developing our buddha

7/23/2019 Developing Our Buddha

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Developing Our Buddha-Nature Factors through Sutra and Tantra

Alexander Berzin

Session One: Overview of Buddha-Nature

Today and tomorrow well be speaking about how to develop our Buddha-nature factors through

tantra. But in order to discuss how this is done through tantra methods, we need to also discuss

how it is done with the sutra methods, because in tantra we do exactly the same as we do in sutra

we ust add a little bit more. !o its very important when approaching the study and practice of

tantra to reali"e that it is all done on the basis of sutra practice and theory. #ithout that sutra

foundation, that tantra practice becomes not only unfruitful, but it can lead to a lot of mental and

emotional disturbances.

There are many ways of understanding sutra and tantra. $nd the one that we are going to look

at this weekend is the explanation in terms of Buddha-nature %sangs-rgyas-kyi rigs&. #hat doesBuddha-nature mean' (t is not speaking about some sort of singular nature that we all have of

being Buddhas already, or having the one singular factor that will enable us like a potential to

become a Buddha. But rather its speaking about a whole network of many different factors that

will enable us to become a Buddha.

!o when we look at these factors, we need to regard them free of the two extremes. These are

extremes which are explained in terms of the explanation of the voidness of results) (t isnt that a

result arises from nothing. $nd the other extreme is that it isnt that a result already exists inside

the cause and its ust waiting to pop out. !o it isnt that Buddhahood this is the result that

were talking about comes from nothing, that theres no basis or foundation for it and no causal

nexus of many, many different factors that will bring it about. $nd its not that it comes from

absolutely nothing, that it was nonexistent and then pop* it turns from a nothing into a

something. $nd its not that that result, Buddhahood, is already sitting inside us and we ust dont

recogni"e it, and if we recogni"e it then there it is.

!o we have all these causal factors on a basis level, which are already there in absolutely

everybody, which then, when combined with many, many other causes and so on, will bring

about the attainment of Buddhahood. !o what are these factors that we all have' They are

divided into three groups)

Evolving Factors

#e have the evolving factors. Thats the first group. $nd these are things that transform into the

nonstatic Buddha-bodies. $s a Buddha, we are going to have whats usually translated as

different bodies %sku, !kt. kaya&.Bodyis a little bit awkward here as a translation. But in +nglish

at least ( dont know about in ussian theres another word, called corpus, which is used

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like a corpus of literature, a corpus of knowledge, and so were talking about a network of many

different things. !o there are these various networks of a Buddha that are nonstatic, which means

that they change from moment to moment) first it can be this type of thing, then that type of

thing, and so on, although they would go on forever.

!o we have two corpuses, two networks, two groups, which are forms of physical phenomena,

the so-called orm Bodies %gzugs-sku, !kt. rupakaya&. These consist of two groups. ne is

the Sambhogakaya%longs-spyod rdzogs-pai sku,/orpus of ull 0se&. This wordsambhogais adifficult word1 it has many, many different meanings, as does the !anskrit translation for it. ne

meaning of it is 2to enoy,3 so many people translate this as +noyment Body. (t could also be

translated as 2eating31 nobody translates it as the +ating Body. But the other meaning is 2to make

use of something,3 and thats actually the meaning here) it is the 2corpus of subtle forms that

make full use of the 4ahayana teachings.3 !o these are subtle forms that teach arya bodhisattvas

these highly reali"ed bodhisattvas in pure lands, and can teach them the full scope of the

4ahayana teachings forever. !o thats what !ambhogakaya is. $nd they appear in the full form

of a Buddha, with all the various physical signs.

$nd theNirmanakaya%sprul-sku& is a /orpus of +manations of this !ambhogakaya, that can

teach ordinary people %not ust these arya bodhisattvas& in our ordinary situations. $nd, in

addition, another nonstatic corpus of a Buddha is called theDeep Awareness Dharmakaya%ye-

shes chos-sku, !kt.jnana-dharmakaya, /orpus of 5eep $wareness +ncompassing +verything&.

#ere talking about the evolving traits. +volving traits transform into the nonstatic corpuses, or

bodies, of a Buddha, and there are three of them. !o two are orm Bodies !ambhogakaya,

6irmanakaya and one is the 5eep $wareness 5harmakaya.

5harmakaya is a corpus that encompasses everything.Dharma here in this context means 2all

phenomena,3 so all things. $nd thats referring to the deep awareness %ye-shes, !kt.jnana& so

the omniscient mind of a Buddha that encompasses everything %and we can also think in terms

of the all-loving type of mind of a Buddha1 that also extends to absolutely everybody e7ually&

and is aware of the two truths about everything, the deepest truth and conventional truth,

simultaneously. $nd that also is nonstatic, in the sense that although a Buddha is aware of

everything simultaneously nevertheless, at one moment a Buddha is aware of this one and

helping this one, and that one, and so on. !o within that context of awareness of everything all

the time, slightly changing. (ts not so easy to understand.

8. Those are the evolving bodies of a Buddha %well use the word body1 its easier to say&.

Abiding Factors

Then there is the abiding factor. Thats the second of the three types of Buddha-nature factors. !o

evolving factors, and now abiding. $biding means 2stays the same all the time,3 and this refers

to the voidness of our mental continuum, and that is what allows for the static bodies of a

Buddha. $nd the static body of a Buddha is referring to whats called in !anskrit the

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!vabhavakaya %ngo-bo-nyid sku&. That can be translated as +ssential 6ature Body %or /orpus&.

(ts also a type of 5harmakaya) it extends, encompasses everything. $nd its the voidness of the

mind, the omniscient mind of a Buddha1 it encompasses everything.

6ow, mind you, what ( ust explained is the 9elug explanation of this. (n the other Tibetan

traditions there are slight variants, particularly in terms of 5harmakaya, but no need to go into

that. $nd from the tantra point of view, when we speak about !ambhogakaya it usually is

explained in terms of the speech of a Buddha1 so thats a subtle physical form of a Buddha. $ndthe 8alachakra explains it as both these subtle forms and the speech. $nyway, no need to go into

all the variants here. There are variants1 you should at least be aware of that, so dont be shocked

when you come across a slightly different explanation. Buddhism is filled with variants of almost

everything, variant explanations, which actually is very helpful because then we view this

material from many different points of view and each variant gives us a different insight.

!o we have these evolving traits, or facets, Buddha-nature facets. #e have the abiding ones. !o

the voidness of our mental continuum is responsible for the voidness of a Buddhas mental

continuum. That is static) it doesnt change. emember, voidness means an absence of

impossible ways of existing. Because our mental continuum doesnt exist in some impossible

way, that allows for the transformation into being a Buddha1 and that continues to be the case

the mental continuum of a Buddha as well doesnt exist in any impossible way.

Factors that Can Be Stimulated to Grow

+volving traits, abiding traits, and then the third type of Buddha-nature factor is a certain facet,

or aspect, of our mental continuum that allows for the factors which are imputed on it, which are

sort of carried along with it, to be stimulated or to increase. $nd that ability to be stimulated and

to increase is due their ability to be affected by inspiration. (nspiration %byin-gyis rlabs,

!kt. adhishthana&1 thats usually translated as blessing, which ( find a very misleading

translation. (n !anskrit the word implies 2uplifting,3 in Tibetan the term implies 2brightening,3

so perhaps inspirationcovers these meanings. !o Buddha and great spiritual masters are very

inspiring, and that inspiration can stimulate us, uplift us, so that the various 7ualities that we

have compassion, energy, and so on get strengthened1 this is a Buddha-nature factor. This is

why the role of the spiritual teacher is always emphasi"ed in particularly the (ndian and Tibetan

traditions of 4ahayana, but in all aspects of Buddhism. $nd when we speak about an initiation

%dbang, !kt. abhishekha& in tantra, an empowerment, that actually is a ceremony in which this

inspiration, this uplifting a sort of activation of these Buddha-nature factors occurs.

Evolving Factors: The Two Networs

6ow the evolving factors1 lets look at those more closely. The main factors that are usually

presented are what are known as our two networks % tshogs-gnyis&) the network of positive force

%bsod-nams-kyi tshogs, !kt.punyasambhara& and the network of deep awareness %ye-shes-kyi

tshogs, !kt.jnanasambhara&. 6etwork %tshogs& other translators usually translate as 2collection3

so the two collections but these are not ust collections like a collection of stamps1 these are

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various factors that interact with each other. Thats why ( call it a network. $nd positive force

%bsod-nams& is usually translated as 2merit,3 but merit is a very vague term, difficult to really

understand. $nd this network of deep awareness is often translated as a collection of wisdom, (

think its usually called, but 2wisdom3 is also a very vague word in +nglish.

