:32] different universe. He was not special
[2:33:34] initially but at a certain point he woke
[2:33:36] up and saw all living beings filled with
[2:33:38] disease, misconceptions, karma, demons
[2:33:40] and so forth on this earth. How many
[2:33:42] sensient beings have sicknesses or
[2:33:44] disease? Now in our 20th centur she's
[2:33:47] speaking in the 20th century here. Now
[2:33:48] in our 20th century cancer is
[2:33:50] everywhere. It is the century's worst
[2:33:52] disease. Also how many people's minds
[2:33:55] are sick occupied by spirits or demons.
[2:33:57] So from Buddhist point of view,
[2:33:58] sometimes when someone has a very strong
[2:34:00] mental illness, it would be described as
[2:34:02] being the influence of other sensient
[2:34:04] beings who can temporarily link
[2:34:07] themselves with a particular human
[2:34:08] consciousness and affect it. Then of
[2:34:10] course there is the demon of our ego
[2:34:12] which creates great suffering shaking
[2:34:14] our minds. Seeing all this, his
[2:34:16] bodhicitta attitude grew and became
[2:34:18] great healing for all these universal
[2:34:20] living beings. As a bodhic sattva, he
[2:34:22] prayed with great determination to be
[2:34:24] successful in helping sensient beings.
[2:34:26] He was very determined which is why he
[2:34:28] became a great healer. So what is
[2:34:30] medicine Buddha? Medicine Buddha is this
[2:34:32] attitude bodhicitta is the fully
[2:34:35] developed consciousness energy of wisdom
[2:34:37] compassion manifesting as blue radiating
[2:34:39] light. Lame really had this unique way
[2:34:43] of exploring this context in what for
[2:34:46] his listeners was essentially broken
[2:34:47] English. But he used his very peculiar
[2:34:50] English to narrate some of these
[2:34:53] foundational concepts in a very
[2:34:54] straightforward way where it was really
[2:34:56] hitting his listeners very powerfully
[2:34:58] and narrating to them or communicating
[2:35:01] to them what's actually meant um
[2:35:04] directly in sort of psychological terms
[2:35:07] that are not at the same time minimizing
[2:35:10] the power of these practices in any way
[2:35:12] whatsoever. So there are four primary
[2:35:14] texts associated with medicine Buddha in
[2:35:16] the congur. They have all been
[2:35:17] translated by project 84,000 and they
[2:35:20] are all linked on that resource page.
[2:35:22] Two of these texts are ddarani. So you
[2:35:24] could say essentially mantras. So they
[2:35:26] are secondary in nature. And two of
[2:35:28] these are the actual medicine Buddha
[2:35:30] sutras. And again the medicine Buddha
[2:35:33] sutra which is the second one is
[2:35:35] essentially the second half of the first
[2:35:38] sutra. So it's kind of duplicating,
[2:35:40] right? You can just read the medicine
[2:35:41] Buddha sutra itself that just talks
[2:35:43] about the medicine Buddha himself alone.
[2:35:45] Or if you read the first sutra, the
[2:35:47] sutra of the seven tatagatas, it
[2:35:49] includes the medicine Buddha sutra, but
[2:35:51] it also covers the aspirations of the
[2:35:53] other six healing Buddhas. Uh
[2:35:56] essentially going through their names,
[2:35:59] their panidas, their bodhicattva
[2:36:01] aspirations, the aspirations that they
[2:36:03] generated when they were bodhicattvas
[2:36:05] and also going through um yeah um the
[2:36:09] qualities of their pure lanza and so
[2:36:11] forth. Also in that sutra other beings I
[2:36:14] mentioned like bodhic sattvas that
[2:36:16] supported the process of transmission
[2:36:17] and uh the worldly protectors that then
[2:36:19] pledged their commitment to medicine
[2:36:22] Buddha practitioners of the past saying
[2:36:23] I will follow and support these guys in
[2:36:26] the future who will meditate in medicine
[2:36:27] Buddha. So that's how the medicine
[2:36:29] Buddha mandala arises sort of this uh
[2:36:33] archetypal palatial um um configuration
[2:36:38] of deities and enlightened forms that um
[2:36:41] is used in advanced medicine Buddha
[2:36:43] meditations, Buddhas practices and so
[2:36:46] forth. This is a palace with a certain
[2:36:48] number of enlightened beings. We
[2:36:49] meditate on them to activate certain
[2:36:51] aspects of our mind and all the beings
[2:36:52] that are meditated on in the medicine
[2:36:55] Buddha Mandala are mentioned in the
[2:36:57] sutras. very key players in the sutra.
