Words of My Perfect Teacher - Week 8 (Samsara, Part 4 - The Asura and God realms)

On 14 February, we continued Patrul Rinpoche's commentary on the Longchen Nyingtik ngöndro,The Words of My Perfect Teacher. We reached the end of Chapter Three, "The Defects of Samsara" (from p.92 in the Padmakara translation of The Words of My Perfect Teacher), completing the sections on the sufferings of the asura (demigod) and god realms (sections 5 and 6). A recording of our conversation is available here. Some of the topics we talked about include:

• The pride and jealousy of gods in other religions (e.g. Christianity and Islam), and how this interpretation of the nature of god is based on strong dualism (i.e. extreme views)
• The difference between renunciation as path (e.g. to give up a particular "samsaric pleasure" such as a latte, or to adopt some form of spiritual practice such as taking vows or going on retreat, as a way of cultivating discipline) and renunciation as view (e.g. the advice "do not adopt and do not abandon": once we no longer see nirvana as a separate realm "over there", then we see that our current realm is equally samsara or nirvana - it all depends on our awareness and perception, so renunciation is about changing our inner world rather than making changes in the external world)
• The benefits of wandering, as "If you stay in one place too long, you will find fault even with the Buddha" (p.98)
• How renunciation is about cultivating nonduality, full self-expression and openness to experience, rather than the common misunderstanding of renunciation as harsh, nihilistic self-sacrifice (just as the Buddha initially tried the path of the ascetic, before realising that extreme paths cannot lead to enlightenment). Although the six realms are suffering, that does not mean Buddhism is a negative/depressive path. In fact, renunciation is the only means to be able to live fully.

A short message from Rinpoche

In a short note from his retreat, Rinpoche reminds us of the importance of renunciation and the appropriate motivation for practice:

we should say prayers and do practice in the hope that one day we will be free from the agony of time, and from the agony of the separation of all the transitory elements that, in our deluded minds, we have pieced together so convincingly. Most of us are so lost in our delusions that we actually believe them to be permanent, and when the illusion we've created reveals itself in its true colours, we suffer the most unbearable agonies. And it is from this kind of delusion that, ultimately, we need to free ourselves