Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching at Khachoe Ghakyil Nunnery, Nepal, October 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche continues his video teachings on thought transformation from Kopan Monastery in Nepal. Here is a summary of the most recent teaching:

Rinpoche begins this teaching explaining that this thought transformation (lojong) teaching series began due to the coronavirus pandemic. While the whole lamrim is lojong, there is also lojong practices within the lamrim, whereby any obstacle or misfortune is utilized in the path to enlightenment.

To begin, one first has to train in using small problems in the path to enlightenment and enjoying them for sentient beings. For a bodhisattva, the idea of achieving liberation for oneself alone is like used toilet paper—something to be thrown out, not something to be regarded as happiness, Rinpoche explains. Conversely, a bodhisattva experiences being born in hell for sentient beings as incredible happiness, like a swan entering a pond on a hot day.

In order to go beyond samsara and achieve enlightenment, the two wings of bodhichitta and right view—conventional bodhichitta and absolute bodhichitta, or method and wisdom—are needed. Rinpoche refers to Phabongkha Rinpoche’s commentary on Lama Je Tsongkhapa’s Three Principal Aspects of the Path, which emphasizes the Prasangika view as the correct understanding of right view. Rinpoche talks at some length about how one comes to understand right view, touching on the views of some of the early schools of Buddhism. He then discusses the importance of understanding the difference between the Madhyamaka Svatantrika and Madhyamaka Prasangika schools’ views, including the different meanings of the phrase “truly existent” and what the gag ja, or object to be refuted, is.

Rinpoche talks about how, according to Trehor Kyorpon Rinpoche, the ease or difficulty one has for realizing emptiness depends on how many imprints one’s mind has from reading and studying emptiness. Reading the Diamond Cutter Sutra or the Heart Sutra often, even without understanding the meaning of the words completely, leaves important imprints. So it is very important to read these sutras and receive the positive imprints. Without them, no matter how many lifetimes you try, you cannot be free from samsara. Also it takes time to realize emptiness. But so many people put the happiness of this life first, which leaves very little time to learn Dharma, and so realizations don’t happen.

Rinpoche refers to Phabongkha Rinpoche’s commentary where it explains how to apply Buddhist logic to the object to be refuted. From beginningless rebirths you have been holding the “I” as real and holding it as precious, cherishing it more than all the sentient beings, all the buddhas and bodhisattvas. You have been protecting this “real I” from every single harm and trying to get all happiness for it. When you realize that this “real I” is not there, then you see that there is nothing to hold on to. Upon achieving this insight, many students don’t realize that they are entering a critical point for understanding emptiness. If one becomes frightened and doesn’t carry the experience forward, one loses this important opportunity and nothing develops.

For higher intelligence beings, the recognition that the “real I” isn’t there causes incredible joy to arise, tears come to the eyes, and the body hairs stand on end. But for lower intelligence beings, this recognition can cause confusion and fear to arise; suddenly there is nothing to hold on to. It is a huge surprise, Rinpoche explains.

You have been working your whole life trying to get happiness for the “real I,” harming sentient beings in the process—putting others down, cheating others, telling lies, engaging in sexual misconduct, and even killing sentient beings. You have cheated yourself with your wrong concept, totally deceiving yourself from beginningless rebirths with this ignorance. Holding the “I” as real and as the most precious is the most frightening garbage, Rinpoche says. Worse than kaka! Kaka didn’t make you suffer since beginningless rebirths like cherishing the “real I” has. In fact, sometimes kaka can be useful, like to help vegetables grow.

So when you realize there is nothing to hold on to, no “real I,” you think you are falling into nihilism, thinking that nothing exists at all. That thought distracts the mind and interferes with realizing emptiness. However, Rinpoche says, the idea is to let go of the fear. It is like a river, you have to go through it, in order to cross it. Let the “I” be totally lost.

At the beginning you start to recognize your false concept about the “real I,” Rinpoche explains. Then you start to correct it. You meditate on dependent arising. You meditate that there is no “I” there. You discover that it is totally nonexistent from its own side. You see how it exists in mere name. You repeat this experience over and over many times everyday, and your realization becomes stronger. It is so unbelievably subtle, Rinpoche explains, and you think, “I am born in mere name. I am dead in mere name. I am old in mere name. I am sick in mere name. The ‘I’ is creating negative karma in mere name. I create good karma in mere name. I achieve enlightenment in mere name. I experience hell in mere name. I experience samsara and nirvana in mere name.”

Everything is there, but it is as if it doesn’t exist, like a dream. There is an “I,” but it is totally empty. It is there but it is as if it doesn’t exist. This is soooooo subtle. Otherwise, if it doesn’t exist at all, you don’t need to keep morality, you don’t need to follow discipline. When you have fear of falling into nihilism, you must go through it. Then you will see you are the most fortunate to have this experience of emptiness, realizing how the “I” is empty.

We invite you to go deeper into the topics presented here, plus many others, by watching Rinpoche’s video and reading the full transcript of Rinpoche’s teaching.

Watch Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teaching “Holding the I as Real and the Most Precious Is the Most Frightening Garbage”:
https://youtu.be/0oaZgYwzKqQ

• Read the transcript of Rinpoche’s teaching
• For more from Rinpoche on the object to be refuted, please see Recognizing the False I
• Find Rinpoche’s Teachings on Thought Transformation translated into Spanish, Italian, French, Chinese, and Russian
• Dedication verses for COVID-19 Crisis Teachings

Watch more from the video series Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Teachings on Thought Transformation during the Time of COVID-19 and find links to videos in transcripts, MP3s, additional practice advice, and more:
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/announcements/resources-for-coronavirus-pandemic/advice-from-lama-zopa-rinpoche-for-coronavirus/

Practice advice from our teachers, Dharma study-from-home opportunities, and more can be found on the page “Resources for the Coronavirus Pandemic.”

Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.