[2:36:59] That's how it arose. So for that reason,
[2:37:01] for anyone who's doing medicine Buddha
[2:37:03] practice seriously, it's very good to
[2:37:04] read the sutra and to read it again and
[2:37:06] again potentially because if that's your
[2:37:08] main practice or an important practice
[2:37:10] for you, that's how you familiarize
[2:37:11] yourself with all of these beings and
[2:37:13] their qualities. But for even for people
[2:37:16] who are not necessarily go going to
[2:37:19] meditate on medicine Buddha or at least
[2:37:21] yet reading about these pranidhanas
[2:37:23] these aspirations or vows of the Buddhas
[2:37:26] of the seven healing Buddhas I think
[2:37:28] could be a very helpful exercise in
[2:37:30] stretching the mind. So there are seven
[2:37:32] medicine Buddhists. They're listed uh in
[2:37:35] the translation of the sutra under their
[2:37:37] Sanskrit names, but they also um have an
[2:37:41] English name, I guess, because that um
[2:37:43] in the we don't have the Sanskrit
[2:37:45] version of the sutra anymore. So when we
[2:37:48] have the Chinese and the Tibetan
[2:37:50] translations and uh the project 84,000
[2:37:53] when they were translating sutra they
[2:37:55] had to re-ransate the names back from
[2:37:57] Tibetan into Sanskrit
[2:37:59] because just sutras should have Sanskrit
[2:38:01] names generally speaking. The problem
[2:38:04] with that is that it's slightly
[2:38:08] again theoretical in that you translate
[2:38:11] it back from Tibet into Sanskrit you
[2:38:13] maybe are 80% right but there's always a
[2:38:15] chance that it was something else in
[2:38:16] Sanskrit. Sanskrit has many uh words for
[2:38:19] the same thing. So um for this reason
[2:38:22] I'm here also quoting their names and
[2:38:24] again I will link the uh slide uh slides
[2:38:27] on the research page as well. So you're
[2:38:29] very free uh you're very welcome to use
[2:38:31] them. Um here I also quote the English
[2:38:34] names translated from Tibetan and in
[2:38:37] this case I'm using Lamopache's personal
[2:38:39] translation which I think is very good.
[2:38:41] So the first one of these for example is
[2:38:42] the renowned glorious king of excellent
[2:38:44] science. He generated eight aspirations
[2:38:47] and here I highlight one of them as an
[2:38:49] example. In the future when I have
[2:38:51] become a perfect Buddha who has realized
[2:38:52] unsurpassed and perfect awakening. May
[2:38:54] my power cause any beings who fight,
[2:38:57] quarrel, argue and dispute with one
[2:38:59] another and who are terrified and
[2:39:00] anxious who seize all fighting,
[2:39:02] quarreling, arguing and disputing one
[2:39:04] another and be loving toward one another
[2:39:06] for as long as it takes them to attain
[2:39:08] awakening when they bear my name in mind
[2:39:10] and mentally recite my name seven times.
