གསུམ་པ་ངན་སོང་གི་སྡུག་བསྔལ་བསམ་པ་
So now, we have to think about the reality of the suffering. So, when we think about the reality of suffering, we think about as somebody as suffering or physical unwell or discontent with their own way of living. So, we think about that as suffering. But the samsaric suffering has a more profound detail. So, I’m going to explain that a little bit, okay?
དམྱའ་བའི་སྡུག་བསྔལ་བསམ་པ། ཡི་དྭགས་ཀྱི་སྡུག་བསྔལ་བསམ་པ།
So, these are the explanation where it goes through the direction of the hell explanation. The explanation of hell and also the suffering of hell, suffering of also the the hunger ghost realm. So, understanding their suffering and reflecting that very sense of suffering, you know, to oneself.
དུད་འགྲོའི་སྡུག་བསྔལ་བསམ་པ།
And that animal suffering as well.
བསམ་པ་གསུམ་ལས། དང་པོ་ནི། སྔོན་འགྲོ་དང་རྗེས་སྔར་ལྟར་ལས།
The preliminary practice is the same as before, which is, you know, making a prayer to the Buddha, Dharma, Sangha and wanting to benefit all the sentient beings, and therefore practicing Lamrim. You know, in your mind. So, that’s that.So, that is part of the preliminary, okay?
So, the preliminary doesn’t mean 100,000 of this and that. It just means prayer to the Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, and pure confession, and pure intention, and bodhicitta in mind, and that is preliminary of this particular practice.
བདག་མི་ཡུལ་དུ་ཡུན་རིང་བསྡད་དབང་མི་འདུག། འཆི་བ་འདིས་འཇིགས་སོ་བསམ། ནན་ཏན་ན་འཆི་བ་ཁོ་ན་ལ་ཏ་ཆེས་འཇིགས་རྒྱུ་ཡང་མེད་ཏེ། ཤི་བས་མི་ཆོག་དབང་མེད་དུ་སྐྱེ་བ་ལེན་དགོས་པས་འདི་ཁོ་ན་སྐྲག། དགེ་བ་ནི་མ་བྱས་སྡིག་པ་ནི་མང་ན་ངན་སོང་གསུམ་དུ་སྐྱེ་སྟེ་འོང༑ ཅི་རང་དྲག་སྙམ་དུ་བསམ། འདི་ངན་སོང་གི་སྡུག་བསྔལ་བསམ་པའི་དམིགས་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི་སྒོ་ཡིན། དེ་ནས་ཚ་དམྱལ་གྱི་སྡུག་བསྔལ་བསམ་པ། ཚ་དམྱལ་བརྒྱད་དང་གྲང་དམྱལ་བརྒྱད།
So, there are eight levels of suffering of hell, and then the cold suffering is cold-suffering realm, and then the hunger ghost realm. So, as a Buddhist practitioner, all of you I think it’s good to know these few things. It’s good to know about the Tantrayana and Mahayana, but also it’s good to know about heaven and hell and all the distinctions in between and the reality of the each of their sufferings and so on.
སྡོམ་ནི། ཡང་སོས་ཐིག་ནག་བསྡུས་འཇོམས་དང་། ངུ་འབོད་ངུ་འབོད་ཆེན་པོ་དང་། ཚ་བ་རབ་ཚ་མནར་མེད་པའོ།
So ཡང་སོས་ means killing again. ཐིག་ནག། means lining your body, basically measuring your body with the black line and བསྡུས་འཇོམས།་ means more like what I say colliding with the two mountains something like that. ངུ་འབོད་means just simply crying, a loud cry. And then ཚ་བ་ means suffering of heat. རབ་ཏུ་ཚ་བ་ means more extreme, extreme heat. མནར་མེད་ means endless. So, all these are different realms of suffering.
