The first step is that, all of us, we are human being, you know? Regardless of different culture or background, regardless of how your parents made you feel, you know? We are all human beings, and that is the common ground that we need to accept. That we are all equal, you know?
And the second is that, us as a Buddhist practitioner, our common goal, is to overcome suffering. Whether you call it samsara, or whether you call it suffering, whether you call it illusion, whatever you like to call it, basically it’s the opposite of unhappiness, you know, the opposite of the happiness. Yeah. So how to obtain this ultimate happiness? You know? Is the path of the Buddha. Buddhahood.
Many people when they approach to the meaning of Buddhism, and when they practice this meditation, they have this wrong conceptual ideas about the meaning of happiness, the meaning of enlightenment, you know? They think that the meaning of enlightenment is something to grasp, rainbow and unicorn, with the wings and, you know, in the sky, you know, to go further away, avoid the reality, you know? But being a Buddhist means accepting the reality, but instead of being in despair, you awaken your own wisdom, that you have. You know?
The Buddha Shakyamuni, you know, he has said that “I have shown you the path to the enlightenment, but to reach there, you need to put your own effort”, you know, and your first step of effort is not by complaining “the samsara is terrible” and changing clothes, making a hair cut, that doesn’t make you a better Buddhist. Everybody can do that. You know, everybody can do, I mean, I shave my hair because I’m bald, you know? Not necessarily for the design, you know? I shave it so that I, you know, so that I don’t look like a volcano, you know? Patch of the volcano crater, you know? All over the place.
So, so therefore, you know, in order to understand the true, you know, happiness. The true meaning of happiness is to be absent from the illusion of the mind. The illusion of the mind, the illusion itself, you know, the illusion.
Because, like an example, when we call ourself a Buddhist practitioner, we say that “attachment is bad”, “ignorance is bad”, “jealousy is bad”, you know, “hatred and anger is bad”. But saying “bad” doesn’t really improve, or changes anything. You know, everybody notice, everybody knows that hatred is not really useful, or helpful. Anger is not really useful, or helpful. You know?
But you have to understand the essence of all the negativity, and you need to have an analytical approach as well. You cannot just deny the reality you know? So that’s what I’m trying to say. Being a Buddhist practitioner, does not mean being in denial, you know?
Kalu Rinpoche at the Buddhist Community Centre UK (BCC UK) Monastery – 30 Nov 2022 (29′ 30”)
To be continued …
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