6ow this might be 7uite surprising to hear that we all have, as part of these Buddha-nature

factors, these two networks. #e might say, 2#ell, (ve never done anything positive in my life.

!o how do ( have any network of positive force' r what about this cockroach on the floor what kind of merit or positive force does it have'3 (ts a good 7uestion, isnt it' #ell, we can be

confident that we have a network of positive force as human beings1 otherwise, we never would

have been born as human beings, particularly as human beings with a precious human rebirth. !o

that clearly demonstrates that we have a network of positive force. $nd what about our friend the

cockroach on the floor' #ell, from a Buddhist point of view we can say that, :because

of; infinite past lives, at some point this cockroach has been my mother, etc., a human being. But

for many of us thats not terribly convincing. But the fact that that cockroach is still alive and

walking around on the floor and hasnt been stepped on yet, or been exterminated with some

insecticide, demonstrates that it has some positive force that is allowing it to still be alive, to

have a so-called long life. ( hope you appreciate the fact that logical analysis on the basis of

Buddhist principles is very important for being able to gain some sort of conviction in the

assertions of Buddhism, like 2everybody has a network of positive force.3

Then what about this network of deep awareness' To become convinced of that, we need to

look at one way of dividing it, which is the system of the so-called five types of deep awareness

%sometimes called the five Buddha wisdoms, but thats really obscuring whats going on here&.

#ithout going into great detail about these five, but one of them is the mirror-like deep

awareness %me-long lta-bui ye-shes&, to take in information1 e7uali"ing %mnyam-nyid ye-shes&, to

be able to put things together1 etc. ( wont go through the whole list of five we dont have the

time you can read about them on my website. But that cockroach is able to take in information1

its able to put things together, like for instance this item and that item asfood1 it has

accomplishing deep awareness %it knows what to do with it) to eat it&1 etc. !o we all have a

network of deep awareness1 its a Buddha-nature factor.

6ow, positive force, this network of positive force, is built up from constructive behavior. 6ow

(m speaking in general. $nd the deep awareness, if we look at it from a technical point of view,

it comes from apprehension of the sixteen aspects of the four noble truths or, more specifically,

apprehension of voidness. (ll explain what the word 2apprehension3 means. 2$pprehension3

means a correct and decisive cognition of something. !o although its the same word as2understand3 in Tibetan, nevertheless it has a very specific meaning) its correct and its decisive.

$nd this is looking, then, at this deep awareness from a technical point of view and not necessary

from the system of the five types of deep awareness that ( was ust referring to.

6ow remember the evolving factors these two networks are what will transform into the

nonstatic bodies of a Buddha.


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the network of deep awareness is what is known as the simultaneously acting condition %lhan-cig

byed-pai rkyen& for these orm Bodies. $nd for the 5eep $wareness 5harmakaya, its ust the

reverse) the network of deep awareness is the obtaining cause for this, and the network of

positive force is the simultaneously acting condition. !o now that weve seen the technical

definitions, the technical statement, what do these terms mean'

$n obtaining cause) its the cause from which you obtain the result1 thats why its called an

obtainer or obtaining cause. (t is a type of natal source %rdzas& that gives rise to something as itssuccessor in a continuum and which ceases to exist once the result has finished completely

arising. +asy example) a seed and a sprout. (ts the natal source. !o the sprout comes from the

seed, it gives rise to the sprout as its successor, and its in a continuum1 and once that sprout has

completely arisen, the seed ceases to exist. !o from the seed you obtain the sprout. Thats what

an obtaining cause is.

$nd a simultaneously acting condition is something that exists prior to the arising of something

and it assists in making the arising happen, it helps it happen. !o its simultaneously acting with

the obtaining cause, but it itself doesnt transform into the result.

!o this network of positive force is going to give rise to a result. (f we think in terms of a

Buddha, it will be the orm Bodies. (t will transform into that and, once it has finished

transforming into that, it no longer exists, we no longer have a network of positive force %a

Buddha doesnt have a network of positive force1 a Buddha has orm Bodies&. $nd for that

positive force to transform into these orm Bodies, it has to be accompanied with this network of

deep awareness.

!o think about that. #hat that means is that were doing a lot of positive things, right'

/onstructive behavior. (t builds up a lot of positive force. $nd doing all of that as a not-yet

Buddha is what will transform into Buddha-bodies, in which were doing this as a Buddha

physical ways, helping others, orm Bodies. #e no longer have that network of stuff that was

associated with not being enlightened, because now were enlightened1 so that has ceased to

exist. But ust helping everybody, building up a lot of positive force, thats not enough, because it

has to be helped by this deep awareness of voidness. #ithout the understanding of voidness, all

that constructive behavior is not going to lead to the physical bodies of a Buddha. =oull ust be

able to help people more and more and more, but not as a Buddha1 because we are grasping at

truly established existence of what were doing, and of us as the person thats helping.

Turning this around, vice versa, then that network of deep awareness always having

apprehension, correct understanding, decisive understanding of the four noble truths, voidness,

etc. that is going to transform into the omniscient mind of a Buddha. ight' The omniscient

mind of a Buddha. $nd that non-omniscient its not extending to everything network of deep

awareness will cease once it becomes an omniscient network %its no longer non-omniscient&. But

it has to be assisted with building up positive force1 otherwise its ust some intellectual thing.

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!o lets digest that and try to think of that to understand that correctly and decisively.

%ow &o 'e Build () the Networ o" *ositive Force+

8. The positive force, network of positive force, that we all have as demonstrated by the fact

that were humans its responsible for the fact that we have a physical body as a human, and

from that we will obtain a physical body of a Buddha if we build this network up with more and

more positive force, but assisted by the understanding of voidness of why were doing it, who isdoing it, etc. $nd that network of deep awareness that we all have because were able to take in

information and see patterns and know what to do with things, etc., know what things are %and

its pretty efficient now as a human being, because we have human intelligence, were able to

distinguish between whats beneficial and whats harmful in the long term& we can strengthen

that so that it becomes the omniscient mind of a Buddha. #e can do that by focusing, meditating

more and more, on the four noble truths and the voidness of the four noble truths. The four noble

truths are

true suffering

true causes of suffering %true causes are our unawareness of voidness of how things exist&

true stopping %it is actually possible to get rid of suffering and its causes so that they

never recur&

and a true pathway of mind %the true understanding of voidness, etc., that will get rid of

causes of suffering, therefore get rid of the suffering&.

!o meditating on this with apprehension of the four noble truths> (n another words, we know

these four correctly and decisively. 5ecisive. 2(m absolutely convinced that it is possible to get

rid of suffering and its causes. (m absolutely convinced that the understanding of voidness will

get rid of it, and ( understand voidness correctly.3 4editating on these with these five types of

deep awareness taking in information, seeing that everything is e7ually void, etc. all of that

will transform into the omniscient mind of a Buddha, the so-called 5eep $wareness 5harmakaya

%?nana-dharmakaya in !anskrit&, if its assisted by building up more and more positive force. $nd

( can be stimulated to build up more positive force and to have more deep awareness by

influence inspiration of spiritual teachers, the Buddhas, etc.

@ets digest that for a few moments.

The only thing that differentiates sutra and tantra with respect to what weve ust discussed is

that tantra has special additional methods for building up this network of positive force which

will transform into the physical bodies of a Buddha namely, so-called deity yoga, in which we

first imagine that we are in the form of these Buddha-figures already. $nd in anuttarayoga tantra,

the highest class of tantra, on the basis of having mastered the visuali"ation process of imagining

that we have the body of a Buddha, were able to actually mold or manifest our subtle energy

into the shape of these Buddha-figures, with so-called illusory bodies %sgyu-lus&. Thats one

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difference. $nd also in anuttarayoga tantra we have further methods, which will enable us to get

to the subtlest level of mind, which will then enable us more easily to have exactly the same

understanding of voidness as we have in sutra. !o more on the method side. 6etwork of deep

awareness its always the same understanding of voidness, its ust in terms of more methods to

build up positive force, more efficient methods to transform into the bodies of a Buddha, and

more efficient methods that will help us get that nonconceptual cognition of voidness.

The important point, then, being that tantra fits totally within the context of sutra. (ts notsomething separate in any way, in terms of how it helps us or enables us to attain the enlightened

state of a Buddha. (ts all based on these Buddha-nature factors, these two networks, the voidness

of the mind, and inspiration from Buddhas and the spiritual masters.

@ets digest that.

