Teachings on Sutra | Jigme Khyentse Rinpoche on ‘Aspiration’

welcome everyone and thank you for joining us from around the world I'm joy and I'd like to wish everyone a very auspicious children today we are very honored to be celebrating children with digmae Kansas has played an important role from the Inception of 84 000 translating the words of the Buddha he was a key participant at the beer conference in 2009 during which the idea for 84 000 was born and he continues to offer us his support in many ways during the covid-19 pandemic he kindly offered to recite two sutras for our Sutra for well-being

series which offered so much Solace and support to people worldwide you can find recordings of vermic's recitation of the dedication fulfilling all aspirations and the dedication protecting all beings on the 84 000 website on this auspicious occasion of children which celebrates the Buddha's Miracles we are very fortunate to have ramuccia here to share insights on the topic of making aspirations before we invite rumite to start the teaching let us all recite the aspiration prayer for 84 000 composed by Brahma pushpa an aspiration prayer for 84 000. as peace Harmony sanity and the well-being of this

earth and its inhabitants are now so endangered May there never be a time when the world's Media School textbooks and daily conversations stop using words like generosity patience and loving kindness and when the meaning of such words is lost As We Fear The Darkest Hour of this Dark Age May there never be a time when words like impermanence unsatisfactoriness selflessness dependent arising illusion Maya and emptiness cease to exist and when their meaning is lost May the Endeavors of the translators and editors plant the seed of the Dharma in all directions May the efforts of the

patrons and administrators nurture and strengthen the shoot of the Dharma at all times May the noble aspirations of this endeavor maintain and propagate the precious Dharma far and wide this prayer was composed by Brahma pushra in India June 2020. thank you everyone for reciting the aspiration prayer together now let us invite rumite to begin the teachings so I would like to start by greeting everyone on this precious occasion of Transportation a miracle month where the manifested in all manifested miracles throughout this these 15 days and today on the 15th is um he manifested miracles and

so for us it is a miracle that that with those teachings are still available to to study to read and especially in all different languages I hope and I pray one day that just as it is available in it's a pattern from which everyone at uh 84 000 are mainly translating from hope I pray that one day it is available in every language including um the languages um of I can't pronounce this name this word but the clicking language that I've seen it um a few times I hope and I pray that it is available

in every single language and if it can be then I think it would be really a miracle um I mean so first I would like to thank everyone at 84 000 for continuing your um courageous work because um what is being done here is not something insignificant it is really with those words that are being um made available in one of the most widely spoken languages English and this is no um small fields so I'm sure that working on it is quite quite a challenge for many but I would like to thank you for doing

this and really encourage you to continue because you're making an impact not only on a few people but actually making uh it's have an impact on the language itself the English language so that many many centuries and different future if this world is still here then we will all we will all have the opportunity um to have participated in something so precious I would also like to take this movement to thank every other translation that has been undertaken um not just 84 000. but all traditions anything that the Buddha has taught that is being translated

Buddha and the Buddhas and what is have taught especially um very dear to us Clinton was words are being translated and I would like to thank everyone for participating in it for us is none other than the Buddha in Tibet um many of my teachers would call him a second Buddha after that because in many traditions we hear about second Buddha but I would like to also thank everyone who was working on translating into Emperor's words and thank them for doing this so so now my friends at 84 000 asked me to talk about aspiration

and of course aspiration is something so fast in fact um was and I may be wrong but I think that um in terms of aspiration for us ordinary beings most of the time of course I can't say about others but in my case my aspirations are simply self-centered murky and if I check what my aspirations are most of the time if I just sit and think what is going on in my mind I think most the time it's just neutral almost indifferent and that is not the aspiration that we're talking about here that we're trying

to talk about um teachers like everything's remember and of course and foreign [Music] a few of them whenever they used to teach I remember when I was receiving teachings with captions religion whenever he used to teach first couple of minutes of his teaching would be simply just to remind us of aspiration what we want to do why we wanted to and what was quite um memorable is that any of our teachers they used to mention a few different types of aspirations that are available to us not all of them are necessarily desired but first one

