Sunday Teaching and Meditation with Atira Zeoli

[00:07:51]PPC Choling. Thank you so much for being here and thanks to everyone who's joining us online as well. Um we have the wonderful fortune to have Aira Zioli teaching today. Um, Aari Zoli is Jetsma's daughter and heart student and she has such a incredible way uh to bringing um Dharma teachings for us in this time and and how we can apply the dharma to our everyday lives. So um we will have an opportunity at the end of class to uh have some refreshments and talk together. Um so please join us afterwards and we'll make a few more announcements then. We're also going to be beginning with um the 71 to open up.

[00:08:38]So if someone needs you could yeah pass those out um to begin our practice together.

[00:08:48]Thank you so much.

[00:09:04]John J Don't forget S.

[00:10:15]My city Home.

[00:10:36]Jud shakes her soul.

[00:11:04]Welcome everyone.

[00:11:07]Welcome.

[00:11:10]So, um, today I'd like to talk about impermanence and about just kind of continuing from last time. I'd like to talk about impermanence and the preciousness of the opportunity that we have to practice the dharma in this life. Um so Chad Tuku Rimpache uh he taught in this uh it says in his book life in relation to death he says that whatever seems to be a priority in your life is really quite temporary.

[00:11:58]It comes and goes. Nothing is reliable.

[00:12:02]We were born alone and naked. As our life unfolds, we go through all manner of antics. Needing, having, losing, suffering, crying, trying. But then we die. And we die alone. It does not make any difference whether we are rich or poor, known or unknown. Death is the great leveler. In a cemetery, all corpses are alike.

[00:12:30]I just that just seems really it just cuts me, you know, like hearing that.

[00:12:35]It's um it's so true. We spend so so much time in our lives just focused on what's going to bring us benefit today, this week, this year. We save up for, you know, patio furniture or jeans or, you know, shop in the sales at HomeGoods and you're looking for, you know, how to how to, you know, make your new space, whatever it is. And it's um and then when we die, we're not bringing any of that with us, any of it. And even you know the amount our careers that we build you know and and even our relationships which are so meaningful and precious and at the same time we don't see them with real perspective uh and that they're going to disappear as soon as we die. We will we will lose everyone that we love and it won't take long before we even lose the memory of them. You have no idea how many beings you have loved and lost in lifetime after lifetime after lifetime. Like as much as you love your family right now, how many lifetimes have you had where you loved your family just that much?

[00:13:58]And where are they now? Who are they now? That could be the mosquito on your knee that you're slapping away, you know?

[00:14:05]And this person used to be the person you would die for in some other life, you know, in some other life without being cared for you or you cared for them and and these meetings that these meetings that we have with one another, the people that we know in our lives. In one way, we feel like we, you know, you might hear this and think that I'm saying that our relationships are not important. We should just be focusing on dharma instead. But actually, I would say that we don't truly value the relationships that we have and the way that we cling to them, not with love, which is about wanting to set people free, wanting people to be happy. We don't love the people in our life with pure untainted love. We cling to them.

[00:15:03]We like how they make us feel. We, you know, we we may have some love and some clinging. It's a mix. But it's um but if we really appreciated impermanence, we would value these relationships so much more because the it's like it's like we're just bumping into each other in a parking lot for one brief second and that's it. That's all this time this hundred years we have on this planet together. You know, that is like a chance meeting in a parking lot. Um, you know, we just, you know, you bump into someone in a parking lot, you look at each other and smile, and then that's it. That's their whole meeting. And then you go go your separate ways, and you never see that person again. Um, and that's what all of our relationships are. And if we understand this, if we understand just how brief and fleeting these relationships are, then we would never feel like we have any time to fight or argue with each other. We would never feel like there's time to hurt one another. um whether whether you're thinking about it in terms of indivi relationships between individuals or relationships between communities and nations. Um there's no time for anything other than like appreciating and loving each other in this brief amount of time that we have.

[00:16:47]And then you know thinking of our priorities uh in life our worldly priorities you know there's this um uh I saw some YouTube video once where someone was saying how you should you know prioritize if you imagine a jar um and you have a whole bunch of rocks you want fit in the jar. If you start with the small rocks, you'll never be able to fit all the big rocks in, right? You have to put all the big rocks in and then you put the small rocks and they all fit. Um, with our worldly priorities, the big rocks that we put in first is the things that we think we want most, like uh, you know, paying off the house, writing the book, um, making our business successful, setting getting set up for retirement.

[00:17:38]Um, this is our thing that we say this is the big rock. I want to make sure I do this thing. Um, you know, take the taking this the big the big vacations that are on your bucket list. You know, that one trip you always want to make.

[00:17:50]That's your big priority. Um, and then we discover, you know, whatever we want most, that's our big priority that we put in there. And then we discover that wanting is insatiable and we have no end to the wanting. And so those rocks fill and fill and fill and fill and fill the jar because the wanting will never end. And so when we put that in first, there's no room to learn how to not live completely consumed by desire. Um but at the end of the at the end of our life, we look back and we wonder what all of that meant and it where is it going now?

[00:18:33]And then you don't want to feel that way at the end of your life to look back and go, "Wow, I invested my time wrong." That's wow, great. I paid off the house and I have nothing to show for it now. You know, um Dr. Corpese says it is like someone who travels in a foreign country and pays his way in that country's currency. Then he gets to the border and is surprised to learn that the country's currency can't be exchanged or carried across.