&iscerning #editation

( suppose that its helpful for me to explain what it means to digest this in meditation. (m sorry

if ( ust said, 25igest it3 in a very glib way, assuming that we all know what to do. #hat we do so-called analytical or discerning meditation %dpyad-sgom& is repeat the basic outline of what (

ust explained, the so-called topic, repeat it in your head. bviously that re7uires having paid

attention and remembering. $nd having gone through that material in this case its not a logical

argument, but similar to a line of reasoning then we reach an apprehension of this material, that

we understand it correctly and decisively. #e are convinced that this is what was explained, and

hopefully, having thought about it, were convinced that its correct, that this is in fact what

happens in terms of how we gain enlightenment. $nd then with an active state of mind, we try to

discern 2discernment3 %dpyod-pa& thats a technical term we try to discern ourselves in terms

of this decisive understanding.Discernmeans to understand ourselves in the terms of this

explanation) 2=es, ( have Buddha-nature. =es, if ( develop it this way and that way, and so on, it

will become Buddha-bodies. This is how ( attain enlightenment.3 !o its to what we say in

+nglish to see that, to understand that actively. $nd then after that, we spend a period of time

on so-called stabili"ing mediation %jog-sgom&, we stay focused on that certainty and that

understanding with certainty.

This is very important to understand, what we actually mean by meditation. (t is not that youve

heard all this explanation and then you ust sort of ust sit there spaced out, your mind blank, not

7uite knowing what to do, and hoping that maybe, by ust sitting there in a passive sort of way, it

will somehow sink in.

8' !o try that for a few moments in terms of what you can recall and have understood about

Buddha-nature. 2( have positive force. ( have intelligence. ( can use them, can develop them

further and further, to not ust get a precious human rebirth and an intelligent mind, but to obtain

the bodies of a Buddha, through a lot of hard work and the inspiration of my teachers.3 +ven if

its ust that much, it can be very beneficial. (f you start to space out and your mind starts to go

blank, then you review again, in your mind, the understanding.

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8. 5o you have 7uestions on this material' +verything else that ( plan to explain is ust a

further elaboration of what we have discussed, so its very important that you understand the

basic principles of Buddha-nature, sutra, tantra, and how that brings about enlightenment. To

have any success in tantra practice, its absolutely necessary to understand what youre doing

what is the tantra method, how it works and to be convinced of its validity. therwise, its ust

a game that youre playing and after a while you get tired of it and think, 2This is stupid,3 and at

best you ust continue doing the practice mechanically, and often out of a sense of guilt that 2(f

( dont do it, (m letting down my teachers,3 and so on.

,uestions and Answers

uestion! #hats the difference between a cockroach and a human being in this case, if

generally the cockroach has understanding, wisdom (ll call it wisdom and a human being

has wisdom' #hats the principal difference'

Ale"!!o the 7uestion is) #hats the difference between the human being and the cockroach in

this example %that each of us, the human and the cockroach, has the five types of deep

awareness&'

$t one level, both the human and cockroach have the same working materials. Aowever, as a

human being, particularly or specifically having a precious human rebirth, we have more ability

and more opportunities to develop this working material further. The cockroach doesnt have that

opportunity, that circumstance. $nd in the case of the cockroach, the functioning of these five

types of deep awareness is much more limited than as a human being1 so its obscured by limited

intelligence, etc., naivety stronger naivety about everything.

uestion! ( couldnt understand the connection between purification and gaining merit. !o it is

a different storage' @ike we have this network of positive force and were generating morepositive force to improve our understanding of deep awareness, and then we develop our deep

awareness to improve the positive force. But where does purification fit here'

Ale"!!o the 7uestion is) #hen we are working to build up more positive force by being

constructive, and assisting that with more deep awareness, understanding of voidness, and vice

versa, where is or what is the role of purification'

$s in the example of the cockroach, the cockroachs ability to understand things to take in

information, to see patterns, and so on is limited. (t is obscured by many things. (t is obscured

by unawareness ust not knowing how things exist, not knowing cause and effect, etc.

obscured by self-centeredness, etc., ust concerned with a very small aspect of life. $nd this is

also the case with us as humans obscured by lack of intelligence, lack of clarity, la"iness,

forgetfulness. Building up positive force is obscured by our disturbing emotions, and attachment,

and anger and ealousy, etc., selfishness. $nd so what we need to do is both build up positive

force and deep awareness and purify away the obscuring factors. !o its a dual process that we

engage in) building up and purifying.

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uestion!=ou say theres a process, that we should do two things1 and its implied that the

things and actions were doing to perform them are different. !o does the way of creating

positive force or factors in our mind which create positive force are they different from those

factors which we use to purify' r are they the same'

Ale"! The 7uestion is) $re the factors that we use to build up positive force the same as the

factors that we use for purification'

There are many levels of answering that 7uestion, of course. #hen we think of purification,

then there is provisional purification and ultimate, final purification. #ould you say that prostration is so-

called virtuous, constructive' ( would think that most explanations would say so. !o those are the

provisional methods for purification1 and ( think that although the emphasis is on purification, it

also builds up some positive force. But the ultimate purification is with the focus on voidness, so

that builds up the deep awareness.

#hen we do preliminary practices its called ngondro%sngon-gro& in Tibetan there are four

standard practices. 9elugpa has nine. There are many, many variants of the preliminary practices,

but four are 7uite standard. But prostration and arasattva are usually thought of in terms of

purification1 mandala offering and guru-yoga, in terms of building up positive force. !o we have

the dual process here. But ( think that if we analy"e, this is speaking about what the emphasis is

for these four practices. ( think that each of them has an aspect which builds up positive force

and which purifies.

Time for one more 7uestion.

uestion!!ometimes in 4ahayana they belittle arhats and say that an arhat is not so high a

stage of reali"ation. But in Ainayana and Theravada sometimes it is said that the only difference

between an arhat and the Buddha is that Buddha is the being that actually turns the wheel of

5harma and an arhat is a ust a person or being who actually goes through all the paths until the

final reali"ation. !o, from a 4ahayana point of view, what is the difference between an arhat and

a Buddha' 4y point is actually that, in a certain age, there can only be one Buddha. Because a

Buddha is somebody who reveals the teachings. $ll other beings that achieve the same

reali"ation they cant actually reveal the teachings, because theyve already been revealed by

the Buddha, and so they are arhats.

Ale"!6ow, it is correct that there are different explanations of the difference between an arhat

and a Buddha in the various Ainayana schools Theravada, !arvastivada, 4ahasanghika, etc.

and 4ahayana, so there are many variants of the explanation of the differences between the two.

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$nd the presentation of all the various Buddha-bodies that weve been discussing these four

Buddha-bodies that is asserted exclusively by 4ahayana. 6one of the Ainayana schools have

that. !o the concept of a Buddha in 4ahayana %tantra is a subdivision of 4ahayana& is not ust

limited to those that 2turn the wheel of 5harma3 in another words, start a universal religion.

Because, having these networks of form bodies !ambhogakaya, 6irmanakaya, etc. some may

start a world religion, but many others dont1 theyre still Buddhas.


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#ell, lets end here for the morning.

#hatever positive force, whatever understanding has come from this, may it go deeper and

deeper and act as a cause for everyone to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of us all.

Session Two: The Two Networ's

Unedited Transcript

#eve been speaking about the Buddha-nature factors that will enable us to attain the various

bodies of a Buddha. $nd weve seen that there are three types)

The evolving factors, which transform into the nonstatic Buddha-bodies the two orm

Bodies, 6irmanakaya and !ambhogakaya. $nd that refers to our network of positive

force %sometimes called collection of merit& and to our network of deep awareness

%sometimes called the collection of wisdom&, which transforms into the 5eep $wareness5harmakaya %or ?nana-dharmakaya& of a Buddha, Buddhas omniscient mind.

$nd in addition to these evolving traits there are the abiding traits) the voidness of our

mental continuum, which accounts for the voidness of the mind of a Buddha. (ts the

static +ssential 6ature Body of a Buddha.

$nd the third type of Buddha-nature factor is the facet of our mental continuum that

allows for the various things built up on it to be stimulated and inspired to grow.

$nd we looked a little bit more closely at these evolving factors these two networks, two

collections. $nd now were going to need to look at these networks a little bit more closely.

Samsara-Builder and *ure-Builder Networs

#hen we speak of these networks, we can speak of them on two levels) the samsara-builder

networks and the pure-builder networks. The samsara-builder networks are the ones that

contribute to our continuing samsaric rebirth. (n general, if you build up a lot of positive

potential, it leads to better rebirths, one of the better rebirths. $nd although we dont think in

terms of a network of negative force, negative karmic force, that is analogous here. !o if you

build up a lot of negative potential, negative force, it results in a worse rebirth state.