as I was saying they would let us know they would tell us to check our motivation and then to make sure that our motivation is adapted to whatever it is that we are trying to accomplice so as someone following the Buddha's teachings and as someone who was following the Buddhist teaching in order to follow his example then the first kind of aspiration that I taught about the indifferent aspiration or rather it's not even an aspiration it's sort of a love in which we are and then we we do things and if that kind if that

is the the basis of our aspiration even though I may think I'm doing something to become helpful dissension beings even if I'm thinking that whether that is actually the case or not is something that this is very important for us to check is that actually what I'm thinking of or am I just sitting there because I'm supposed to do something for example like right now as I'm sitting here and those of you who are listening tuning into this channel what is your aspiration in the background of your mind what is the theme that is operating

in the background is it a wish to become awakened is it a wish to bring all sentient beings to Awakening is it a wish that we are able to have at least and not uh not a bad rebirth it might just simply wishing that um I will be happy in this life or um are we just simply wishing that this particular session will go without any what is it called any obstacles difficulties I'm sure this has happened um in your mind those of you who are arranging this probably sitting there wondering and hoping that we

are all in a place where we have a good internet and that there will be no glitches is that the motivation or are we just there none because uh we have had a hard time difficult day today which one is it that is inspiring our actions so aspiration starts with that to check what is actually going on in our mind what is aspiring our conduct our actions our thoughts our emotions so first we need to be able to notice episode if it is the first one it is not conducive to Awakening if it is the

second one that we would at least like this um there's a session to go without difficulty then our aspirations will take us that far however long this session is going to be meant to be if it is half an hour hour and a half then after that our aspiration has expired and this kind of expire expiry date is not like the food or the medication expiry date which I was told isn't quite that exact you can still take those medications couple of years afterwards or if that food is still valid for a few months afterwards

and also we see this kind of use by date on water says best before something those are of course man-made as man-made expiry dates and of course yes our aspiration is also man-made by us but we have made it precisely and if we wish if we're sitting there wishing may this thing go well during the session then by the time we have finished a lot of that aspiration has expired and it is redundant um it is not going to be functional and then as you know if we are doing this not just during this time

but maybe so that we have a good life like for example that's those of you and me includers who are working with this um maybe we're wishing that this will go well so that none of us feel disappointed that we didn't do it properly so if we're doing with that aspiration not to disappoint one of these facilitators including myself then again that is not the aspirate and aspiration which is conducive to Awakening although useful so that we were all be responsible and accountable but that's about it it will definitely not um bring us to Awakening

that aspiration or that Foundation is not what we're talking about here in terms of what the Buddha taught and then even if it is a bit more than that we are doing this so that we really don't end up in unpleasant life form in the future whether it is um in the animal realm the lower Realms or the High rooms if we practice if we do this practice if we are thinking I'm doing this Zoom session so that um me and all sentient beings can have a better life in the future that is great but

at the same time it is not going to bring us to Awakening to becoming like the Buddha you know [Music] because um that particular action is not earmarked for that reason so again even if that is not the case but we actually want to be free from the cycle of existence that we want to be free from the truth of suffering and truth of cause of suffering and we actually think that and we do it for that reason not only so that the zoom session works well not only so that um this our human life

the next couple of months or years will go well not only so that we are we have a better rebirth and even I think even if we do this so that we are free from suffering and truth of suffering you know truth of suffering and truth of cause of suffering that still doesn't precise why we're doing this in the sense that it does not precise Awakening so it is really like having a GPS if you don't put the coordinates clearly precisely there is no way we are going to reach that place so how precisely we

set the GPS well have an effect on where we get to so unless we have this wish to be coming able to bring all sentient beings to awaken it is not possible to become awakened so that aspiration is not going to make us awakened so it is not conducive to Awakening so I would like to first ask every one of you so just check what is this your present aspiration the purpose of spending this time together on this specifically powerful day are we going to perform a miracle and give rise to an aspiration similar to

or at least leaning towards the direction that made the Buddhist activity if we are able to do that even if our aspiration may be slightly leaning towards that then I think we can effectively say that this was a memorable Miracle month and today the miracle commemorating the Buddhas manifesting Miracles will have been one of the most memorable commemoration because we have given rise to the aspiration and altruistic aspiration in our mind which is usually quite Barren in terms of parichita of course when I'm saying here we I should probably say myself because I cannot talk