[00:19:11]Like that, our worldly possessions and achievements cannot be carried through the portal of death. If we rely on them, we will find ourselves suddenly impoverished and bereft. The only currency that has any value when we travel across the threshold of death is our spiritual attainment.

[00:19:41]There's no there's no currency bank at death. There's no there's no exchange counter where you can trade it in. You know, there's no like chance at that point to say, "Oops, I made a mistake.

[00:19:54]Can I exchange my currency for something I can carry through?"

[00:20:00]You have to acrew it now. And this is the time when we have this precious precious opportunity to acrue the merit that we need and accumulate the you know turn our minds and accumulate the positive qualities that we can carry through to our next life.

[00:20:29]So many people at the time of death, they suddenly have this realization of how precious their time was. And you see people get very spiritual sometimes at the at the time of death. It can go either way. You kind of see people become very clearly become what they are, I think, near the end of their life. like you kind of see and you see uh I saw this amazing photo series that someone did this photographer that did um she photographed people in hospice and she photographed them like before and after death and the way that these people lived their life was evident on the face that they were making at death.

[00:21:07]It was just so powerful. you saw these faces of anger or disgust or you saw these faces of just peace, you know, and it was and it was really it's really profound to to see these portraits. Um, and you don't want to you don't want to be those faces that died with this angry look on their face, you know, or just looked like distressed, you know, you don't want that. Um, and she wrote some about, you know, each of them, and you could just really see how the people who just were like already living with joy and love that was evident on their face when they died. You could see it there.

[00:21:48]Um, and yeah, we have to just keep our death in front of us at all times because we don't know when it will come.

[00:22:03]Um there's uh you know in some Buddhist traditions the uh monks will at night before they go to bed turn their bowl over um and and and they'll do things to like you might even like pretend as you like some conser actually says you know as you go to sleep each night you can imagine that you're dying and you know kind of prepare for death because it is a death in a way it's the dying of that day and you're a new person every moment but every day you know um but to just kind of use that time as like what if I what if I am dying right now what if I don't wake up and prepare your mind um in our culture where we really like to sweep death under a rug and we don't like to talk about it and uh you know Jets has been encouraging people to prepare their wills and stuff like that. You have to face death that it's going to happen. Some cultures they talk about it more. I have his book on Swedish death cleaning which I think is a pretty neat idea but that's where you basically just look around your house and you just think I don't want to be a burden on anyone when I die. let me get rid of this now because when I die, my kids are gonna have to deal with this mess. And so, you just deal with it now.

[00:23:35]And if you're keeping anything, you write on the bottom, this is who I want to leave this to. You just plan like you're going to die tomorrow. And and you don't want any of your stuff to be a burden to others. And um I think Jets's kind of encouraging us to do that a bit with getting your wills in place. So, please, if you're listening to this, please do that. Um, but it's important to prepare. We can't just pretend that everything's going to be okay and we're going to live forever. Um, we have no idea how brief this opportunity is. And even without death, you don't know when your personal mental circumstances will change.

[00:24:24]Like you know right now you have whatever capacity you have to practice the dharma and you understand the teachings to whatever capacity you understand the teachings and you could get into a car accident and get a brain injury tomorrow and not have that ability anymore. Or you could get you know some kind of sickness and not be able to practice anymore. No longer have the energy to practice. Or um you know you can have you don't know when you will lose any one of your faculties. Any one of the you know any any one of these things is like all of the causes and conditions to create this body in this place in this time with these people this supportive community that we have with all of these supports that we have. Every single element of that is karma. The fact that the ground is solid beneath your feet is karma. The fact that you can breathe the air is karma. Like this is all karma.

[00:25:30]Every single piece of this that is working out for you is because you've created the causes for that to happen.

[00:25:40]Um there was this news story a number of years ago. this person in Florida who uh a sinkhole opened up under their bedroom while they're sleeping. A sinkhole opened up under their bed and they fell into the sinkhole.

[00:25:56]And I asked Jetsma about that and and uh that's what she was saying. She's like, "Well, like you take for granted that the ground is solid. Like that's your karma.

[00:26:09]That karma can end."

[00:26:12]Yeah.

[00:26:16]We take a lot of things for granted here.

[00:26:20]I bet, you know, we're all all took for granted being able to breathe the air and then, you know, we've got these wildfires and it's like can't can't breathe outside. Um, take for granted the the night sky. Hey, there's some company that wants to put a whole bunch of mirrors up in the night sky so we can have a daylight 24/7.

[00:26:48]Yeah, a lot of things we take for granted. Yeah, great idea, right? Um, who doesn't want that?

[00:26:58]Um, you know, our waters, take for granted the drinking water, you know, or everything like just everything about our our life and that can end at any moment. Um, you know, we had the the big sewage spill in the PTOAC not that long ago. It was like the worst was like the worst sewage spill in history here in this at least in this area. I don't know. It was really bad. Um, but you just don't know when any of this will change, when a war will happen and suddenly every building, you know, is decimated to the ground. You know, like your world can end in an instant.

[00:27:34]But it's so easy to believe that it won't. It hasn't so far, right? it hasn't so far. And we use that as evidence that it so won't happen because it hasn't happened so far in my life.