Okay, so, fasten your seat belt, and this is where the adventure begins, of the Lamrim. More exciting part of the Lamrim. Because the before one is always classical, you know, here and there like ‘Oh, impermanence and the reality of suffering. And the live is precious. Yes, yes, I heard these many times.’ But then this part of the hell is a little bit like reading the book from the Lord of the Ring, you know. We have all these ugly things, the ugly version of it. And the best part is that Buddha does not control, none of this. All of these are destined by your own creation. Nobody is planning for you. Nobody’s making it for you. It is just simply based on your own accumulation of positivity or your own accumulation of negativity, based on those qualities of accumulation, your reality is created by that. Okay? So, that’s the distinction from other religions, that’s put it like this.
But before you come to the conclusion of examining the reality of suffering of Heaven and Hell and all that, first you must think,
So, the life of human being, you know, human life is very precious, but at the same time, I don’t have much time left. So, reflecting to oneself.
So, we cannot just live forever. We are bound to die. And once we die and then there will be rebirth. And then based on the accumulation of positivities and negativities, our reality changes based upon that, which I don’t have to repeat again.
དེ་ལ་ཚ་དམྱལ་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི་གནས་ས་གཞི་རི་མེད་ཀླུང་མེད་ལྕགས་བསྲེག་ཡིན་པ༑
So, the very foundation of the ཚ་དམྱལ་ means the hell realm. The heat. The extreme heat suffering hell realm.
I think རི་མེད་ means no mountains, no hills, no landscape, nothing. Basically no landscape, no beautiful hills, nothing.
ཀླུང་མེད། means no air. And every reality is just made out of burning metal.
མེ་ལྕེ་ཁྲུ་གང་ཙམ་རྟག་ཏུ་འབར་བ།
Like an example, like a fire like this or like that, you know, always burning, everywhere all the time.
རི་རོང་ངམ་གྲོག་སལ་སུལ་ཁོ་ནས་ཁྱབ་པ།
So, throughout all the land, everything around, everything is burning, all the time, every time, non-stop.
ཟངས་ཞུན་ནམ་ཁྲོ་ཆུའམ་ཞ་ཉེ་བཞུ་བ་དང་། ལན་ཚྭ་རྣོན་པོ་སོགས་འགྱུར་བྱེད་ཀྱི་ཆུ་ཚན་ཤིན་ཏུ་ཚ་བ་དང་། དེ་འདྲའི་རིགས་ཀྱི་འབབ་ཆུ་དང་མཚོ་ཡོད་པ།
So, like an example, everything that we see in disperse, we see it over there, but you are perceiving everything as a burning reality. Even the woods and the trees are burning, constantly.
ཤིང་རྣམས་ཀྱང་ལྕགས་བསྲེགས་སོགས་ལས་གྲུབ་པ།
And it’s made out of metal.
གདུག་པའི་བྱ་དང་གཅན་གཟན་དང་ལས་ཀྱི་སྲིན་པོ་དང་གཤིན་རྗེ་དུ་མས་གང་བ་ཡོད་དོ།
And then it’s filled with all the different types of animals and different types of workers, you know, different types of hell workers and so on.
དེར་སྐྱེ་པའི་བར་དོ་རྣམས་ཆར་རླུང་གིས་བདས་པ་སོགས་གྲང་བའི་རྣམ་པ་ཆེར་བྱུང་ནས་ལས་ཀྱི་དབང་གིས་ཚ་དམྱལ་གྱི་གནས་མཐོང་བས།
So, we are born there. And by itself without any circumstance, I mean, without any birth circumstance, you know, but rather simply pushed by the karmic wind. Not as actual wind, but rather more like you have no desire of ‘I want to go here. I want to go there.’ You have no aim or direction. And you don’t have a capacity to change that direction or either. So that’s what it means. You know, naturally being there.
So, due to your accumulation of positivities and negativities and you see the reality of the hell realm.
དེར་འགྲོ་བར་ཤེས་ནས་སྲིད་པས་རྒྱུགས་པས་གནས་དེར་ཚུད་ནས་སྐྱེ་བ་ལེན་པར་བཤད། དེ་ཡང་མེ་ཕལ་པ་བས་ཙན་དན་གྱི་མེ་བདུན་འགྱུར་གྱིས་ཚ།
So, all the fire in the hell is seven times of the heat of the earth heat on the earth fire. Let’s put it like this.