But we also have pure-builder networks, and these are differentiated according to the

motivation and dedication with which theyre built up. This word motivation%kun-slong& is acomplex of two things1 actually it is our aim and the emotional state of mind that is behind our

intention %dun-pa& to achieve that aim. Thats important to understand. #henever we speak

about motivation in Buddhism, we always mean these two aspects) our aim and the state of mind

that drives us to achieve that aim.

!o there are two levels of pure-builder networks. (f our aim is to attain liberation and the

emotion behind that is renunciation the determination to be free of samsara, samsaric rebirth

12


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and our constructive behavior, or our meditation on the four noble truths or voidness, is

dedicated afterwards toward our attainment of liberation, then this type of pure-builder set of

networks could be called 2liberation-builder networks.3 Theyre building up toward liberation,

toward our attainment of liberation. $nd on the other hand, if our aim is to attain enlightenment

and the state of mind behind that is love, compassion, taking this universal responsibility to bring

everybody to enlightenment, and then bodhichitta, and after doing some constructive type of

activity or meditating on the four noble truths or voidness, we dedicate the positive force from

that toward attainment of enlightenment, then these are 2enlightenment-builder networks.3

These networks are involved with perpetuating our samsaric existence and also our attainment

of liberation and also our attainment of enlightenment. +verything depends on our motivation. (n

other words) #hat is our intention what is our aim' #hat is the state of mind or emotion thats

behind it' $nd what we dedicate it to, if we dedicate it at all.

!o we have four possibilities)

#e have no aim, no dedication, so we do both positive and negative types of things, and

that ust perpetuates the up and down situations of samsaric rebirth, uncontrollablyrecurring rebirth sometimes worse rebirth states, sometimes better rebirth states. This

type of building up of these networks would not be considered spiritual practice at allfrom a Buddhist point of view. !o whether we have no aim, or even if we aim for this

type of practice lets say constructive behavior to help us in this lifetime, its not

considered spiritual practice from a Buddhist point of view. nly if its with our interestin improving future lives is it spiritual according to Buddhism. 2!piritual3 is a funny

word to use. 25harma3 is the word that is used is it a 5harma practice.

But if were talking about 5harma practice, then, we have the three levels of lam-rim

%graded stages of the path&. !o we could build up positive force and meditate four noble

truths, voidness with the aim to improve future lives, and dedicate it toward that. #eare motivated, we are moved, by fear of worse rebirth states 2(m really afraid of that. (

really dont want that.3 Then that is parallel to the initial scope, isnt it'

$nd if we do these various types of practices and meditation with the aim for liberation,

moved by renunciation %the determination to be free&, dedicate it toward liberation, thenthat would be e7uivalent to the intermediate level of motivation in lam-rim.

$nd if were doing these practices and meditation with the aim to achieve enlightenment,

moved by love, compassion, universal responsibility, bodhichitta, dedicate it towardenlightenment, then, whether were doing that type of practice on the basis of sutra or

tantra methods, that would be e7uivalent to the advanced scope of motivation in lam-rim.

#ell, these networks are involved throughout this entire process of either perpetuating samsara,

helping us to improve samsara, helping us to get out of samsara, helping us to attain

enlightenment. 8' @et that sink in1 meaning that we look at ourselves in terms of what type of

practice that ( do) 5o ( do anything constructive, whether it is ust merely refraining from

destructive behavior or actually going out and helping others' $nd do ( bother to dedicate the

positive force at all' $nd if ( do dedicate it, what do ( dedicate it for' $nd examining ourselves13


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in this way, on the basis of understanding that these networks are involved with all of these aims,

helps us to not only be clear about what weve been doing but perhaps improve, if we find that

what weve been doing has not been so effective.

Aaving a proper intention and proper dedication are not very simple matters. #e can mouth

very easily the words, 2( dedicate this to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient

beings,3 or even better, 2for everybody to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient

beings.3 +asy to say that, but for the aim to be proper and the dedication to be proper it has to bewith correct understanding of what actually does it mean) 9ain liberation' #hat does

enlightenment actually mean' $nd we have to be very decisive not only about what it means, its

correct understanding, but also decisive about my ability to achieve it. $nd that emotion which is

behind it, that constructive positive emotion that is driving us there, that has to be really heartfelt

and sincere, not ust mechanical.

!o we have to be very careful not to ust leave this intention, aim, motivation whatever you

want to call it and dedication ust on the level of mouthing argon words, whether they are in

our own language or in Tibetan language %which we dont even understand&. !o consider that,

please, in terms of how you actually have this motivation or aim and how you actually have the

dedication. Aow really convinced am ( about the existence of rebirth, the existence of liberation,

the existence of enlightenment, all these sort of things' #hich basically comes down to our

understanding and conviction in the four noble truths. therwise, were aiming for something

that we dont even understand, we dont even know if it exists, and were not even sure that we

can get it which is not very effective, is it' our aim is at

our own individual enlightenment which has not yet happened but which can happen on the basis

of our Buddha-nature factors, supported by love %the wish for everybody to be happy&,

compassion %the wish for everybody to be free from suffering and the causes of suffering&, and

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the exceptional resolve %lhag-bsam&, which sometimes can be called 2universal responsibility,3

which is taking the responsibility, the resolve, that 2( am going to help everybody to achieve

liberation and enlightenment.3 Thats bodhichitta.

!o we have two stages of (ll use the simple words renunciation and bodhichitta) whats

called labored %rtsol-bcas& and unlabored %rtsol-med&. @abored means we have to build up to this

state of mind through some sort of line of reasoning. This could be, for example, in the case of

bodhichitta, the seven-part cause and effect meditation on the basis of e7uanimity, everybodysbeen my mother, remembering the kindness of motherly love, etc. etc. That we have to work

ourselves up to actually feeling this bodhichitta or renunciation. (ts not so deeply ingrained in us

that automatically it ust comes up without having to work ourselves up to it. #hen we have this

feeling, this motivating drive and so on, without having to labor to put effort into building it

up, then thats known as unlabored renunciation %rtsol-med nges-byung& or unlabored

bodhichitta %rtsol-med byang-sems&. !o thats a pretty advanced level when we have these in an

unlabored way.

The Five *athwa$ #inds

6ow, working toward achieving liberation or enlightenment has a presentation of whats usually

called the five paths.


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contribute. therwise it wont. !o even now we can work on building up these facsimile pure-

builders.

Then the actual pure-builders. #e start to build them up when we have unlabored renunciation

or both unlabored renunciation and unlabored bodhichitta. $nd when we have that unlabored

stage, then, as ( said, we attain the first of these five pathway minds, usually translated as path of

accumulation %tshogs-lam&. (ts a building-up pathway mind1 were building up, basically,

shamatha %zhi-gnas& and vipashyana %lhag-mthong&. !hamatha, if we havent achieved it before,is a stilled and settled mind, ust focused single-pointedly %rtse-gcig& on the sixteen aspects of the

four noble truths or voidness, with a sense of fitness %shin-sbyangs& we can focus on anything.

$nd vipashyana is an exceptionally perceptive state of mind which, in addition to being stilled

and settled and having this sense of fitness of being able to concentrate on anything, has an

additional sense of fitness of being able to perceive to understand anything with all the fine

distinctions and distinguishing, and so on %dpyod-pa, scrutiny, analysis, subtle discernment&. $nd

in the context of this building-up pathway of mind, again its focused on the sixteen aspects of

the four noble truths or on voidness. !o from that point, when we first attain this building-up

state of mind, all the way up to the last moment of the fourth pathway mind right before we

attain liberation or enlightenment during that period, we have the actual pure-building

networks.

!o if we know the details of these five pathway minds, which is rather complicated, even with

the actual pure-building networks> (f we talk about the network of deep awareness now, that

deep awareness of the sixteen aspects of the four noble truths or of voidness does not need to be

nonconceptual1 it becomes nonconceptual when we achieve the third of these five paths, the so-

called path of seeing or seeing pathway mind %mthong-lam&. $nd it doesnt need to be even total

absorption %mnyam-bzhag& on the sixteen aspects of the four noble truths or of voidness thats

sometimes translated %by ?effrey Aopkins, for example& as 2meditative e7uipoise3 and what

that means is a oined state of shamatha and vipashyana. $hatwe attain with the attainment of

the second of these pathway minds %sbyor-lam&, what ( call the 2applying pathway mind31 its

often translated as the path of preparation. $nd we dont even need to have shamatha or single-

minded concentration %ting-nge-dzin, !kt.samadhi, absorbed concentration&, because unless we

have attained this before, this first of the pathway minds of the five pathway minds, we could

attain it during the course of that first one. Thats very, very encouraging, if you think about it.

