All language subtitles for Discovering Buddhism Module 08 - Establishing a daily Practice

Discovering Buddhism

Establishing A Daily Practice

Rome wasn't built in a day.

We could also say enlightenment
isn't built in a day

but is built as a result
of a day-to-day effort.

In other words, the only thing that will
get us anywhere on the spiritual path,

whether it's concentration,

loving-kindness or wisdom
that we want to develop,

is dedicating ourselves
to a daily practice.

We take for granted that Olympic athletes
and professional musicians train daily

to achieve mastery of
their sport or music.

Why wouldn't the
same discipline apply

to cultivating the most
important qualities of our mind?

If we want to develop patience,
honesty, morality and wisdom,

we have to make a sustained effort.

In this show we will learn methods

to develop our daily practice
on and off the cushion,

through every part of our lives.

MOTIVATION

So what does a daily practice mean?

What does it mean to practice?

If, as the Buddha said, it's true
that we have been cycling in samsara,

cyclical existence for
infinite number of lifetimes,

what we have been practicing,

as evidenced by the fact that
we are still here in samsara,

has been non-virtue
and self-cherishing.

What we need to do to
remedy this situation

is to develop a new habit

by practicing virtue
and cherishing others.

So before listening
to these teachings,

establish in your mind a very
strong motivation to be able,

not only to understand what it
means to have a daily practice,

but to establish one in your life.

A workable daily practice
as quickly as possible

so that you may be able to benefit

all living beings as
quickly as possible.

TEACHERS

Venerable Ribur Rinpoche was born
in Eastern Tibet in 1923.

At the age of five, he was recognized
by the Thirteenth Dalai Lama as the sixth
incarnation of Sera-mae Ribur Rinpoche.

He entered Sera Monastic University in Lhasa
and became a Geshe at age twenty-four.

He meditated and taught Dharma until 1959,
after which he suffered under intense Chinese
oppression for twenty-one years.

In 1980 he was allowed to perform
some religious activities, and he helped build
a new stupa for Pabongka Rinpoche at Sera.

Rinpoche teaches throughout
the United States, Asia, and Europe.

So how do I carry out
my practice in this life?

How do I summarize all the practices,

all the practices on the path
to enlightenment in my life?

This is the first.
You have five forces to apply.

This is the first,
the force of resolution.

Set a strong intention,
a strong resolution in the morning.

So this you have to apply
this right in the morning,

as soon as you open your eyes,

as soon as you wake up,
you open your eyes.

Before doing anything else,

you just hook up with your
mind and set your resolution.

So, right now also
this morning I'm alive.

I have all the favorable
circumstances in my life,

all the freedoms and
endowment in order to progress

in practice in the
path to enlightenment

to benefit all sentient beings.

Therefore, as much as I can,
throughout the day,

I'm not going to let my mind
be under the power of delusions

and I'm not going to
harm any sentient beings

and I'm going to be as helpful as
possible to all sentient beings.

The Five Forces
1.The Force of Resolution

So now the next is the
force of the white seed.

The force of the white seed

is the aim of achieving
the supreme enlightenment

in order to benefit all mother
sentient beings and oneself.

For oneself and other purposes,

engaging as much as possible
throughout the day in practice

to purify the previously accumulated
negative potentials of karma.

And accumulating virtuous actions,
or merits, what we call merits.

So these are called the white seed.

So what is the best way then
to quickly accumulate merits

without making so much effort?
Rejoice.

Rejoicing is an incredible,
beneficial practice.

It allows you to accumulate
such a huge mass of merits

just with the force of your thought
without engaging in any physical

or strenuous difficult
practices or activities.

Just rejoicing of the
virtues accumulated by others,

by oneself and others,
it becomes extremely powerful,

to swiftly complete the
accumulation of merits

without so much struggle.
You rejoice of your virtues.

You rejoice of other
people's virtues.

