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.It s the mind.I m not saying that thebody is higher; it s the mind.If they have a human body but the mentalfunctions of an animal, what s the difference?Q.I m saying that you don t get to be happy until you ve gone throughsome kind of miserable suffering.Until you learn from your lower sit-uation, you can t advance to a higher one.Since you have to start some-where in the human kingdom, it s more logical that you re going to startwith a suffering human incarnation and then slowly work up to a bet-ter, more fully realized one rather than be thrown out of the ranks ofhumans altogether just because you didn t have enough wisdom tomake it.Lama.How can you prove that? How can you prove that life has toalways get better and better? You re assuming that modern scientificevolutionary theory is correct that lower forms evolve into better andbetter ones and never regress.But science simply looks at life as physi-cal matter.Q.I m not referring to that.I m saying that you might sometimes wastean incarnation because you didn t learn the lessons you were supposedto, but in that case you remain at the same level.You don t go back.Lama.Really? You can remain as a ten-year-old child? Impossible.Youcan t even keep your mind at the same level for an hour.How can youremain the same for years? That s a wrong conception that completelydisregards impermanence.62.ego, attachment, and liberationQ.What I m saying is that you come into this lifetime to learn certainlessons.You have a small amount of free will, but if you choose thewrong path, unwittingly or fully aware, then obviously you have notlearnt the lessons you came to learn.Therefore, next time around youhave to go through the whole trip again.Lama.I understand your point but I m saying that it s impossible foranything physical or mental to stay the same.Everything alwayschanges.You can t remain on the same level.Nor is it true that youalways have to progress.It s possible for the mind to degenerate.Q.Can a human who is reborn as an animal learn something from thatexperience so that it doesn t have to be repeated? Can you realize at thetime that it s a bad state of existence?Lama.It s possible that as a person is passing into rebirth as an animalthere ll be an instant of recognition of what s happening, but thatmoment passes immediately and the person then has to live out thekarma of having an animal mind.Before a karmic result ripens there salways the possibility of changing it completely but once it has ripenedthere s nothing you can do.You are stuck in that particular bodily formuntil the karma to experience it has finished.Note, by the way, that some animals possessing certain abilitiesfor example, vultures can telepathically perceive dead meat at greatdistances doesn t mean that they are intelligent.Such karmically-determined abilities aren t wisdom.Q.When bodhisattvas reincarnate for the purpose of enlighteningother sentient beings can they choose the form they take?.63questions and answersLama.Yes, higher bodhisattvas have complete freedom to choose.Theycheck up to see what s most beneficial East or West, male or femaleand so forth and take rebirth in an appropriate body.Their only pur-pose is to benefit others; there s no thought of their own welfare.Q.How do you deal with negative energy that arises in the mind dur-ing meditation?Lama.If the negative energy is purely mental it will disappear simply byyour recognizing it, as I described before.If there s a physical compo-nent, like pain, you can try to transform it into bliss.You can also trythe breathing exercise.Breathe in deeply as I described before, push your diaphragm down,pull your inner pelvic muscles up, compress the two energies just belowthe level of your navel and concentrate at that point you ll automati-cally feel a blissful, physical sensation.When that happens, concentrateon that feeling as strongly as you can and automatically your negativeenergy will be transmuted into understanding wisdom.That s a goodway to get rid of negative energy and ignorance but there are many othermethods as well.Q.How do you avoid falling asleep during meditation?Lama.First you have to know the process by which sluggishness arisesso that you can recognize it from the start.Sleepiness in meditationdoesn t come openly; it sneaks up on you.If you re aware you canobserve your mind begin to go from light to dark.A foggy darknessbegins to descend; then it gradually gets darker and darker, your grosssense perception slowly disappears and finally you re asleep.That s how64.ego, attachment, and liberationsleep comes; not all of a sudden.We think we fall asleep straight awaybecause we re unconscious.If you check up wisely you will see that ithappens gradually.We call the early part of that process sluggishness a small impres-sion of darkness.As soon as you notice it starting you should apply theantidote, which is to clarify and brighten your object of concentration.If you do this the fogginess will disappear and you won t fall asleep.Atthe first sign of sluggishness, visualize light.In meditation, strong, clearlight prevents you from falling asleep just as it does when you re in bedat night.Q.If you are reborn in a pure land do you have to reincarnate back onEarth?Lama.It s up to you.If you re selfish, you can stay there; if you care aboutothers you ll come back down to the human realm.Q [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]