$ll we need, the only thing we need as if it were easy %its not& the only thing we need for it

to be an actual pure enlightening-building network is that our building up positive force, and our

deep awareness, and our meditation on the four noble truths and voidness has to be in the contextof unlabored renunciation and bodhichitta. Before, the renunciation and bodhichitta is labored, so

thats facsimile1 now it ust has to be unlabored. #e dont necessarily have to have shamatha. #e

dont have to have single-minded concentration, we dont have to have shamatha, we dont have

to have combined shamatha and vipashyana, we dont have to have nonconceptual cognition of

voidness, or anything like that1 that will come along the way.

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!o let that sink in, which means review it in your mind1 see if you can actually remember that

and confirm that 2( have understood that.3 ( will not give you a test. By the way, if this were a

group of Tibetans in a monastery, you would receive a lecture like this and then you would have

to pair off two by two and debate, and youd have to test each others understanding to make sure

that you have understood. 6obody can get away with ust sitting there passively with a nice

smile on their face and not understanding or remembering anything.

8. @ittle 7ui". (f you have shamatha, perfect concentration, focused on voidness, does thatfunction as a pure-builder toward our liberation and enlightenment, building up a pure network

of deep awareness' 5oes it' 6o. #hy' Because we dont have unlabored renunciation and

bodhichitta. !o ust as an intellectual exercise, ( could sit there and meditate and get perfect

concentration on voidness1 it will only function as a samsara-builder (ll be more clever in

samsara. !o motivation and dedication is really, really important. 8' 9ood.

6ow, we can 7ualify these pure-builder networks even more finely. @ets say ( have unlabored

renunciation and bodhichitta, and (m doing constructive behavior (m going round helping

people as an aspiring bodhisattva. #ell, we would be a bodhisattva if we have unlabored

bodhichitta. But (m not yet an arhat1 (m not yet a liberated being. !o what is accompanying my

constructive behavior' #hat is going on in my mind' (m not an arhat (m not liberated so (

still have grasping for true existence. ( could still have some, certainly, unawareness. $nd there

could even be attachment and so on, pride some of these things might be there as well.

!o within that whole network of all the mental factors and things that are occurring

simultaneously, networking in each moment of my helping somebody, there are some factors

that grasping for true existence and the unawareness, and so on that are not going to transform

into the orm Bodies of a Buddha. nly the positive force %so-called merit& and the deep

awareness aspects that is what is going to transform the positive force into the orm Bodies,

the deep awareness into the 5eep $wareness 5harmakaya, not this other garbage that is also

going on in your mind at the same time.

#hy is that important' Because we can get very discouraged) 2#ell, (m really trying. ( even

have this unlabored bodhichitta, and yet (m still deluded.3 #ell, what do you expect' $ll the

way into arhatship, youre still going to be deluded and still have disturbing emotions. !o be

patient. !o even though ( might have attachment toward you, if ( help you and dedicate, aim %the

intention& that the positive force of it is going to act as a cause to reach enlightenment, and (

dedicate it toward that even if theres attachment there, so long as ( have either labored or

unlabored bodhichitta, it acts as a cause for actually achieving enlightenment. Thats veryimportant to understand1 otherwise we get very discouraged we think, 2Aow in the world can (

ever build up these causes that are pure'3

@et that sink in. Thats a very important point. therwise, were so hard on ourselves) 2( cant

possibly do it, because ( dont have perfect concentration. ( still have attachment,3 and all these

sorts of things. #ere still completely conceptual. f course were like that. !till, we can build

up these pure-builders, these actual causes or facsimile causes for liberation and enlightenment,

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so long as we have labored, or eventually unlabored, renunciation and bodhichitta. $nd then we

work on these things along the path, these other things. @et that settle in. (t gives us some idea of

priorities in our practice.

8. Cui". (f were doing lots of prostration and hundreds of thousands of mantras, and all sorts

of activities of blessing the water, blessing this and blessing that, and we have no motivation of

labored or unlabored bodhichitta, does that act as a cause our mantras and prostration act as a

cause for reaching enlightenment' =ou build up positive force, but does that positive forcecontribute toward our enlightenment' 5oes it' 6o. (f we do it with labored bodhichitta, but we

are proud of ourselves and have a little bit of attachment to what were doing, and were not

perfectly focused, does that positive force act as a cause for enlightenment' =es.

!o understand what is important as our priorities. !ame action saying the mantras or

prostrating or helping somebody. !ame action. !o even though it may be a positive action and

build up positive force, what it will ripen into what it will result into is very much dependent

on our intention, motivation, dedication. Then even offering the Buddha a glass of water with a

proper motivation has a much stronger effect than offering a thousand arhats and monks and so

on the most fantastic meal with no motivation. %That comes from one of the sutras, one of the

accounts of the Buddha.& ight' +ven giving the dog a bowl of water, but with a proper

motivation and so on, has a greater effect than doing all sorts of fantastic things, hundreds of

thousands of prostration, with no motivation. !o this we need to understand. 8'

,uestions and Answers

$ny 7uestions before we go on'

uestion!/an you give a little bit more of an example of unlabored renunciation' Because you

gave a number of examples of bodhichitta.

Ale"!!o, without going through all the line of reasoning of thinking of all the sufferings of

samsara %the whole list of the sufferings of samsara, the suffering of each of the rebirth states,

and so on&, unlabored is when ( think it is in one of these verses when, for even a moment, (

never have the slightest attraction to anything of samsara, and ( view everything like a burning

house or whatever, and ( ust want to get out all the time. That is unlabored. #e view everything

like a prison. 6ot a very easy state of mind to develop.

$nd we can misinterpret that state of mind to mean that we no longer can enoy anything.

Theres nothing wrong with enoying a good meal, or whatever, that we have, so long as we

dont grasp at it and make it into) 2h, this is the most wonderful thing in the world,3 and so on.

=ou can experience it with happiness, with pleasure1 theres nothing wrong with that. (f weve

built up a tremendous amount of positive force we will experience happiness all the time, though

its certainly not the untainted bliss of a Buddha its ust our ordinary suffering of change, the

ordinary happiness that doesnt last, etc. 6evertheless, we will enoy a good meal. 24ay ( take

this food not out of pleasure or attachment, but as a medicine to sustain me so that ( may be able

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to help others more. $nd may everybody enoy such a wonderful meal.3 $ll these things are very

helpful, but still you enoy the meal. $nd e7uanimity) ( have nice food, ( have horrible food1

same, same.

uestion!!o if doing ngondro without correct motivation will not lead us to enlightenment,

doesnt it imply that if we are doing some other actions like umping or lets say feeding

somebody with correct motivation then that can lead us to enlightenment'

Ale"!(t can contribute as a cause for reaching enlightenment, sure. 2( will ump up and down. (

will do one hundred thousand pushups, dedicating it toward enlightenment.3 #ell, it is an

unspecified action.

emember, phenomena can be divided into destructive %mi-dge-ba&, constructive %dge-ba&, and

unspecified %lung ma-bstan&. /onstructive is going to build up positive force and result in

happiness. 5estructive builds up negative force, results in unhappiness. @ike the example of

refraining from killing the mos7uito and killing the mos7uito.


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irst of all, even if we have the absolute best motivation, unless we are an arhat, a liberated

being, its still going to be mixed with grasping for true existence, with self-cherishing, with

some disturbing emotions perhaps. !o its never DEEF pure until we are an arhat. !o we have to

examine what is the strongest factor thats involved and try to minimi"e these other factors that

are there because (m not yet liberated from them.

$nd second of all, even with the best and purest of intentions and motivation, we may do

something that causes harm. (t doesnt result in what we hope it will result. #hy' Because amillion different factors are involved with bringing about a result. /lassic example) =ou give

somebody a million rubles with the intention to help them and so on, and the next day they are

robbed and murdered to get that money. That was not our intention, was it' !o this is why the

motivation, these sorts of things, are things that we need to emphasi"e1 and why we have to

become a Buddha. Because only a Buddha would know all the causal factors that will affect the

outcome of something, so only a Buddha knows really what is the best thing to do to help others.

