Todayand#8217;s Dharmabyte, and#8220;The Suffering of a Wasted Lifeand#8221; is a track from the inspiring talk and#8220;Generating Bodhi Mindand#8221; by the dynamic Vajratara of Sheffield Buddhist Centre. Our speaker beautifully guides us through the second section of Tsongkhapaand#8217;s short text on The Three Principle Aspects of the Path as she challenges us to examine our own suffering created in not living fully to our potential.
Talk given at Taraloka, May 2009.
[Music] Dharma Vites is brought to you by Free Buddhist Audio, the Dharma for real life. Our work is funded entirely by donations from our generous listeners. If you would like to help us keep this free, come and join us at freebuddhistaudio.com/community. Thank you, and happy listening. [Music] And even more important than this is the pervasive or existential suffering where we're not living in accordance with our potential. So I think this is quite important because when Sankarpa is talking about suffering, he's not just saying you've got to imagine everyone, you know, crying their eyes out or beating their brow or, you know, in this terrible, dark state. He's actually talking about something also much deeper than that. It's the suffering of a wasted life. And in a way, the suffering of wasted lives is even worse. And that's what you start seeing when you start to spiritually progress. That's what you start seeing when you start to release yourself from the wheel of life. You look back and you see that, okay, when people might be having the surface of it in quite, you know, happy lives. It's not like everything's going wrong all the time. But actually, you can see underneath that and you can see that they could be so much more. That actually, in some ways, they're not achieving their full potential. In some ways, well, it's okay as far as it goes, but in some ways, they're wasting their lives. And that's not okay. That's not okay when you've got the means to liberation, when you can see what you can really do with your life. You know, you might have found this treasure. It's like you found the treasure of the Dharma. And you know that it applies to everyone, and that everyone could use it. And you still see that people are living in poverty. And that in some way, that's unnecessary. So I think it's that kind of suffering that some person's really talking about. There's worldly misery, but there's also just a suffering of a wasted life, of a missed opportunity. Which in a way is much more terrifying than any other kind of suffering. And this is the vision of the Buddha, the vision of the Buddha when he became enlightened. In a way, my favorite descriptions of enlightenment are from Banti in the Adana Seminar, the one that was given in a tent on top of the hill in Cornwall. And he describes the Buddha's enlightenment very vividly, so I'll just read you a bit of what he said about that. He says, "The Buddha saw a whole vast process of individual existence. He saw how it comes into existence, how it develops and how it passes away, and how the whole thing is involved with suffering. He saw it in one great direct flush, as it were, and in a very sort of vivid and immediate fashion. He started looking around, and he saw how individual beings came into existence as a result of what they had done in their previous lives, how they perpetuated the whole process, and how they passed out into another life." So that's what the Buddha saw. We saw that we're trapped in the wheel of samsara, that we go round and round the same old thing again and again and again. But the Buddha also saw how it can change. He also saw that there is the possibility of liberation, and that we can be free from the wheel of samsara, that we can be liberated, not just us, but all beings. So that's the vision of suffering. It's seeing people suffering, seeing their wasted lives, and also seeing that they can change, that they can be liberated. And it's also realising that you are implicated. You are implicated in other people's suffering, because you're not separate from them. Their suffering is in some way your suffering. So Sankarpar talks about all beings your mothers are in this condition. So the traditional Tibetan view is that because we've been reborn again and again and again, everyone at some point has been our mothers. So I don't think that quite works for Westerners. Maybe it does for some of you, which is great, but I think some of us have to think imaginatively around this, also depending on what real relationship to your mother is really. I say mine is very good, just in case she ever hears this talk. I really love you, Mom, and I'm really grateful for never ever disowning me at any point. Anyway, enough about my mother. Yes, I think we've got to work with our imaginations with this and see that in a way the principle is to not write other people off. It's to not write other people's suffering off because it's not your suffering or because they're not related to you or close to you. Because I think sometimes it's also overwhelming other people's suffering that we can think, "Wow, they're in Africa. I just have no conception of what it's like to live in Africa, so I'm just going to close