[APPLAUSE]
DZOGCHEN PONLOP RINPOCHE:
So good afternoon
and welcome everyone for
our short discussion here.
And so first of
all, thank you very
much for having me here at
Google and for your time
to listen more about Googling.
And so if you look
at our world today,
it's changing faster than what
we can get hold of, the things
that we already have.
The moment we think we
got hold of something,
it's already changed for
the next, and the next,
and the next.
And so it's moving so fast
that becoming harder and harder
for our mind to catch up with.
And we have so much information
online, especially on Google,
so that if you think about
the information that we have,
the amount of
information that we have,
and the mind that
we experience here,
who can process
that information,
there's actually a big
gap between the two--
the world out there
in the internet
and the world in general
and the changing pace here
and the mind that is
trying to catch up
with this, the whole thing.
And so at the end,
what we're really
chasing after in
this high speed--
I'm not talking about the
internet, but high speed
mentally and physically-- that
what we are really chasing
after throughout
the generations,
throughout the
centuries is like-- it
seems like we're chasing
after some kind of happiness,
isn't it?
And so that chasing
after happiness is--
there's nothing wrong with that.
It's OK.
And we want it to happen
faster and faster.
We want to get to happy faster.
We want to get happy now.
And we want to have instant
happiness like instant noodle
that we have.
Instant gratification that we
are all seeking for actually
is becoming a big
problem for us.
Because of this
mentality of looking
for instant gratification
and the fast-- or faster
than our mind can
achieve something
that we want to achieve-- that
is becoming a problem for us
in terms of achieving
that sense of happiness.
What it actually is doing
is counterproductive.
It's actually bringing us more
suffering because of that,
because of this sense of speed,
sense of instant gratification
that we are looking for.
So anyway, everybody seems to
be talking about happiness.
In countries like
Bhutan, they talk
about gross national happiness.
And then, of course,
in Google you
have a lot of discussions
about happiness
and who's the happiest
man and so on.
So I think we all agree on
chasing after happiness.
Anybody disagrees?
Anybody don't want happiness?
I was recently talking
to some of my friends.
And one of them told me they
actually don't want happiness.
So I was a little shocked.
And I didn't know what to say.
If you think about
how one becomes happy,
can you take a moment and
think about how you usually
experience happiness?
What makes you happy?
Take a moment and
think about it.
What does that happiness look
like when you say happiness?
We're looking for
something, happiness.
So what is it?
What do you feel when you
think about happiness?
What is it that
you're looking for?
Is it the next Google phone?
Another car?
Another friend?
When you think about it,
happiness is actually
something that depends on the
individual mind, isn't it?
What is happiness for me is not
necessarily happiness for you.
What is happiness for you is not
necessarily happiness for me.
And so we all think we're
looking for the same thing
called happiness.
But actually, we're not sure
what we're talking about.
What is this happiness?
What is this happiness
we're looking for?
But at the end, it really
depends on your own mind state,
doesn't it?
Whether you can be happy or
not depends on your mind state.
It's not dependent on the
outer environment, gadgets,
material wealth, even friends.
It's not really that.
At the end, it's
really something
we are talking about-- what
we're really talking about here
is a state of mind.
Happiness is a state of mind.
Since it is a state of mind,
it is your individual state
of mind, isn't it?
It cannot be a
national state of mind.
Fortunately or unfortunately, we
can't have that national state
of mind.
That's kind of scary,
isn't it, if you
have a national state of mind?
It's an individual
state of mind.
And so it really depends
on individual mind.
And so what is
happiness is something
that you have to find it
in your own state of mind.
It's not something that
someone else can give you.
Someone else can
help you to find it.
But at the end, we
are the ones who
have to actually discover that,
to find that in our own mind
state.
And so, therefore, the
key here for achieving
our goal of happiness,
the key here for us
to achieve the
state of mind that
is capable of achieving anything
we want to achieve in our life
depends on how
healthy your mind is.