about others but if I look at my mind it is actually a miracle if once a day I'm able to have genuine genuine wish to become awakened most of the time we are triggered by our insecurities fear most of the time that is I think our purpose our aspiration so I just wanted to make sure that in terms of aspiration what we are aspiring to is something in tune with what made the Buddha Buddha as you know there are many many uh stories where the Buddha became sorry when when but there was a body suffer

where he gave rise to buddhijita the wish to become awakened for the sake of all sentient beings or rather the wish to bring all sentient beings to awaken and here in order for this aspiration to be um effective we need to know that the thought of sentient beings is indispensable thinking of sentient beasts is indispensable because the main thing that is preventing us from becoming awakened is the sleep of sleep or they slumber of self-centeredness and there's no other way of wait waking ourselves from that but other sentient beings other sentient beings thought of them

thinking of them draws us away from the Slumber of self-centeredness from the cushiness of self-centered that is why the wish to become awakened rather wish to bring Awakening to all sentient beings or wish to bring sentient beings to Awakening that aspiration is indispensable so thinking of all sentient beings is not just charity and it is not just some kind of add-on optional thing it is indispensable extension beings are indispensable to becoming Awakening so that wish is what what the as a bodhisattva had I think [Music] um many of you would have heard this story of

the Buddha when he was disciple actually the story starts with when the Buddha was giving teachings in India and then I just I think in the future it says that suddenly in the audience many bodhisattvas stood up and prostrated in a particular direction and then somebody thought was in the audience wanted the other members of the audience to understand what was happening so they asked about the why is it Lord Buddha why is it that these what is suddenly got up and looked in a different direction and frustrated while you were teaching here he said

that is because in that particular direction there is one what is software who just became enlightened that is why their prostrate and then they were curious they were asked they were very curious and then again um they asked about the what does this Buddha look like what is this place like and there Buddha said oh this Buddha is you know very oh and his place is beautiful there is no dust nor dirt and then it said that the audience students were all very students disciplined patient passionate and very diligent and suddenly many in the audience

started to wonder well how come is not so I suppose they felt that there but the hour Buddha was slightly inferior in terms of the description and then they said well how how come that is a that is so and the Buddha said it is because of the aspirations so then the Buddha told them what the aspirations were that he made so that these uh people in the audience the place was was so I suppose compared to the other with the the Sacrament in his place well there was uh their Stone there's dust there's dirt

and I suppose um there were people who were vulnerable weak um I suppose Nothing by comparison to these days in terms of discipline but still compared to the other brother they were not as disciplined so the brother told them this is all because of aspiration and then he explained to them how it happened and oh let me just tell you just few descriptions of that with the with the field they are all loving kind they don't have a murky mind like we do they're always in meditation they have all you know powerful um ability to

practice the parameters they have summator of a personal stronger and are able to um to dispel all power of the Mars so in that place the Buddha said there is no one engaging in non-virtuous actions they don't have pain they don't have strong negative emotions there's also no [Music] um smell I suppose um people at that time in that particular Buddha Freedom didn't have body odor imagine in the middle of the day when there's hundreds of thousands of people listening to the Buddha's teachings I'm just wondering how it must have been all those people having

to walk to the teaching place and sit in the sun sweating these people must have thought how come out with us students have such body odor whereas these this new this other Buddha would just begin but they didn't have so then the Buddha said oh listen I will tell you how this particular Buddha field of mine came to be then he said long time ago there was this King um his name was and a loose translation it sounds like wheel rim or something like that and that King had a minister whose name was ocean particle

and at that time the son of the minister had become a Buddha and so let's put the uh came to the city where his father was and of course when he came there he wanted to host the Buddha but the king because of his because he outranked the minister King said that it is his privilege going to be his privilege to host the Buddha so he hosted the Buddha for a long time and it said in the text that because of the Buddha's blessings the king even though he had his duties in the daytime looking

