Reincarnation, Karma and Nirvana

I went to a ‘public talk’ by Rinpoche yesterday. His public talks are ways of reaching out to the community interested in Buddhism and bettering themselves. He usually keeps the topics fairly basic because he only has an hour or so to speak there. This time, however, I think the topic was quite deep and difficult to summarize in such a short time. The subject was, ‘reincarnation, Karma, and Nirvana”.

I learned that ZaChoeje is a title meaning “Dharma King”. ZaChoeje is the king of dharma. I would say that this means, ‘the king of expounding dharma’. I would say that this means the king of expounding what is true.

The talks are held at the Scottsdale Mustang Library. I arrived early and helped Lou Anne (I think she is his attendant) set up the display. The Tibetan thought behind teaching says that the teacher should be beautiful to look at. Students should be intrigued by the teachings and so a setting so beautiful is required. So Rinpoche’s seats are covered with tapestries and flowers are arranged at his feet. Behind him we set up a Tibetan thangka depicting Shakyamuni’s enlightenment. Also pictures of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and statues of the Buddha are laid out. It is very beautiful to see. Last night was quite a turn out. I would say maybe 80 people showed up to hear the Rinpoche speak.

Reincarnation
Rinpoche started the discussion by discussing reincarnation. Reincarnation is the idea that we do not cease to be at death, but are instead reborn. Each death heralds a new birth for the individual. So Rinpoche was not recognized as a reincarnation until he was 17. I think it was 17, but if it was 16 or 18 it doesn’t matter. Its only interesting because most reincarnations are recognized at a younger age - like four! So culturally, Rinpoche was taught that we are all reincarnated - his family was Buddhist. But Rinpoche wasn’t convinced. So if we are reincarnated from our previous life, and that previous life was reincarnated from its previous life, etc. What Rinpoche wondered about, what was difficult for him, was that there didn’t seem to be a beginning to that idea. When did he start? That was his big question. He couldn’t find the logic in that idea. Isn’t it true that all things have a beginning and an end?

Well, he had a wonderful opportunity to look further into the question when he got a letter from the Dalai Lama informing him that he was the sixth reincarnation of ZaChoeje Rinpoche (Dharma King!). Rinpoche was very faithful to the Dalai Lama and he says that most Tibetans are as well. Family pressure, faith and peer pressure pushed him towards becoming a monk and beginning his training. He quickly asked one of his new tutors that question, “where did I start?” What was his beginning. He was asking what we all ask, ‘what am I?’ His master said, ‘What came first - the chicken or the egg?’

What Came First, the Chicken or the Egg?
Rinpoche laughed as he remembered the story. He thought he would get a much more ‘deep’ answer. Rinpoche thought, ‘the egg’. No that is not the answer, because who laid the egg? Rinpoche’s master left it at that. He said something like, ‘if you solve that problem, then you can find out where you came from’. Rinpoche was not very satisfied with that answer. Most of us aren’t. So he thought about it. He asked himself the question over and over and he looked for an example of things that did not have a beginning and an end. Finally he found an example that satisfied him. The way numbers work seemed to point to something without beginning and without end. What is the first number, he wondered. One? Zero? Negative One? No beginning! No end! Infinity stretches in both directions.

When he came to this answer, he was satisfied. He decided at that point that being ‘logical’ all the time, restricted his ability to see things as they are and was convinced now that he had no beginning and also no end.

So, I think that is interesting. We must all decide for ourselves what we believe and we must go through our own mental processes to investigate. The problem is that we cannot see our previous life, and we cannot see our next life. Nor can we see heaven and we cannot know if we simply cease to exist - not logically. This sort of exploration remains either completely un-pondered, or is a mater of faith. It is said that when the Buddha attained enlightenment, he perceived this rebirth cycle directly and so transcended faith. He transcended all things - and that is my faith. So I have faith in rebirth - why? Because I have faith in Buddha’s Dharma - why? Because I have not found an inconsistency - his teachings are completely undeceiving. There are parts that I am still exploring and do not even have a basic understanding of, but what I have learned from the teachings has been exactly as stated by the Buddha and his disciples. I have come to this conclusion only through my own exploration and questioning.