[00:27:46]You know, I think for some people who have had that happen, who have had some kind of world shifting event, they get a little bit more perspective on this. Um, but we don't have to wait to have some event happen that rocks our world where, you know, we can apply these teachings to our minds now. We can use meditation to and contemplation to make make these teachings real for ourselves and see impermanence unfolding in our own life and learn to I think it's I think it's like we have to learn imper like a sense of impermanence the same the same way that we have a sense of gravity you know the same way that you just have common sense that when I drop something it falls to the ground and you know it's going to fall to the ground if I'm carrying a water glass and I drop it, I know it is going to break on the ground. And so I'm appropriately careful because it is obvious it will fall and break. Like it's just it's like this is what will happen. I don't have some magical thinking that if I let go of the glass, maybe it'll just stay there in the air because I've been holding it there in the air for that long. So maybe it'll just stay there because it's worked so far. You know, if I let go of the glass, it's going to fall.

[00:29:00]But this is like we have to understand karma and impermanence in this way too.

[00:29:06]You know, we don't realize that we're holding the glass there. We don't realize that it is our karma holding all of this together.

[00:29:21]And it is falling apart unless we keep holding on to it. Unless we create the causes that keep it here says time is very precious. Do not wait until you are dying to understand your spiritual nature. If you do it now, you will discover resources of kindness and compassion you didn't know you had. It is from this mind of intrinsic wisdom and compassion that you can truly benefit others.

[00:30:00]I think this is another thing. I think people really don't I think we are so attached to who we think we are because none of us understand just how incredibly brilliant we are underneath that.

[00:30:20]Like there's a whole bunch of that we think we are, but underneath that we are radiant light. We are the very Buddhas themselves. We are inseparable from the Buddhas. There is nothing. It's it's just the Buddha nature is right there. And we're so attached to all of the ideas that we have about ourselves and about what makes us special. And we don't realize that like like this little crumb makes me special.

[00:30:49]And and it's like, oh my god, this is like a celestial feast of just amazing qualities and light and and unlimited benefit for all beings. Like a like a light that just just radiates unceasingly to benefit all beings and that is inside of you. And you're like, "Oh, but like I really like wearing the color pink and this is who I am." You know what I mean? like and people have their little ideas about like this is my this is my stick, you know, this is me and this is what makes me special. Um, you have no idea what makes you special.

[00:31:31]You have like no idea what is inside of you. Um, and how how just brilliant it is.

[00:31:44]And then you see like you know uh if any of you are familiar with Yangi Minger Rimpache he uh he was kind of stuck in the typical Rimpache job where he's at a monastery and very constrained by his circumstances and he's got a lot of appointments and people he has to meet and things he's got to do and he's got to leave the teachings, he's got to do this and he's got to do that and all the bureaucracy and um he really felt like he needed to do a three-year retreat and um He just uh took a cue from the Buddha and he just slipped out one night and he slipped out and took a taxi and disappeared and um just went off the map and um and he had a real wild ride and I think he like nearly died a few times like it was he had some really challenging circumstances um in his during his retreat and uh you see the pictures of him after his retreat And he is just he just glows like I mean he just he just was radiant.

[00:32:51]He just glows like no other. It's just like how could you not want that what he found there? Like that is oh my gosh. I mean you can just see the light coming off of him and um uh and the enthusiasm for for helping others. It's like it's just it's it's like that infectious desire to help others. That's that's what they say one of the signs of being in the presence of a bodhic sappa is is that you notice your own compassion increases. You know, you see those qualities increase in in yourself when you're in their presence.

[00:33:39]So, so wanted to talk a little bit about where these dharma teachings come from.

[00:33:47]These wisdom teachings that um that I'm encouraging you to spend your time on instead of this instead of the worldly stuff. Where is where is this come from?

[00:34:14]I was like, "Did the Buddha just make this up? Is this just why why are his ideas better than our ideas?" Right?

[00:34:22]Where did this come from?

[00:34:25]Um so Joj Rimpache in councils from my heart he teaches that the forefather the sire and forefather of the teaching of all the Buddhas was the Buddha Samontabadra who he says is actually identical with the Buddha Amitaba.

[00:34:52]So the Buddha Samontabadra is the original pure nature of our mind. The primordial Buddha and according to Zangarens Pashe this is the unity of awareness and emptiness.

[00:35:08]The unity of appearances and emptiness the nature of mind natural clarity with unceasing compassion.

[00:35:16]So that is Samantabadra and he is inseparable from Amitaba, the Buddha of limitless light who's one of the five primordial Buddhas of Mahayana and um of Mahayana Buddhism and Amitaba before he became a Buddha he was a monk called Dharmakara and he made 48 great vows including the promise that anyone who sincerely calls upon his name with faith will be reborn in the pure land where they can easily attain enlightenment.

[00:35:51]And through Amitaba's boundless merit and his compassionate aspiration, this culminated in the creation of Sukavati, the land of ultimate bliss and those reborn in Sukavat in Sukavati can learn the dharma and aspire to become bodhicattas and Buddhas themselves.

[00:36:13]So Sambabadra and Amitaba are inseparable and never stirring from the peaceful expanse of his mind, Buddha Amitaba looks on all of the beings of the six realms with unceasing compassion.

[00:36:33]And then from the radiance of his love, Ablohvara, the great compassionate one, arises.