after uh his um subjects in the court Etc but in the evening he would come and make offering during the day everyone else the king's uh I suppose other [Music] um subjects would make offerings on behalf of the king and then at night the king himself would make offerings and he would call to the lamp in his hands two hands one on top of his head and then sit in front of the brother he found such joy that he did not feel tired he would even stand on one foot and put lamps on his knee

on his shoulders and sat there all night but because of the Buddha's blessings the king did not feel the slightest bit tired and slightest bit Disturbed so he the king made offerings of flowers and clothes and food for a long time and then when uh the king's offering um we're coming to an act the time that he had decided to make an offer then the minister went to the king and asked him your majesty War what are you going to dedicate it for and then the king thought and then that time again the minister said

please I request you I plead with you to dedicate your marriage so that you can become a Buddha the king said I am not going to dedicate her for that I want to Dedicated my marriage so that my Dominion will become vast strong and that no I will have um Divine God God Realm like power and wealth Etc because he said I don't want to become Buddha I don't want to become a monk because uh the monks if I was a monk then he said that people would not obey him whereas is that as a

king people obey me and also he said I don't want to walk on on bare Earth I want to walk I want to be in my palace with no dirt Etc so anyway there's a long story I would like to ask you to search for this and then read it maybe you can Inspire yourself and then um the king refuse then again the minister insisted and the whole story goes that then he goes to the minister to ask the king and then the Buddha um shows uh and different um qualities and then the king thinks

of them and then he decides to think for a week or so and during that time that he was thinking and he was meditating no one was disturb so the minister was getting a bit impatient wanting to know so he checked and he checked in his dreams he saw that the king really didn't want to dedicate his Merit and or aspire to become up with a and then after some negotiating he negotiated with the King and told him please let us go to that window and will you agree to dedicate your marriage so that you

can become awakened if you can choose your buddhafield then the Kings thought that that was a good idea so then they went to the Buddha and then the Buddha said yes that's possible you can choose so then the king made aspirations saying when I become a Buddha I want my buddhafield to be like uh hazards with the ground to be precious stones and then there will be uh ponds and lakes and trees and even the trees when Wind Blows through it it will ReSound Sweet Melody and even the Birds will chirp in sweet melodious Dharma

words and then that king would live very long and that in that palette in that Butterfield in that country or with the field there will be no one with any kind of disabilities bad Health they will live very very long time and they will be very handsome very beautiful and they will all be very disciplined very elegant etc etc etc like many of the with the fields that are described so the king made that aspiration and then after that there were many other kings it's in fact I think there was uh about a thousand Kings

and Prince and princes and Etc and many of them made similar aspirations there was two who made aspirations to not become enlightened until all Ascension becomes like become enlightened so then after the turn of the the minister the father uh he made offerings and when he finished making his offerings I don't know how long it was I don't know a couple of weeks or months I don't remember precisely after that then it was his turn to make aspirations though he went in front of the Buddha and he made aspirations and it is said that he

made 500 aspirations and when he was there he was first so Overjoyed that all the other prince princes Kings made aspirations to become awakened for all for these sentient beings and then at the same time in the text it says that his heart was shaking like a leaf because he was so worried so sad for sentient beings who don't have the karma to be elegant good-looking Healthy Living long good character and this minister was in tears and then thinking sitting in front of him but he said for the sake of sentient beings that have yet

um to have with the to make aspirations for them but these sentient beings with bad character um short life vulnerable health poor poverty stricken and even if there are rich never satisfied who have jealousy who have miserliness who lack discipline who lack concentration who sorely lack wisdom yet you know they expect the result of all of them for those sentient beings who have been neglected by most of these but these Kings and princes I make the aspiration to be born at that time then the Buddha said to them that is why my buddhafield is like

this because of the Merit of these sentient beings which which is us um also our outer World manifests in that way so in a certain sense I think we can feel quite good and lucky fortunate that we have such defects compared to the other Buddha fields because after that we have had the buddhistamine make these aspirations as the minister um ocean particle and it is at that time also many of the other bodhisatters made aspirations saying when you become you know bodhisattva in your future lives may we be there to inspire you to practice the

