May bodhicitta, precious and sublime, arise where it has not yet come to be. Where it has arisen may it never fail, but grow and flourish more and more.
Unbroken lineages of wisdom traditions are rare in these times, and Kongtrul Rinpoche descends from a pure lineage of the Dzogpa Chenpo Longchen Nyingtik tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.
We have two main study and practice centers in America: Phuntsok Choling in Colorado and Pema Osel in Vermont. Rinpoche teaches the core MSB programs at these two centers. In addition, MSB has several city centers or groups around the world where people gather for group meditation and study, and to listen to the LINK teachings together.
Browse to any of the calendars to find out more about the teaching schedules of Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, Dungse Jampal Norbu, or Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel. View the upcoming events at Phuntsok Choling, Pema Osel, or find out who is giving the next LINK talk.
MSB is a part of the Longchen Nyingtik and Khyen-Kong-Chok-Sum lineages. (Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye, and Terton Chokgyur Lingpa, collectively known as Khyen-Kong-Chok-Sum, were the heart of the Rimé, or nonsectarian, movement, which did so much to preserve and harmonize all schools of Tibetan Buddhism in the nineteenth century.)
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Excerpt from THE BEE STORY, Teachings on Patrul Rinpoche’s The Drama of the Flower-Gathering Garden by Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche
This beloved story, written in Tibetan by Patrul Rinpoche, is based on the true story of a prominent couple from Derge in Eastern Tibet. The man in the story would go on to become one of the most important siddhas in the Derge kingdom and was also the general secretary of the Derge king. His wife was a beautiful woman from an esteemed Tibetan family and was admired throughout the country as a great lady. Their tragic story unfolds as they are compelled to separate in life, first through disease and quarantine, and then in death. The story relates what the couple went through together and what happened to the one who was left behind.
Personally, I’ve enjoyed this story from a young age and always felt a tremendous connection with it. It’s an important teaching story in Tibet, written by a preeminent master in our lineage. Not only do I appreciate its poetry, but I am deeply moved by the truths conveyed regarding the things of this world. So, I thought it would be useful for students to read this—not because I wish to suggest a particular response but rather to simply expose people to this well-loved Tibetan Buddhist story. Writing it as a poetic drama, Patrul Rinpoche begins by paying homage to Manjushri, his wisdom deity. In the translation by Tulku Thondup, the title is Holy Dharma Advice: A Drama in the Lotus Garden. Elizabeth and I made a translation of this a long time ago, but we called it The Bee Story.
The point of reading this dharmic story is to reflect on it and resist the naiveté that one naturally experiences in adopting the view of permanence—pretending there is plenty of time to do all the things you want to do—meanwhile only getting around to practicing Dharma near the end. It may be true that you do actually have a lot of time left. However, recently I spoke with someone who mentioned that she’d led a very full life, and though it may look to others like her life had been long and full, in the end, it seemed very short to her. She said, “Life goes by so fast, in the blink of an eye.” On the one hand, she felt she’d lived a long life; on the other, in her mind and in her experience, it had all gone by so quickly. Then she told me that until she met the Dharma, she felt there hadn’t been much point to life. The Dharma gave meaning to her life. It could be that many students reading or listening right now are young, bright, and intelligent. You may think you have a long life ahead of you. You might live into your eighties, nineties, or even to a hundred years old. But when you actually reach that age—just like my friend who was personally devoted to the Dharma and who lived very fully—it still seems that it’s over in the blink of an eye.
Or it could be that some of us will die very soon. There may be certain questions in your mind. Am I really healthy? Should I consult a doctor? Am I ready to find out that I’m not well or that I have a terminal illness? Is it better to avoid finding out, or is it better to know? If we do find out—say, for instance, that I have throat cancer or lung cancer or bone marrow cancer—what will it be like to hear that? What will I do when I find out? There is resistance to knowing and fully accepting the fact that we may be sick even at this very minute. Even though we may recognize in our unconscious mind that one day we are going to die, we have a tremendous resistance to acknowledging that and fully accepting it.
When we read stories like this one, with unconscious fears in the back of our minds, every reading brings those fears to the surface. That’s the point of reading this story. Yet there isn’t much purpose if we cannot then turn our minds toward the Dharma, toward death, and learn to let go, to accept impermanence and death as a part of our lives, surrendering ourselves fully to the Three Jewels. Otherwise, what’s the point?
