Tantric Science

Maitreya Institute, San Francisco

Tantric Science and Transformation

Tonight I’ll talk briefly about tantric science and transformation, together. Then I feel it is very important that we sit together and pray for those who died in, or who are suffering injuries from, this natural disaster [1989 Earthquake in San Francisco]. So let us offer a sincere prayer for all of them after this brief explanation of a large subject. The first explanation involves tantric science and second involves transformation.

Tantric Science: Background

What Buddha taught, and how his teaching is presented, varies according to culture and geography. During the thirty-five years of his teaching, Lord Buddha Sakyamuni taught on every subject. And he taught according to the capacity of his followers, the disciples. Because disciples have different levels of understanding, there is great variation in the depth of the teachings Buddha gave. For those whose main weakness was selfishness, Buddha gave teachings to help them to become less selfish. For those whose weakness was fear, he gave teachings to help them to overcome fear. For those whose weakness was a fixation on a particular way of thinking, he gave teachings to help them broaden their understanding and not be fixed on one subject, or one style or narrow dogma.

When people came from nearby countries to study Buddhism, they obviously learned a particular aspect of the teaching from a particular disciple. Therefore, that is what they took back to their country, and that is what became established as Buddhism in that particular country. That is why if you go to Thailand, you see one kind of Buddhism, if you go to Japan, you see another kind of Buddhism, if you go to China, you see yet another type of Buddhism, and if you go to Tibet, you see still another, totally different one. The essence of all of these teachings is the same, but there a tremendous difference in emphasis. As well as there are obvious differences in external appearance, such as in the color, shape and design of robes. To an outsider with no knowledge of Buddhism, it might look like totally different religions.

After Buddha’s parinirvana, or his death, the disciples recorded all of his teachings. They designated four major categories: vinaya, abhidharma, sutra and tantra.

Vinaya is mainly concerned with external discipline. It involves the vows that were to be introduced to monks and nuns. Abhidharma is mainly concerned with reasoning, such as mathematics, cause and condition, cosmology. Sutras are mainly philosophically-oriented teachings and teachings that are involved with motivation and the mental disciplines, such as compassion. The tantric aspect of the teaching is the deeper aspect. Tantra involves mental, physical and oral discipline, which we call tantric vows. There is also emphasis on motivation and the application of motivation, and disciplines that involve intention and action. That is all part of tantra.

Introduction to Tantric Science

There are many higher level answers for mental causes and conditions, physical causes and conditions and universal causes and conditions. These we refer to as tantric science. Tantric science also involves higher level mathematics, or astrology. It involves medicine—external physical healing, internal healing of energy patterns in the body, and the healing of the mind, such as how to deal with too much anger, or too much jealously, or too much energy. There are explanations as to why this happens, and methods to correct it.

When it comes to method, there are aspects that involve physical exercise, others that involve sound, or mantra, and the practice of breathing. Mandala practice involves visualizing designs and colors. Mandalas actually include the external, physical, structure of the container, like a house, as well as the internal, what it is containing, like a person. Both are described by the word mandala. In Tibetan, mandala is translated chil kor. Chil means middle and kor means surrounding. So if we’re in a house, we’re in the middle and the house is our surrounding. Then our house is the middle and the environment is the surrounding. That is a mandala.

All of these aspects of the teaching include directly improving the mind. The method for directly improving the mind is simply to recognize ourselves beyond our physical manifestation. It starts from a most basic analysis—not through some external method, but just analyzing what is. For example, the first thing that comes to our mind about ourselves is who am I? Then we will call ourselves a man or a woman. If we happen to be a man, the second thing is a Tibetan man, or Oriental man or Occidental man or man of color—whatever it is. That would be our second answer. Then, when we look into that, we will say “I am a man with a beard but no hair.” Next will be “I am Mr. Andrew.” So, “I am an Occidental man with no hair and a beard and my name is Andrew.” These things go on and on.

Finally, we come to the conclusion that we are ultimately not a man, we are ultimately not a man with no hair and a beard, and we are ultimately not Andrew. What we really are is beyond this physical manifestation. This mind that says “Who am I?”, this mind which asks the question, that is who we are. It goes beyond name, beyond race, beyond language, beyond everything.