You rejoice of the virtues
of the bodhisattvas,

of the Buddhas, of the Gurus.

The more you think in detail and
are vast in rejoicing thoughts,

the merits keep accumulating
and accumulating.

This is a very good practice.

If you undertake, whatever, even
the smallest positive action you do,

it acts as purifier for those
previously accumulated negative karma.

More specifically, there are
lots of very powerful practices

and techniques such
as doing prostrations,

taking refuge, reciting
what is called the tung shag,

the general confession practice,

the practice related
to the 35 Buddhas,

Vajrasattva meditation
and recitation,

even just the mantra
and so on and so forth.

and the third is the
force of familiarity.

It means that you constantly
have to take to your mind

the practices of the
path to enlightenment,

especially the steps
to generate bodhicitta

and as well as purifying,
accumulating merits

until it becomes spontaneous for you,

it is not a contrived thought.

You have to bring it
to your mind constantly

so you become so familiar with
that particular kind of attitude

and behavior that you constantly are
reminded of the path to enlightenment.

So this is the force of familiarity.

So the fourth is the force
or the power of rejection.

And this, in general, it refers
to all types of delusions.

So always keep a constant
awareness of delusions

and their disadvantages for
you in order to eliminate them.

But particularly be mindful of
self-cherishing thought, of egoism,

and the power of rejection is,

do not let yourself be taken under
the power of self-cherishing thought

from now on as much as you can.

So this is the power of rejection.

So now the force of
prayer or dedication.

So at the time just
before going to sleep,

then you apply the last force.

All right, you review your day

on the basis of your first
determination in the morning.

So what happened today?

Did I accumulate any
non-virtuous actions,

was I taken under the
power of delusions?

Did I accumulate virtuous actions?

Was I able to apply the antidotes

and to overcome self-cherishing
thought and so on and so forth.

So, you have to
analyze very sincerely.

focus on whatever negativities
I've accumulated today.

today I've done it
for this and this and this.

Therefore, I'm going
to purify right now,

and tomorrow I will
be more mindful.

You make a strong determination,

Again tomorrow, I'm not going
to repeat the same mistake.

And whatever virtues
you have accumulated,

you review it and you rejoice.

So that was very good,
I've done it very nicely,

I was able to face my mind,
I was able to decrease delusions,

I was able to do this and
this and this virtuous action.

This is fantastic. Tomorrow,
I will do even better.

So before going to bed,
you do this review.

this was a very short explanation

of how to carry out the practices,

how to summarize the practice
in one's life on the basis

of a daily practice
from morning up to night.

So this is what we
call daily practices.

Those who are vigilant
in mortality do not die.

Those who are negligent
are already dead

- Shakyamuni Buddha

Venerable Sangye Khadro is American-born
and is a fully ordained nun
in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.

She is an internationally known teacher
in the FPMT for over twenty years

and the author of the popular
best-selling book, How to Mediate,
as well as Awakening the Kind Heart.

One other thing that's very important
in daily practice is purification.

Because even if we do have the
intention to be helpful to others

and not do things that
are harmful or negative,

create bad karma and so on.

We are just human beings,
we have our faults,

our imperfections
and our limitations

and so we're bound to make
mistakes and lose our temper,

get angry, or get caught
up in negative thoughts

and speak in negative
ways or do things negative.

So there's something
we can do about that,

when we do make mistakes and create
bad karma, and that is purification.

Purification is a practice we can do

to clear up any negative karma
that we've created in our day.

So it's actually a good
thing to do everyday,

because, most probably, we do
create negative karma each day.

But, we can also purify
things we've done before.

The general practice of purification
involves four things, four points,

which are called the four
powers, four opponent powers.

First is, regret, and regret
is not the same as guilt.

So there's a difference
between regret and guilt.

I think we all know guilt,
we're all familiar with guilt,

that's very common in our culture.

And I think of guilt
as being more emotional.

