Practise now because you can die any time

Advice by Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Lama Zopa Rinpoche begins this teaching, “Practise Now Because You Can Die Anytime!” on 25 September 2020, at Kopan Monastery, Kathmandu, Nepal. In this teaching, he explains that Buddhism teaches us that how things appear to our minds is totally opposite to how they exist. Every single thing we do in our lives with our body, speech, and minds is carried forth with this wrong view, which is a total hallucination.

Rinpoche further expounds why Buddhism is not just about chanting and learning rituals; it is for discovering oneself. And this basic Buddhist teaching offers the opportunity to learn about the truth of one's life – discovery of self.

“When you believe what your anger thinks”, Rinpoche explains, “you want to destroy your enemy”. You believe that what ignorance says is true. It is the same with attachment. You get stuck on an object and believe, “This is soooo good.”

In reality, there is nothing there; it is empty. What anger believes, what attachment believes, is not really there. Both anger and attachment are built on the basis of a wrong view of the object. “Every single word that the Buddha taught is to subdue the mind”, Rinpoche reminds. The way to do that is by meditating on death and impermanence. This destroys the concept of permanence, which makes anger, attachment, and all problems arise. Remembering death and impermanence is also the basis for lojong (thought transformation). “You can die at any time, so it's best to practise now!”, Rinpoche then shares a motivation for listening to the teaching and receiving the continued oral transmission of ‘The Heart’s Utmost Need’.

He reminds us that our purpose should be to benefit, and not harm, others. Our purpose should be to free numberless sentient beings from oceans of samsaric suffering forever, to bring them to peerless happiness, the total cessation of obscuration – gross and subtle, and then to the completion of all realisations. To achieve that, one must achieve omniscience and actualise the graduated path to enlightenment.

Therefore, think, “For that purpose, I will listen to the teachings for every single being.” You have to really think of the beings, even a tiny insect in front of you. You are listening for them. Following which, Rinpoche then continued with the oral transmission and commentary of ‘The Heart’s Utmost Need’. The following is an excerpt of the teaching, “Practise Now Because You Can Die Anytime!”.

BASIC BUDDHISM IS UNDERSTANDING THAT HOW THINGS APPEAR TO YOUR MIND IS TOTALLY OPPOSITE TO HOW THEY EXIST

Of course, basically, it is ‘dagdzin marigpa’, the ignorance of grasping the ‘I’. That which exists is a mere name, but then it appeared and you believed in a wrong view, as a real ‘I’, truly existing, existing from its own side, a real ‘I’. You live the whole... You do everything, every single, of body, speech, and mind every activity, you lead the whole entire life with this wrong concept and with this wrong view, a hallucination. You live the life, you do every single thing with this hallucination believing it is real, believing everything is real. Real! You do everything, believing it is real, with the hallucination that it is real, the concept that it is real. You do everything. Wow,  wow, wow. Amazing.

That, that is the basic, the very basic Buddhism, discovering yourself! Discovering yourself! Aaaah. Aaa-ah. You see? What is false in your life, what is truth in your life – that is discovering yourself. From beginningless rebirths up to now, how you have been believing yourself, how things appear to your mind is tooooooooooooooootally opposite. This is a hallucination. Aaaah. You have to realise this. That is the most important thing. It is basic Buddhism. Aaaah. Aaaah. Now you really understand what Buddhism is! Aaaah. What  Buddhism offers to your life, to learning about your life! Aaaah.

You see? You have to recognise that. It is not just chanting blah, blah, blah. It is not like that. Not at all. It is showing the truth! Aaaah. It is not just chanting blah, blah, blah. Many religions do chanting, making sounds. It is not just that. Now the more you learn now, now you can see what Buddhism is. How the most important it is in your life. Aaaah. Like that. Okay.

BY BELIEVING WHAT ANGER THINKS, YOU WANT TO MAKE YOUR ENEMY INTO PIECES

Then the self-cherishing. There is more to talk [about] how attachment brings so much suffering. Ssssh. People in the world have unbelievable suffering. Like yourself, you can understand, ssssh, how much suffering, how much it brings suffering in your life, and how much the people in the world are suffering. Due to ignorance, anger, attachment, there is so much [suffering]. By believing, when this thought arises, what it thinks is true. What ignorance thinks is true. What anger thinks is true – the expression, “This is an enemy. Oh, this is an enemy. I must destroy them, make them into pieces.” All that, you see? In the view of anger, it is that! While you are angry with the object (Rinpoche pounds his fist into his other hand), if you can...

BY BELIEVING WHAT ATTACHMENT THINKS, YOU GET STUCK TO OBJECTS

Then it is the same thing with attachment, “Oh, this is real good, oooooo...” then a hundred percent your life got (will get) stuck to that; a hundred percent. In reality, it is nothing. There is nothing there, it is empty. There is no object there. What anger believes, what attachment believes, it is not there.

ANGER AND ATTACHMENT ARE BUILT ON THE BASIS OF A WRONG VIEW

And that is, as I said many times, it is built on the basis of a wrong view, ‘dendzin marigpa’, ignorance grasping true existence. On the basis of that, the wrong basis is wrong. It is built on that basis, the view of the object, the view of the object of ignorance, anger,  attachment, a wrong concept. It is built on that basis. That is how people have so much suffering, sentient beings. Yourself from beginningless rebirths and how much, how much sentient beings are suffering. Okay.