[00:36:41]This is Aba Kateshvara the great compassionate one here. Um I know we've got a tonka somewhere too but um so abashvara or chenres is the spontaneous embodiment of the compassionate speech of all of the Buddhas.

[00:37:01]And he made the promise in the presence of Amitaba. He promised that until the three worlds were emptied of beings, he would hold back from entering enlightenment and he would remain a bodhic sappa working for the benefit of others, never attaining full enlightenment himself until he has first freed all beings.

[00:37:24]He promised that he would remain until the very depths of samsara were churned and emptied of beings.

[00:37:32]And from that moment on he with great compassion he he worked and led all of the beings to Sukavati to the pure land of Amitaba.

[00:37:42]But there is a legend that once there was a moment where when he thought he had done it. He thought he had led all beings there. He thought he had emptied the realms. Um thought that Samsara had been emptied. But then he turned around in that instant he saw that there was exactly the same number of beings as before.

[00:38:01]No more, no less, exactly the same number of beings as before.

[00:38:07]If you volunteer here, you may have had a similar feeling at one point or another.

[00:38:15]Um so perceiving that the number of beings in samsara had not diminished he was just crustfallen and he and and he just felt like the time will never come when I've led all beings to the pure lands.

[00:38:31]This is never going to happen. And he despared. And in his despair, his pledge of bodhicitta faltered.

[00:38:38]And his head burst into 11 pieces. And his body shattered into a thousand fragments. And at that very moment, the Buddha Amitaba appeared and said, "Son of son of my lineage, can it be that you have spoiled your vow of bodhicitta?

[00:38:54]Cultivate it once again and strive for the good of beings as in the past." And he blessed Abla Kesheshwara's fractured head and the thousand fragments of his body. And Abla Kateseshvara again rose up this time with 11 heads and a body endowed with 1,000 arms, which is what this picture shows. Um, and on the hand of each arm appeared an eye. And this is how Avocashbara was blessed. He's all these eyes on every palm. And this is how Ablakshashvara was blessed with 11 hands, 11 heads and 1,000 arms and eyes with which to work for the sake of beings.

[00:39:36]And then thanks to his enlightened aspiration, those thousand arms emanated a thousand Chakavartin kings which are like chakavartin kings are like supreme rulers like they rule over the whole universe and bring benefit. They're like the secular uh kind of uh secular pair to a Buddha.

[00:39:59]Um like a secular king who just brings benefit to all lands. So thanks his enlightened aspiration his thousand arms emanated a thousand chakavart and kings and from his thousand eyes appeared the thousand buddhas of this fortunate kalpa which are right here on this wall.

[00:40:18]All of these thousand Buddhas will manifest entirely through the compassion of Abukteshvara.

[00:40:26]Of these thousand Buddhas, the fourth Buddha, Buddha Shakimuni, was the Buddha of our time.

[00:40:34]So these Buddhas, these thousand Buddhas, they are what's called historic Buddhas. So they are the the Buddha that first turns the wheel of dharma that initiates the dharma teachings. It introduces the dharma to the world and then over time the teachings because of impermanence the teachings leave the world. Things fall apart. People forget things. Texts are lost. Statues fall apart. You know everything dissolves into dust and it all disappears and cultural memory disappears and it's gone. And then another Buddha appears.

[00:41:08]and reintroduces the dharma. And this happens over and over again where the dharma disappears and then it is brought back. And it seems like it's the first time. But it's not the first time. It's really never the first time because the original primordial Buddhist montabadra is the very primordial pure nature of our of our mind at the very essence.

[00:41:31]So there is no first time really because this is the core of who we are. We are just being continually reminded like a mirror that appears to us to reflect back to us what's reality and who we really are. And you know the dharma the the compassion of the Buddhas is always shining like the sun. And if you see like if there's a a puddle on the ground you'll see the reflection. You'll see the light bounce off there. You'll see like the reflection of the moon. You know the if there's a puddle on the ground you'll see the reflection of the moon in the puddle. But if there's no puddle on the ground, you will not see the reflection of the moon. And it doesn't matter that the moon is shining, the moon is shining, the moon is shining. You will never see a reflection of the moon if there's no water there.

[00:42:19]If we have water in our minds, if we have that water, if we are juicy with bodhicitta with faith with with you know with appreciation for this and determination to act on the teachings if we if we have faith which I think is not just a belief in something but acting on it too. It is something that drives you. It is like like real faith drives action. And if we have that, that is the puddle in which the moon appears, in which we can see the light of the teachings and they can be reflected to us. But we have to create that puddle. We are the ones that has to, you know, make sure we've got juicy hearts and juicy, you know, that we've got some, we're not just dry husks, just hard as horn, dry husks, you know, like we have to make sure that there's some there's some juice in here.

[00:43:10]there's some life. If we have faith, the Buddhas will appear to us.

[00:43:16]That's how we make space for the Buddhas in the world is we have faith and we create the causes for them to appear. If we create the causes, they they just naturally do. Like it's just if I pour water on the ground, this if I go outside right now, the sun is shining.

[00:43:30]If I pour water on the ground, it's going to reflect the sun. It's just what will happen. I don't have to go ask the sun. Hey, I told So I put some water over there. If you could just go like I don't have to negotiate. You don't have to do anything. It's just how it works.

[00:43:44]You create the space. It will just right then it will glow. It will the light will be there.