The next level of ourselves involves our emotions. We are somebody who is bothered by particular things, or who likes particular things, or who wishes for this and that. When we look beyond this, we are very vast, very deep, very profound. Ultimately we have no limitation of any kind. We are beyond time and beyond any label.

So, after going through all kinds of questions, that becomes the answer. At that stage, we cannot answer any more questions because there are no more words. We have to stop there. That is one method of direct mind meditation, but it depends on the individual. Some individuals recognize this without going through all of those questions. At the same time, we recognize the limitations. Most of us have limitations. There are certain things we can and certain things we cannot do. When we push ourselves, and others push us, we get to the end of our rope and we’re ready to collapse or explode. That kind of limitation is always there. But even with that limitation, a practitioner will be able to recognize his or her real self, or essence, which is beyond any limitation. By observing that, and by trying to maintain that limitless quality, all of those limitations become lessened. Of course, it will take lots of effort, but improvement takes place from there. So tantric method ranges from physical exercise, visualization and chanting to directly dealing with mind.

That is how to look at the teachings of Buddha roughly and understand where tantra fits in. Almost all of the vinaya, abhidharma and sutra teachings were given by Buddha to ordinary human beings like us, who were his disciples. But many of the tantras were taught to very highly developed human beings, and were not public. And a number of the tantras were taught not to human beings but to spirits in higher levels of existence, and so were inaccessible even to Buddha’s disciples, because they weren’t ready to receive them. In this way the tantric teachings weren’t as common as the vinayas, abhidharmas and sutras. That is why some Buddhists who practice only vinaya, or some level of abhidharma and sutra, might hold the attitude that tantra isn’t Buddhist, because it wasn’t available to most of the disciples at the time of the Buddha.

On the other hand, practitioners of tantra would never entertain the slightest doubt that vinaya, abhidharma and sutra are all teachings of the Buddha, because they are mentioned in the tantras. But because tantra isn’t mentioned in many of the sutras, practitioners who know only sutra might have an attitude towards tantra. Practitioners of Vajrayana sometimes take offense when a practitioner of sutra says that tantra isn’t Buddhist. But that is totally unnecessary. It is meant to be that way, because Buddha didn’t teach tantra to those to whom he only taught sutra.

Elements of Tantric Science

After this brief introduction, let us go into a little more detail about tantric science. I talk about tantric science because many people ask about this subject. I started to teach it in Taiwan last year. For me, science is a very vague term. Because I don’t have the linguistic ability to pinpoint the meaning of science, I have to rely on my connotative sense of what it means. For me, science means that everything has a reason. Everything happens because of mechanisms and elements coming together. Nothing happens without anything, and everything happens because of a particular reason. I take this as the basic definition of science. Things happen because of interdependence. With this amateur definition in mind, I tried very carefully to look into the subject of tantra. Tantra is a very vast subject and I don’t really remember even the names of most of the tantras. But I will share with you what I know.

Mathematics, astrology, medicine, and the mind—these things somehow cover everything. Astrology covers the universe. Mathematics and astrology are absolutely related. In tantra, we cannot say or do anything about astrology, without knowing mathematics. We can calculate without knowing astrology, definitely, but we cannot say anything about astrology without knowing how to calculate it properly.

Medicine is directly involved with the universe. When we learn about the universe, we learn about medicine, because for us, the external universe is like our bigger body. Then this earth becomes the smaller body, and this body becomes the immediate physical body. Whatever takes place in the universe affects this planet. And whatever happens on this planet due to what is happening in the universe affects this immediate physical body. Then, whatever happens in the body affects the mind. So, tantric science involves astrology, mathematics, medicine and mind.

Definition of Universe

First, we need a clear definition of the universe. In Tibetan, the name for universe is a bit long, but I have found it to be very useful, very meaningful. It is translated from Sanskrit directly, so it really describes what is meant by universe. It says: Pyii nu je jig ten. It doesn’t just say universe. Pyii means external. Nup means container. Jig means destruction. Ten means foundation. So, it says “the foundation of destruction, the outer container.” It means that the universe just exists for the eyes of the beings who live there. The universe and the eyes and the body of the beings who live there are absolutely interdependent. That means the universe exists relatively. It does not exist ultimately. I know that I’m drawing a conclusion very fast, but we have so little time.

