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Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching at Rinchen Jangsem Ling, Malaysia, April 2016. Photo by Bill Kane.
During the Medicine Buddha retreat at Rinchen Jangsem Ling in Malaysia in April, Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave an exceptional teaching on emptiness over two sessions on April 14, which can be watched online with all of Rinpoche’s other teachings in Malaysia.
Here is a short excerpt from the lightly edited transcript of the teaching:
“… I explained one night – night or day I don’t remember – that the I exists in mere name, merely labeled by the mind, by the valid mind, because there is a valid base, the aggregates. So the five aggregates we have, the association of that is the valid base, the aggregates, a valid base. The base to be labeled I, self, I, not this eye with which you can see things but the I, the self. And the ‘I’ is the label. The aggregates are the base to be labeled and the I is what is labeled on that. Those two do not exist separately but they exist differently. That is important to know. They do not exist separately like the self, the I, and the table, throne, or light. They do not exist separately from the aggregates but they exist differently: one is the base to be labeled and one, the I, is what is labeled on that. The I is also merely labeled by the valid mind. It exists in mere name, merely labeled by the valid mind, because there is a valid base. I, action, object, also object, what is the object? In reality it exists in mere name, merely labeled by the mind, by the valid mind, because there is a valid base. Like that the whole entire hell and enlightenment, samsara and nirvana, happiness and problems in everyday life, so everything, everything exists in mere name. What exists is in mere name, merely labeled by the mind.
“So it is explained, let me see if I can remember, what exists is explained in the Madhyamaka: that which does not receive harm from the absolute wisdom. So the real I, truly existent I, I existing from its own side, I existing by its nature, in our common language the real I, so that is what is totally empty. It does not exist at all. That real I receives harm from the absolute wisdom, the wisdom realizing absolute truth, emptiness only. It receives harm from that. Because that wisdom, absolute wisdom, that ultimate wisdom, sees the real I, what appears to us from beginningless rebirths up to now, from this morning, from birth, from beginningless rebirths, and you hundred percent without doubt you believe it, and you work for it, you believe and work for it, your body, speech, and mind works for the real I. Do you understand? For the real I.
“There are numberless buddhas and non-bodhisattva, numberless ordinary sentient beings, arhats, bodhisattvas, ordinary sentient beings, arhats, arya sangha, the ordinary sentient beings, they are numberless, numberless hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals, human beings, sura beings, asura beings, intermediate state beings. They are numberless, but you from beginningless rebirths up to now have been working only for the real I, working for the real I from beginningless rebirths, not only now, but it didn’t exist. You understand? But it didn’t exist, at all. You understand? That you have to know, to realize, to discover. …”
Watch Rinpoche teach on emptiness at Rinchen Jangsem Ling: 6 p.m. teaching (https://youtu.be/aNcQo1yBW7Y), 8 p.m. teaching (https://youtu.be/SK5Ibft87LI)
Free, on-demand videos of many of Rinpoche’s international teachings are made available on FPMT’s Rinpoche Available Now page.
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.