People come to me when their parents are terminally ill. They tell me that it’s really hard to talk to their parents when they are unable to accept their condition. They ask whether it’s important for their parents to know they’re dying, or if they should pretend everything is okay and just let them die. My view is this: If someone has a tremendous resistance to knowing they’re dying because they don’t know what to do with that information, and it’s already too late to do anything about it, then maybe it is better not to confront that person—better for them not to know. My sense is that when somebody is very sick, how could they not know they’re dying? Many times, they do actually know yet are still not ready to face it. They’re not ready to let go or to give up hope. In that case, what’s the point of telling them they’re going to die or that they have a very short time left to live?
If this person is a practitioner, then it’s a different case. It is important to know when you’re dying, so you can better prepare for it. Having worked with many dying people, I’ve noticed that even practitioners don’t find it easy to hear that they’re dying. They don’t easily give up their hopes or let go of their attachments to this life until the last minute. When somebody is a practitioner, I think even then the level of faith in the Three Jewels or in the scriptures is still not certain. Though one has taken refuge and become a practitioner, one’s faith—a sense of total trust and surrender of one’s life to the Three Jewels—may not necessarily be strong. Even in the case of lamas, the lama himself may be ready, but the disciples may not be ready. They want to take the lama out to eat or to rest at some great hospital to consult with doctors who counsel their patients about amazing surgeries. The disciples don’t recognize what they’re doing, or perhaps their neuroses will not let them hear it, so they hold onto their attachments and hopes. Many lamas nowadays, as you know, die in hospitals. Perhaps it doesn’t matter to a lama so much because the lama is very accomplished, but this portrays very clearly the hopes and attachments of the people around the lama.
If you can, confront your fears of imminent death in this life, and prior to that, your fear of sickness. Even prior to sickness, confront your old age—although you may not feel old yet—and overcome your greatest fears. Don’t allow those fears to remain in your unconscious mind while living continually in denial, with the pretense that there is any permanence in this world. Instead, if we show great courage, it will simplify our life.
That becomes very clear in something Jetsun Mila once said. Somebody told him that he must be Maitreya, the reincarnation of a great, enlightened being, because when that person contemplated Mila’s life, it was amazing to recognize what he’d done—from beginning to end. He simply could not be an ordinary person. In response, Jetsun Mila said, “It’s good to think in that way from the dharmic point of view, from the point of view of increasing your devotion. But from another side of the dharmic view, if I have truly become wise now, then it’s a great insult to the Dharma and to me, because it’s as if the Dharma hadn’t really changed me very much, or that I hadn’t accomplished much through the Dharma.” He said, “If people had the relentless feeling of remorse for their deeds, a fear of the lower realms, and a strong sense of imminent death, like a piercing thorn in their heart, they would accomplish something similar to what I have accomplished. People would assert themselves on the path as I have asserted myself on the path.”
So, if we truly realize that we are here on this earth like guests from another world, staying only a few days—that life spent on this earth is a gift today and every day—then the stress produced by all of the hopes, fears, and situations in which we try to secure our life would be greatly reduced. This is true not only in our own life, but in our family members’ lives, too, with their long-term plans, strategies, hopes, and fears. When you go on vacation, you don’t put a lot of time, effort, or energy into fixing up the hotel room as if you’re going to live there a long time. You focus more on enjoyment, on taking advantage of your retreat and the resort. Just like that, if you realize your situation and act accordingly, even if it is just for a few days, you won’t be bothered by all of the long-term plans and strategies, hopes, fears, and stress. Instead, you’ll be able to enjoy your life as it is.
No one here today is terribly sick at this point, and everyone has enough money to live on or has the ability to earn a living. Just recently there were so many job opportunities in America that it was difficult to find enough people to take all the available positions. Many restaurants had special offers, and they even went into high schools to recruit people. Even if you live in an unusual situation, like a sangha house, you still have enough money to buy decent clothes. But consider what Shantideva and the teachings suggest—“Don’t treat this body too lavishly; it will never be completely satisfied. Make sure that you put this body to work, as it should be put to work. Have some food and some clothes, have a shelter to accommodate this body, but make sure you don’t lavishly cherish this body. Put this body to work because if you lavishly cherish it, this body will become the source of all your attachments, the source of all your pain.”