six pound meters may we be there at that time to make you practice generosity make you practice patience make you practice um discipline make you practice concentration so all these bodhisattvas made those aspirations and thanks to those bodhisattvas we have the British accommending and he made these aspirations for us so the aspirations of these body Surfers is what is making us at this moment have this privilege this honor to be um fortunate enough to follow the Buddha it so in a certain sense the aspirations of the Buddha has made this possible but at the same

time aspirations have to be companies with some um some practice in discipline for example when the minister ocean particle made that aspiration from that moment on he practiced the six parameters practice of generosity as a bodhisattva the Buddha gave away his body his wealth as you can read and I'm sure you're all um aware of this like he walked on blades and Embers just to receive four-line teachings to benefit sentient beings to be able to give the gift of teachings to be able to give wealth to sentient beings those are so important for these aspirations

to be accomplished it is really important that we know that aspirations aren't just wishful thinking like I might sit here and think I wish I could go to the Moon if I don't put things in action to get to the moon then I'm not going to get there I will need the discipline possibly learning rocket science and gain enough wealth to build a rocket then that aspiration to go to the Moon by applying the practice the discipline of putting together what is necessary to get there is going to happen otherwise it's not going to happen

so discipline is important and then cleansing our observations our karmic observations or rather removing what prevents me from getting to the Moon is also important and all of this should be done with some um honested with some Integrity for example you can't I can't just pretend to do things to get to the moon if I don't do it then I won't get to the moon and in order for that to happen then I need to engage in positive actions that is what the Buddha did as the bodhisattva and that is what made the Buddha a

Buddha so aspirations isn't just simply sitting here and thinking I wish I could get that done in fact in one sitting if we can think of it properly if we give rise to this aspiration if we can um arrange this mindset properly which aspiration requires so that there is a discipline there is cleansing of observation and that we do it genuinely and that in that process we're actually engaging in virtuous actions then just this one thought giving rise to this aspiration can [Music] um have that result so in brief we need to make sure that

the aspiration is followed by a everything that is necessary for us to take us to what we are aspiring for so what that means is that when we have that aspirations aspiration we need to make sure that anything that is not compatible with it is noticed and what do we do when we notice it when we notice it then we need to be able to be realistic at this moment if I sit here and think I wish to become awakened for all sentient beings some of you for some of you may feel genuine for some

of us it will feel just like a word that we would like it to be genuine but we are lacking the feeling of the genuine aspiration [Music] in brief there's a fantasy and there's a reality in our aspiration we need to be able to distinguish those two and if we notice that we're fantasizing about an aspiration but that our reality does not catch up to that fantasy of aspiration if you notice that I was told that it is important not to feel disappointed in fact we should feel great that we have finally found out how

to give rise to aspiration because aspiring is also a training that we need to develop so when we notice our habits of insecurity our habits of annoyance irritation when we make aspirations for all Ascension beings as you know sentient beings don't quite do what we want them to do as long as sentient beings which could stay in their place not in my way then I can make aspirations then maybe it'll work but as you know sentient beings will not suddenly become um like this amenable to our aspiration and usually that is a problem for us

when we think I wish to become bring able to bring Awakening to All Saints and things you know that with it starts with those who are closest to us whether it is your parents your children your friends your husband your wife your partner we all go there with this wishful thinking you might for example buy them a present and expect for them to feel happy because you gave them that present sometimes they are sensitive enough to act happy sometimes not and when they are not it's so annoying we might think next time I'm not going

to buy this person that's present and that happens when we're doing our practices when that does I think we should feel good about it that we noticed what is happening and then we have the blueprint of what aspiration should be and what it shouldn't be and if it if what shouldn't be there arises is actually a good thing to notice it in fact I think we should actually celebrate thinking wow today I realized that I wanted to make this aspiration and I now know what it feels to make an aspiration so that now I can

actually make an aspiration and even if it is not pleasant it's not such a big deal because I'm not making it to feel Pleasant if that is what we're wanting to feel then go to a cafe get a massage that's easier so don't expect when you make an aspiration to feel like you've been given a massage don't expect your body to feel all oily and what do you call it refreshed like relaxed after going to Asylum aspiration is not for that so it's really important that when we're making aspirations that we don't mistake fantasy or