དེ་བས་ཀྱང་ཡང་སོས་ཀྱི་མེ་བདུན་འགྱུར་གྱི་ཚ།
And then, as the hell realm goes lower and lower, the fire heat goes seven times more and more.
དེ་བཞིན་དུ་གོང་མ་གོང་མ་ལས་འོག་མ་འོག་མ་བདུན་འགྱུར་གྱིས་ཚ་བར་གྲགས།
So, that’s the distinction between the higher realm of hell than the lower and lower. The lower you go, the multiplies suffering continues.
དམྱལ་བའི་འགྲོ་བ་ཐམས་ཅད་རིག་པ་ཚོར་ངས་རྐྱེན་ཅིང་སྒྲིན་པ། ལུས་འཇམ་ཞིང་མཉེན་ལ་གཞོན་ཤ་ཆགས་པ།
So, your physical state in that hell realm is, your body is very weak and very, very soft, you know, very sticky and soft and whatever the worst scenario you can imagine. You’re just imagining.
ལུས་སེམས་གཉིས་ཀའི་ཆ་ནས་བཟོད་སྲན་ཆུང་བ་ཞིག་ཡོད།
Body and mind both has a very minimum duration of resistance. You have no capacity of resisting anything. That’s one thing.
དེས་ཀྱང་ལྷག་པར་སྡུག་བསྔལ་ཆེ།
And then therefore the suffering is great.
གནས་དེ་དག་ཏུ་བཞིན་ལག་དབང་པོ་ཐམས་ཅད་སྐད་ཅིག་ལ་ཁྲོང་གི་སྐྱེ་སྟེ། གཉིད་སད་པ་འདྲ་བ་ཞིག་ཡོད་པར་གདའ།
So, the way they born over there is just like the when we open our eyes, you know, when we open our eyes, we say, ‘Oh, I woke up right now. ’So, the way they are pushed with karma. And then all of a sudden, they open their eyes and then they just witness that reality.
དམྱལ་བ་ཐམས་ཅད་རྫུས་སྐྱེས་ཡིན། རྫུས་སྐྱེས་ཕལ་ཆེར་གྱི་ལུགས་ལ་དེ་བཞིན་དུ་འབྱུང༑ སྡུག་བསྔལ་མི་འདྲ་བ་སོ་སོའི་ཁྱད་པར་ནི། ཡང་སོས་ནི་ཕན་ཚུན་དགྲ་མི་ཤ་བོ་མཐོང་བ་བཞིན་ཞེ་སྡང་སྐྱེ་ལ། ལག་ཏུ་བླངས་ཚད་མཚོན་ཆ་རྣོན་པོར་སོང་ནས་གཅིག་ལ་གཅིག་གི་བསྣུན་པས་དུམ་བུ་མང་པོ་སོང་བ་ན། རེ་ཞིག་ཤི་བ་བཞིན་དུ་བརྒྱལ་ཞིང་འགྱེལ་འགྲོ།
It means, it’s really comical, you know, if you don’t see it in a very religious way.
Like an example, སྡུག་བསྔལ་མི་འདྲ་བ་སོ་སོའི་ཁྱད་པར་ནི། So the distinction, ཡང་སོས་ means killing again, right? So, that’s the name. So, you will see the other, you know, the consciousness, right? As a figure that we have talked about, very fragile, and very sticky, and very weak and very sensitive, and so on. You see the other person like that. And then you also see yourself like that. The moment you see the other person, you have a great anger, all of a sudden, without any reason, with absolutely zero reason you’re angry to that person, just by looking at it. And then all of a sudden, you have a weapon in your hand. You know, all sorts of weapon. And then you just screaming and going head on to that person. And that person also going head on to you. And you just end up hurting each other.