From that point of view, life is very straightforward and simple. We can truly contemplate the impermanence of this life and our imminent death that approaches year by year, month by month, day by day. As hard as it is to face death, why create more attachments? You can’t get rid of attachments unless you give up the hope of cherishing this life and this body. Each hope is an attachment in itself. There are a lot of struggles to work through. Once you accomplish something, it leads to further attachments. Life may feel very hard because you have to go through birth, old age, sickness, and death, as well as face unfavorable circumstances and depart from favorable ones. On top of that, we make it much more difficult for ourselves. However, life can b e made very simple by contemplating impermanence and imminent death.
Dharma provides simplicity whether you admit it or not. You have a body that is capable of creating samsara, but if you use it to accomplish Dharma, this human body is also remarkably capable. The human body is said to be the greatest of all physical bodies, the most supreme body. In the god realms, beings have bodies of light. Because of their light bodies, they can take advantage of what that kind of body can achieve—having a tremendously long life with all of the medical powers that we could ever imagine. On the other hand, a light body is not supreme for practicing the Vajrayana path or cultivating the enlightened mind.
In the lower realms we see animal bodies. They may be beautiful to look at, but we see how much change, suffering, and threat they experience all the time. They lack wisdom and intelligence even though they may have great instincts. Most people won’t even consider how much suffering there is in the hungry ghost and the hell realms. This human body is a very special gift, given to each of us through our own good merit and good fortune.
The time we live in is different from any other because there have been buddhas and bodhisattvas who have taught the Dharma, particularly the Vajrayana Dharma. If you are motivated, you can put this body of yours toward the work of discovering the enlightened nature we all have. That potential is present not just in the mind but also in physical attributes of our bodies.
Of course, food sustains our bodies during life. The Words of My Perfect Teacher states that if a famine were to occur in the world and grain were weighed against gold, the disciples of the Buddha would never starve to death, though they may struggle along with everyone else. One of the great teachers of the Longchen Nyingtik once had hardly anything to eat while he was receiving a teaching. Because his body was so weak, he fell down twice on his way to fetch water. His teacher, watching from a window, saw him fall. The teacher said, “When I see him suffer this way, I can’t help but feel that I should give him some food. I feel I should help him. But I know what he’s doing is for his own benefit. What he’s going through is a purification, so I don’t want to disrupt that.” I doubt whether any of us have gone through something like that or will have to go through that. Jetsun Mila is another good example of someone who went through great hardship and purification through the body.
In some sense, once you’ve taken refuge in the Three Jewels from the bottom of your heart—really giving up cherishing and protecting this life and making the best use of it to accomplish Dharma—then much of the work is already done. You already have a body. You will have the food you require. Even if there comes a time when grains of rice and barley are weighed against gold and diamonds, a disciple will never starve. When you can trust that, then food is taken care of. As for clothes, you’ll always have something to wear, and even if you had nothing to wear, what’s so bad about being naked? As for a place to live, there is always somewhere to shelter yourself.
In our retreat cabins, I stay in one place. That may not be so great because as Jigme Lingpa said, “The sun and moon are adored by every single being because of their good qualities, but imagine if the sun and moon stayed in one place!” Everyone would hate it. So, when you stay in one place, there’s always a danger of cultivating attachments to loved ones, family, friends, and relatives, as well as hateful beings—people with whom you have conflict. That’s just the way it is, even if you’re as perfect as the Buddha himself. His cousin, Devadatta, who served the Buddha for twenty-five years, still went against him and walked away with many negative feelings. You can’t avoid yourself. Even if you’re perfect, you still have to deal with the projections of other people. So maybe there’s not really anything so great about having a home or staying in one place for too long. If you want to travel, you can always find a place to live, a place to shelter yourself from time to time.
It’s interesting that when certain people hear teachings like this, they feel something arising in them from deep down. They feel very inspired and connected. For others, that doesn’t happen. Chandrakirti said that we can tell who has a connection to the emptiness teachings because, for those who do, just hearing the word emptiness causes a tingle to rise up from within. They are completely moved. Tears run from their eyes, and they feel a tremendous joy and satisfaction found nowhere else. They intuitively recognize a connection to the emptiness teachings and know that they’ll be benefited by them.