reality for reality or reality for a fantasy and also we don't mistake um aspiration for expression to be an antidote to the result of our past actions for each of the things that we are experiencing every single thing has a cause and effect cause and condition and we need to be able to find them so that's more or less what I can think in terms of aspiration so maybe we can have a short break now and if anybody wants to ask questions I will try to respond to your questions how about five minutes or three

minutes um what is the code bathroom break that sounds good too we'll see everyone back in five minutes yes so much thank you hello welcome back everybody um we have received a lot of really great questions from the audience from the chair so maybe I will begin with some of them so there there were a whole bunch of questions related to developing genuine boricita so for example we have a question from Carlos marcandes who asks um when establishing my aspiration I often feel like I'm just thinking about it intellectually nothing else could you elaborate more

on how to make this intellectual aspiration gain that magical element of boricita and just along the same lines we had a question from Aditi Schick who says that you know my question regarding aspiration to have the thought to awaken all sentient beings but I kind of feel ingenuine ungenuine while doing this because I haven't experienced or tasted Awakening myself so I'm just not sure how I can genuinely wish it for others so um that's the first question okay um so the link between those two questions is that it doesn't feel genuine okay the feeling that

it isn't genuine um that is a genuine feeling and both of you seem to be saying that you would like it to to evolve to a genuine feeling so can you relate to that that it is you genuinely would like your ungenuine aspiration to become genuine that is the beginning of it so I would suggest that first you really appreciate the genuine wish to have genuine body to them so that is why I was starting with the idea of indifference no when we start off for example if I ask some of you um how would

you no how would we say by digital in the clicking language you'd feel blank you have no idea how it's hard to say what is that well that's more or less sort of indifferent neutral mindset and from that we need to be able to evolve to full body system so um whatever it is that we're doing it is so important that we appreciate or connect with something as um I suppose tangible as possible I don't know if the two people were asked us asking this question uh understand what I mean and so once you start

with that if you can notice that you genuinely would like to be able to evolve to a genuine bodhichittan that is already building the foundation for digital you know when you start off building a house um it doesn't just suddenly when you decide saying okay this is where I want to build my house you won't suddenly have a beautiful house in which you can sleep in eating um stay it takes the nitty-gritty part of finding the money buying it paying the tax and then building finding contractors and most the time you know you're not sure

whether this contractor is honest or not because you have heard so many times that these contractors take the money and you end up with nothing and even if you have a house and what happens is that now you have to have somebody decorating it putting the plumbing in electricity are you going to get um what do you call this and honest one or are you going to end up uh redoing your plumbing three or four or five times I've had friends who've bought houses who at the end realized that their house is full of what

is it called mold and they've had to rebuild the whole thing and they've had to mortgage everything is no different because these Shady business people are nothing but our habitual patterns our mind acts like that so this is actually the reality of developing buddhistam if you're feeling that how difficult it is then actually you're doing the right thing and then if you need more um explanation on it then I suggest that you read the word the way of the body suffer how Shanty Deva tells us about the the advantages the qualities of bodyshita and what

it is and now when we're thinking we don't know what Awakening is if it is difficult to know what is the Awakening at least first try to connect with cessation what truth or cessation is and then slowly from that develop an understanding of what buddhahood is in terms of what whatever it is try to see if you can understand what um definition of Awakening is what Buddha is like in terms of the Buddha there is the two kayas or the four kayas or five cars and then in terms the wisdom the five wisdoms what they

are and then it will give us an idea of what Awakening is but in terms of truth of cessation for example as a Buddhist somebody following the Buddhist teachings we need to know that all of the Buddha's teachings can be understood through the framework of the Four Noble Truths what are the for Noble truth truth of suffering truth of cause of suffering truth of a path and truth of succession at least if we can understand what truth of suffering is often when we think of truth of suffering we mistake truth of suffering but just one

of the three sufferings suffering upon suffering well many of us second suffering is happiness most of the time we are making aspiration may I have what is it called suffering of change may all of us have suffering of change May and my child have suffering of change may my parents have suffering have changed may I have suffering of change I think we have to first understand what truth of suffering is even if it is not suffering routine even if it's a third one even that is still Improvement therefore it could turn into suffering of change