[2:39:12] This is just one of the aids that he
[2:39:14] generated. So how can we do work with
[2:39:16] this? We put it we project it towards
[2:39:19] ourselves. We think what would it be
[2:39:22] like if I could experience this wave of
[2:39:25] enlightening influence from the Buddha
[2:39:28] from this particular Buddha. And this
[2:39:30] Buddha says that if we recite his name
[2:39:32] which is done in medicine Buddha
[2:39:33] practices we wouldn't experience this
[2:39:36] influence at least over time. That's
[2:39:38] also a side note. his wholeness the dal
[2:39:40] lama in uh his very important book
[2:39:43] called um approaching the Buddhist path
[2:39:47] co-written by ven with venerable tukan
[2:39:49] children um explains some of these
[2:39:53] passages from sutras and he says we
[2:39:56] shouldn't necessarily think that you
[2:39:57] just recite the name or a mantra one
[2:39:59] time and bam it magically happens and
[2:40:02] that's how for example you've purified
[2:40:04] all of your karma sometimes they make
[2:40:05] statements like that in the sutras they
[2:40:07] say if you recite this all of your bad
[2:40:09] karma will be gone We shouldn't he says
[2:40:11] his holiness says think that will happen
[2:40:14] immediately rather it's again an
[2:40:16] interdependent process. It means if you
[2:40:18] do this it'll plant a tiny seed that
[2:40:21] will keep growing and growing and
[2:40:22] growing and you will be doing this and
[2:40:24] this and the other thing all as the
[2:40:25] result of that tiny seed and over time
[2:40:28] that big result that is promised will
[2:40:29] occur. That's how interdependence works.
[2:40:31] You plant a seed and over time it
[2:40:33] unfolds and grows and then it becomes a
[2:40:35] giant tree. You don't plant a seed and
[2:40:37] immediately get the big tree. So here
[2:40:40] let's imagine that this tiny seed has
[2:40:42] entered our mind and our own mental
[2:40:46] states associated with quarreling,
[2:40:48] arguing, disputing just the big
[2:40:51] conflictive energy within us slowly
[2:40:54] slowly starts to dissipate
[2:40:57] and we are also even able to bring the
[2:41:00] same enlightening influence to others.
[2:41:02] What would it be like to have that
[2:41:04] peaceful presence that when we are in
[2:41:06] the room because we are let's say a
[2:41:09] practitioner of medicine Buddha who's
[2:41:10] really deeply integrated this practice
[2:41:12] into our being we we are in the room and
[2:41:14] beings feel less conflictive because of
[2:41:17] that they feel more at peace with
[2:41:19] themselves and with others so we do a
[2:41:22] similar type of mental exercise we can
[2:41:24] do a similar type of mental exercise
[2:41:26] with all of the eight great aspirations
[2:41:28] of this first Buddha when we read about
[2:41:30] them and when we do medicine Buddha
[2:41:32] practices that are more ceremonial or
[2:41:35] ritual-like in nature. We use the four
[2:41:38] tools that were listed above, pure pure
[2:41:40] images and so forth. And amongst other
[2:41:42] things, we recite the names of the
[2:41:43] Buddhas because that's what the Buddhist
[2:41:45] says, these Buddhists say we could do to
[2:41:48] invoke their sort of energetic signature
[2:41:51] to bring it into our field of being. And
[2:41:54] then we allow it to brew in our field of
[2:41:57] being until it becomes our lived reality
[2:41:59] where for example these propensities
[2:42:02] towards quirreling have been somewhat
[2:42:04] diminished and then more and then more
[2:42:06] and then more.