Whether we're talking about
in relationship-- relationship
with our parents, our children,
our partners, co-workers--
or whether we talk
about in relationship
with our achievement and
our goal in a mundane life,
or whether we talk
about achievement
in your spiritual
journey individually,
it all really
depends on how well
we can work with our minds.
And so mind is the
important piece here
that we usually miss in
our equation of thinking
about who we are or what we can
achieve or how we can achieve.
Usually the mind is
something really ignore.
Isn't that the case?
When we're talking
about getting somewhere,
we always thinking about car,
public transportation, and most
importantly the Google app.
Maybe we want to get somewhere.
We're not thinking
about our minds at all.
We're thinking about all these
other things but our mind.
And so therefore, what's the
most important thing here
in terms of achieving anything
we want to achieve here
is to first-- the first
thing we need to do
is we need to
Google what is mind.
We need to Google what is mind.
And many times when I give
public talks and stuff like
that, people ask me, like,
how can I find my teacher?
Or where can I find a guru
or something like that?
And I say Google it.
And so the first thing
we need to Google
here is we need to
Google our mind.
What is mind?
What is mind?
Mind is our most precious
and a valuable resource
that we have through which we
experience every single moment
of our life with this mind.
And the mind that we
rely upon to be happy--
when we think about
"I want to be happy,"
we're relying on our
mind to be happy.
And we're relying on
our mind to be content.
And we're relying on our minds
to be emotionally stable--
if there are such things,
emotionally stable individuals.
And at the same time,
to be kind, thoughtful,
considerate in our
relationships with others.
And this is the same mind that
we depend upon to be focused,
to be creative,
to be productive.
When we want to be productive,
we're talking about, actually,
our mind, looking at our
mind to be more productive.
And we're looking at our mind
to be spontaneous and perform
at our best, the very
best in everything we do.
But, at the same time,
we don't take time
to look after this
mind at all, do we?
Look, we have 24 hours a day.
Where do you spend
most of your time?
We take care of our body
quite well in general,
especially at the two coasts,
East Coast and the West Coast,
a lot of Whole Foods,
whole paycheck.
And we take care of our body.
And we do really take care
of our cars, don't we?
We take care of our cars.
And we make sure we take it
to the what do you call that?
AUDIENCE: Mechanic?
DZOGCHEN PONLOP RINPOCHE: Yeah.
AUDIENCE: Car wash?
AUDIENCE: Detailer?
DZOGCHEN PONLOP
RINPOCHE: Maintenance?
Detailer?
Maintenance.
Actually, recently
I got a used truck--
I live in Washington state.
I got a used truck
from, strangely,
I got a used Chevy truck
at a Cadillac dealer.
And what I was
really happy about
is lifetime free car wash.
That was a part of the deal.
And so I was so happy.
And I was talking to
my friends and people.
And then at some
point, I realized,
like, this is how we
take care of our mind.
We worry about the truck getting
washed every now and then.
But do we ever think about
taking care of our mind?
We do take pretty
good care of clothes.
We have different baskets.
Some goes into dry cleaning.
Some goes into laundry.
And some goes into whatever.
But our minds, in 24 hours,
we pay very little attention
to our minds.
We do very little about
taking care of the maintenance
of this mind.
But we still expect so
much from our minds.
The mind is like
our slave for 24/7.
We want our mind to work.
We want our mind to be happy.
We want our mind to
be a high achiever.
We want our mind to be focused.
But there's no
maintenance that's
done in terms of our mind.
And so, therefore,
first thing that
becomes really important in
terms of development of joy,
of happiness, of getting any
kind of compassionate action
or any kind of productivity
is to have a healthy mind.
And so how we can
work with our mind,
it's for us to Google
your mind before you
Google anything else.
What is Rinpoche's mind?
And so when you Google,
Google will actually
tell you what is your
mind, your individual mind.
I think you all
know Google, so I
think you know better than me.
But if you look at
your search history,
if you look at the history
of your computer, the usage,
and can you imagine if you
saved all the search histories
ever since you were born?
Think about it.
Like your mind's
always searching
something outside all the time.
If you think about the whole
search history together,
look at your own
search history, that
is the result when you
Google what is your mind.
You can see there.