So why does it matter? Why should we even think about where we came from or where we are going? Does it help me go to work every morning? Does it help me get along with my wife? Maybe it does! There is an interesting byproduct of the active belief in reincarnation. By understanding that we come and go and have since beginningless time and will continue to do so, then we need not be afraid of death. Death is unpleasant, and we don’t want to do it. Most of us do not want to die. But we are yelling at the ocean to stop its waves. We all die, right? I guess there are some yogis and ideologies that claim ever-lasting life, but I think they are being tricky and using metaphor. We all die. All things that come into being also pass out of being - but then they come into being again! and again and again and again. That’s the implication, right? So if we really believe this. If we connect strongly to the idea of reincarnation, then death is like a dream, and so is life. Just as we sleep and awaken to a new day, we die and awaken to a new life. So what do we fear? HA HA! I know what we fear, we want to hold on to everything. We want the same wife, the same sky, the same parents, just like they are now. So I think that we fear death.

I remember once I had a dream when I was a little boy that my father had bought me a turtle. I guess I really wanted a turtle because I was very, very happy in my dream. I played with the turtle all day and was very happy. Then I woke up and I looked for my turtle. It wasn’t there! I was very sad! Where was my turtle? Then I remembered it was a dream, and I didn’t miss the turtle - after all, I had a dog! So some of us are still very sad when we have beautiful dreams. But that sadness comes from holding on. From wanting to live in the dream world with our turtle forever! But that is not how it works. We sleep, we awaken, we sleep, we awaken, we live, we die, we live, we die. So I think if we are smart and use this belief in reincarnation correctly, we can get over our fear of death very easily! This seemed to be Rinpoche’s point. We need not be afraid of death.

Karma
So what governs this rebirth? What determines what our next life will be? The topic of Karma is very complicated. Only the Buddha understands karma - only full omniscience could possibly reveal its intricacies. So, as I said before, this is quite a difficult topic to cover in less than an hour, but Rinpoche is very brave! Karma guides us in the context of reincarnation from one life to another. Karma determines whether we are born into auspicious environments or difficult ones. Rinpoche stressed that we aren’t to sit around tolerating bad situations or dwelling in negativity while saying that, “I am burning my karma”. He says karma does not mean that we do not have a choice. As ordinary human beings (as opposed to an enlightened being), we have negative and positive karma (also neutral, but Rinpoche did not mention this during his talk). Rinpoche said that the proper way to think about Karma is as potential. We all have both negative and positive potential. We can think of the potentials as seeds that can be nourished. Quite simple. If you water the negative seeds, you are faced with negativity. Water the positive seeds and you perceive positive phenomenon. Now, normally we don’t think this way and imagine that life is flying at us without any real control over it. If I am upset it is because of what that jerk did to me. This isn’t true. We had a potential that ripened and now we are experiencing negative consequences. In order to affect karma we must be mindful. Mindfulness means to abide in the moment and to know very well what one is doing. Mindfulness means that we watch very closely and see how our karma is affecting the situation – we can learn which actions nourish our negative potentials and which actions nourish our positive potentials. By doing this we can live on the side of positivity and through habituation in these positive effects, we can eventually become free of negative potential. This really is a very simplistic view of Karma and barely scratches the surface of its meaning. I am not suggesting for a second that Rinpoche has a simplistic understanding of Karma, but he is teaching expediently to a not-necessarily-Buddhist audience. I think it is very effective.

I’m surprised I don’t have much to say about this. Actually, today I am sick and my head is starting to fill with cement. What else is there?

Ah yes. If we are able to cultivate these positive potentials throughout our life, then we will be reborn into a positive environment after death. And from there, if we continue to cultivate positive potentials, from life to life, we will eventually become fully enlightened. What does that mean?’

Nirvana
Nirvana means ‘liberation’. What are we liberated from? We are liberated from the cycle of uncontrolled birth and death. The cycle of uncontrolled birth and death is called Samsara. There is a perfume called Samsara too; Rinpoche says it smells good. But the Samsara we are talking about is a prison whose walls keep us from seeing the light of truth. After eliminating all negative potential, we achieve the state of Nirvana. This state allows us to choose the time of our death and where we will be reborn. Because there is no negative potential left, we are able to dedicate ourselves to helping others and so the choice of where we are reborn allows us help as many people as possible. This is how Rinpoche described Nirvana. Nirvana is freedom. It makes us lucid livers, if that makes any sense.