[00:43:57]So the Buddha of our time is Shakimuni Buddha. And just yesterday we celebrated Choker Duchin commemorating the first turning of the wheel of dharma uh about 2500 years ago. And in his first teaching Shakimuni Buddha taught the four noble truths.

[00:44:15]And all Buddhist systems are based on this teaching of the four noble truths.

[00:44:21]The first noble truth is the truth of suffering. that suffering is pervasive and everpresent in our lives.

[00:44:32]That life always involves suffering in obvious and and subtle forms. So even when things seem good um we still experience like an undercurrent of anxiety or uncertainty or dissatisfaction and also that for instance we might enjoy a beautiful meal but there is suffering inherent in it in that so many beings had to suffer in order for that meal to come into being for our enjoyment. whether it's the farmers that worked in the fields in the heat to to bring us the food or whether it's bugs that were that were killed, you know, by the pesticides to grow the food or, you know, any element along the way. Um, anything that we enjoy is tied to suffering and ties us further into suffering. Um, and that's the nature of of our existence is this pervasive perpetuation of suffering.

[00:45:29]And the second noble truth is the cause of suffering. That the cause of this is a fundamental misunderstanding of our own nature and the nature of reality.

[00:45:39]We are misunderstanding how the world works and so we are not interacting with it correctly. Um we suffer because we mistakenly believe that things including all of us are separate, independent and solid.

[00:45:58]We don't recognize the interdependence that unites everything.

[00:46:05]And this painful this struggle to mean this delusion of ego is that is a painful and futile struggle. And that is what samsara or cyclic existence is. It is this struggle to maintain the delusion of ego.

[00:46:26]And then the third noble truth is the end of suffering that there is good news. All of our obscurations are temporary and this can all be fixed.

[00:46:36]This can all be cleaned up. Um our obscurations are like passing clouds that obscure the sun of our enlightened nature which is always present.

[00:46:48]So our awakened mind is always available.

[00:46:54]We just have to push those clouds away.

[00:46:57]just you know clear away our obscurations and that awakened mind is there and that state of the awakened mind is referred to as enlightenment or nirvana which is the complete sessation of suffering.

[00:47:14]A state of freedom, peace and liberation from the cycle of birth, death and rebirth.

[00:47:23]And then the fourth truth, the final truth tells us the way to get there, the way to end suffering.

[00:47:31]And that is by through spiritual practice, living ethically, developing wisdom, by basically by refraining from harm, helping others, and taming our mind.

[00:47:46]It comes down to that. Don't harm others, help them tame your mind.

[00:47:52]Everything comes down to that.

[00:47:55]And through that we can take the same journey to enlightenment and freedom from suffering that the Buddhas do. And by following this path that Jakamuni Buddha laid out for us, we can wake up just like he did, just like all of the bodhic sattas that we have stories of from the past like this has happened again and again and we can see the evidence that this path works. And if we also follow the recipe, we'll get the same cookies and they're delicious.

[00:48:30]So, we are incredibly fortunate to be living in a time when the Buddhist teachings are still available. We were not born in the Buddhist times. We were not there. We were not there to see uh the Buddha.

[00:48:44]But we have the blessings of the Buddhist teachings thanks to Pameba who brought Buddhism to Tibet and founded the Ningma school of Buddhism which is what we practice here. And Pomava is actually the condensed essence. So Pamea is the statue in in the middle here is representing Pomus and Babava. Um, and Bama Zimbabwe is actually the condensed essence of all of the Buddhas and Bodhic Sapphas. He's a fully enlightened Buddha and through his form, primordial wisdom manifests in the world to benefit all sensient beings.

[00:49:21]And Buddha Shakimuni actually predicted that Pama would appear. There are 19 different sutras and tantras containing clear predictions of his arrival and activities.

[00:49:34]Um there's a sutra called the in the Mahapara Mahapara Nirvana Sutra is when the Buddha Shakimuni announced his own Mahapara Nirvana to the students who were with him at the time. That is a ma Mahapara Nirvana is like the passing of a teacher. We don't say they died because they didn't die. they've already they've attained like a deathless state really. So so we don't say they died.

[00:50:07]It's when a great teacher passes like that, it's their maha para nirvana. It's like their transition or passing. But uh um so the Buddha Shakimuni said he was going to go and many of his students particularly Ananda who was the Buddha's cousin and personal attendant were very upset hearing this. And so the Buddha turned to Ananda and told him not to worry.

[00:50:33]And he said that eight years after his Mahapari Navana, a remarkable being with the name Pamas and Baba will appear in the center of a lotus and reveal the highest teachings concerning the concerning the ultimate state of the true nature bringing great benefit to all sensient beings.

[00:50:52]Buddha Shakimuni said that Pamea would be even more enlightened than himself.

[00:50:58]Of course, um Buddha Shakimun is like fully enlightened. So, this is one of like the math doesn't really add up.

[00:51:04]There's no more you can't be like any more percent than 100%, right? So, um a little just rhetoric there. But um but we can begin to understand by that the importance of Guru Pama Sbava that he really will carry on you know this this legacy in these teachings of the Buddha and that it will be so important what he will bring forth to the world.

[00:51:38]So some accounts even say that guru is a direct reincarnation of Buddha Shakimuni.

[00:51:45]Um and Buddha Shakimuni also said that Pomava would be an emanation of Buddha Amitaba and Aalokeshvara and referred to him as the embodiment of all the Buddhas of the three times.