You can see a pattern there.
Isn't it?
In that search history,
there's a program
that can actually show how many
times your history is related
to what kind of emotions or
what kind of thought frame--
positive thought,
negative thought.
If you look at it, you can see
a whole history of your mind
right there in the
search history.
And so search is
not only in terms
of physical search on a
computer, on a device,
but search in terms of in
your own thought processes.
If you look at the search
that you do in your mind,
you're searching for truth.
You're searching for happiness.
You're searching for this.
You're searching
for a used truck.
Actually, I must
tell you, Google
was helpful finding
my used truck to buy.
And so like that,
we're searching.
Our mind is searching
outside all the time.
So if you look at your
mind's search history,
so to speak-- if
there's a program
that can put together the
history of your search
interests on categories
that you can tell clearly
from that search
history your identity.
can you tell, define
your mind frame,
your identity, and your profile?
It can also tell your habits,
how many times you have
searched for certain things.
It can actually tell
our mind's behavior.
And so who are you when
you search your mind?
Who are you?
Who are we?
When we search what is
our mind, who are we,
is it-- are you
defined by your skill?
Your talent?
Is that who you are?
Or are you defined
by your family's
or religious background?
Or just simply a such history?
So who are we?
But actually, what you
can find from searching
our mind is that we can
actually find who we are, who is
this person, what is our mind.
And so, therefore-- I
think I shouldn't go on
too long about searching here.
And so, therefore, from the
search history, you can tell.
Actually, it kind
of shows your mind
or your habitual tendencies
and can define who you are,
the profile.
So don't they anyway--
don't they profile you
from your search history?
And so you can tell from
there if your search insight,
as Ming has pointed
out so many times--
if you search yourself
inside, you can see clearly.
And so anyway, when
you look in that way,
you can see that our mind is
so empowered and controlled
by our habit all the time.
Our biggest problem
is habit, isn't it?
It's not about our wisdom.
We have very smart people.
People are smart.
People have wisdom.
And people know what they
want to do, what's good to do,
what's most beneficial to do.
But the problem
here is the habit
that is the obstructing us
from achieving that goal,
achieving that
positive state of mind.
And so, therefore, habit
is not being-- for example,
habit is not being able
to sit in the present.
Being in the present,
sitting quiet, doing nothing,
it's very scary, isn't it?
That's the most scariest thing.
If you have to sit in the
present moment and do nothing,
that's scary.
That's why we always
like to do something.
What I've heard recently on NPR,
some cyber psychology research
showed that the average person
in America looks at their phone
200 times a day.
OK they're looking at
the phone 200 times-- not
about how much time you spend,
but picking up the phone
and looking at it, like
200 times, average people.
So from that, you
can tell that we
like to do something and
get distracted rather
than being focused whether we
talk about working, whether we
talk about working
with our mind,
working with our
projects, anything.
Our mind is more habituated
in scattered thoughts
and distraction.
And some recent research
from Harvard University
shows that the average person is
distracted or lost in thoughts
or distracted 47% each day.
47% is distracted
or lost in thought.
Can you imagine that, 47%?
So that gives us how much left?
AUDIENCE: 53?
DZOGCHEN PONLOP
RINPOCHE: 53% left.
And out of 53%, we have
to sleep a little bit.
So take out some
time for sleeping.
And then how much is left?
And then from there-- so if you
really narrow it down, look,
our mind being focused,
it's very little.
So can you imagine if you can
focus 47% of the time in a day,
how much productive can you be?
You can be really productive
in any kind of achievement
you want to achieve--
compassionate action, love,
kindness, or a good app.
I'm talking about
meditation now, but any app.
And so, therefore, you can see
our mind is very distracted.
And the problem
with the distraction
is a mind wandering in all
scattered places is actually
the direct cause of unhappiness.
It's a direct cause
of unhappiness.
We feel that we would be happier
somewhere else all the time,
don't we?
We've been sitting
here in this room.
We feel like, oh,
I'll be much happier
if I'm sitting in the sun
out there drinking beer.