Like we feel really awful
about something that we've done

and maybe we get into
beating ourselves up

and thinking ‘I'm a horrible person'.

Now, regret on the other
hand, is not so emotional,

it's more rational, more reasonable.

Regret comes from
understanding karma,

understanding and believing
in karma, accepting karma.

So you understand that karma works.

We do actions and those actions
leave imprints on our mind

which stay on our mind until
some point in the future

when causes and conditions
come together the imprints ripen

and we have some kind of
experience as a result of that.

So they say regret is similar
to the way we would feel

if we unknowingly swallowed
something that was poisonous.

So that's the feeling of regret,
and that's the first power.

The second power is refuge.

Refuge is an attitude,
a state of mind,

that comes about by learning
what the Buddha taught

and feeling confidence, feeling
trust in the Buddha and his teachings,

agreeing with them and
wanting to follow them.

So that's just in general
what it means to take refuge,

very simply speaking.
So if you're a Buddhist,

then the second power would
involve renewing your refuge

or sense of commitment to
the Buddha and his teachings.

But if you're not a Buddhist, then,

you may have other objects of faith,

that you have faith or
trust or confidence in,

and that you take as your
guides and wish to follow.

So you could just
renew your determination

to follow those
objects of your faith.

And it can also involve generating,

or renewing your wish
to benefit others,

your feelings of compassion and
love and kindness towards others

and the wish to not harm them
and the wish to help them.

Then the third of the four
powers is what I call remedy.

And, this involves doing
something positive or virtuous

to counteract the negative thing
you've done by creating this bad karma.

So you can do traditional
virtuous things,

like saying prayers
or reciting mantras

or meditation on loving kindness

or meditation on other
aspects of the path.

But you could also be creative

and find your own ways of
doing something virtuous

that is a counter measure to
the negative thing you've done.

Like for example
if you did something

that was like stealing or cheating,
then you could give money,

you could give a donation to
charity or to some good cause.

So generally we need to do something
positive, something virtuous

to oppose or counteract the
negative thing we've done.

Then the fourth power is, the power
of resolution or determination,

and that involves
generating in your mind,

some kind of determination
about refraining

from doing the same
thing again in the future.

So this is really important,
because if we do something negative

and then we say ‘oh I'm sorry'
and then we do some purification,

but then we go back and do
it again, and again and again

then it's not so wise or helpful.

So there needs to be
at least the wish to,

even if we can't get to the point
where we'll never do it again,

but at least to lessen the
amount of time we do it,

to decrease the incidence of
doing that same action again.

So they say, you can,
if it's something you feel

‘I will never do it again'

and you can make that kind of
promise and keep it, then ok.

But if it's something that you
have been doing, habitually,

and you wouldn't be able
to stop it all together,

then you could make a promise to not
do it for a limited period of time,

like the next five minutes or
the next hour, or half a day.

So, find something that's reasonable,

that's within your abilities,

and try to just be aware and
mindful for that period of time

and try to refrain from
doing that action again.

So that particular practice
is in a Tibetan tradition

for purification that are
all sort of written up and set up,

that include these four powers.

One of the more famous popular
ones is the practice of Vajrasattva.

It's a particular Buddha
figure that we visualize,

and then, we generate these powers,

regret, thinking about
the things we've done,

we feel regret for, generating refuge

and the wish to benefit other beings,

then for the power of the
remedy, we recite a mantra,

there's a mantra
associated with Vajrasattva,

there's a long one that's
got one hundred syllables,

and then also a short
one that is very simple

'Om Vajrasattva Hung'
and so your recite that mantra

and that's particularly
good to purify,

to clear out negative
karma that's been created.

Then at the end of the practice
you generate a resolution

to refrain from doing
the action again.

Another one is the 35 Buddhas,

which, there's a thangka here,
showing the 35 Buddhas.

So that practice involves again,

first thinking about the
things you want to purify,

generating regret for them, and
then taking refuge in the 35 Buddhas,

and then reciting their names.