$t our stage, in any stage before being a Buddha, we ust try our best, based on as much

information and experience as we can have.

uestion!#hen we want to do some positive action, do we need to set this intention every

time' or instance, we are going to buy food for some old person who cant afford to buy food

for himself or herself, and we feed this person. !o do we need to always think, 2(m trying to do

this in order for my achieving liberation and my achieving enlightenment.3 (snt this ust sort of

spiritual materialism when were always thinking about our accumulations, gatherings, and so

on. (snt it better ust to do it'

Ale"! There are two aspects to your 7uestion. irst of all, as !hantideva emphasi"es, when we

make a dedication it is 24ay all beings attain enlightenment,3 not ust me and forget about

everybody else attaining enlightenment.

$nd second of all, we are aiming for the unlabored state of this motivation, where its ust there

automatically. #e dont have to actually, in a sense, artificially or with labor build up the

motivation beforehand. (n the beginning, sure, you have to go through all the steps. @ater on, we

need to ust remind ourselves of the motivation1 you dont have to go through all the steps. $nd

then eventually it ust comes through automatically.

#hats the practical aspect of this' The practical aspect is) (f its somebody that ( have a great

deal of attachment to, sure ( want to help them, because ( like to be with them and spend time

with them, but then we have to be very careful because theres no pure motivation thats part of

this1 its ust purely attachment.

But where is it important to build up, with labor, the motivation' =ou see a beggar, an old

babushka, an old lady, on the 4etro begging. $nd you do have change in your pocket, and you

really dont feel like giving her anything) youre in a hurry or whatever. $nd then you remember,

2This could be my mother. This could be my grandmother. This could be me sitting there

begging.3 $nd then we start going through this line of reasoning everybody has been our

2&


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mother, etc., etc. so that we motivate ourselves to actually take a few moments to give the coins

that are in our pocket to this old woman. !o these are the practical examples where we need to

apply this and not ust) 2( want to be a good girl %or ( want to be a good boy& and so (ll give.3

That becomes spiritual materialism.

uestion!#hen other people help us, what motivation should we have when we accept their

help'

Ale"!$s it says in the auxiliary bodhisattva vows, we are giving them the opportunity to build

up some positive force1 and so we accept their generosity, so it helps with our development of

generosity.

To get back to what ( was saying in response to the 7uestion ust before) (t is a very, very

helpful training when you are going around in the city and so on, to> or instance, in the 4etro.

=ou have these shops here in the 4etro underground in 4oscow where theyre selling all sorts of

little things. $nd these people are standing inside or sitting inside and they can hardly move its

such a tiny, tiny space for them to stand in and horrible air, and theyre standing there all day to

make a few pennies. r the lady whos by the public toilet collecting a few pennies to go in. $ndto always think in terms of these people there 24y goodness, it could be my mother working

there or my grandmother working there. (t could be me working there3 and to develop some

sort of, at least, compassion. This is a way, a labored way, of building up this type of

compassion, this appreciation for others. $nd notice everybody around you, the suffering that

they have. ery, very helpful.

%articipant!#hen we are materially helping other people, maybe it will be harmful for them

because it will give them hope that samsara is not so bad and it can be a reason for attachment to

samsara.

Ale"!The absurd conclusion that would follow from that is that we should never help anybody

never give food to the starving, never give medicine to the sick, never do anything because

then theyll be attached to the comfort of samsara. 6ever feed your dog. 6ever feed your

children. (m using here the Buddhist method calledprasanga


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ask for money, not for themselves, but maybe they have some sort of salary and so most of the

money they collect is passed on to the chief. (n this case, if ( understand, or in other situations,

when ( see in my city theres very heavy traffic crossing the streets and there are some legless

people asking for money> Because ( am afraid somebody will push him. !o what should ( do in

this situation' (f ( give them money then (m making a contribution to stimulate them to continue

this type of business. #hat should ( do in this case'

Ale"!8, this is a very difficult 7uestion. #hat he says is that when we find the beggars whoare basically working for some sort of syndicate> This happens in many countries, that they

have to give a certain percentage, usually a very, very large percentage to the boss, as it were.

$nd they go around with a baby, almost like rent a baby its not even their baby in order to

make money. r cripples and so on. $nd in some places the bosses even cripple children in order

to use them for begging. Then what do we do in that situation' 5o we give %which is going to

support the boss& or what'

@ets expand your example to an international level that you give foreign aid for people in a

very, very poor country, or in a war "one, and HEF of it goes into the pocket of the corrupt

officials. But IEF does go to the people. !o do you punish the people by not giving anything at

all' (s it better to give them IEF and feed the pocket of the corrupt officials' r is it better to

give nothing' (t is a very serious dilemma in terms of international aid organi"ations and

governments, isnt it' (ts the same problem.

Theres no simple answer to the beggar who is forced to work for the syndicate. (f you give that

beggar food an apple, or a bottle of water, or something like that then thats something that

they can directly benefit from. Aowever this is often the case in these things if they dont

bring in a certain amount of money every day to the boss, they get punished. !o thats 7uite

difficult, isnt it' $nd with international aid, there are many countries with a great amount of

corruption that will not let you go in personally and distribute your medicines or whatever) you

have to give it to the government officials. !o, again, very difficult.

!o ( dont think theres a very easy answer to that. (t is better undoubtedly, if the beggar at least

gets something, to give to the beggar, especially if the beggar is going to be punished severely

for not bringing in enough. $nd certainly try to give them some food if you have. 4uch more

difficult is when you have a beggar who is smoking a cigarette, carrying a bottle of beer,

something like that, or is ust drunk or obviously stoned on some drug, and theyre begging for

more money to buy more cigarettes and alcohol and drugs. Then not so helpful to support their

habit. $gain, you can give them food. But all of these are very difficult examples.

( think in Berlin> #e have beggars in Berlin as well, and there are some who are perfectly

healthy and theyve been begging in the 4etro system for years and years, and so theyre like

professional1 theyve made this their livelihood. $nd that> one starts to 7uestion whether or not

its worthwhile to support that.

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emember what !hantideva wrote, that the perfection of generosity is not the elimination of all

poverty in the world if that were the case then the Buddha didnt achieve this that the

perfection %the far-reaching attitude, paramita, whatever you want to call it& of generosity is the

willingness to give. Then you have to discriminate will it be helpful, will it be harmful, etc.

These are very difficult 7uestions. Aowever, even these beggars who are being forced into

begging, theyre still a human being, they still have been our mothers in past lifetimes, and its

not helpful at all to look down at them and give them dirty looks and be nasty toward them, or

pretend that they dont exist, ignore them.

But if we do something to help somebody else, not only is it important, the motivation) 2By the

force of this, may everybody attain enlightenment,3 but also 24ay it be of benefit to this

person.3 5ont forget that. @ove and compassion) 24ay they have happiness. 4ay they be free

from suffering.3

!o with that lovely thought, why dont we end for today with the dedication) !o whatever

positive force %and thats on the side of the network of positive force&, whatever understanding

%thats on the side of the network of deep awareness&, may it act as a cause for everyone to attain

enlightenment for the benefit of all.

$nd making the dedication, its sort of in our minds we are, in a sense, pushing that

understanding and positive force in the desired direction. (ts not ust reciting words. The sort of

oking analogy that ( use is that we have to very consciously save it in the folder of

enlightenment-building1 otherwise, automatically its going to go into the samsara-building

folder.

8. Thank you very much.

Session Three: Building (p the Networ' of )ositive Force

Unedited Transcript

.eview o" *revious Sessions

#eve been developing this theme of developing our Buddha-nature factors through sutra andtantra. $nd weve seen that the Buddha-nature factors are referring to various aspects that are

part of our mental continuum that will enable us to attain the various bodies of a Buddha, and the

maor presentation of Buddha-nature divides it into three different types)

The evolving factors, which will evolve to transform into the nonstatic bodies of a

Buddha. !o this refers to the orm Bodies of a Buddha 6irmanakaya and

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!ambhogakaya and the omniscient mind of a Buddha, which is known as the 5eep

$wareness 5harmakaya.

$nd then the second group is referring to the abiding factors, and this refers to the

voidness of our mental continuum, which is responsible for the !vabhavakaya, the

+ssential 6ature Body of a Buddha, which is the voidness of the omniscient mind of a

Buddha.

$nd then we have the third aspect, the third feature of Buddha-nature, which is that our

mental continuum can be inspired and uplifted by inspiration so that these evolving

factors and various good 7ualities and so on that we have can grow to become the various

features of a Buddha.