And when you're out
there in the sun
drinking beer and
looking inside here,
you might feel I'll be
much happier if I'm there
doing something else.
And so, our mind's
always jumping and moving
around all the time.
And this is what we call
in the Buddhist teachings
or philosophy poverty mentality.
And there's a sense of
discontentment all the time.
The sense of discontentment
makes our mind move.
Because we are discontent, we're
looking for something else.
Because we are looking
for something else,
you know, then we-- our mind
getting more distracted.
Then it becomes 47% or more.
47% is average.
And recent studies
at also UC-Davis
have found that our
mind is primarily
stuck in negative thinking.
Our mind feels more comfortable
in negative thinking
than positive thinking.
So our mind is more deeply
rooted in negative thought
patterns usually.
So the UC-Davis studies
showed that-- th
they did research with
the usually Group A,
Group B, same amount of people.
And then they had this
medical treatment as a thing
to do the research here.
And so they asked
Group A and told them
that this medical treatment
has 70% of success.
And so everybody had
positive thought about it.
They all say if I have to
do it, in that situation,
I would definitely
take this treatment.
And then they went to
Group B and told them
that this treatment has
30% chance of failure,
like in the research,
how they do.
And so that group thought-- they
had negative thought about it.
And they thought
they really don't
want to do it if they have to
do it, and so forth and so on.
And then they went
back to the Group A
and told them that not
only is 70% success rate,
but does there's a
30% chance of failure.
And then they changed
their mind right away
from positive to negative.
So most of them in Group A, they
had a negative thought about it
now, even though their
first thought was positive.
And then they went back to
the Group B and told them,
it's not only 30% failure
rate, but also 70% success.
But you know what?
That didn't change their mind.
They stayed negative.
They stayed negative.
And so the studies
showed that changing
from positive to negative
is just an instant.
And our mind is
habituated in that way.
It flips right away.
It doesn't take
that long to flip,
but flipping from
negative to positive
is extremely
difficult. That's what
we call habit, repetitive
habit, habitual pattern here.
And so the UC-Davis
studies show also
that it takes three
positive thoughts to balance
with the one negative thought.
Just to balance-- we're not
talking about transforming
or changing or anything.
Even just a balance, you
need three positive thoughts
for one negative thought.
And so, therefore, if you
don't take care of our mind
here, and direct
our mind positively,
it is pretty clear that our
usual habit, in general,
is to get stuck in
a negative space.
And then that's where you don't
find any sense of happiness,
joy, or achievement.
So, therefore, the
reason why we get
stuck in such a
negative thought pattern
is because of our habitual mind.
And what we are
habituated usually
is we are habituated
in labeling process.
Anything we experience,
we need to label.
What we see, what we hear,
what we experience-- we always
mix that with labels.
And we mix that with
thought processes.
And so when you mix them
with thought processes here,
then you lose the original power
or the original experience.
So what you're experiencing
here is a labeled experience,
which is like experiencing
a processed food.
When you have a
processed food that
has been mixed with colors and
artificial flavor, of course
it tastes much better.
I love them better.
I love them better than
the raw vegetables.
But you see the difference.
The nutrition is different.
The power is different.
And so, therefore, when
our mind is habituated
in labeling everything,
especially negative
labeling, as you can
see from the studies,
then that's how we get
actually stuck in unhappiness.
That's how we get
stuck in confusion.
That's how we get stuck
in the sense of spinning
around, chasing after own
tail, going around and around
like our cats do.
And so one of the key elements
in our everyday life when
you search mind is
you find so much, so
many experiences of emotions.
Emotion is a big piece in
our experience of mind.
Do you agree?
Or is it just me?
Emotion is a big piece in
our experience of mind.
I've had a lot of experiences
with emotions myself.
When I was young, especially
when I was in teenage,
after the-- anyway, I
want to go into details,
but I had a lot
of emotions when I
was a teenage and struggling
like anyone else with emotions
during my teen.
But I got time.
I met my teacher and had
some help and support
from his love and wisdom, and
through which I managed to work
with my emotions a little bit.
I'm not saying I'm
free of emotions now.