As we know from The Words of My Perfect Teacher, there are others who don’t feel a similar attraction. When Atisha gave teachings on emptiness and egolessness of the self, two shravakas who came to hear him enjoyed and appreciated his teachings tremendously. But when Atisha gave teachings on the egolessness of the Dharma, they covered their ears and cried, “Please, don’t say these things!”
For those who have this connection, something truly clicks in them—even if their toes don’t tingle and their heart isn’t so moved that tears fall from their eyes. For others, it’s almost abhorrent to hear such teachings. One is not necessarily bad or the other good. However, one’s life can become more refined by reflecting on one’s experience of the teachings in this way.
Nothing can be done to change the karma of beings. If it were possible, the buddhas and bodhisattvas would have done that a long time ago. When I read Patrul Rinpoche’s teachings and contemplate his lifestyle, I appreciate them. But I don’t expect everyone to have the same response to Patrul Rinpoche’s teachings that I have. We have a saying in Tibetan, “Renunciation is like a fuzzy dandelion. From a distance, the seed head can appear very thick and furry, but when you blow on it just slightly, it goes poof! It all flies up into the air.”
Think about your individual self—the good qualities as well as the bad—the loneliness, the sense of immensely saddened mind, depression, or hopelessness. From far off, some of us who have that “furry” kind of renunciation may fantasize about being a yogi and living a simple renunciate’s life, but when it comes to truly facing what’s necessary, it may prove extremely difficult. So, in that sense, it’s hard to trust what others say—or even yourself, for that matter.
When Trungpa Rinpoche passed away, one monk praised Trungpa Rinpoche’s activities and also praised many of the students. He spoke about Trungpa Rinpoche’s great achievements and where the students could go. Then at the end of his remarks, he repeated a very famous saying in Tibetan, “Until that time when your skull hits the ground, you never know what kind of practitioner you will be.” At that point, if you have accomplished something meaningful, then you have accomplished it. If you haven’t accomplished anything, then no matter how much glory or fame you might have achieved in this world as a so-called “great practitioner,” you’ll most likely end up in the lower realms.
It’s much different if someone actually does have genuine feelings of renunciation. This morning I was talking with one of my senior students. Most of the time he totally bullshits me, but today I could tell he was sincere in saying he had a real glimpse of the suffering and the pointlessness of pursuing the activities of this life. I doubt whether he’s going to renounce anything right away or even do anything different from what he has been doing in his life. But having that glimpse has probably given him much more freedom in his mind. For that moment, he could see how to live his life more in accordance with the Dharma and perhaps let go of the struggle, the hopes and fears around this life.
Maybe other students also have had such glimpses. Whether anything comes out of that or not, it leaves what we call in the Dharma “an impression on your alaya,” so that maybe in our future lives this will become strong enough for something truly meaningful to arise from it. On one hand, temporal renunciation is not anything great; on the other hand, temporal renunciation and a saddening mind—seeing the pointlessness of this life and all that we pursue—implies that our future lives may go fully toward the Dharma. So, it’s important to appreciate that and not to disregard it.
It’s a matter of distinguishing that particular taste, a matter of your ambition, and of seeking a different kind of enjoyment in how you make this life serve you. From a very realistic and practical point of view, living a simple life and pursuing the Dharma as much as you can will totally protect you from a complicated life. If you can embrace the experience of sadness, depression, or the loneliness of retreat with the greatest depth of melancholy and without rejecting these experiences through aversion, they can be very powerful forces—stirring deep reflection and serving as the source of tremendous peace. You just let go of your struggles and experience their rawness, along with a sense of vision. You won’t find this anywhere else, especially if you are distracted by life’s attractions.
There is a saying, “When Mila looks at sentient beings, sentient beings appear crazy. When sentient beings look at Mila, Mila appears crazy.” Despite such differences in perception, it’s clear that the amount of suffering Mila endured in his pursuit of Dharma—all the hardships from the time he was with Marpa to his time in the mountains by himself, eating nettles for years—was worth it in the end. It all paid off greatly and transformed a sentient being into an enlightened being.