suffering of suffering so first we need to understand that and then we need to understand what brings that about you know bring the truth of suffering about in US for example when you think of truth of suffering don't think of some kind of generic truth of suffering far away but think in terms of your own experience like at this moment we might be experiencing the truth of suffering of not knowing how to develop genuine body data that is truth of suffering so what is the cause of it ignorance and along with it while we're trying

to develop the ability to remove that ignorance we are disturbed by [Music] um the desire to have something pleasant and the desire to not have something unpleasant so these two are disturbing it so these two are the cause of that particular truth of suffering or you might be suffering because you don't know where you're going to get your plumber from again just check in there which one of the truth of cause of suffering is operating and if you notice that and slowly if you start to reduce the truth or cause of suffering and through which

the truth of suffering will be reduced then we have an idea of what truth of cessation could be and in that process we have already embarked on the truth of the path so I hope this answers your question thank you everyone to for that very profound response to those questions and I and the analogy to building a house was just wonderful um and I think that's actually a good segue to the next question um the next question is kind of about um how to reconcile the different types of aspirations that we see in different prayer

texts so um this participant uh just named themselves M A the initials M A and they ask could remember should please comment on the fact that so many texts say that if we practice this sadhna or recite this prayer Etc we will be reborn in a good family or with good looks have wealth Etc um though all these material things are helpful on the past this seems contradictory to the Supreme motivation that rumuchi has talked about sometimes I feel like I'm just reading a sales pitch well it is a sales pitch because we need to

buy into becoming awakened so if you know good family good health good looking none of them hurt in fact they make it easier so that's why those aspirations are made for example if we make an aspiration saying you know may I be in my next life ugly poor unable to to to do anything make everyone else's life miserable that doesn't help so these aspirations that many many and our great teachers have made they make these aspirations because they have first-hand experience on how to do things for example if you if you were to fly to

some City are we going to make aspirations thinking May to see it on the plane be uncomfortable may it break maybe the the ear thing not work made the hostess be annoying to me that would be just torture so if we make aspirations all of these aspirations that are made in so many different and prayers are in order to help us reach Awakening because until we are fully awakened we are vulnerable to all these obstacles so these aspirations are made knowing the kind of um obstacles that we will meet and so that these obstacles won't

be there so these aspirations prayers of aspirations are not redundant they are actually very fine-tuned very Advanced aspirations that are made so that there is less obstacles in the path thank you that makes a lot of sense the next question that we have is related to the type of lifestyle that we should aspire to so an anonymous attendee asks Furniture if the causes and conditions arise should we aspire to leave World worldly life behind and practice in a secluded place like the great sittas or is it better to remain in the world and use our

relationships as support for practice I think um we should make aspirations that whatever will take us to the state where a place where we can bring sentient beings to Awakening May that happen I think the other two questions are um irrelevant so whichever works whichever works for us if we are asking that if we're worried about that then I think no don't leave things behind because we're not ready to if we are ready to this is something that's really important to understand now often we think of renunciation being something so important that we have to

renounce something pleasant as long as we think that we have to renounce something pleasant something that is good helpful and we do that I would question the the mental state of the person who was doing that because you know as somebody who really wants to become awakened somebody like Miller LIPA like all our teachers they left behind things because they knew what these things were so as long as you are so attracted to something like let us say this piece of paper and I still think this is a really valuable thing if I let go

of it I'll be constantly looking at it looking at it and then during that time I'm not looking at the camera and then we're not going to fulfill whatever we're trying to do so this thing as long as it is valuable to us and we think I should let go of this I think maybe we need to re-revisit the understanding of renunciation as long as we are renouncing something valuable useful good then um I think we haven't really got it but now this one this one I can throw especially if this is soiled by mice

not I think I will not feel any attraction to it renouncing that is really the healthy renunciation [Music] thank you the next question we have um some more fun one um Natalia Izard asks um if you have a quote unquote favorite aspiration prayer um or maybe one that you would encourage us to all of us to recite for example is it would it be the king of aspiration prayers would it be entering the city of omniscience by Jing Mei lingba um what is your personal favorite aspiration of course those two are you know beautiful great