the door on that." And it's always, that's okay, because we need to protect ourselves to a certain extent. But actually, when we're looking at other people's suffering, it's important to realise that it's possible. It's possible to really care about other people's suffering, even if they're not related to you, even if they're not your friend, even if you don't like them, even if they're not yourself. So I think the principle is to always extend the boundaries of your compassion, because we've all got a limit somewhere. And in a way, that limit is a bit arbitrary. So it might be the limit of people you know, people you like, people you think deserve your compassion. But all those limitations, well, they're just slightly arbitrary. They're just a limit of your imagination. They're not really anything true about existence itself. So what Sompopo is asking you to do by imagining that everyone was at one time your mother, is asking you to extend the boundaries of your compassion just a little bit further each time. And maybe have an intimacy with other people's suffering, not just your own, but other people's. And other people maybe who you don't know that well, maybe other people who you don't like. Maybe other people who don't even deserve your compassion. It brings to mind, Shanti David's very famous quote from the Bodhi Chari Vattara where he says, "I should dispel the sufferings of others because it is suffering like my own suffering. I should help others because they're living beings as I am a living being. When we all want happiness and all fear suffering, what is so special about me that I only look after myself?" So it's seeing suffering as just suffering, not mine or yours, but just suffering and suffering that can be alleviated. And it's also longing for liberation. So you see suffering. You see the suffering of yourself. You see the suffering of others. You see that other suffering is no different from your own suffering. You see that it's possible to be liberated and then you long for liberation, long for liberation for all of us. For all of us from this whole sorry mess of samsara, not just me, not just you, but all of us together. And in a way, just talking about it, it's slightly less pretentiously innocent. It's meta. That's what meta really is. It's wanting yourselves and others to be happy. And compassion, wanting yourself and others to be free from suffering. Free from this mad world and free from running around the same old circles again and again and again. Longing for other people to be free of a wasted life. Longing for people to use their lives well. Longing for liberation. And in a way, I think that's why sometimes people ask me, "Oh, you know, I've been doing the phrases in the Metabarbana phrases and can I just not do them anymore?" And obviously, what you do in your own minds is completely up to you. But I kind of think, "Well, I haven't got to the bottom of those phrases yet, and I've been meditating for 14 years or something." So, and I feel like every time I say, "May you be well, may you be happy, may you be free from suffering, and may you progress." Well, I haven't really understood what that means. And I haven't really got to the bottom of that vision that all people can be free from suffering and that they can all progress. Because if I really understood that, if I really believe those phrases with all my heart, I wouldn't waste my time. I'd spend every single moment of my existence to help attain the liberation of myself and the liberation for others. But I don't. I waste lots of time on stupid things, like foul and ball paint. So, in a sense, you know, drop the phrases if you like, but speaking to myself personally, I don't think I've got to the bottom of what that really means. And I don't think I've really got that vision of existence yet. So, it's that it's meta and compassion, and Sankapa says to unite that with the force, with the trend of withdrawal. And when you stimulate those two forces, when you stimulate those two trends, you make a real tension. You know, a real kind of vivid experience, if you're being in your being, of wanting to withdraw and wanting to engage, then the bodicitta can arise. And it also means that you can be a lot more used to everyone else than if you didn't have those trends. Because it's no good just, well, I've said before, if we just get into our own tendency to withdraw, if our own trend to want to liberate ourselves from samsara, then there's the danger of pseudo-spiritual aestheticism. And if we get too drawn into just trying to help everyone else, well, then we just become busybodies. And we don't really help anyone because we're not coming from a very kind of real place. So we need those two trends to really make a difference to a world. We really need to feel our own spiritual practice and really do it. You know, don't just pretend to do it, really do it, really take the dharma into effect in your own life. And then really engage with others and help them to be liberated too. We hope you enjoyed the talk. Please come and help us keep this free at freebuddhistaudio.com/community. And thank you. [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] You You