So reciting the names
of these 35 Buddhas,

and if you can, doing prostrations
to them at the same time,

bowing to them, that is for the
third power, the power of the remedy.

So that's a very virtuous thing,

to recite names of Buddhas
and also prostrate to them.

And then you go through
a prayer of confession

of the negative things you've done

and then at the end generating
a resolution to not do it again.

It's good if we can do a
purification practice every night,

because, probably during the day

we have done things
that were negative.

And if we don't purify, then,

another thing that happens with
karma is that it multiplies,

so if you do something
negative one day,

and then you don't do
anything to purify it,

by the second day it's multiplied.
It's become worse, heavier.

And that happens each
day that we don't purify,

so the sooner we can
purify the better.

So that's why it's a good
idea to do it at night,

to purify any negative karma
we've done during that day

so that at least we stop it from
multiplying until the next day.

STUDENTS

What does DAILY PRACTICE
mean to you?

The first thing that I start to do,

in terms of a daily practice,
was actually starting,

I used to do some meditation
before I was a Buddhist,

but it was more like
set my motivation,

as taking refuge in the Buddha,
the Dharma and the Sangha,

for the sake of all sentient beings,

so then, that would
be the main thing.

Then, I was interested
in prostrations,

I got very drawn to doing that,

and then, the whole thing
with purification,

which I didn't really know about,

but as I did prostrations
I learned more,

so I did the 35 Buddha practice.

everyday, I would do at least 35.

I used to do like
a hundred every day,

sometimes it would, because of,
when I started to work full time,

night duty and things like
that, it would be difficult,

so I'd just do the basic commitment.

But then obviously when I was
in retreat, I don't know how,

but I managed to do like,
maybe a thousand or so a day.

I think maybe at one point
I got up to two thousand.

I don't know what the quality
was but it was really different.

When I did an intensive,
you could see, the Lam Rim,

impermanence, precious human
rebirth, and renunciation,

you could feel that these are
things I really need to realize.

I got a feel of a little bit
of the quality of the Lam Rim.

I went back to England,
and I trained as a nurse.

I realized my practice
was out there with people,

caring for them.
They are the priority.

If I have spent time doing
my practice in the morning,

when I go to work my heart
is really so much more open

and I am focused on them.

Otherwise I can be a little
bit more interested in me.

But I also think the work
helps to open my heart as well.

Actually it works both ways,
my practice helps my work,

but my work helps my practice.

I see so much suffering in
that job, it's hard work,

but yet, because I have the Dharma,
there's a bigger perspective.

And I can do prayers for people.

So when I come home,
which is really important,

I feel like it's my
duty, as a Buddhist,

for me as, trying to develop bodhicitta,
so I pray for all my patients

that they will become
enlightened soon.

So at the end of the day, I do
Vajrasattva, to purify everything.

So I try to think about
everything I've done in the day

that's negative karma,
but also, try to expand that,

that's not just today,
that's many times in this life,

many times in many lives.

So I try to really expand that, and
then do the Vajrasattva meditation,

a recitation and try to make a
promise to not do those things

for as much time as I feel
I can, and then I dedicate.

And I try to do a dedication
that includes all the people

that I care for in the
hospital, family, friends.

And I try also to expand it to
as many people I can think of.

Cause I think it's
something very important

about focusing on
individuals in the dedication

but obviously I used the
dedication for all beings.

I love to do my
practice, I really do.

And I feel so sad when
I can't spend so much time on it.

It makes me feel really sad.

And I've noticed when I've
had lots going on in my life,

and I haven't been
able to do my practice,

I'm not happy.
I'm not a happy person.

And I also don't like
doing my practice as much.

Which is quite interesting.

When I have time and I do my
practice, I'm a happier person.

Please dedicate the positive energy generated
by listening to these teachings,

so you can quickly attain Enlightenment
for the benefit of all beings.