[00:51:57]There were many many prophecies that indicate that Guru Pashe would be a fully enlightened Buddha appearing in the world to help sensient beings.

[00:52:09]But you might have not seen Gurimp walking around in your daily life either. So what do we do with that? To paraphrase Gurupama Sbava, he said, "Maybe you won't see my body, but I will come as your teachers."

[00:52:25]So when you see your teachers, know that Guru Rimpache is with you.

[00:52:37]says she was um this is from a teaching from uh late 80s I think it was the late 80s that this teaching was from. So um so she's mentioning his holiness penimp and galarimpache uh his holiness penimp's previous incarnation and galimpe who were alive at the time she's talking about this but um I think we can extrapolate her words here to mean any of the teachers that we have today. She said, "Try to practice guru yoga properly. Realize that right now miraculous activity is in your life.

[00:53:13]The reality of non-dual mind is in your life and it's your best friend. It's right in front of you. The whole visualization of countoango and what it means, it's not just a visualization. It's the truth. It's really there. You have this. We have his holiness and we have gelarese and you have your root teacher. That means it's for real. It's the truth. It's right there with you. And she said, "Try to realize that right now you have every reason and cause and expectation to deepen properly. You have everything you need if you just do it. What are you so distracted about? Just do what you have to do and do it now before it's too late.

[00:54:08]So, our teachers are another thing that we take for granted. And we take for granted the presence of our teachers in the world. And we take for granted that they're there to answer our questions about if we should, you know, go to the beach this summer or if we we should buy a house or, you know, whatever worldly priorities that we may have.

[00:54:35]instead of really recognizing that Guru Rimpache is here with us right now living just right over there that we have this jewel and upholding this jewel properly upholding the Buddhas that are appearing in our world right now.

[00:54:59]You know, we have she mentioned his hoist and galrimp. We, you know, his hoist penimpete. Now we have his young his young who hopefully will come visit here one day. Um, and hopefully we have a beautiful new temple by then.

[00:55:14]And we have the heart sons. We have so many teachers that have come through here. uh so many of the amazing masters of our lineage have come through here with Jetsma's blessings and taught here and if we could see that you know guru says you won't see my body but I will appear to you as your teachers if we could see all of the Buddhas that we are sharing space with and that we have the opportunity to provide a space for and invite them in this is sukavati you've been born in sukavati okay like these are the Buddhas are here. This is the pure realm. This isn't there's no other pure realm somewhere else. The pure realm is inside of you. The pure realm is wherever your mind is at. And if you can recognize the Buddhas as the Buddhas when they are in front of you, then you're in the pure realm right then. You know, it's right there.

[00:56:18]Like daywatch, Dewa Chen is a state of mind.

[00:56:24]Jets said this like dewan is a state of mind and um she said something to me once of like oh I think this I think this person was maybe this person and I said um but I thought that person when they died I thought they went to Dewa Chen and she was like you don't think that you don't think that someone could be in Dewa Chen and be here and it was like Dewa Chen is a state of mind.

[00:56:57]They are in Dewa Chen.

[00:57:01]>> We see them.

[00:57:03]She was talking about a dog. We see them as a dog. They're in Dewa Chen.

[00:57:18]So yeah, we don't have to go anywhere else.

[00:57:24]When you when you die and you're trying to go to Deawa Chen, you're not like getting on a Delta flight and going somewhere, you know, like it's right here. You're in the same mind that you're in right now.

[00:57:35]It's it's the same mind. It's just a state of mind.

[00:57:41]a state of mind in which you have no obstacles to practicing the dharma, in which you can just practice the dharma and receive all of the teachings. And if we look around, what is this place? We have a 24-hour prayer vigil. You can pray here day and night. We have endless opportunities for classes and teachings and empowerments and everything you could possibly wish for.

[00:58:06]So, so it's important that we contemplate impermanence because we only have this opportunity because we have created the causes for it. And if we are not actively creating the causes for it, then our own inertia will it will disappear. You have to be you have to be outpacing impermanence, right? Like any causes we've created, they are disappearing. It's sand passing through an hourglass. So, we have to continue to create the causes faster than we are burning up our merit, faster than impermanence swallows things into the tides of time. We have to continually create the causes. Create the causes. Create the causes.

[00:58:47]And if you do, the dharma will shine forth. It just does. Buddhas just appear. They are always there. They're always there. They're just waiting for us to see them and to look at them.

[00:59:00]So, so to come back to impermanence, we're going to do a we're going to do a meditation. Um, so Chad Tubash says, "When we truly realize that everything is impermanent, we naturally feel compassion for others because we see that people's belief in the solidity of their experience, their clinging to it as something stable and reliable, causes them to suffer.

[00:59:26]awareness of impermanence and the compassion it arouses becomes the foundation of our life and spiritual practice.

[00:59:35]So as I was saying, it's really important that we really assimilate this understanding of impermanence into our being or it won't have much impact on our life. If it's just something we can pair it, you know, and say it doesn't do much. We have to really believe uh we have to really understand impermanence and we do that through meditation.

[00:59:55]That's how we work the teachings into our own understanding.

[01:00:05]So, we'll just take a moment to settle into your seat.

[01:00:14]Now, sit up straight with a straight spine and relaxed body.