[2:42:08] And the same is true of all the other
[2:42:10] aspir other aspirations and the other
[2:42:11] Buddhas. So we would recite the name of
[2:42:13] this Buddha and if we have the time also
[2:42:16] recall his aspirations and wish may they
[2:42:18] come true for me. That's actually what's
[2:42:20] said in the medicine Buddha pujas often
[2:42:22] after you've worked with the name of the
[2:42:24] Buddha or made mental offerings to him
[2:42:26] and so forth. You you then say uh for
[2:42:29] example in the medicine Buddha puja that
[2:42:31] was written by the first punchin llama
[2:42:33] it says that may your vows your
[2:42:35] pranidanas come true for me and all
[2:42:38] sensient beings meaning may this
[2:42:40] enlightening influence be applied to me
[2:42:43] and then how do we see it well we have
[2:42:45] options here we can think that it
[2:42:47] actually streams towards us from this
[2:42:49] Buddha who is now a field of boundless
[2:42:51] enlightened energy uh no one's saying
[2:42:54] that that's not happening but if we are
[2:42:56] more of a little doubtful about the
[2:42:59] possibility of that. Again, we can go
[2:43:01] back to the quote by Dr. Bersen and
[2:43:03] think well this these types of influence
[2:43:04] are now flowing from within my own uh
[2:43:07] clear light mind deep within me and yes
[2:43:11] they are flowing towards me because this
[2:43:12] Buddha established this sort of
[2:43:14] patterning of practice for me but
[2:43:17] regardless it's just flowing and I can
[2:43:19] experience it and I can live it. That's
[2:43:21] what's amazing and there have been many
[2:43:23] practitioners over the generations who
[2:43:25] have used this effect and this kind of
[2:43:27] technology this contemplative
[2:43:28] technology. The the second Buddha also
[2:43:31] made eight great aspirations. For
[2:43:32] example, may my power cause any beings
[2:43:35] who are threatened by death, enemies and
[2:43:37] the wilderness whose parents, sisters,
[2:43:39] friends and kin each also experienced
[2:43:41] mental anguish and whose bodies are
[2:43:42] pierced by the thorn of suffering and
[2:43:44] mental anguish to hear my name. when
[2:43:46] they hear and recite my name and all
[2:43:47] threats related to death, enemies and
[2:43:49] the wilderness be pacified. So
[2:43:51] essentially safety for those who are in
[2:43:53] danger. Just one of the eight types of
[2:43:56] interdependence that he wanted to
[2:43:58] establish. Then you have a sequence of
[2:44:01] Buddhists who have all made four
[2:44:02] aspirations. One of them also taught
[2:44:05] Dani mantra, a special mantra that can
[2:44:07] be recited for strengthening some of
[2:44:09] these types of interdependence.
[2:44:11] And because there's not that much time,
[2:44:13] I'm not going to read out all of them.
[2:44:15] But that is what you will read about if
[2:44:17] you do wish to do that in the sutra of
[2:44:19] the seven tatagatas. You will find the
[2:44:22] descriptions of all of their
[2:44:23] aspirations. And again, one thing I
[2:44:24] recommend is trying them on these
[2:44:27] aspirations both as sort of as a client
[2:44:29] or a patient or and as a bodhicatt who
[2:44:33] could make similar aspirations. So what
[2:44:35] would it be like to wish truly may I
[2:44:38] become a source of safety for all beings
[2:44:40] or help them create the flow of
[2:44:42] interdependence that brings them
[2:44:43] prosperity? Sometimes that's the case.
[2:44:46] Uh or help them find freedom from
[2:44:48] persecution. Sometimes that's what's
[2:44:49] emphasized. So all these aspirations are
[2:44:51] essentially circling around this idea of
[2:44:54] social and mental, physical,
[2:44:56] financial, all sorts of health. You
[2:44:58] know, all the different types of health
[2:45:00] and well-being. That's the core concept.
[2:45:02] But health is a complex is complex
[2:45:05] issue. So many things have to come
[2:45:07] together. So these Buddhas are
[2:45:08] essentially making a big circle around
[2:45:10] the concept of health and they're
[2:45:12] providing an uh inroad into it from many
[2:45:16] different points of view helping us also
[2:45:18] appreciate how many things have to go
[2:45:20] into us being healthy collectively and
[2:45:23] individually. So you have these uh
[2:45:26] Buddhas with four aspirations. This one
[2:45:28] in particular, supreme glory free from
[2:45:29] sorrow uh or ashoto kamashri is
[2:45:33] sometimes it's said that if you are
[2:45:35] depressed it's good to recite his name
[2:45:37] because he's free from sorrow and
[2:45:39] obviously when we are depressed we are
[2:45:41] kind of feeling burdened down feeling
[2:45:43] burdened down by sorrow. So there seems
[2:45:46] to be a sort of a connection between him
[2:45:49] and this idea of lifting up our mind and
[2:45:51] that's expressed in his aspiration after
[2:45:54] they hear and think about my name my
[2:45:56] paracquell of their mental anguish
[2:45:57] suffering and happiness and conflict.