The universe out there exists interdependent with the beings who live here. According to the tantra, the Buddha told his disciples: “What you see as the universe is absolutely interdependent on your eye. What you hear—the sound of the universe, waterfalls, rainfall, the blowing of the wind, the crackling of the fire—is interdependent with your ear.” He went on and on and on with all five senses. At the end he said, “If your mind went into another type of body, with another type of eye, another type of ear, the way you would see, hear, and taste the universe would be totally different.”

So if our same mind became involved in another human physical form, the way we would see everything, how everything would affect us, would be totally different. If I were to add a few of my own words onto it, I would say that I, as a human being of planet earth, of this century, cannot walk through cement. I cannot do this for two reasons. First, since I am not yet enlightened, I have many limitations. Second, my body cannot go through a cement wall because it is softer than the wall. The wall is harder than my body. But my body can go through light. My body can go through the air. I’m not a good swimmer, but my body can go through water, too. But it cannot go through a concrete wall. No way.

If my mind were exactly as it is, no more or no less enlightened, no more or no less neurotic, but my body was the totally the opposite from what it presently is, I would be able to go through the wall, but I would not be able to go through light, I would not be able to go through the wind, I would not be able to go through water. About the universe, Buddha said: “The outer container of this body—how we see, how we hear, how we touch, how we taste—is not beyond the human being of the planet Earth. It is just that. So it does not go beyond this interdependent manifestation.”

I hope I’m making this clear enough so you understand what I’m saying. This subject is very hard to explain. One reason it is so hard to explain is that there is not much I can say beyond my own level, and I am not at the level of enlightenment. As a follower of the teaching of Buddha, and as a teacher, I just know a little bit more than all of you. Second, our way of thinking and relating to things becomes very different as soon as we realize something like that. I don’t mean realize in the sense of ultimate realization, but just as an understanding that when that switch is on or off, then things change. So that part isn’t so easy to communicate.

Jig-ten, the foundation of destruction, has a very deep meaning. I explained about the outer container of this body. That is what it is. The primary meaning is that anything in the universe can be destroyed at any moment. In the past two days, we’ve seen an example of destruction [the 1989 San Francisco earthquake]. The foundation of destruction means that as soon as something exists, it can be destroyed. That is very basic.

When we go one step beyond this basic definition of foundation of destruction, when does this change? I cannot go through this wall. When does it change? It changes as soon as my body is destroyed, as soon as my body is dead. Even if I die in the most protected jail in the universe, and even if that jail is protected by ten million soldiers, the moment I die, my mind is free. It cannot be locked in; the jail becomes irrelevant. Even if someone dies in a solid concrete box, as soon as that person dies, the mind leaps through the concrete. So, how long does the physical effect of the physical universe last? As long as we are alive. That is another reason for this title, the foundation of destruction.

So that is the meaning of term “universe” in Buddhism, and particularly in tantra.

Relative Universe and the Five Elements

How does the universe manifest in a relative way? How does my body exist in a particular way? How does the universe exist in a particular way? Fire burns me, and water drowns me. The positive side is that just enough fire keeps me warm, as long as I keep my distance. And enough water keeps me clean. How do all of these things work, and how should we relate to it? In tantra, and even in abhidharma, Buddha taught about the elements out of which the physical body and the external universe are created. That creation is the combination of earth, water, fire, air and space, the five elements.

Space is the most important element. It is the ultimate of all the elements. It is the greatest miracle that constantly takes place. For example, I have a glass of water here. Right now there’s no space inside. Scientifically speaking, there might be some space, according to what kind of water it is, but for the layman, there is no space here. It is just a solid glass of water. When I drink it, that glass has this much space. Where did that space come from? When we pour another glass of water, the space is gone. Where did it go? When we look at space—any space, of any size—it is the most ultimate of all elements. It is the miracle element.