I don’t think that is hell reality anymore. I think it existed in the human realm already. We say,‘My country is great. Therefore dying for our country is a great honorable achievement.’ There’s nothing honorable about it, you know. Suffering is suffering. That’s the logic. That’s the fact. So, people kill themselves, kill each other in the name of the country, in the name of religions, in the name of ideology, all these same, you know, just because the other person have a different ideology, different nation, idea of different nation. And then we disagreed before even we start talking. We disagree before we even start talking. That’s the same. You know, you don’t have to go in hell to experience. There’s no dialogue. There’s no talking. There’s no communication. At that point of that, you’re part of that ideology. ‘Okay. I disagree with you. And there’s no middle ground. There’s no common sense.’ So, that is our reality. We are living in that reality. So, you don’t have to go very far to experience that reality of suffering.
So, like an example, like race, you know. I am Asian. You’re white. He’s black. Therefore, I’m better. You’re worse. Here we compare ourselves or hate ourselves. Same thing, you know, whether it’s a nation, ideology, race. All these are same purpose and that is fighting among each other. Without any reason. There’s no middle ground. There’s no compromise. Nothing. The same thing. You see each other in that very moment, instantly you have a hate and anger and then you hold a sword and weapons and then you start hitting each other and hurting each other.
དུམ་བུ་མང་པོ་སོང་བ་ན།
And then you cut each other, hurt each other, until you have broken into pieces to pieces, you know, to each other.
རེ་ཞིག་ཤི་བ་བཞིན་དུ་བརྒྱལ་ཞིང་འགྱེལ་འགྲོ།
And then, all of a sudden, you collapse. You collapse. And then from the from the space of the hell, there will be a cold wind that will come. And then that wind will say,
ནམ་མཁའ་ལས་རླུང་གྲང་མོ་དང་། ཡང་སོས་པར་འགྱུར་ཅིག་ཅེས་པའི་སྒྲ་བྱུང་བ་ན་སོས་པར་འགྱུར་ཞིང་།
‘Now, kill again. ‘ That cold wind willl say, ‘ Start the match again! ‘ A little bit like that. ‘ Start killing again! Now! ‘ or something like that. And then you again awaken. And then see your body like that. Then again you see the other person with so much hate. You carry the object. You cut. You keep on hurting and cutting each other until you collapse. Then the cold wind comes again and say ‘ Repeat that again! Repeat the killing again! ‘
ཡང་སྔོན་བཞིན་འཐབ་པ་སོགས་ཡང་ཤི་ཡང་སོས་ལ་ཟད་པ་མེད་པའི་ཚུལ་དུ་ཡོད།
So, that’s one of the explanation of hell.
So, I will go for one more, then I will stop, okay?
I like it very much. It’s very exciting.
So, that’s very short. So I can finish right now.
Oh, that’s even worse. Okay.
ཐིག་ནག་ནི་གཤིན་རྗེ་རྣམས་ཀྱིས་དམྱལ་བའི་སེམས་ཅན་དེའི་ལུས་ལ་ཐིག་ནག་པོ་མང་པོ་བཏབ་སྟེ་སོག་ལེས་གཅོད་པ་དང་། སྟེའུས་གཞོག་པ་དང༑ མཚོན་ཆ་རྣོན་པོས་འགྲབ་པ་སོགས་ཡོད་དེ། དེ་ཡང་སྟོད་བཏུབས་ཙ་ན་སྨད་འགྲིག། སྨད་བཏུབས་ཙ་ན་སྟོད་འགྲིག། ཚུལ་དེ་ཀས་གྲུབ་ཟིན་མེད་པ་ལ་དུས་འདའ་བའོ།
So, all the animals that we have killed, you know, over our lifetime. So, these are the very animal that they appear. And then they start working on our body. They put a black line measuring our body. So, as they make a line where to saw, where to cut your body partial. The partial of your body, where to cut. As they finished the upper body of cutting, your lower body heals again. As they make the ink and cut the lower body, and the upper body heals again. The reality is that you suffer continuously, again and again, again and again. A little bit like a small passing out, again, reemerging. Small passing out, and reemerging again. And that doesn’t stop. So, time goes like this, and so on.
That’s a very good way of ending the teaching today. There will be more exciting stories and I love that.
Kalu Rinpoche
Teaching on Stages in the Path of Illusion, Lesson 4, Part 3
3rd Dec. 2021
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