[2:46:00] Again I'm not saying hey there's this
[2:46:02] controlled group research peer-reviewed
[2:46:05] research on how people were reciting the
[2:46:07] name of this Buddha and that's how they
[2:46:09] overcame their depression. Now let's
[2:46:11] replicate this across mental
[2:46:13] institutions and therapy rooms all
[2:46:16] across the continent. No, that's not
[2:46:18] what's said. But historically, people
[2:46:21] have found inspiration in these
[2:46:23] aspirations and in this Buddha and the
[2:46:26] seven medicine Buddhas together. Then
[2:46:29] you have another one, melodious ocean of
[2:46:31] proclaimed dharma and delightful king of
[2:46:33] clear knowing, supreme wisdom of ocean
[2:46:34] dharma. All of them have their own
[2:46:36] aspirations. Very interesting. And then
[2:46:38] finally you reach the main one, the blue
[2:46:40] one, medicine guru, king of lapis light,
[2:46:42] the one who also has his own sutra which
[2:46:44] largely replicates the second half of
[2:46:46] this sutra that we're looking at. And he
[2:46:49] made 12 great aspirations.
[2:46:51] That's I guess why he's the boss of the
[2:46:54] group. He made more aspirations than the
[2:46:56] others. They are all really
[2:46:58] transformative and powerful and very
[2:47:00] elaborate. Amongst other things, there
[2:47:01] is an aspiration number eight that I
[2:47:03] wanted to briefly touch on because
[2:47:05] that's the one that might cause
[2:47:06] confusion and um again be misunderstood
[2:47:10] and I would like to just contextualize
[2:47:12] that. So his vow number eight in the
[2:47:14] sutra reads as this. May any women who
[2:47:17] are afflicted by the hundreds of
[2:47:18] disadvantages of being a woman, which of
[2:47:21] course social persecution and
[2:47:22] misogynistic society uh who dislike
[2:47:25] being of the female gender and who want
[2:47:27] to be free from the condition of being a
[2:47:28] woman, leave behind their female gender
[2:47:30] and be born as a man for as long as it
[2:47:32] takes them to attain awakening. So
[2:47:34] again,
[2:47:36] you know, if you read it and kind of it
[2:47:39] rubs you the wrong way, that's
[2:47:41] absolutely valid, I should say. But we
[2:47:43] should uh understand that again there's
[2:47:46] contextual layer of translation here
[2:47:48] that's necessary. So one of the
[2:47:51] resources that I linked on the medicine
[2:47:53] Buddha resource page is this amazing
[2:47:56] teaching on these 12 vows by two the
[2:47:58] great masters ningma masters of our time
[2:48:01] paler and dong. So it's linked there in
[2:48:05] the additional resources on that page.
[2:48:07] And when they explain this eighth
[2:48:10] precept or the eighth vow, they
[2:48:12] translate it, they explain it as this.
[2:48:14] They summarize it as this. May those who
[2:48:17] wish to change gender have that wish be
[2:48:20] fulfilled. May their choice lead
[2:48:21] directly to enlightenment. If this does
[2:48:23] not come to pass, may I not reach
[2:48:25] enlightenment. So historically the
[2:48:28] medicine Buddha was talking about a
[2:48:30] situation in which women did not have
[2:48:31] the freedom amongst other things to
[2:48:33] practice the dharma or to own property
[2:48:35] or what not. So because they were
[2:48:37] oppressed by that maybe they wanted to
[2:48:40] be be reborn as men. Not all of them.