The other elements—earth, water, fire and air—function in space. The earth, water, fire and air that make up our body correspond roughly to the earth, water, fire and air in the universe. Most of us know this, so I won’t say too much about it, but there is one thing that is mentioned in tantra. It says: “How does each universe and each level of sentient being, the physical body and its container, work together?” The element balance in a human body like mine and the element balance of its surrounding have to be compatible. Then I can live. But if the element balance of my surrounding, and the element balance of my body, become incompatible, I will die. When the amount of heat in our body and the amount of heat in our surrounding, and the amount of water in our body and the amount of water in our surrounding, are compatible and balanced, we’re comfortable. But when they are not balanced, we feel uncomfortable. When we look back to the definition of the external universe, it reminds us how our body and our external universe are related, how the external universe affects our body and how our body affects the external universe. This interrelation is always there.

That relates to the raw material of the universe and the raw material of the physical body. Then Buddha said the physical body and surrounding of all sentient beings—human and animal of this planet, human and animal of other planets, spirits, everything—is totally interrelated with these five elements. According to the balance of those five elements, sentient beings have a particular body and a particular surrounding. For me, this is San Francisco. For a spirit, it is a spirit realm. For a hungry ghost, everything is a hungry ghost’s realm. That’s how it works. And that is how we should relate to the physical element balance of the external universe and the physical element balance of sentient beings. Mind always remains the same.

Tantric Medicine, Astrology and Mathematics

Everybody calls tantric medicine “Tibetan medicine” these days. The reason it is more appropriately called tantric medicine, or Buddhist medicine, is that Buddha manifested as Medicine Buddha and taught this tantra. That particular tantra is what Tibetan medicine is based on. In the same way, Tibetan mathematics is really Buddhist mathematics, because it came from the tantra and sutra teachings of Buddha on the subject of mathematics. Now it is known as Tibetan astrology. Chinese astrology is very close, if not the same. Astrology and mathematics go together, as I mentioned.

Where do medicine, astrology and mathematics belong? They belong to the relative subject. The medicine, astrology and mathematics that were taught by Buddha and are practiced now are according to the human universe, the human body, the human mind, the human body’s interrelation with the universe and the human mind’s interrelation to the human body. It is solely based on that.

In theory, Buddha taught nine-thousand million aspects of mathematics that were based on nine numbers, zero through nine. The mathematics text that is available in Tibetan language right now does not go up that high, because it is too much. People who are really devoted to mathematics and astrology in these days use sixty; you put the number nine sixty times. That is how far they are able to work with the text. Only those who make calendars and work with astrology and mathematics know how to do this. I don’t know how to do it.

When it comes to mathematics and astrology together, it becomes an impossible subject. Theoretically speaking, I really don’t know if this is science or something else. I have a hard time making that distinction. The details of the practice of astrology and mathematics together are usually known by the people who make calendars. Their first practice is to make a perfect, profound calendar that everyone uses. In Tibetan, we have about three different calendars made by three different calendar makers. Because calendars have very little space for each day, and that space is filled with numbers, the calendar makers couldn’t use all of the mathematics. If a calendar maker were to make a full calendar, the calculation of even one day could be many volumes. It is endless.

According to tantric astrology and mathematics, to make a precise, top-quality horoscope, you have to use the nine generation theory. That means that the birthdates and times of the nine generations past are necessary to make an accurate horoscope of one person. This is amazing, because there are twelve animals that represent twelve years. Then it repeats. And there are twelve zodiacs. And there are many other things to also be considered, like karma. In a perfect calendar, each page would have the full horoscope of every child that is born at every moment with every parent. But that way it becomes impossible. Nowadays, nobody goes beyond the parents. You just get the parents’ birthdates and child’s birthdate and that’s it. They became lazy. But that satisfies people because it can predict certain things, although not everything.

Astrology is actually based on all the stars that are involved with twenty-four major permanent stars. These in turn involve many other stars. Some of the twenty-four stars have six stars together, so it is not just one star, but groups of stars. Some of them are single stars. But that is the concept of the universe in astrology and mathematics.

One galaxy or group of universes that stays together is a third thousand in quantity. That means one-thousand solar systems times one-thousand solar systems times one-thousand solar systems. It is three times—one-thousand times one-thousand times one-thousand. That is one group. When they think about the universe, they are thinking about what we call . . . chen-po,  “the greater three-thousand.” That means first thousand, second thousand, and third thousand. So one-thousand times three.

I think it is appropriate for us to draw a conclusion to our discussion of the universe here.