Whatever we try so hard to be—the struggle and pain we go through to achieve “success” or glory in this life—of what purpose is it in the end? We must leave it all anyway to go beyond. Even at the peak of President Clinton’s presidency—the most glorious time of his life and what he’d worked for so hard—we can see how many complications and how much pain and suffering he experienced. Seeing that, we can understand very well how those who are not in such prominent positions suffer even more.
From a dharmic point of view, when you contemplate what it is that you strive to achieve as the central purpose of your life—with all the struggle that you go through to attain it—you can see it just complicates your life. In the end, it causes you to endure even more pain and suffering. There’s not really any decent payback or payoff. Whether you believe the Dharma or you completely disregard it, that is still the dharmic point of view. Before you reject it completely, I think it would be worthwhile—especially since everyone here today has taken refuge—to at least consider how much truth there is in that view. Is there a pointlessness and suffering that is the main feature of the world, in others’ lives, and in your life? If the Dharma should prove to be wrong and your doubts prove to be right, then I assure you the Dharma won’t be offended. The Dharma is present expressly for guiding and protecting you from complications, struggles, and suffering.
If the Dharma proves to be right, then perhaps you need to contemplate the point of your struggles. What is the point of all the suffering and struggling you’ve spent time on in the past, or that you are spending time on now and plan to spend time on in the future? Look closely into the Dharma. See what the Dharma really suggests. When you look at it closely, you may find that your interests become a little different after thorough examination. Perhaps your interests will become more genuine when you have a sincere wish to find some resolution and salvation from pain and suffering. You may even find it very practical, though so often we think the Dharma and these suggestions to be impractical. I know that I am an impractical person at times—so I may prove to be impractical—but the Dharma is not. The Dharma offers concrete suggestions, solutions, and methods, along with the wisdom of which steps to take and precisely how to take those steps.
I may not be capable of presenting this to you very clearly and exactly, but if you look into the Dharma, you will find it is very clear. My mistakes will all be cleared away. At some point, your relationship with the dharmic viewpoint will likely involve a struggle because any change, any transition involves struggle. Of course, at the beginning, anything that helps you to turn away from where you are heading can be difficult. It’s very natural for there to be a difficult struggle in the beginning of any venture or activity. But as you slowly adjust to the ideas and the ways of the Dharma and take those steps, slowly and gradually making improvements—mostly on the inside, in your mind—then at some point you will think about your accomplishments in the Dharma, about what you have attained, and feel good about yourself. You will feel quite happy about yourself and what you’re doing. That is also very inspiring for the future—to have a life that is simple, uncomplicated, straightforward, and easy, with few struggles and much delight.
Then you can do exactly as Patrul Rinpoche, Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye, or any of the lineage gurus have done—to think only of making what little progress you can in this lifetime. It becomes very simple when your mind is all that is required, along with adopting a direction of honest sincerity and some basic methods to avoid obstacles, such as prayers, supplications, and taking refuge.
When you think about how you usually strive in the conventional world, with endless talk and work, then of course you may no longer feel interested in it. But let’s say for now that you are interested—you’re inspired to do something. That requires more than just your mind alone. It requires resources and personal skills, which don’t just happen by themselves. You need training; you have to go to school or receive instruction, and you need to spend a lot of time and energy. Even after you have all of that, you’ll also need to have the interpersonal and communication skills to relate well to others and work productively with them. Those skills don’t come naturally to some people. They may have good public relations skills like patience, tolerance, and understanding, but these may not yield much of a return for them. Others might be really patient but still have to work alone because they can’t take working with other people all the time.
Unquestionably, there’s a lot that is positive to be found in struggle, but so many aspects of life can lead to a negative outcome. Some personal disasters may end not just in defeat for yourself, but also in your inflicting pain on others or their inflicting pain on you. Additionally, there is the “law of the land” to consider. Sometimes it’s another person who turns you over to the law, and the law determines a judgment. Even when no one intends for anything negative to happen in the beginning, unforeseen circumstances and momentum may lead from one problem to the next. In this way, tremendous problems occur—country versus country, political group versus political group, family versus family, parents versus parents, children versus parents, and friend versus friend.