I also like the aspiration prayer that made um I think in tibetan it starts with children and I don't really remember the name in English and sometimes we call it and there's many pre there's also some aspirations made by yes it starts with kid um I think if we are used to making aspirations then these are really really great aspirations and then of course if we can look into the if you have the ability then read the aspirations of our own teachers starting with Tamil kids all the way to our own present teachers then we

will have really many prayers of aspirations but there's some one of them is a very short one by Ashanti Devon as long as space endures as long as they're sentences and beings may I be there to serve them this is short so at least with this one we can't really think you know this is not the right time I don't have the time to do it Etc it is just there or transcription precious Etc those are I think um more practical for us especially we're in a in a time where we feel we're so busy

although I don't think that any of us are too busy to read the prayer of aspiration because at the most it must take about a quarter of an hour but anyway we are too busy even to have covered Court of an hour so I think we need to be practical we need to know what kind of person we are and what kind of aspiration we can do and we cannot not do at least because we don't have time and even if if we can't do any of them at least it will reveal us who we

are and we can be more honest thinking all right I really want to make aspirations but I'm incapable of doing it at least it would make us honest so if four line aspirations we can't do then at least just make up one line prayer that you can relate to you can't say oh this is you know prayers done made in the past Century it is not in tune with what I'm feeling and even if that is not it just have to wish that sentient beings the obstacle to all sentient beings Awakening our self-centeredness will be

you know lessened thank you I think we have time for one more question and we received several questions asking ramacha to elaborate on something you said at the very end of the talk um about mistaking aspiration for the search for antidotes to pass actions could you just elaborate a bit more on that um that is just to say that no sometimes when weather is aspiration or any practice we do most of the time we do it because you know we want to escape something we want to not uh feel something and most of the time

when we do it in that way I think that very often we are relating to our aspirations and prayers in a way that is a bit like a numbing agent well that is what I meant for example sometimes we might feel uh upset annoyed worried and then we make aspirations but at that time we met generally making aspirations are we just trying to make ourselves feel good that's what I meant and there's nothing wrong with making ourselves feel good if you recognize that if you notice that then maybe we can attempt to make a genuine

as genuine and aspiration as we can please don't worry about non-genuine aspiration whatever aspiration we can muster up slowly it will become genuine we will not suddenly become genuine even if you know even if it will take we need a courage that makes us feel that even if it takes me no 10 years to make a genuine aspiration I will do it and even if it will take me my whole life to make a genuine aspiration I will do it and even if it takes me a hundred lifetimes to make a genuine aspiration I will

do it that is how I think the bodhisattvas of the past were able to upgrade their aspirations because they did not give their aspirations are time limits they just wanted to have the the ability to awaken all sentient beings and that was it they didn't say as long as things are comfortable as long as I don't have to know feel uncomfortable wake up early in the morning go to sleep late at night and you know Miss some dates and some of my what is it called flicking right or left on the Tinder date as long

as I don't have any of them then I will give you know give rise to Puerto as long as there's none of those what do you call it conditional things but that we just want to become able to bring all sentient beings Awakening how long it takes how difficult it is actually irrelevant so it's not always we're not trying to compete with someone we're just trying to sow the seed of Awakening and then we're just trying to nurture that seed by watering it by protecting it from weeds by protecting it from other things that will

disturb it we really need to see our aspiration like a Seedling or like becoming pregnant just like a mother who is pregnant will take all precautions to give birth to the child and also whether it is you know how long it takes how difficult it is the parents the mothers usually do not think [Music] I'm going to take care of this child until this two years old 10 years old Etc I know of mothers who have who are 80 years old who have children of 60 years old and still taking care of them there's no

time limited and this is how it should be with our aspiration so please don't be in a hurry to have a good aspiration quickly because sometimes this sabotages it thank you so much and with that last last question we will bring our event today to a close remember thank you so much for taking the time on this auspicious day to share your wisdom with us may we all Endeavor to make and maintain our aspirations as you have taught us today and to all of our participants please stay tuned for the events that 84 000 will

be organizing for the remaining 210 days this year and be sure to sign up for our newsletter to be up to date with the latest updates thank you thank you to everyone for joining us take care and see you all next time thank you thank you very much foreign foreign thank you very much thank you [Laughter]