[2:48:42] I'm not saying all of them but the
[2:48:43] medicine Buddha said hey I will help
[2:48:45] with that. Essentially we're living in
[2:48:47] sort of different times in some regions
[2:48:49] on this planet. Not everywhere. You know
[2:48:50] it's very complex and in no way would
[2:48:53] anyone claim there's true you know
[2:48:55] parity reached in any way whatsoever but
[2:48:58] what is essentially the meaning of this
[2:49:00] precept that's according to the Kenbo
[2:49:02] brothers who are very traditional
[2:49:03] Tibetan teachers themselves very old
[2:49:06] school according to them with the
[2:49:07] medicine Buddhist saying he will aid
[2:49:09] people who want to change their gender
[2:49:11] for whatever reason and may that lead
[2:49:12] them to enlightenment so uh this is kind
[2:49:15] of the only tricky one because all the
[2:49:17] other ones in this list they're mostly
[2:49:19] straightforward they're related to uh
[2:49:22] fixing our behavior, seeing our
[2:49:24] afflictions, helping us with our
[2:49:25] physical health, mental health, helping
[2:49:27] us with persecution if we are in danger
[2:49:30] of being persecuted by their king. As it
[2:49:32] says here, may the power of my marriage
[2:49:33] free from all manner or fare beings who
[2:49:35] are terrified because they fear their
[2:49:37] king. Well, how often does that happen?
[2:49:39] Well, all the time. We just don't call
[2:49:41] them kings anymore. We call them crazy
[2:49:43] heads of state who are actually
[2:49:45] endangering us in all sorts of ways.
[2:49:47] Well, medicine Buddha is here to help us
[2:49:49] with fixing the interdependence of that.
[2:49:52] If there was enough people meditating on
[2:49:53] bodhicitta and activating these types of
[2:49:55] compassion and wisdom within them, the
[2:49:57] whole system would shift. That's the
[2:49:59] Buddhist view once again. So, similar
[2:50:01] things, food, Buddha med medicine
[2:50:03] Buddhists here emphasizing the
[2:50:05] importance of food. And here's my
[2:50:07] favorite one. Um, may I provide those
[2:50:09] sensient beings who are naked, who have
[2:50:10] no clothes, are poor, suffering, who are
[2:50:12] miserable day and night due to cold
[2:50:13] heat, flies, and biting insects with
[2:50:15] clothes that may I provide them with
[2:50:17] what? With clothes that suit their needs
[2:50:19] and are dyed and bright colors. May I
[2:50:22] fulfill all the wishes of beings with
[2:50:23] whatever types of jewelry, ornaments,
[2:50:25] garlands, perfumes, ointments, music
[2:50:26] instruments, and drums they desire. So,
[2:50:29] medicine Buddha is saying, "Hey,
[2:50:30] hideonic well-being is also important.
[2:50:32] If you want to practice, you can't just
[2:50:34] be naked and hungry and you know bitten
[2:50:37] by insects and not have any food and
[2:50:40] other people are just oh you're not
[2:50:42] spiritual enough you should meditate it
[2:50:43] all away and then that's you should be
[2:50:45] enlightened. You shouldn't want for food
[2:50:47] or jewelry. No medicine Buddh is saying
[2:50:48] I will provide you guys with drums and
[2:50:51] instruments and perfumes and whatever
[2:50:52] else you need to just feel that basic
[2:50:55] level of hedonic well-being that can
[2:50:56] then evolve into you also working
[2:50:59] actively on your enlightenment. So a
[2:51:01] very balanced presentation overall I
[2:51:03] would say. So something that we can read
[2:51:05] again the sutras are linked in their
[2:51:07] resource page. After he teaches these
[2:51:10] branidanas or these aspirations he also
[2:51:12] talks about how um there are many other
[2:51:15] benefits to doing the medicine Buddha
[2:51:17] practice. And again now we have many
[2:51:18] different versions of it some of the
[2:51:20] guided meditations of that on that are
[2:51:22] linked in the uh resource page. And I
[2:51:25] wish we like I was hoping we would have
[2:51:27] more time to also meditate in medicine
[2:51:29] Buddha himself unfortunately so much
[2:51:32] material there to cover which we
[2:51:34] successfully got through but that
[2:51:35] doesn't leave us with extra time for
[2:51:37] meditation but there are three guided
[2:51:39] meditations linked on the page below uh
[2:51:41] page above and then after that the these
[2:51:45] worldly forces known as the 12 yakas the
[2:51:47] four directional kings and vajraani they
[2:51:50] again pledge their invisible assistance
[2:51:52] to those who will be practicing with
[2:51:54] these texts. Again, just like in that
[2:51:56] quote from Dian Wayne where uh the main
[2:51:58] character is invoking the invisible
[2:52:01] positivity that's hidden in visible and
[2:52:04] invisible realities so that matter
[2:52:06] amongst other things can be balanced and
[2:52:08] protected. The same thing here we don't
[2:52:10] have to believe in it. That's what's
[2:52:12] said in the text. We can take it as we
[2:52:14] wish to. And uh that kind of concludes
[2:52:17] the medicine Buddha sutra. The main main
[2:52:19] part of it is this description of the
[2:52:21] pranidas, the aspirations or the vows
[2:52:23] which we can try on and play with and
[2:52:26] meditate on. But it also says you can
[2:52:29] actually do the medicine Buddha practice
[2:52:31] itself, not just think of these brandas.