So please don't test
me, but I managed
to work with my
emotions a little bit.
And so, therefore,
working with emotions
becomes part of actually
working with our mind.
When you search mind,
you see a lot of emotions
there because every
thought has some emotions.
Every thought has some color.
Every thought has some
touch of certain emotions.
Whether they are
obvious or dormant,
there is an emotion
behind every thought.
It usually reminds me of
this "Godfather" novel.
You know "Godfather"?
I read this novel in India
when I was quite young.
The first page,
there's a quotation
saying behind every great
fortune there is a crime.
So every time when I think
about emotion, it's like that.
Behind every thought, behind
every motion into our mind,
there's a little emotion going
on there, little emotions.
And so life is full of
emotions, which is a good thing.
It's not a bad thing because
life without emotions
is like a flat soda.
Who wants a drink of flat soda?
So life with emotions is like
a real soda with bubbles.
And so, therefore, emotions are
not really negative by nature,
but they become
negative when they are
mixed with thought processes.
When they're mixed
with thought processes,
when our experience of emotion
becomes searching outside
towards the object of
emotions rather than looking
at the energy and the power
of emotions themselves.
That's when the
emotions become problem.
When you experience
emotions, usually you're
focusing on the object
of that emotion.
You're not looking at the
emotion or emotional energy
inwardly.
But we're always looking
outside towards the object
of that emotion and thinking,
oh, what he did wrong,
or what she did wrong, or what
the world did wrong to you.
And so then there's
so much focus outside.
And so you lose the
perspective of true experience
of this energy of our emotions.
And so when you look at
the energy of the emotions
themselves, it is actually
quite awakening energy.
Energy of emotions is like
the electrical current that
is always present in the wire.
But whether we can tap into
that energy or not is up to us.
So anyway, I think there's a lot
to talk about here, but maybe
not much time.
So what I want to say here is
not only we search our mind
or Google the mind, but we
should also Google the Googler.
We should also
search the searcher.
Who's searching?
First, we search
the mind outside
and then search-- not search,
but look at-- the searcher
or the Googler.
Does that make sense?
And then see what you find
when you Google the Googler.
Who's the Googler?
These days, we have a lot
of awareness about our mind
and mindfulness.
So I don't feel
like, I think, I need
to speak about mindfulness.
I think you have great
classes here and training
with the search yourself inside,
Ming and the Google team here.
And so I don't need to talk
about mindfulness here.
But what I feel compelled
to say a little bit here
is that sometimes our
mindfulness becomes
too focused, too squeezed,
squeezed attention.
When you focus too
much on mindfulness,
sometimes that has
a counterproductive.
For example, when you think too
much about not making mistake,
that's when you
make more mistakes.
Do remember writing with
pen and paper in old days?
Now you can delete
and stuff like that.
It's easy.
My life in India when I grew
up is just pen and paper.
We even had to
make our own pens.
That's how I was trained,
making these bamboo pens
and calligraphy.
And so, I mean, I love it.
And there's a beauty to that.
You can smell the bamboo.
You're making a
pen, your own pen.
I didn't quite learn how to make
paper, but they do teach that.
And so, anyway, so remember
when you write calligraphy
in that way, the more you
focus, the more you think,
like, I shouldn't
make mistake, then
that's when you make a mistake.
That's when I make the mistake.
And so the more we think we need
to be mindful, focus narrowly,
squeeze your attention so
hard, when you try so hard,
sometimes that has
counter-productive.
And so mindfulness needs
some sense of relaxation,
the balance of relaxation.
In fact, some tradition
of meditation in the East,
like from Tibetan
tradition, even
say that one and only thing
you really need is relaxation.
That's all you need.
If you can relax, that's enough.
But can you imagine
totally relaxing?
Totally relaxing is
almost not possible.
But when somebody tells
you to be mindful,
you feel, like, no,
I can't be mindful.
But when somebody
tells you to relax,
then we feel like,
I can't relax.
I have to focus.
[INAUDIBLE] all this focus.
And so you can see the shifts
between focusing and relaxing
is already there in
your mind's make-up.