We see in the news and on TV the consequences of wrongdoing being judged and punished. Even someone who wins a legal battle or an election may temporarily feel good, but in the end, nothing truly beneficial comes from it because of all of the negative karma generated by having inflicted pain on others. The so-called winners then have to suffer the effects of that karma. Whether worldly law or consensus is on your side or not, if you inflict pain on others by bringing conventional law against someone who inflicted pain on you, this is merely the law of the land or society. It doesn’t resolve your karma; it perpetuates it.
What resolves your karma with others and yourself? One has to experience that karma. For example, those who work to put someone into the electric chair—whatever it is that the person may have done wrong—may think they’ve won a victory. But in the end, they are responsible for putting that person into the electric chair and will have to face that karma. The convicted person goes to the electric chair, but maybe those who put that person there will have to go to another “chair” that’s even worse. In the electric chair, you only die once. In the case of the hell realms, in the first hell, the Reviving Hell, you die every second, revive, and then die again. That is considered to be the hell of all hells because you actually die, whereas in most of the hell realms, you don’t die. So, you have no break. The Reviving Hell is among the eight other hells. There is that kind of pain and suffering, and you have to watch it all happening to you.
Struggling in the world and in life—in all we are trying to do—is not like going to war. We’re not talking about that kind of situation. We’re just talking about facing the chaos and problems of conventional life. Even if it doesn’t happen to the extent I’ve mentioned, every couple in the sangha quarrels at least once a month. Husbands say something; wives react. Your lover says something and you react. At other times, you really dissolve into each other’s eyes, particularly when you’re making love. But when you’re in a quarrel or when you’re fighting, just the sight of the other person totally revolts you and causes you tremendous pain. Harsh words and all of the unintentional games that go on in a relationship for one to gain a victory over the other create an absolutely horrible feeling, a horrible experience. It’s only natural, as we say, for couples to quarrel, but that doesn’t justify the pain.
Nonetheless, the pain and suffering don’t go away. Of course, people can make up in the end; otherwise, they split up. But the pain and suffering stores up like money in the bank. You put one dollar, two dollars, three dollars into the bank, and at some point, it becomes a hundred dollars; later, it becomes a thousand dollars. Like that, the bickering and big fights that you have in a relationship store up and leave scars on your heart. As much as you may forgive, understand, and let go of your differences, you still have to live with the other person. As much as you love and remain attached to the other person, many scars still form in your heart. A lot of people will deny that. They say their heart is the same as when they first met their beloved. But if they look honestly, they’ll probably see a lot of scars.
Only when you turn your relationship toward the Dharma and travel together on the path will Dharma give you a clear way to forgive and forget rather than remain cold, fighting, and struggling as you have, and not just with your spouse, but with everyone—family, friends, enemies—without exception. Generally, there’s no other alternative for the progress you desire to make, to freshly revive your heart with everyone. Just practically speaking, consider the relationships that don’t have Dharma as a base, knowing that people quarrel even once a month. Then, by the time you get to be eighty or ninety years old, you will have had countless fights, countless quarrels, countless bruises, countless scars on your heart. No one is disputing that there are good aspects to relationships. But if you weigh the good and bad, the bad is probably stronger and heavier in nearly all cases. It’s only with the Dharma and bodhicitta that a relationship will not head toward a disastrous end or to one in which you feel karmically forced into staying together.
The only cure for tremendous anger and resentment is bodhicitta. In that alone, Dharma is very practical and important. In some sense, life without the Dharma can be viewed as nothing but a catastrophe. Life with the Dharma is much more peaceful and has much less suffering. Just in taking refuge we have done a great thing for ourselves in this life. But of course, a life spent truly pursuing the path of Dharma is different from someone’s life who has only taken refuge. Nevertheless, it’s clear that life without the Dharma contains much more suffering and very little peace—in other words, it’s a catastrophe.
In that way, we could all appreciate our lives and trust in the Dharma. Really dive deeply into the meaning of the Dharma and examine it to the level of your capability. Even if the teacher is not able to present it to you perfectly well, you can do that for yourself. The Words of My Perfect Teacher is a great text to have sitting on one’s pillow all the time. Also, teachings such as The Bee Story can serve as a good reminder not to take for granted the life of the Dharma and the possibilities that are available. If you read it over and over, The Bee Story will probably be ten times stronger than any of the teacher’s suggestions or advice about what is best for you and what’s not. And, since it’s just a story that you’re reading and reflecting on, you’re not feeling influenced by somebody you might resent. Instead, whatever changes you make are of your own accord, from your own wisdom. Maybe reading this will be of much greater benefit to you than teachers making suggestions. These days, there are hardly any teachers making truly good suggestions to their students because the teachers are a little paranoid that they’re going to be accused of brainwashing them, as if they’re promoting some cult. Even those people who do make suggestions and speak strongly to you may be resented because you don’t want to feel that anybody is taking over your life or making decisions for you about your life. You want your life to be in your own hands.