[2:52:33] You can imagine medicine Buddha recite
[2:52:34] his mantras and so forth and that will
[2:52:37] over time give you access to all these
[2:52:39] patternings patterns of interdependence
[2:52:42] that can affect your life for the better
[2:52:43] and affect the lives of communities that
[2:52:45] you're a part of and so forth. that has
[2:52:47] been the working hypothesis for those
[2:52:49] who have been reciting the sutra and
[2:52:50] doing these types of practices. So we
[2:52:53] are welcome to try as well and
[2:52:55] experiment with it. I have had a lot of
[2:52:57] positive experience with this practice
[2:52:59] at least with regards to its effect on
[2:53:00] my mind and through that also on my
[2:53:02] body. Uh but I'm in no way saying that
[2:53:04] everyone should be doing it but I wanted
[2:53:06] to present it as sort of a thing that
[2:53:08] has been an important part of the
[2:53:11] Himalayan Buddhist culture. And finally,
[2:53:14] so this is the general idea. We can find
[2:53:16] inspiration for our bodhic sattva path
[2:53:18] by just reading these pranitanas and
[2:53:20] contemplating them. We can shift our
[2:53:23] vision of reality overall. Hey, we see
[2:53:25] reality as this living organism of
[2:53:27] interdependence, not just a fixed
[2:53:30] combination of material elements that
[2:53:33] are strangely interacting with each
[2:53:35] other and there's no consciousness in it
[2:53:37] at all. No, it's an alive system imbued
[2:53:40] with consciousness and carriers of
[2:53:42] consciousness, sensient beings all over.
[2:53:45] And finally, all of that can prepare us
[2:53:46] better for practicing the methods of
[2:53:48] medicine Buddha because for many
[2:53:49] decades, people have been doing medicine
[2:53:51] Buddha meditations without actually
[2:53:53] having access to the sutras because the
[2:53:54] Tibetan sutras were not translated. The
[2:53:56] Chinese versions have been translated in
[2:53:58] English long time ago, but the Tibetan
[2:54:00] ones were not, not so much. And now we
[2:54:02] have access to them. So we can inform
[2:54:04] our practice more by reading them. So
[2:54:08] Lamopra Pach whom I'm quoted a lot today
[2:54:11] used to say that it's actually very
[2:54:12] important to recite the names of the
[2:54:14] seven medicine Buddhists to invoke those
[2:54:16] types of interdependence into our being.