(n our discussion, weve been emphasi"ing the explanation of these evolving factors, and the

main presentation of that is in terms of the two networks, sometimes called the two collections or

two accumulations. These are the networks of positive force %or merit& and the network of deep

awareness %or wisdom its sometimes called&, and we need the two of them working together. !o

the network of positive force is built up by constructive behavior, and it is the obtaining cause for

the orm Bodies of a Buddha. $nd for these orm Bodies, the network of deep awareness acts asthe simultaneously acting condition. This position is reversed with respect to obtaining the

omniscient mind of a Buddha1 for that, the network of deep awareness is the obtaining cause and

the network of positive force is the simultaneously acting condition. $nd that network of deep

awareness is built up by our meditating on the sixteen aspects of the four noble truths and more

specifically on voidness. 8.

ne point that needs to be understood is that the especially when we speak in terms of the

network of positive force that this gives rise to what we experience in samsara, in our rebirths,

not only what will eventually give rise to our enlightening bodies, the nonstatic ones, namely the

form bodies of an enlightened being. (t gives rise to that. !o we have what is known then as the

samsara-building networks and the pure-building networks. $nd everything depends on the

motivation, we saw, and the dedication. (f we build up these networks with no aim no

motivation no dedication, then it ust perpetuates our samsaric existence. (f we build them up

with the aim and dedication to achieve a better rebirth then it will lead to that. $nd if we aim for

liberation and dedicate it to that, it will lead to the state of an arhat. $nd if we have the intention

and dedication for this to go to enlightenment then it will lead to enlightenment.

!o whether we build up this positive force, this network of positive force, through constructive

behavior in sutra1 or we build it up in addition to building it up through constructive behavior

we build it up through imagining ourselves in the form of a Buddha-figure, as we do in tantra

%thats referring to all the classes of tantra, in another words tantra in general&1 or we build it up,

in addition to both of those, through eventually generating our subtle energy in the form of a

Buddha-figure %thats known as illusory body&, which we do in the highest class of tantra

practice, anuttarayoga tantra practice the basic structure is the same. The positive force will

give rise to a samsaric body or a better rebirth body %which is also a samsaric body& or an arhats

body or a Buddhas physical bodies, depending on the intention and the motivation. This is why

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it is stated that if we visuali"e ourselves in the form of a tantric deity but without a bodhichitta

motivation, its ust a cause for rebirth as a ghost in the form of this Buddha-figure. That is a very

strong statement and one that we need to take to heart.

!o when we visuali"e ourselves as a Buddha-figure, of course we need to have some

understanding of voidness of what were doing. But we have seen that even without a very

profound understanding of voidness, and even with a conceptual understanding of voidness, if

we have the bodhichitta motivation for doing the deity yoga, it will still act as a cause forreaching enlightenment. But even if we have some understanding of voidness and we meditate

on ourselves being in the form of this figure without a bodhichitta motivation, were not going to

build up the enlightenment-building network1 it will still contribute to samsara, still contribute to

being a ghost in this form. !o the bodhichitta motivation is absolutely essential.

$nd weve seen that theres a difference between labored and unlabored bodhichitta. The

labored is the one that we have to work ourselves up to feeling, by going through the various

lines, like 2everybodys been our mother,3 etc. $nd the unlabored one is when we have built up

such tremendous familiarity with bodhichitta through the labored phase of it that ust

automatically we have that motivation, without having to go through all the steps to build up to

it. !o we shouldnt fool ourselves by thinking that as long as ( recite a verse in the beginning and

a verse at the end, of bodhichitta, that that means that ( have a bodhichitta motivation. That

means that we shouldnt think that we already have the unlabored stage of bodhichitta when in

fact we dont. =ou dont feel anything1 youre ust reciting words. That means that we really need

to work ourselves up to feeling bodhichitta, which means on the basis of love, compassion, and

so on, and knowing what bodhichitta actually is. #ere focusing on some representation of our

future enlightenment which has not yet happened. ur own individual enlightenment were not

focusing on the enlightenment of Buddha !hakyamuni, were not focusing on ust some general

amorphous type of enlightenment were focusing on our own individual enlightenment. (ts not

yet happened, but which can happen on the basis of Buddha-nature.

Then motivation. emember motivation has two aspects. (ntention, aim, is one aspect, and so

that is to attain this enlightenment so that it becomes presently happening and to benefit all

beings by being a Buddha. $nd the emotion that is driving us to achieve this aim, love and

compassion the wish for everybody to be happy and have the causes for happiness, wishing

everybody to be free of suffering and the causes of suffering and the exceptional resolve)

taking responsibility to bring everybody to liberation and enlightenment, even if we have to do it

ourselves.

Thats bodhichitta. (ts important to know what it is so that we can work ourselves up to

actually feeling that, having that state of mind, in order to really have this intention before our

tantra practice and this dedication afterwards, so that the positive force that we build up will

actually contribute to our attainment of enlightenment and not ust to becoming a ghost in the

form of this deity.

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!o that cannot be emphasi"ed enough.


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go into all the variant interpretations and explanations of that, but in ust a simple way, it is some

sort of karmic force and karmic tendency.

!o if our behavior, what we do, is mixed with unawareness of reality but not motivated, not

mixed, with any other disturbing emotion, but rather motivated by some more positive emotion

like love, compassion, etc. then that karmic force is positive karmic force, so-called 2merit31 it

leads to a better rebirth.

(f that action is built up together with not only unawareness of reality but also unawareness of

cause and effect we dont reali"e that what we do will cause suffering, cause us suffering and

that action is also accompanied with a disturbing emotion %another disturbing emotion besides

unawareness, in another words desire or attachment, anger, ealousy, pride, etc.& then we are

engaging in what is the structure of a destructive action1 were doing something destructive. That

builds up negative karmic force and leads to a worse rebirth state.

!o we have this karmic mechanism, as it were, building up positive force or negative force,

positive tendencies, negative tendencies. Theres a slight difference between the karmic force and

the tendencies, and ( wont go into the technical details slightly different.

.i)ening o" the Samsara-Building Networ o" *ositive Force

(f we look at the result of this network of positive force in terms of samsara-building and we

extend our discussion to also thinking in terms of a network of negative force, then these are the

types of results that will follow. Then (ll list them)

Ripened Results

irst of all, we have a ripened result % rnam-smin-gyi bras-bu&. This is referring to our taintedaggregates %zag-bcas kyi phung-po& with which we are born. Tainted %zag-bcas& has several

different interpretations of its meaning. (f use the most general definition, it means that it is

obtained from unawareness of reality and is mixed with that unawareness. $nd this is referring to

the five aggregates factors that make up each moment of our experience)

The aggregate of forms of physical phenomena %gzugs-kyi phung-po,!kt& rupa-skandha&.

!o thats referring to the type of body that were born with body of a human, body of a

cockroach, body of a dog, body of a ghost, whatever. /omplete body, deformed body,

complete one, one thats blind, etc.

Then the aggregate of feelings %tshor-bai phung-po, !kt. #edana-skandha&. $nd this is

referring to feeling happiness, unhappiness, somewhere on that spectrum. !o although the

presentation of these results is usually given in terms of what were born with, it can also

refer to what we experience each moment. !o each moment, we feel happy, unhappy, etc.#hat we are born with is basically a certain spectrum or range of happy or unhappy that

our physical basis can support. (f theres too much pain and suffering, unhappiness, our

body goes unconscious, for example. (n the hell realms your body wouldnt go

unconscious, so that you would be able to experience far stronger levels of unhappiness,

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of suffering. Thats the difference. (ts dependent on your physical basis, how much on

that spectrum of unhappiness and happiness you can experience, can be supported.

The aggregate of distinguishing %du-shes-kyi phung-po, !kt.samjna-skandha&,

sometimes called recognition. (t has to do with, within a field, a cognitive field your

field of vision, your field of hearing, and so on what that is and what youre able to

distinguish within it. $nd that of course will depend on the physical basis and so on. (fyou have better eyes, you have better hearing, and so on, you can distinguish more. r

intelligence. !omeone who is colorblind cant distinguish colors1 they can onlydistinguish various shades of gray. !omeone who is not colorblind can distinguish allsorts of colors. This is ust an example of what were talking about here.

Then the aggregate of other affecting variables %du-byed-kyi phung-po, !kt.samskara-

skandha&. $nd here what needs to be mentioned is that these ripened results are all

unspecified phenomena %lung ma-bstan, !kt. a#yakrta&. Buddha didnt specify them to be

constructive %dge-ba, !kt. kushala& or destructive %mi-dge-ba, !kt. akushala&, so theyreethically neutral) they can be used for constructive purposes or destructive purposes. !o

we wouldnt include here things like the amount of sort of instinctive compassion or

anger or things like that1 those things come from the tendencies of having anger or having

compassion in previous lifetimes that builds up a tendency to be like that in future lives.But here were talking about the unspecified other affecting variables. or instance,

intelligence. Things like intelligence, concentration, these sort of neutral things. They canbe used for positive or negative purposes.