It's nothing new you need
to find from outside.
It's already there.
Can you see?
That when someone tells you
to one point of your focus,
you feel like, I can't do that,
My mind kind of a spacious--
goes into all this
kind of space.
But then when somebody tells
you to completely relax
and don't focus at all, then
we feel, I can't do that.
My mind goes into
this-- mind goes
to this object or flower or
person or whatnot, a thought.
And so these two things
are already there
as part of your mind's make-up.
And so you need to balance
the two in terms of finding,
in terms of discovering our
mind and the awareness that's
looking at the mind.
You need to balance between
mindfulness and relaxation,
focus yet relaxed, relaxed
but not distracted.
That's the key.
And that's the hardest piece
here because just to do one
is easy.
But to have the balance is not.
It's not that easy.
And so working with
our emotions begins
with working with a
sense of mindfulness.
Mindful, we need
the sense of a gap.
And when we have the gap
or the space between you
and your emotions, then
you have an opportunity
or a possibility of seeing
your emotions clearly.
And once you can see
your emotions clearly,
then you have a
possibility of letting
go of that emotion
that's bothering you.
There's no way we can
let go without seeing
that emotions clearly.
And so I want to read you this
last thing, letting go piece.
I like this story.
Is it OK I read this to you?
A psychologist
walked around a room
while teaching stress
management to an audience.
As she raised a glass
of water, everyone
expected Debbie asked the half
empty, half full question.
Instead, with a
smile on her face,
she inquired, how heavy
is the glass of water?
Answers called out ranged
from eight ounce to 20 ounce.
She replied, the absolute
weight doesn't matter.
It depends on how
long I hold it.
If I hold it for a minute,
it's not a problem.
If I hold it for an hour,
I'll have an ache in my arm.
If I hold it for a day, my arm
will feel numb and paralyzed.
In each case, the weight of
the glass doesn't change,
but the longer I hold it,
the heavier it becomes.
She continued.
The stresses and
warriors in life
are like that glass of water.
Think about them for a
while and nothing happens.
Think about them a bit longer,
and they begin to hurt.
And if you think about
them all day long,
you'll feel paralyzed,
incapable of doing anything.
It's important to remember
to let go of your stresses
as early in the
evening as you can.
Put all your burdens down.
Don't carry them through the
evening and into the night.
Remember to put the glass down.
So I like this
analogy of letting go.
The Buddhist meditation
teaching always
says that we need to let go
of our clinging, our grasping,
and holding on to things.
And so the letting
go piece is really
the hardest part
of our practice,
I think, hardest thing to
do in our life, letting go.
That's where you can see how
many junk we collect at home.
Some of your empty
yogurt containers,
we'll wash them and
keep them, think you
we will use them for
flour or something.
So we collect all kinds of junk.
In the same way, we collect all
kinds of junk in our thought,
in our mind that
we need to let go.
Otherwise, we become
a mental hoarder.
We're hoarding all kind
of negative thoughts,
all kind of emotions.
If we don't clean,
if we don't let go,
then it becomes problematic.
Like you need to clean the
search history from time
to time.
Or what do you call that?
Cache?
I mean, I'm not really
a computer person,
but I'm one of the
persons that you
are trying to make me use the
products that you develop.
So I've been using a
lot of Google products.
It's been pretty good.
Is there a complaint
department somewhere?
I'm just kidding.
No, no complaints.
It's good.
Google Maps are excellent.
And so I'd like to
thank you all very much.
And especially I want to
thank our host here, Tom,
for having me here.
And I want to thank you,
Ming, for you excellent work
with the search inside yourself
and all the program that
continues here at
the Google campus.
And so one last thing I want to
say is when you do meditation,
if you are a meditator,
you're usually working
with the breath, for example.
Breathing in, breathing out,
you're focusing on the breath.
You're trying to
concentrate your mind there.
You're trying to
relax your mind there
through breathing, through
one point of focus,
through relaxation.
And then from time to
time, look at the looker
inwardly, not always looking
at the breath or any kind
of meditative techniques you use
from all kind of world wisdom
tradition.
