The Dalai Lama in Chicago, May 6, 2007

Since His Holiness's entire address will be available by archive at lamrim.com, I won't type my notes in their entirety here. But here are a few things that stood out for me:

What is Buddhism?

"What is Buddhism? In order to know what Buddhism is I think it is important to know what the word Buddha means. In Pali, 'Buddha' means two things: 1) cleansing or purification, 2) perfection of enlightened qualities. Baiscally, the potential possibility--every sentient being has that same potential. We all possess the quality to be aware and know--the potential for enlightenment is already there. This eans that the facility to be aware and know is in all of us, the perfection of that is Buddhahood."

On knowledge, ignorance, and Tenzin Gyatso:

So knowledge and ignorance are contrdictory at some level like darkness and light. The training of the mind is a way to get a certain mental quality we want--make efforts to increase that. Then the opposite is reduced. For example, take compassion. I analyze, use reason, and develop conviction about compassion and familiarize myself with that. As compassion is increased, anger and hatred are reduced. Sometimes anger and hatred are together, but as you progress, it can become rare. That is basically the Buddhist system--the law of opposing forces. So our emotions, now, the negative emotions such as anger and hatred are actually much based on projection. When we develop anger, when we are angry, the negativeness is 90 percent our own mental projection. That is why in Buddhist texts much of our affliction results entirely from false projects of our mind. Some kind of ignorance: There are two kinds: 1) conventional, and from that ignorance comes 2) another kind of ignorance, which grasps things as though they have objective existence. The antidote is wisdom--the insight that such things do not possess inherent existence. Emptiness is the absence of independent existence. Emptiness is the absence of independent existence--everything, when we pinpoint it. For example, the human being named Tenzin Gyatso surely exists and is alive here on this seat. The Dalai Lama is speaking; it is true. Further, your minds see Tenzin Gyatso's body, hear his voice. Through is speech and gestures, you may see his mind. It is impossible to judge the whole complex mind through his speech. But according to words and his smile, you can tell his mind is OK. He is not angry. Tenzin Gyatso's body speech and mind--now where is Tenzin Gyatso? There is nothing where you can point your finger and say, Tenzin Gyatso."

This made the crowd laugh and everyone was really engaged at this point.

HHDL on Je Tsongkhapa's Spiritual Autobiography

The Dalai Lama's teachings in Madison were on Tsongkhapa's spiritual autobiography. This was a detailed explanation of all he learned and all the texts he studied, by Nagarjuna, Atisha, Chandrakirti, and many many others. One thing that struck me was the idea of a "spiritual autobiography." In this era of tell-all autobiographies and memoirs, where people like George Tenet can make money talking about all the things they didn't do on the job when they had the chance, the notion of someone describing his or her spiritual growth is really notable. That's the kind of biography I would buy.

The Dalai Lama on diversity of religion

Some of H.H.'s opening remarks in Madison:

"I always believe different people with different cultural heritages are now here in America, which like Europe, basically has a Judeo-Christian background. I want to make clear, it is important to keep one's traditional faith. So remain with your own tradition. Changing religions is not easy. Sometimes it may create confusion. Therefore, it is important to stay with one's own faith. Learning new traditions is also useful, but the reality is that the whole planet of six billion beings is one family, multiethnic, multiracial. Not only in the past but even today, many things happen that are very confusing. For that, closer relationships among traditions, or at least some knowledge of what they practice, is very helpful to develop mutual respect."

Following the Dalai Lama

Like the subculture of people who Grateful Dead, there are certain individuals who follow His Holiness the Dalai Lama around the country when he comes to the states. Wherever he goes, as many Tibetans as possible congregate. Tibetan people are quite possibly the best dressed people in the world when they are in their formal attire. The men wear these elaborately tied robes called chubas. The women wear dresses in rich brocades. I know these thoughts aren't very spiritual, but this is only my first impression of His Holiness's teachings in Madison, Wisconsin May 2-4, 2007.

Tracking the Sapsucker

I keep a journal of the birds I see in my backyard deep in the city of Chicago. Even though the backyards and alley are webbed by power and phone lines, and even though the el tracks are barely 50 feet from my house, I have seen more than 100 bird species in the last 20 years. On April 17, I spotted the proverbial yellow-bellied sapsucker in my cherry tree. Looking back, I see the following days when the sapsucker first appeared in the spring:

2006: 4/29
2003: 4/4
2002: 4/11
2001: 4/11
1995: 4/14
1994: 4/10
1993: 4/17
1992: 4/19

There is a pattern to the motion of the birds across the continent each year. It is far bigger than me and my back yard. Yet, it leads certain birds to my cherry tree and my pond at the same time every year. It is something I can neither understand nor control. I find it comforting and reassuring. It is a little epiphany, a little bit of magic each year. All you have to do is open to it and watch.

33, not 32

Today there was another memorial for the victims at Virginia Tech. The bell tolled 32 times. As I understand it, 32 were killed by the shooter, who then killed himself. I saw, on TV, one student who had 33 written on his arm in memory of all the victims. What if the bell had actually tolled 33 times? Why is it that people can't get their minds around the fact that the shooter was a victim himself--a victim of his own mental torments? If we could think in terms of 33 rather than 32, our perspective would change dramatically.

Life of the Buddha

Yesterday I led a discussion about the life of the Buddha. This was an interesting challenge for me, because the Buddha has always seemed sort of a remote figure, and his life more abstract history than something living and relevant to me now. The good thing about teaching/facilitating is that it forces you to do some studying beforehand. I discovered several things of interest:

• Buddha's parents, King Shuddhodana and Queen Maya, had very well defined notions about how he should live his life and what he should do, like any parents. They did everything they could do protect him and steer him the way they wanted him to go (to be the new king).
• Of course, Siddhartha ended up doing exactly the opposite of what they had in mind, like most kids.
• I forgot that after taking three visits from his castle, during which he saw old people, sick people, and dead people, he took a fourth trip. On this journey he saw a spiritual practitioner. He was lucky to have people in India who had devoted themselves to a spiritual lifestyle and who seemed to be at peace compared to the other people he saw. So we are lucky too to have teachers in our midst, especially the Tibetans. It's awful that they had to leave their home and are still being persecuted now, but we are benefiting from it.
• He went through a period of seeking during which he tried out different approaches--including dieting to extremes. Moderation turned out to be the key.

Having raised my own children I can appreciate this story better now. It doesn't seem so abstract. We too try to distract ourselves with amusements and toys. But examples of another path to follow are all around us.

I can't understand how Buddha could leave his wife and child, however. I don't know if I would be able to do that myself.