Rinpoche Talks at “Tibetan Festival of Compassion”

Prof Samdhong Rinpoche is the Chairperson of Tibetan Cabinet. He was also the Chairman of Tibetan Parliament for two terms. He was Director of Central Institute for Higher Tibetan Studies, Varanasi and was the President of Association of all India Universities in 1998.

Shri Rajeev Vora ji, respected Nirmal Verma ji, Didi ji and friends; the problem, which was experienced by our earlier speaker Prof. Ramu Gandhi and I am slo going through the same problem of language. This panel discussion is being organized in the capital of independent India. I presumed that the language to be used here would be ‘Bharatitya Basha’, but I think, it may be due to the presence of certain international members in the audience here. We have to be considerate to them. For me both English and Hindi are foreign language. But the spiritual subject such as “swaraj”, would be more easily expressible if we are able to use our own language. However, I will try my level best in my broken English. If I happen to commit any mistake, do forgive me.

The problem of humanity as experienced by Budhha, the reality of suffering, the truth of suffering, as one of the first truth among the “Four Noble Truth”. These sufferings are neither created by some super natural power nor invited by sentient beings through their own willingness. But the misery, the suffering, the unhappiness are caused due to ignorance, illusions, and the conditioning of mind. According to Buddhist philosophy, the nature of sentient beings are basically pure, good, and not violent.

I heard from distinguished speakers in yesterday’s symposium. There was a discussion on “whether human nature is violent or non-violent”. Many scholars and many speakers were trying to argue that violence is of human nature. If that is so, then nature cannot be changed. Then humanity, sentient beings, shall have to be always negative or always violent.

The Buddhist point is that the “seed of enlightenment” and the potential of enlightenment ‘tatha gadha garwa’ is present in every sentient beings’ inner self and that is the potential which gives us hope, that gives possibility- the possibility of growing, the possibility of enlightenment and the possibility of becoming free. And, that is pure, that is not contaminated, that is not diluted. All the conditiongs or all the defilements are of temporary nature. They are not from the nature itself- the nature of mind but these are created by external causes and external conditionins. The conditioning of human mind which causes violence and all sort of misery for humanity comes from an enormous number of different external causes which includes: the society, the so called education, culture and the rest of the things and particularly it can be summed up in this so-called “civilization”. Civilization is the greatest cause of conditioning of mind. Particularly, human mind is always conditioned by a particular civilization. Until and unless we recognize that cause-the freedom, the realization of self as it is without distorting it to perceive the present as it exist in its own nature. The human mind conditioned for thousands of years in continuum through various powerful external forces, which has almost destroyed the basic illuminating nature ‘parwaswarta’ of the inner consciousness. The inner consciousness has been overpowered, has been buried under various thick covers of negative emotions, negative thoughts, negative actions and so many things. These things become in the name of the civilization of culture. Then, immunity to that, gets completely disappeared from our human mind to resist that kind of condition is also destroyed.

We think, the civilization is a good thing and that we must adopt it, we must welcome it, we must nurture it and we must cultivate it in our mind. In this way, the recognition of self as it exist almost becomes impossible.

All the religious traditions or rather the entirety of religious tradition can be summed up in two categories such as amatmawadhin and niratatmawadhin. The Buddhist and Charwags and some other traditions of India are within the category of amatmawadhin and niratatmawadhin- they do not accept the independent existence of self. And the rest of the Indian tradition or non Indian traditional religion believes in the “self-atma”, but the people don’t perceive it, or do not realize it.

All the great different traditions are different in expression, different in terminology and different in language. Both of these traditions comes as the same meaning and same essence- that ignorance of real self is the root cause of all dependency. I am not talking of interdependency but void of freedom. As long as a person in under the influence of ignorance and delusion about the self-that person is not ‘pratantra’ because then, not seeing the self, how that person can act or think or see things without interference of the negative forces or the external causes. So therefore; that person is in bondage in many ways: in the process of thinking, in the process of seeing the things, in the process of acting and ultimately that person don’t have control over self. The self is carried away by external forces. If we go into the depth-birth, decay, death and rebirth; all have been governed by external forces and self doesn’t have the freedom to choose, the freedom to act according to one’s own wishes.

Nobody has control over the time of one’s death. When death comes, nothing can be done. Similarly, anybody who believes in rebirth- that rebirth is also carried away by the forces of ‘karma’ and there is no chance and there is no freedom. And this can be of dependence or control by something else which is in the real nature of suffering, the real nature of ‘dhukha’. The ‘dhukha satya’ is the void of freedom. Whosoever doesn’t have the freedom that is living or drying within the limitation of suffering, pain, misery, freedom to perceive, freedom to realize, freedom to think, freedom to see. That person is free to choose anything and free to act at one’s own will. That person isn’t reborn, doesn’t die due to external forces, due to conditioning of other causes. And one has the freedom to act according to one’s own will.
Here is the basic essence of Indian tradition of ‘swaraj’. ‘Swa’, which I already mentioned refers to a particularly of consciousness (not the totality of consciousness but a particularly of consciousness). That particularity of consciousness sometimes operates under the control of external force. As long as it operates under the control of external forces we have no control over it. That is dependency. When that dependency ceases then we are able to have the recognition of that self itself (that particular consciousness). The perception of particular consciousness is the de-limitation of that particular consciousness. De-limitation of particular consciousness means transforming particular consciousness into pervasive consciousness. That denies or that breaks all the boundaries and the self becomes non-self. Self merges into the totality, the pervasiveness or the ‘sunyata’ or the voidness. The denial of self, the negation of self of the present status, or realization of self as the ultimate status-that is one and the same. That is the ultimate freedom, that is the ultimate ‘Raj’ and that is the ultimate destruction of all conditioning, all limitation, and all boundaries. At that level, freedom will not be the opposite of bondage. This pervasive freedom of ‘swaraj’ cannot be understood as an alternative, into fragmentations or into parts. We have no language to convey this partlessness. The undivisiveness of the totality, that is not within the perception of our thought so we have to go beyond that. That limitation of thought which could only recognize the alternatives is the subtlest bondage.

Therefore; Jitu Krishnamurthi, always talk of ‘going beyond thoughts, going beyond conceptions’. The conceptions and thoughts can only think or can only recognize something, which is within the limitations. Going beyond those limitations is freedom-the freedom not as liberated from something, freedom which is re-discovered or re-established; which already exist but which is re-established when the darkness, and when the ignorance disappears. That is the ultimate ‘swaraj’, which we might look for but to achieve that kind of ‘swaraj’, the negation of self and the other in our path or in our journey to that ‘swaraj’ is essential. Without nonduality of self and non-self, it is not possible to implement our methods or our path the Gandhi’s concept of ‘swaraj’ may not be possible to realize in totality. By doing so, here the opposite method is essential.

I don’t know how I should put it in appropriate words- the limitation of things in a reverse direction. Shall have to be able to put non-divisive self and the others. For that we have to eliminate certain basic criteria. The certain basic criteria is that “competition” has no place in the practice of freedom, ‘muktisadhana’. We shall have to eliminate “competition” and we shall have to eliminate desire, wants and selfishness. The self has to be substituted by all and competition has to be substituted by helping each other or by cooperation. And, the perception of non-interdependence, the self existence or conventional existence and inherent self has to be negated. If one is able to negate that, then the question of violence doesn’t arise. Whatever action comes out of such a mind, that can be anything but it will definitely be not violence.

I think that’s all.
Thank you