Health

There are basically two kinds of health—physical health and mental health. In Tibetan, a physical problem is called lung rkyen me, the sickness of the body. A mental problem is called sem rkyen me, the sickness of the mind. The good news is that our mind can never be sick ultimately. Our mind is ultimately okay. Nobody can be crazy ultimately. Nobody can be neurotic ultimately. Nobody can be evil ultimately. In Buddhism, ultimate negativity or ultimate evil doesn’t exist. The ultimate is perfect, it is pure. Therefore, it is enlightenment.

Why is enlightenment so great? Why should everyone strive for it? Because it is ultimate. If there is ultimate negativity, then enlightenment is great because there is another ultimate. That is why every Buddhist will pray “May I and all sentient beings be free from suffering,” and “May I and all sentient beings attain enlightenment.” Enlightenment is the ultimate, and the ultimate is perfect.

Relation of Mind and Body and Introduction to Transformation

The relative sickness of the body and the relative sickness of the mind aren’t necessarily connected according to the principle of medicine, but most of the time they are connected. It is possible to have a perfect body and a sick mind, but most of the time, the body influences the mind. I think it is appropriate for us to introduce the subject of transformation here, because the sickness of the mind is cured through transformation. We can use this concept of transformation for curing physical sickness as well, but it is slightly different from how the sickness of the mind is cured.

In Tibetan medicine, the basic philosophy is that the existence of the sickness is the evidence for the cure. That is how it is viewed. If there is a sickness, there is a cure. A sickness without a cure cannot exist. Having something is the evidence of having something for it, or against it.

There are a number of medicines used in Buddhist or tantric medicine. Buddha described many minerals, ranging from quicksilver to earth, and herbs, including seeds, roots, leaves, trunks, and grass. Parts of the physical bodies of different animals are also described. Lots of people don’t like to hear about it, but it is there in the text.

Physical Illness

The definition of physical sickness is that something is too much or too little. To function properly, the eye has to be able to see clearly, the ear has to be able to hear clearly, the tongue has to be able to taste clearly, the blood has to circulate properly, the heart has to be able to pump properly, the lungs have to be able to breathe properly. Each one of those systems needs a tremendous amount of balance. Everything has to be right—not too much and not too little of anything.

When something becomes too much or too little, problems develop. These problems are described in many ways. Something grows on something, or something becomes bad and disintegrates. From the bone marrow to the skin, everything in the body has its own function. Everything in the body has to be healthy and functioning properly to have perfect physical health.

According to the medicine tantra, each plant and each mineral has a particular quality that effects the element balance, so that when something is too little, it becomes just enough, and when something is too much, it minimizes. In Tibetan medicine, traditionally the doctor first checks the patient and then makes up a particular medicine according to that particular patient. Nowadays Tibetan medicine is more and more mass-produced, which changes things a lot. Traditionally, medicine was never mass-produced. Every medicine was prepared according to the condition of the individual patient. Even patients who had a similar sick­nesses received different medicines, because each person’s sickness and each person’s body is slightly different. Traditional Tibetan doctors carried hundreds of tiny paper bags and a very sensitive scale for weighing. According to the patient, they made the medicine, weighed it on the scale and administered it.

Medicines aren’t taken only internally, by ingestion. Sometimes the medicine is burned and the heat of the medicine goes through a gold needle placed on a particular spot. Sometimes a particular metal is burned on a particular spot. It sounds painful but it isn’t at all. Our skin is burning, so it smells a little like a barbecue, but there’s less pain than from an injection.

Sometimes a doctor will prepare a particular herb in a small rice paper cone and then glue it to the right spot and burn it. I’ve had several of them. That procedure really helps, but it is extremely painful. It is almost unbearable, because you have to sit there for about two or three minutes while you’re burning. The burn is usually the size of a cigarette, so it is quite big.

Another cure is blood-letting. When people have bad or poisoned blood, they’re given a particular medicine and preparations to apply to the skin which will usually concentrate the bad blood in a particular spot. Then they take it out and the person gets well.

The texts also have instructions for performing surgery, and descriptions of surgical instruments. It is all there—I read through the text myself. But unfortunately, the practice stopped many hundred of years ago. I don’t think you will find any Tibetan doctor who will do surgery now.

