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Okay, we haven't done miserliness have we? Okay. So in our teachings about Tara we've
done the lion of pride, okay, the elephant of ignorance, the fire of anger, the snake
of jealousy, the thieves of distorted or wrong views. Now we're on the chains of miserliness,
okay?
So, "Binding embodied beings in the unbearable prison of cyclic existence with no freedom,
it locks them in craving's tight embrace, the chain of miserliness. Please protect us
from this danger."Okay?
So, binding embodied beings in the unbearable prison of cyclic existence with no freedom.
That's heavy duty, isn't it? And that's our situation. And that's what we really have
to acknowledge, you know, in order to get anywhere in our practice, you know, is that
we're bound in cyclic existence with no freedom. But that's not our usual assessment of our
situation, is it? We usually, you know, like,
"What's cyclic existence? I have no idea, okay?
Why am I alive? Well I never thought of it.
What's the purpose of my life? I haven't thought about that either.
What happens after death? I don't want to think about that; it's too
scary."
So normal situation, isn't it? So what's the purpose of my life? Eat, drink and be merry.
You know, sex, drugs and rock and roll. And so most people just live on automatic, yes?
So one of the first things in our Dharma practice is to actually look at the situation in which
we live. And you know, even when we've been practicing Dharma for a long time that can
be very difficult because our usual view is, "Well yes there's samsara, but as long as
I have a good life and I'm comfortable and people like me, a little bit of suffering's
okay, but not too much and, you know, my life's pretty good. What are you talking about being
bound in the unbearable prison of cyclic existence? I'm not in an unbearable prison. My life is
good. I've lots of freedom, you know? I can burn the Koran if I want to." It's the wrong
kind of freedom, you know? "I can say anything I want, I can do anything I want," you know?
"I can have anything I want. I'm not in an unbearable prison. You know, okay, sometimes
there are problems, but they're all other people's fault. You know? There's nothing
much I can do, so I'll just enjoy." Isn't it? And even when we've been practicing Dharma
for a while, you know, our usual view is, "Well, you know, just live day by day, and
try and avoid suffering, have happiness and say a few mantra and that's good enough,"
okay?
But you know, when we're thinking about the three principle aspects of the path, renunciation
and the determination to be free is the first one. You know? So to really start feeling
what Dharma's about, we have to have some understanding of cyclic existence and how
we're trapped in it by our ignorance, anger, attachment. And now it's pointing out miserliness;
how miserliness traps us.
So we have to really develop a new self image of being somebody in cyclic existence who
was born here due to ignorance, anger and attachment, who thinks they're truly existent,
when in fact they exist by being merely imputed, yes, who just wants happiness and not suffering,
but doesn't look around them to see what the situation of other people is and to see how
our actions affect others, yes? So we have to change this self image of how we think
of ourselves, you know? We don't think of ourselves as somebody who could die today,
do we? You know, we hear lots of teachings on death and impermanence again and again
but, you know, that's for other people. And yes, one day I'll die but, you know, I'll
have it all planned out, easy and the perfect death. Right! Okay?
So really kind of, you know, these initial meditations on the gradual path to enlightenment,
you know, on the stages of the path to enlightenment are really crucial for changing that image
of who we are and what our situation is. And when we've done that, then these verses really
make sense, yes? But until we've done that, miserliness isn't really a problem, is it?
The more I keep for myself, the more I have. Yippee! Yes? And I don't want to look miserly,
so I give enough so that I don't look like a cheapskate, you know? But only enough so
that I don't look like a cheapskate, you know? We don't see miserliness and craving as a
problem, you know? Okay? We have to kind of go back and really think about what cyclic
existence means, you know, and what the meaning of our life is and want to get out of this
situation and how to go about doing it, okay? So we'll continue with miserliness tomorrow.