[01:00:31]Just take a moment to feel natural. Just feel awareness that you are sitting or be aware that you're sitting in your seat.

[01:00:43]Be aware that you are breathing.

[01:01:00]And then begin by examining every aspect of your experience.

[01:01:08]The universe, the earth, your neighborhood, your relationships, your body, speech, and mind, your interests and values, even your selfidentity.

[01:01:25]And see if you can find anything permanent.

[01:06:00]Then let the mind rest.

[01:06:04]It's just like a letting go. Just don't try to do anything.

[01:06:11]Just let your mind rest effortlessly.

[01:06:42]And then now generate compassion for all beings who do not understand impermanence and who cling to things as being solid and real and suffer because of this misunderstanding.

[01:08:46]and then let the mind rest.

[01:09:17]And then now make a commitment of what you will do to help free all sensient.

[01:09:24]beings from suffering. To help these beings who are suffering, from their misunderstanding of reality.

[01:10:46]And then let the mind rest.

[01:11:17]And then now make a prayer that you will succeed in helping all beings.

[01:11:25]and frame phrase this however you like in your own words in your head. Pray to be able to do this to be able to free all beings from their suffering and to help all beings.

[01:12:56]And then again let the mind rest.

[01:13:19]Well, welcome.

[01:13:24]So, now one last thing that I want to do in our class. If I could have someone help pass these out.

[01:13:33]Um, might need to share.

[01:13:38]I did not have a stapler. So, if you guys you guys could work together. Thank you. Hold the pile.

[01:13:48]>> You split the pile. Maybe >> my computer just died. So now I can pull mine up here.

[01:14:05]>> Yeah, it's the whole packet.

[01:14:07]>> Yeah. So it should be like pages 3 to 10.

[01:14:16]There's 12 copies. People might need to share.

[01:14:21]>> Um, it's also online if people want to pull it up on their phone. It's in the calendar description for today. Or you can Google Lotzawa House Princess Mandava's prayer on your phone. If you're watching online, maybe just Google Lawa House, Princess Mandava's prayer and you can read along with us.

[01:14:41]Right.

[01:14:54]All right. So, we'll just read this together in English.

[01:15:00]Imaho.

[01:15:01]Beautiful, wonderful, youthful emanation body, dazzling, glorious, magnificently radiant form, gorgeous net of all major and minor marks. Or again, never do I tire of gazing on your emanated form. I pray to you, look upon me with compassion. Liberate me from samsara's sufferings. Sorry, I'm going to interrupt. Organ she's talking about is gurimpet organ. Rimp is guru and pashes who we're talking about here. Sorry.

[01:15:32]Your divine voice with melodious vajra songs in tones the soothing sounds of dharma clear and profound Oregon. Never do I tire of listening to your emanated speech. I pray to you. Look upon me with compassion. Liberate me from samsara's sufferings. Guiding the beings of the six realms beyond Samsara. Your compassion flows uninterruptedly in your wisdom eyes. Oregon, never do I tire of gazing into them your heart's expression. I pray to you, look upon me with compassion. Liberate me from Samsara's sufferings.

[01:16:13]No matter how ancient or exalted my homeland may be, it cannot endure forever. For it is like a city in the clouds. On the day I die, I will leave my homeland behind. My only true homeland is you, Oregon rimpete. I pray to you, look upon me with compassion.

[01:16:34]Liberate me from samsara's sufferings.

[01:16:37]No matter how magnificent and grand a mansion I may have, I cannot stay in it forever. For it is like a bubble ready to burst. On the day I die, I will leave my home behind. My only true home is you, Oregon ripache. I pray to you, look upon me with compassion. Liberate me from samsara's sufferings. No matter how sumptuous my food, wealth, and enjoyments, they cannot last. Like a dew drop on a blade of grass. On the day I die, there is nothing I can carry with me. My only true inheritance is you, organ ripe. I pray to you. Look upon me with compassion. Liberate me from Samsara's sufferings.

[01:17:25]No matter how good my parents and siblings may be, they will not be with me forever. Just like clouds in the sky.

[01:17:34]On the day I die, I will leave my family behind. My only true family is you, Organ Rimpachche. I pray to you, look upon me with compassion. Liberate me from Samsara's sufferings. No matter how marvelously strong my friends and spouse may be, they will not endure and are but a temporary resting place. On the day I die, friends will be of no help. My only true friend is you, Oregon ripache. I pray to you, look upon me with compassion. Liberate me from samsara's sufferings. Though I may gather wealth and fame in this life, none of it can last. For they are but like the clap of thunder. On the day I die, my fame will be of no more use. My only true fame is in you, Organ Rimpache. I pray to you, look upon me with compassion. Liberate me from Samsara's sufferings. Though I may be learned, proud, and influential in this life, none of it can last. For it's but like the clap of thunder. On the day I die, my pride and learning will offer no support in hell. My only true support is you, Oregon ripache. I pray to you, look upon me with compassion. Liberate me from samsara's sufferings. I am distracted from the reality of this life by worldly tasks and swayed by attachment and aversion.

[01:19:06]I'm bogged down in suffering. I have taken up this dreadful body of accumulated negativity. Look upon me with compassion. Organ Rimpache, I pray to you. Look upon me with compassion.

[01:19:20]Liberate me from samsara's sufferings from now on and in all future lives.