There is a correct way to cure people which is done by very few doctors these days. It is a mathematical and astrological treatment, so the doctor knows exactly when to give what medicine to which person. We call it “pulse reading.” This particular pulse reading is entitled “seven magnificent (or amazing) pulse.” A doctor with this kind of skill can actually examine the father or mother for the health of their children or parents, who can be hundreds of miles away. He can tell how long somebody is going to live. There are seven conditions that can be described through reading the pulse of one person. As far as I know, there is one person in East Tibet, who is about seventy-four years old, who is very famous for it. Another lived in Bhutan and died several years ago. But this gives you a rough idea of the treatment of the physical body in tantric medicine.

Mental Illness

When it comes to the mind, if the mental sickness is related with the physical sickness, proper physical treatment will definitely cure it. If the mental sickness is not related to the physical sickness, it has to be treated with the transformation or meditation aspect of treatment.

When we meditate, first we learn how to sit properly, in meditation posture. Sitting in the correct physical posture is the first step to developing balance for the mind. There is a tremendous virtue in sitting properly when we meditate. Most of the time it is described as seven postures. But when it is described for this particular purpose, it is introduced as as the five physical positions of contemplation or meditation.

In Tibetan it says samten-chi-chu-wa. I believe the Christian word for it would be meditation, but Buddhist translators translate samten into English as contemplation. So first we learn the contemplation or meditation posture, the physical position of the body. This involves the immediate balance of the mind and body. Actually, a body is either alive or dead. Whether the body is alive or dead depends on whether that body has a mind in it or not. If the body is without a mind, it is a dead body. If the body has a mind, it is a live body.

How does that work? The time for the mind to leave the body is when the body’s systems shut down—the breathing stops throughout the body and the heart stops pumping blood. When those systems stop functioning, we die. The mind is subtle, absolutely subtle. It is the most subtle thing in the whole universe. The body is solid and liquid. The connection between something that is totally limitless and subtle and something that is totally limited and solid is this flow of energy. And that flow of energy is functioning right now in our body as breathing.

Five Airs

The breathing of the air, or the circulation of energy, is divided into five aspects of air, or five aspects of energy, or five aspects of breathing. And this has to be always renewed, always rejuvenated. It is the essence of our parents, the essence of the universe, which became ours when we were conceived. That somehow stays there as the seed. But then we constantly have to draw it from the universe by breathing, by eating, by moving, by everything we do. We have to constantly charge this flow of energy.

This correct sitting posture of crossing the legs, putting hands together, keeping the back straight and the throat slightly bent, and eyes half-open, like the Buddha’s eye on the various statues—these are the five positions of the physical body, the five postures.

First Air

The first air is air that takes care of all the leftovers. The sweat comes out, the hair grows out, the nails grow out, and so on. It is like a disposal energy. That is very important. When we sit cross-legged, that disposal air becomes centralized. That is the first thing that happens. Some translators translate this as gravity air. It goes down and takes things out. That is also okay, but I think disposal is more clear.

Second Air

The second is putting the hands together and resting them on the lap. This is described as water-air. This air is supposed to keep all the other airs functioning together. For instance, let us say we have a statue made of clay. It is actually just dust. What holds it together is that the statue maker put water in the clay, and that water holds the little particles together and makes a statue. Each of these airs is kept together by water-air. By putting the hands together, it centralizes the water-air, and so balances it.

Third Air

The third position is sitting straight, with the backbone as straight as possible. This particular air is described as earth-air. Earth-air simply means the foundation for all of this other airs, the solid aspect of the air. When our back is straight and our two arms are straight, we’ll be centralized.

Fourth Air

When the throat is slightly bent, the particular air that is involved here is called fire-air. The fire-air keeps our body warm and allows the body to be fresh. The alive body does not disintegrate. As soon as we die, that air is gone and the body disintegrates. So that particular one is described as fire-air. To balance this, we bend the throat slightly.

The fire-air is also gravity. Even though we’re standing on the ground, our blood circulation is able to carry blood to our head. It is like fire and smoke. Smoke always goes up; it doesn’t go down. Fire-air always has the power to circulate everywhere.

Fifth Air

Then, finally, the eyes and the tongue. The eyes are half-closed, half-open. The tongue gently touches the upper palate. This is to centralize the air-air. Air-air is actually described as movement, so air-air is able to make movement.

