Khyentse Yeshe in Russia
I am so pleased to present this video of YESHI NAMKHAI (Khyentse Yeshe), the Italian-born son of Chögyal Namkhai Norbu.
Please note the ordinariness of his presentation; no brocade, no throne, no robes, just ordinary language. It may be a little difficult to follow because of accent and style, and having to wait for the translator, but it’s very worthwhile. The gist of what he is saying is that we get more pleasure out of complexity and so miss the simplicity of the enlightened attitude. The video is called “What is Enlightenment?”, but maybe it is more to do with the enlightened attitude.
Here are some (rough) notes taken from the video which give a feel of what was spoken about. The main points are in CAPS and bold type. If you don’t get to the end of the video, he likes mango ice cream…at the moment!
We are the centre of our universe, but our universe is unstable. As this universe is in our mind and our mind is full of perceptions, judgements and memory, it is also unstable. We are always right in our mind. Traditionally, this is called ego. We believe inside of us is true and outside of us is never true.
Why do I have a question? Why am I here as opposed to there? Once we ask a question, it is impossible to separate this from the answer. First of all, I am searching for something. If we are discussing what is outside, then I already know some possibilities.
Our reflections can be positive and also negative. We can decide whether this reflection is good or bad, we like it or don’t like it. We are here, looking for reality. We discover that the answer is already in front of us. Being conditioned by the mind, we believe that everything that appears is the truth.
There cannot be any action without a thought in the mind; all we have to do is observe our actions. All our actions have some kind of emotion. Before this emotion, there is some kind of idea, some kind of judgement, a structure in our mind.
Just to do an action with an empty mind is very difficult. We have to go back in our mind for the essence of our existence.
Having the truth presented in front of us – the truth, the answer – we will never find it.
The manifestation of the mind is our own manifestation, and this is always true for us. We only care about ourself – we don’t care about others. We give pleasure to the mind.
Knowledge is what one can observe oneself; understand that this is an activity of the mind. So knowledge is presence. In that moment is to know it’s ice cream; I don’t feel a separation between this ice cream and myself. I have a tongue to feel what is nice. I have 5 organ senses to feel pleasure. I can have fear of interruption of this pleasure.
I can have the idea that another flavour exists in time and space. It is the capacity of mind to work in time and space. We cannot taste two flavours at the same time. Mind always has knowledge of change. It knows very well that all things must die. We see that there is nothing to judge.
Through this understanding, we can be more happy (not wondering what is over there!). We all have this recognition. We should be in the presence of this knowledge, but this knowledge does not give something special; just like enlightenment, it doesn’t have a special feeling. No interesting characteristics. It has no quantity. It has nothing to do with personal feeling.
The problem comes when I feel different. In my mind there doesn’t appear the feeling of difference. I am not different from others. I am happy not because I feel higher than others. I DON’T HAVE THE POSSIBILITY OF HAVING JUDGEMENT because I do not have the idea of conceiving difference. Everything is connected and discovered within oneself. Just remain instantly present in our present condition.
BEING SO SIMPLE FEELS IT DOES NOT HAVE ANY VALUE. Because whatever we observe is very complicated and has a lot of construction of the mind, when the mind is engaged there is pleasure of the mind. THE MORE THERE IS COMPLICATION, THE MORE THERE IS PLEASURE.
We are constantly looking for satisfaction, but we are the user of this knowledge. Everything becomes more easy, more joyful, more free.
BUDDHA IN THE MUD is a blog - a living book based on the Dzogchen teachings. Our teacher is life, and life is karma. We are all Buddhas in the mud of concepts. 