It’s especially important these days to rely on the teachings if you have the interest. Of everyone who has asked to become a student of mine and receive my guidance, there are only a few with whom I can be very honest and straightforward and really tell them what I think. With others, I have to be absolutely discreet and accommodate their thinking and views. If their views go to the left, I could give them suggestions and support them to go that way. If their intentions and effort go to the right, I have to know that’s also good and to give them suggestions and support for that. It’s hardly possible for me just to be direct and honest. It’s not that I have to lie to students. Students most likely already know this by themselves. They know quite well whether they’re open toward me, how much they can hear me, and how much they can truly appreciate if I suggest another way than their preferred interest or their passing fears.
Even those people with whom I’m very close, very respectful and trusting, still—when I’m straightforward with them—I have to check with them later to see whether it really freaked them out, or whether they heard me, or if they didn’t really hear me but knew that I had good intentions. It’s not that I blame this on the students because I know they are trying to do their best to be good students. In my own self-reflections and confessions, I have discovered tremendous shortcomings that I’m only now realizing. So, I can naturally expect that to be the case for students also. I don’t blame them, and I don’t necessarily expect them to be strong, open, and receptive.
To honestly hear what your teacher has to say, you have to be extremely strong. If you’re not strong enough at the time when the teacher is speaking to you, even if you go along with the teacher, you may resent any advice. Maybe you develop some sense—from different points of view or a conventional standpoint—that the teacher has dominated your life, taken over control, or has completely driven you in a way that made you end up in the place that you are. There are many complications between the teacher and the students.
But with the teachings it’s simple. We have a saying for the teachings: they’re called “the teacher who is always patient and inscrutable.” Written teachings are always patient; they don’t become irritated with you or get upset with you, or in any way get tired of you. At the same time, the teachings are inscrutable. Whether lifetimes or centuries change, the teachings stay the same. These days, I’m really coming to understand how important it is for people to rely more on the teachings. You can resent Patrul Rinpoche’s teachings, but Patrul Rinpoche is long gone, so there’s no point in resenting him. People who have a connection to his teachings will totally appreciate them, and those who don’t feel that connection to him probably won’t be interested.
How very fortunate it is that we have met the Three Jewels. How fortunate it is that we have the Dharma in our lives because without Dharma, life is filled with confusion, pain, and catastrophe. Life with the Dharma is much different, with more peace and less pain. Those who take Dharma into their lives much more seriously and pursue the path of the Dharma honestly experience great benefit. Those who pursue the Dharma less actively will experience much less benefit. In some ways it all depends on you, but from another aspect, it doesn’t depend on you personally at all. Rather, it depends on your merit and on your karma.
Dharma is two things: the scriptures and your own realization of the scriptures. As far as the scriptures are concerned, there’s nothing like The Words of My Perfect Teacher. You can really count on that being totally sufficient to liberate you to attain enlightenment. You can rest completely in peace if you have that on your pillow. From time to time, remind yourself not to forget the Dharma and not to take this life for granted.
We also need a story that is less formal. In that way, I think The Bee Story has served me tremendously well, as I hope will be the case for students. Just reading it once or twice, or even ten times, you might not get much out of it without reflecting on it. But with reflection, perhaps it will become very important to your life. What Wide Wings and Sweet Voice sing—the whole effort they put into changing their fate and how it all unfolds—contains marvelous meaning. It would be great if you could learn to recite it. The purpose is not to read The Bee Story and forget about it. If you do that, there’s not much point to it. But if you don’t forget, there can be tremendous benefit.