So, according to the physical body structure, and according to the function of each part of the body, when we sit in that particular posture, these five airs become balanced.

How does that relate to mind? This sounds slightly mysterious, but not exactly. There are some texts we can study that explain this. There is a particular tantric text entitled sam mo nam tun. In English it can be translated as “deep inner meaning.” Another text is called ju . . . ., which is the tantra of the Hevajra tantra. Hevajra is a mandala, and the tantra, the explanation, the commentary of that particular explanation of that particular mandala is the ju . . . . . So if we look into this kind of text then we will learn each of the relationships and each of the explanations.

How does it work for the mind? Mental illness comes from the imbalance of five major defilements. If our defilements are balanced , we are ordinary sentient beings. We are not enlightened but we are ordinary sentient beings. The defilements are jealousy, anger, ignorance, attachment and pride, or ego. This order is according to those five particular airs.

The disposal air is related with jealousy, water-air is related with anger (commonly it looks like fire-air is the anger, but according to the tantra, it is not), earth-air is related with ignorance, fire-air is related with attachment and passion, and air-air is related with ego, or pride. When any of these five—desire, anger, ignorance, jealousy or pride—becomes imbalanced, when one becomes too strong and another too weak, then we become neurotic. When we become severely neurotic, we become mentally ill.

Transformation in Mental Health

As far as transformation is concerned, when we sit properly just before meditating, if we can sit for a reasonable amount of time, already there is improvement. We are able to sit properly and prepare for our meditation. As we are able to sit for longer periods of time, we become more calm, quiet and peaceful, and we are ready to meditate. That is the beginning of the improvement of our mental health. That is the first step in improving mental health.

From there, the further steps of transformation should take place. In tantra, or Vajrayana, the only way ignorant sentient beings can become enlightened is through a process of transformation. We cannot destroy an ignorant sentient being to create a buddha. The only way for an ignorant sentient being to become Buddha is through transforming ignorance into wisdom. When we go into detail, we call it the five defilements of the five Buddha families—desire, anger, ignorance, jealousy and ego.

Now, what is the other side of ignorance? The other side of ignorance is wisdom. What is the other side of wisdom? It is the ignorance. I’ll try to explain this. Although I’m afraid it might be too simplistic, it serves our purpose here to understand it. The practice is one thing and understanding is another. First we need a basic understanding, then maybe we will practice.

When a person doesn’t know something, that is one kind of ignorance—saying, “I don’t know. I am scared. I feel absolutely frightened.” It is the fear of not knowing. But it is far wiser to know that we don’t know than to think we have to think we know. So, when we say “I don’t know,” that is already knowing. That is one step in wisdom. And then, when we really look into everything that is there to know, ultimately there is nothing to know. So it goes back to not knowing, because ultimately there is nothing to know. Ultimately everything is happening in a relative sense, but in an ultimate sense, nothing is happening. Well, I will say something. Be prepared.

If somebody asks me, “Are you a human being?”, what am I supposed to say? Am I supposed to take offense and get mad? Or, I might simply say, “Of course I’m a human being.” But if I really answer according to the tantric principle, I should just say, “Relatively speaking, I am a human being.” Then the person would say, “Ultimately what are you?” Then, with all due respect, I would have to say, “Ultimately I’m a buddha.”

Even if I asked this question to a cat or a dog, if they could answer, first they’d have to say “Relatively I am a cat, ultimately I am a buddha” or “Relatively I am a dog, ultimately I am a buddha.” That would be the correct answer for every sentient being. Ultimately we’re a buddha, relatively we’re a human being or a dog or a cat. That is how it works. So, transformation means ignorance, not knowing, being an ignorant sentient being, being totally overwhelmed by the suffering of samsara, the trips of samsara, and we are the pilgrims of the samsara going through each event. All of a sudden we get to one place, like San Francisco, and there will be one big event and then it is over. Then we go on to the next event, like in New Delhi, and then the next.

So, right now we are a human being. We prepare for our event by going to school, going to college. Then, when we graduate, we think “This is the event, this is the real life we were always looking for.” Then, after some time, we get used to it and get bored by it. Then another pilgrimage begins.