But sometimes you look at
the observing mind itself,
observer.
And sometimes when you have
emotions, don't just label it.
Don't just look at the
object of your emotions,
but look at the energy,
the experience of emotion
that you feel inside of your
heart and see the energy,
connect with the energy,
and pause right there.
One of the biggest problems
we see in our American culture
is that all of us try
to express everything.
That is good.
Expressing is good.
It's nothing bad.
But expressing can take
place a little bit later.
Just take a few moments
before you express.
That can save you a lot
of trouble and money.
Sometimes you express
too early, and that
causes so much therapy.
And that's expensive.
So I think it's important
for us to take a minute
and look at our own
experience of emotions
before we try to share or
experience that with anyone.
Positively or negatively,
it doesn't matter.
Just take a moment to feel it.
Good emotions, feel
it for a moment.
Bad emotions, feel
it for a moment.
And then you have
plenty of time to share.
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
AUDIENCE: Rinpoche,
I really want
to thank you for
your teaching today.
I really like your teaching
on [INAUDIBLE] and also
[INAUDIBLE].
But it's really hard to
achieve happiness all the time
in your life.
It's really hard.
Especially when we
see that sometimes
even though some of our greatest
masters will have troubles.
Maybe you are aware
that something happened
to [INAUDIBLE] recently.
DZOGCHEN PONLOP
RINPOCHE: Oh, yes.
AUDIENCE: Do you have
any comments on that?
DZOGCHEN PONLOP
RINPOCHE: On what?
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]
his problem.
DZOGCHEN PONLOP
RINPOCHE: I think
the challenge is, as
myself being a Buddhist
and practitioner
and also teacher,
the challenges are
across the board.
It's the same thing.
It doesn't matter
whether you're a teacher
or not, or whether you're
in a monastery or not.
The challenges are the same, but
they appear in different forms.
Sometimes you feel
like, oh, it would
be so nice to become a monk.
But the monk was worse than
where you are now sometimes.
And sometimes you
feel like, oh, it
would be so nice to be a
lay person and do something.
But then probably it's better
for you to be at the monastery.
And so the challenges come
in all different forms.
And we all need to find
a way to do with them.
And recently, I think, you're
talk about the one young lama
leaving the monastery.
I think that happens
quite often in general.
And I think, I mean, it's
nothing wrong in some sense
because it's
individual choice, what
kind of path that each teacher
wants to manifest or chooses
is up to that person.
AUDIENCE: I have a question.
Thanks for coming today.
DZOGCHEN PONLOP
RINPOCHE: Thank you.
AUDIENCE: What's a useful way
to view emotions, in general,
in a balanced way?
In the sense that
I'm not particularly
in touch with my
own emotions, it
might take some effort to
detect and be aware of them.
And some people I know are very
much driven by their emotions,
and they're very
present and at the front
of their consciousness.
And so I tend to think that
with less emotional drive,
I act more rationally
or more carefully.
DZOGCHEN PONLOP
RINPOCHE: Oh, I see
AUDIENCE: But maybe
that's not necessarily
a positive balanced way.
What's a good way, you
would say, to view emotions?
DZOGCHEN PONLOP RINPOCHE:
I think it's no problem.
If there is no emotion,
it's good news.
I mean, no bad emotions,
it's good news.
There's no problem with that.
But if you are intentionally
blocking out emotion thinking
it's not good to
have emotions, then
I think there's a problem there.
If the emotions are coming,
and you have this presence of,
let's say, anger all the time
or some sense of jealousy,
then it's good to
connect with that energy
rather than pushing it down,
or rather than thinking
some philosophically or
religiously that this is not
right or not a
good thing to have.
But, actually, the energy
of anger is beautiful.
It's positive.
There's nothing wrong with that.
So the balance here
is if they're present,
appreciate them and try
to work with that energy.
And when they're not
present, appreciate
the absence of the
emotions and then
work with the rational
mind and what have you.
So not invite them necessarily
when they're not there,
but then not reject them
when they're present.
That's the balance I think.
[APPLAUSE]