[01:19:27]Vidyadara, please care for me with compassion. An utmost guide. As you care for me with compassion, please show me the sublime way of the vajra vehicle. I pray to you, look upon me with compassion. Liberate me from samsara's sufferings.

[01:19:47]So that prayer was written by Princess Manderava. Our founder and spiritual director Jetsma's an emination of Princess Mandava. Um and she thinks this is a really beautiful prayer. So I hope you will take that home and take it to heart. Um and uh and then at the end of this class we always do uh this chenres practice here.

[01:20:14]So, Chinres, the Buddha of compassion and this starts with the sevenline prayer to Guru Rimpache which we'll do once and then and then a visualization and praise of Chenresig who is the Buddha on the front of the prayer packet.

[01:20:42]Good.

[01:20:44]All right, let's do it in English.

[01:20:47]>> The northwest country of Udana, born in the pollen heart of a lotus, endowed with the most marvelous spiritual attainments, you are renowned as the lotusb born surrounded by a retinue of many dinis. Following in your footsteps, I pray to you, please come forth and grant your blessings. Guru Pema city homeu city home >> your thousand arms are the thousand universal monarchs your thousand eyes the thousand Buddhas of this fortunate age you who teach each and every one of us according to our needs Lord Ablohvara to you I pay homage Am I okay?

[01:21:37]I'm free.

[01:21:48]Every month every month and monthary cream.

[01:22:15]I'm been my mother.

[01:22:31]My mother By this virtue, may I swiftly accomplish the state of Chenres, and may all sensient beings without exception be placed in that very state. By this effort, may all sensient beings be free of suffering. May their minds be filled with the nectar of virtue. In this way, may all causes resulting in suffering be extinguished and only the light of compassion shine throughout all realms.

[01:23:46]Thank you so much, Tira. Truly.

[01:23:50]Um, thank you all so much for being here today. Um, so glad that you're here at KPC. Um, it's traditional to, uh, make an offering after receiving the Dharma teaching. There are baskets in the back.

[01:24:04]Um and you can make an offering um for Tira and of course our teacher for Eminence Jetszma Akamono Rimpushe and also to KPC as well. Um we also have a resident Kempo Kempo Carz who teaches here as well and is currently in upstate retreat. So he'll be back later in August to continue um uh teachings here at 11:30 on Sunday. Um we have many wonderful opportunities to practice the dharma coming up and uh to deepen in our path. We have a whole schedule um you'll see in the back there and also in the um as you first walked in a schedule of all of the retreats and empowerments coming up. We have a very special opportunity for empowerment. Uh on the weekend of August 15th and 16th we have a mandushri and white tara empowerment and this will um kind of be an initiation uh and blessing to be able to practice these um uh practices of of mandush and whitara.

[01:25:07]um uh so please come to that and we also have um a nundro retreat uh at the end of August um which is a preliminary really profound preliminary practice which lays out really the whole path and um so there's an opportunity for that as well and then you can just check out all the many dates we have all the way till March. Um, today we have some more programming coming up. So at 1:30 we have a drum circle at the Guru statue across the street. I checked the air quality and it said good. So we are we can breathe outside. It's in the green zone now. We had all that rain.

[01:25:49]>> So um so come drum with us. We have many instruments and we'll sing mantra and it's actually for the rain. So bringing more rain um to uh because we've been in a drought. Um and then also if you want to stick around uh after that too we have a fire puja practice and soak uh there at the guru pushet satchin that's at 2:30 so they kind of flow right into each other so you can stay for that and please just enjoy uh the grounds um we have beautiful koi ponds um wonderful statues and um the stupas and then across the street 65 acres of walking trail. So there's many ways to be here and engage. Um and u we hope that you take advantage of that and you have any questions. We also are gathering >> matching gift.

[01:26:35]>> Oh yeah. Okay. There's so many so many more. Um we also have a wonderful opportunity maybe some of you are aware of the humanitarian arm of KPC is KPC Buddhist Relief. And so we offer um many uh uh like eight tons of food every month to people in need in this area, Montgomery County, DC and beyond.

[01:26:59]We're um expanding into PG County as well. So this is a a huge effort and we got a very um generous matching gift. Um so we have if we are we have a matching gift of $10,000. So, if we are able to meet that matching gift, then we have $20,000 to um help support feeding people in our community. So, um we are about where was the last >> like 3,000 to go, I think.

[01:27:29]>> Yeah, we have 3,000 to go. So, we're really close. So, if you give $50 is $100. We got 10020. So, anything you give is a is a matching um donation. And um so, please help us reach that goal.

[01:27:41]It's really exciting. You can do that by going to kpc buddhddistereiefief.org.

[01:27:47]There'll be a popup and you'll know what to do because it'll say matching grant.

[01:27:50]So or matching kit. So um please check that out and um >> it has to be through that link.

[01:27:58]>> It has to be through that link. So that's how we're tracking everything. So please click the link on the website. Um I think that is all the announcements for today and thank you again so much for being here. So >> yeah. Thanks.

[01:28:13]>> Oh, yeah. And um we're now it's just a time to um have some refreshments in the other room. We have some tasty like mint water.

[01:28:22]>> Looks really good. There's some good pastries there.

[01:28:24]>> Pastries and tea and stuff. So, please come and we can talk and um you can check out the library in there, too. So, all right. Thank you. Thank you.