But the only way for us to really improve, really transform our ignorance,  is by liberating whatever profound essence, profound quality, is there to be liberated. We don’t have to add something in. We don’t have to add anything. Lord Buddha said in his teaching: “Ultimately there is no difference between you and me.” What he meant is “Ultimately I am Buddha, ultimately you are Buddha.” That is why I have such a big mouth to say “Ultimately I am Buddha,” because Buddha says so.

Then he said: “The difference is that my Buddha essence is totally liberated and yours is not. That is why you are my disciple and I am the Buddha.” That is the only difference. And the reason Buddha took the trouble to give all of these teachings is because everyone is Buddha by nature, everyone ultimately is Buddha, everyone’s universe is ultimately perfect. He taught the methods for purifying and transforming ourselves from relative, limited, ordinary sentient beings into our ultimate potential, our ultimate essence, buddhahood. That is basically the concept of transformation, the idea of enlightenment, and the definition of realization, buddhahood and purification.

Purification doesn’t mean we are bad so we have to beat up all of our badness, throw it away, then collect all the goodness to become perfect. It doesn’t mean that. Purification means we’re ultimately perfect, but that perfection manifests relatively like ignorance, like attachment, like all of these relative obstacles. We have to transform our anger into compassion, we have to transform our ignorance into wisdom. That is how transformation takes place. And total transformation is total purification. That is what enlightenment is.

I think this covers these two major subjects of Buddhism, and particularly tantric Buddhism. Tantric science contains the answers for all of our questions, because Buddha said, relatively nothing happens without a cause and a condition. Everything happens with a cause and condition. There is nothing we cannot answer. There is an answer for every question because every single event takes place for a reason. Nothing happens without a reason. So that is what tantric science is for me.

Enlightenment is the transformation of our negativity into positiveness, because the positive is the essence of the negative. When we don’t know something, when we do something wrong, that is negative. But when we do it right, that is positive. So it is the other side of the coin, the other side of the page. So it is totally connected.

And the idea of practice, the idea of prayer, the idea of working hard to do things right is not a demonstration against doing something wrong. It is not opposing something that is wrong. It is transforming wrong into right, ignorance into wisdom. It is not that ignorance is our enemy, but we have to transform our ignorance into wisdom.

The self, the ego, the I, are the biggest obstacles to enlightenment. From the moment a child is born, before it knows anything, it knows how to cry. It knows how to be angry. Even before we know how to say father and mother, we know how to feel I am hungry, I am cold, I am left alone. Even a small bug that walks across our table, who cannot read one single sentence and cannot communicate anything in words, knows how to hide and knows how to run if we make a little noise—because of self. So, as long as there is the self, that is the good news, because the other side of the self is buddha nature. When our buddha nature is fully liberated, that is enlightenment. That is what transformation means.

I hope the things that I shared here tonight are clear enough. I hope it makes sense to you, and that it is helpful for your quest for learning about Buddhism, or making your life more meaningful. I hope so. I’m not able to say things too clearly today because all of this tragedy made me—you know, I’m a neurotic person. I realize it affected me. I felt very sad for what happened. So many people died, and still most of them aren’t out yet. They’re still buried there. So it is quite a sad situation. I know that even if we feel sad, it doesn’t really help, but then, I cannot help it. I’m a human being and I’m not enlightened as I should be, so I still have dualism. And I cannot say things as clearly as I’d like to say them.

Yesterday quite a few individuals came to our dharma center here and we did a short prayer for those who died and for those who survived but have lots of pain and suffering. Tonight, instead of letting you ask questions, I’d like to request that you join with me and the venerable lamas to do a short prayer. This is a Mahamudra lineage prayer, and Mahamudra is the particular lineage I follow.

Also, there is an Amitabha prayer. Amitabha is a particular aspect of Buddha that represents Pure Land, which is for the human beings. The strongest weakness of human beingd is attachment and desire. That is the common human defilement. So Amitabha Buddha is the transformation aspect of the attachment. Therefore, Amitabha is practiced as a Buddha whose Pure Land is available for rebirth for those human beings with sincere inspiration, dedication and compassion.

So we pray for those who died and for those who are suffering. Any of you who know this particular prayer, please join with us. If you don’t know it, I request that you join us in your heart.

[Prayer and Dedication]

[Transcribed and edited by Stephanie Harolde]

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