[2:54:19] And then he says after reciting the
[2:54:20] names say whatever prayer done in the
[2:54:22] past may it be actualized to me in all
[2:54:23] sensient beings. And by that he means
[2:54:25] the prayers of these Buddhas. And then
[2:54:27] we can also make special prayers to find
[2:54:28] the most beneficial job situation or
[2:54:30] wealth. So that that's sort of what he's
[2:54:32] suggesting. Um I'm in no way qualified
[2:54:36] enough to offer advice on practicing
[2:54:38] this, but that's what one of the
[2:54:40] greatest masters of our time has
[2:54:42] suggested and we again can explore it
[2:54:44] for ourselves if we wish. And um a
[2:54:47] simpler way to practice this and that's
[2:54:49] my final note here in addition to doing
[2:54:51] the medicine Buddha meditations is to
[2:54:53] combine all of these aspirations into
[2:54:55] just one big one. And that's sort of our
[2:54:58] dedication of energy for today. Garin
[2:55:00] Rimpache who's again one of the greatest
[2:55:02] yogis of our time many people are
[2:55:04] familiar with his teachings maybe you
[2:55:06] have seen the documentary about him uh
[2:55:08] for the benefit of all beings I very
[2:55:10] much recommend it um just going to drop
[2:55:13] it in the chat the name of the chat it's
[2:55:15] freely available I think on YouTube
[2:55:16] these days on Vimeo for the benefit of
[2:55:19] all beings
[2:55:21] Garchin Rimpache um so Garchin Rimpache
[2:55:24] was one of the greatest living yogis of
[2:55:25] our time uh when the pandemic happened
[2:55:28] uh when the pandemic started invited all
[2:55:30] of his students and just Buddhist
[2:55:31] practitioners across the world to recite
[2:55:33] this verse of Shanti Deva as sort of a
[2:55:36] mantra but also as a powerful aspiration
[2:55:38] for the healing of the world. He says
[2:55:41] when we pray for the world to be
[2:55:43] transformed into something better our
[2:55:45] own mind becomes better which is of
[2:55:48] course an obvious feedback loop. If you
[2:55:49] want the world to be peaceful your own
[2:55:51] mind becomes more committed to peace.
[2:55:53] That's fairly straightforward. So here
[2:55:55] with the pandemic and all of that he was
[2:55:57] inviting people to recite this verse of
[2:55:58] Shanti Deva and I think he's still doing
[2:56:00] that and on his website actually on the
[2:56:02] Garchin Institute website um there have
[2:56:05] a counter where people are welcome to
[2:56:07] add their recitations of this verse done
[2:56:10] in the spirit of powerfully again
[2:56:12] introducing this stream of
[2:56:14] interdependence into the global
[2:56:15] interdependence and uh it's a very
[2:56:17] simple prayer from Shanti Deva uh which
[2:56:20] I truly love so that's how I would like
[2:56:22] to dedicate our time together May every
[2:56:25] being ailing with disease be freed at
[2:56:27] once from every malady. May all the
[2:56:29] sickness that affects the living be
[2:56:31] instantly and permanently healed.
[2:56:36] Yeah. So debows to all of you from my
[2:56:39] side. Um sometimes people leave these
[2:56:43] sessions saying uh they're very
[2:56:44] overwhelmed and their brain is exploding
[2:56:46] now just because lopsa was talking a
[2:56:50] lot. Oh my goodness. And sometimes I
[2:56:52] guess people find some benefit in this.
[2:56:54] So I'm just hoping that there was
[2:56:56] something inspiring in all of this can
[2:56:58] come from the sutra. It can come from
[2:56:59] this verse of Shanti Deva. You know
[2:57:01] really anything. If anything resonated
[2:57:03] let's just take it with us. If none of
[2:57:05] it this was helpful then as my primary
[2:57:07] mentor Chakiman Pache always says just
[2:57:10] eat fruit you know find other ways to be
[2:57:12] happy enjoy life and that's all we can
[2:57:14] hope for right just to be well and
[2:57:16] happy. So may this time be of benefit.
[2:57:19] And if any of you you know uh has
[2:57:22] enjoyed this, we are doing another
[2:57:23] course later this year, a course on
[2:57:25] cultivating emotional balance. It's
[2:57:27] going to happen in September. Uh it's
[2:57:29] four sessions of three hours each and
[2:57:31] that's more Buddhism science. So if
[2:57:34] you're interested in that, we're would
[2:57:36] be very happy to have you. Information
[2:57:37] is available on the Tibet House website
[2:57:39] and I'm sure we'll see each other there.
[2:57:42] So big bows. Thank you very much. And uh
[2:57:45] the session will be available as a
[2:57:47] recording later. So, uh, if you need to
[2:57:49] revisit something, you're always welcome
[2:57:50] to as well. Okay, thank you very much
[2:57:53] and have a lovely weekend. See you soon.