Recently a student told me that maybe I should send my students to other teachers or to another establishment where it’s not so demanding. Then they could have a more conventional life, a more regular life, as well as have various ways of practicing the Dharma. If Patrul Rinpoche’s and my style of presenting the Dharma is too harsh and too difficult, maybe that student is right. I am certainly not holding anyone back if they would like to pursue another teacher or go to another establishment where they might feel more comfortable with the spiritual path. I also told him that I can’t justify nor change the lineage or its teachings. Along those lines, maybe it’s not right to say very much. But if it is true that people feel caught in a kind of dichotomy of having to live in certain ways that makes their spiritual path seem too far out of reach, or they are not able to practice as the teachings suggest, then it would be difficult to follow exactly what the lineage says and the teachings recommend. Even during practice retreats, we have a lot of difficulties in being disciplined and persistent in practicing. It’s not that anyone here today is any different.
It may be helpful for people to reflect on this story from Patrul Rinpoche and to imagine themselves either as the turquoise bee, Sweet Voice, or the golden bee, Wide Wings. Then, consider all that’s written here, all that they sing to each other. See how you really feel inside, how you experience it. Unless we want to live in denial, we have to face death at some point in our life. Instead of living in denial, as practitioners we have to confront our fears honestly and truthfully. From that point of view, as much as it may be painful and difficult, doing so should help practitioners see more clearly all the different ways we are attached to this world. Reflecting in this manner can liberate us and give us a sense of the pointlessness of being so attached and suffering from those very attachments.
All of the various fears we have in this life are still very small concerns, relatively speaking. The main fear that strikes everyone is their own end of life and their death. In theory, if you put yourself into the position of Wide Wings or Sweet Voice, you’re not in that place yet, so you still have the time to make changes in your life and arrange to turn toward the Dharma more fearlessly. When life does come to an end, you will feel quite differently from how you feel now about yourself and your practice. Your confidence in yourself and in your practice will have grown. So, it’s helpful to play out this drama in your mind, with you as the actor playing Wide Wings or Sweet Voice, the golden or turquoise bee.
Also, keep in mind that truth is truth, no matter how difficult it is to face. In many of the experiences of our lives, we’re not honest or truthful. If you are honest about your own weaknesses and shortcomings, you can overcome them. But if you’re never truthful about them, you’ll never scratch the surface to see what they truly are. Instead, you will pretend that you’re the most accomplished, confident, and “together” person. In the end, be assured that other people will truly be able to see you, but you won’t be able to see yourself. When that happens, ultimately, you are fooling yourself.
In this context, we’re talking about one’s resistance to being a Dharma practitioner and to practicing the Dharma genuinely, truthfully, and correctly. If you’re truthful, even with all the different obstacles, problems, and shortcomings you have, there’s nothing to feel too badly about, despite your faults, deficiencies, and difficulties. And this is true not only with us. When the buddhas and bodhisattvas of the past were in samsara, they also had to work with these same kinds of shortcomings and difficulties. So, you can confess and bring them all into the light. Once you bring them into the light and confess your faults, your weaknesses, and your failings, then there is no reason to continue feeling conflicted inside. Fear is a very natural thing for a samsaric person to feel, as well as having many faults and shortcomings. But bringing it all into the light and confessing it may be the first step toward getting rid of it.
I don’t know whether anyone here today can hear this the way I mean it. When first becoming a teacher, you have all of this tradition and these goals to benefit and train others to become practitioners. Once you move in that direction and actually become a teacher with students, for a while you’re confronted with people’s karma and individualistic minds. At a certain point, you don’t even know what to say or what not to say. Anything you may say or suggest might be completely inappropriate and unhelpful. Sometimes, it may even seem to someone like the opposite of being helpful. It’s certainly not the teacher’s intention to say anything that causes anyone agony, but it might actually turn out that way.
Nonetheless, the teachings are very clear. Reading this drama, you’ll find everything is very clear. Many here have studied the Madhyamaka teachings and understand the logic and meaning quite well. If people say they really wish to study, hear, and contemplate these teachings and take them into their hearts, this is not a very difficult thing to do. In fact, it’s a piece of cake! But if people don’t want to do that in the first place, they’re probably not going to reconsider their position based on what they read here. Perhaps such people may think this view is not relevant to their life, and then just completely ignore this perspective and move on. But if you reflect deeply and repeatedly on this story, the teachings here could be helpful to you. They have been a great help to me in my personal life in making certain changes and moving in the direction that I always aim to pursue.