Then the aggregate of consciousness %rnam-shes-kyi phung-po, !kt. #ijnana-skandha&.

$nd this, in terms of a ripened result, would refer to how many, for instance, sense types

of consciousness do we have. 5esire realm gods, for instance, do not have smell and tasteconsciousness. 4aybe it is form gods. #ell, now (m a little bit confused. $nyway, some

class of gods doesnt have taste and smell. (n the form realm, as you go higher and

higher, then, theyre missing certain types of feeling. But ( dont remember, (m sorry,where you lose the various types of sense consciousness. ( have to look that up. (

apologi"e. :(t is, in fact, the gods of the form realm the plane of ethereal forms that do

not have smell or taste consciousness.;

!o these are the ripened results in terms of our rebirth state. $nd, by extension, we can think in

terms of what we might experience from moment to moment) #e might go blind later in our life.

Thats also a ripened result. r lose an arm, and our body is incomplete.

Results Similar to Their Cause

Then we have results similar to their cause, in terms of our behavior % byed-pa rgyu-mthun-gyibras-bu& and in terms of our experience %myong-ba rgyu-mthun-gyi bras-bu&. $nd so we have

impulses or urges come up to repeat the type of behavior that weve done in the past. #eve built

up a strong tendency to yell when we get angry, and so we get angry and then that urge comes

up, that impulse comes up thats what karma actually is referring to that urge comes up to

yell again, and we act it out. !o thats a result similar to its cause in our behavior. $nd results

similar to a cause in our experience is primarily referring to that urge to get into a situation in

which well, its not really the urge, but it is the getting into that situation in which things

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similar to what happened to us in the past occur back to us. 0nconsciously usually, totally

unconsciously.

( have to 7ualify what ( ust said, because now ( remember a principle that karma never ripens

from karma. !o what ripens here is you like to yell. !imilar to its cause is that you like to yell,

you have the wish to yell. =ou like it. Then karma comes the urge to yell. ( like yelling. ( like

killing flies, killing mos7uitoes. ( like a certain type of improper sexual behavior. #hatever it

might be, we like doing that. Then, depending on different conditions, circumstances, the urgewill come up to act on that, on the basis of that liking. This is more precise how karma works,

how it ripens.

=ou like certain people, sort of ust instinctively like this person or that person, and its going to

be somebody that always will yell at you. !o this is what it means, getting into a situation in

which things happen back to you. =ou sort of have a karmic attraction to people who are going to

yell at you and verbally abuse you, and you get involved with them and then you experience

being yelled at. ery nasty, isnt it' #eve caused separation, divisive language, for others, and

as a result we are attracted to people that we get involved with, we fall in love with, and theyre

going to leave us theyre going to be moved to a different city, theyre going to divorce us,

whatever it might be. $nd thats the type of person that we like, and we dont even know. $lways

falling in love with the wrong person. Terrible.

Dominating Results

Then the third type of result is called the dominating result %bdag-bras&. This is the type of

society and environment into which were born or which we encounter during our lifetime, how

they treat us and how they treat our possessions. #ere born into or move into a place where

theres war or theres poverty, or stuff like that, and the people there are very aggressive toward

us or treat us or our possessions in one way or another.

8' !o try to remember this. ipened results. !o theres the tainted aggregates our body,

feelings of happiness, unhappiness etc., and intelligence what we like to do, and what our

environment is like and how it treats us. 8' @et that sink in. $nd it could be in a wonderful

state %positive karmic force& or a horrible state %negative karmic force&. $nd obviously it gets

mixed, because weve built up lots of different karma, karmic tendencies and forces. !o this is

how a samsara-building network of positive force or negative force ripens.

Tantra and the .i)ening o" the *ure-Building Networ o" *ositive Force

Aow about pure networks' $nd we will see that here its a parallel structure to how karma

ripens. ( think its important to see the parallel between so-called samsara and nirvana, to see that

basically were talking about a certain mechanism that can be directed in one direction, samsara,

or another direction, nirvana %nirvana being either liberation or enlightenment&. Because this is

fundamental to understanding the theory of tantra. #ere talking about the basic mechanisms of

life and knowing how it works, and knowing how to go in and fix it, adust it, so that rather than

it giving rise to samsara existence, it gives rise to nirvana existence.2%


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(n general tantra, were going in and fixing and adusting the system in terms of this whole

ripening of karma phenomenon ripening of positive and negative force through the utili"ation

of, as weve seen, bodhichitta, basically.

#ith the highest class of tantra, in addition to fixing the mechanism of how the networks of

positive force and deep awareness ripen, we are also fixing the mechanism of death, bardo, and

rebirth. !o that when our consciousness withdraws and becomes more and more subtle and

reaches the clear light subtlest level, and then gives rise to a subtle body in bardo and then agross body with rebirth instead, we go down to the clear light mind, the subtlest stage, in

meditation %although it could be done at the time of death if you really have meditated a lot and

havent been able to accomplish that during your life&. $nd then using that same mechanism,

change it so that instead of giving rise to a subtle body of bardo and a gross body of rebirth

samsaric it gives rise to a subtle !ambhogakaya body and a grosser 6irmanakaya body. !o, in

addition to bodhichitta, using various methods in anuttarayoga tantra to basically get us down to

that clear light mind in meditation. $nd there are various methods which are used for that.

Theres working with the energy systems %wind yoga&, theres working with levels of blissful

awareness %bde-ba,!kt.sukha&, theres d"ogchen methods all accomplishing the same thing for

the same purpose. !o we want to fix the system, go in and adust it, make that adustment.


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happiness. !o we will experience happiness, untainted bliss, as a Buddha. !o constructive

behavior, bodhichitta meditation, all these sorts of things thats the side of method.

Tantra. (n general tantra, it is known as the resultant vehicle. !o in addition to constructive

behavior and compassion, bodhichitta meditation, all this sort of stuff we practice now

similar to the result that we will achieve, in order to bring about that result more 7uickly. (ts like

in the theater. ( dont know what you call it here1 we call it a dress rehearsal in +nglish. ?ust

before you are ready to put on the performance for an audience, you go through the whole playwith everybody dressed in the costumes and everything as the final stage of preparation. !o its

like you are in the actual performance. (ts called a dress rehearsal in +nglish. !o tantra is like

that. !o we imagine that we already have the form of a Buddha1 we imagine ourselves in this

form of a Buddha-figure. $nd in the highest class of tantra, anuttarayoga, we also imagine that

we have blissful awareness like the untainted bliss of a Buddha.

!o you see the structure here, the parallel' /onstructive behavior samsaric level makes a

samsaric body and samsaric happiness. $nd if its enlightenment-building, it will give rise to a

Buddha orm Body and untainted bliss, this positive force. $nd not only do we practice

constructive behavior, but we imagine now that we have the body that will ripen, the Buddha-

body, a orm Body, and we have that untainted bliss that will be at the resultant level. ollow

that'

Then, parallel to results similar to their causes we like to act in this way or that way, and that

brings about actually acting like that on a samsaric level instead of that, we have the

enlightening activity of a Buddha) what a Buddha does to help everybody.

5ominating result. (nstead of the environment and how it treats us, and so on, and society etc.

that were born into, on the enlightened stage its a Buddha-field and were in a mandala with all

bodhisattvas and so on.

=ou see the parallel structure' ( think this is 7uite helpful to understand. !o lets think about

that and let that settle.

The Networ o" &ee) Awareness

Then, in terms of the network of deep awareness, if we are studying about the four noble truths

and about voidness, and we know all sixteen aspects of these four noble truths, and we know all

the texts and so on about voidness, but theres no bodhichitta motivation, then this will lead to

having knowledge about this. !o we could be become a professor and teach about this ust in

terms of scientific knowledge, no different from knowing about different classes of insects. But

if we build that up with a bodhichitta motivation, it can lead to the omniscient mind of a Buddha,

this so-called 5eep $wareness 5harmakaya, with which all of that is applied to helping people

not ust people, but all beings. 8' !o we have something similar here to what we discussed

with the network of positive force.

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Sadhana *ractice

!o in our practice of tantra, we usually engage in sadhana %sgrub-thabs& practice. !adhana is a

!anskrit word1 it means a method for actuali"ing ourselves as a Buddha to make ourselves into

an actual Buddha, actually do it, by imagining that we are already like that. !o everything is done

w

developing our buddha

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