04 Meditating On Emptiness Must Start With The Object To Be Refuted 11-Apr-2004

Lama Zopa Rinpoche explains why the first of the four-point analysis of emptiness—recognizing the object to be refuted—has unbelievable importance and has to come first. Without first recognizing the object to be refuted, you cannot do the other analyses. It is like recognizing the thief who has been harming you. After you recognize them, you can unleash weapons on them. You won’t shoot the wrong person. Similarly, if you don’t recognize the object to be refuted, all subsequent reasonings will not be on the object of ignorance. Thus, there’s a danger of using the I or phenomena that actually exist and falling into nihilism. If this happens, it doesn’t matter how many hundreds of years or how many logics you use, it won’t harm your ignorance. It becomes basically meditating on the words of emptiness, not meditating on emptiness.We are lucky to have a precious human rebirth and to have met with the correct teachings on emptiness. We have the good fortune to meet the teachings of Lama Tsongkhapa, His Holiness, and many other great teachers. The root of samsara is ignorance; we become liberated from the oceans of samsaric suffering by eliminating this ignorance. Lama Tsongkhapa explained that this body that has eight freedoms and ten richnesses is more special than a wish-fulfilling jewel. However, it doesn’t last, and it is extremely difficult to receive such a perfect human body again. All worldly activities are like the husks of grains floating in the wind; they have no essence. We should take the essence all day and night.Lama Zopa explains how to take the essence twenty-four hours a day by being mindful of how everything is empty. In this way, everything we do becomes the antidote to the root of samsara. Also, by living twenty-four hours a day with the thought of benefiting others, bodhicitta, whatever we do becomes the cause to achieve enlightenment for sentient beings. This is the highest essence you can take from this human life. In taking the initiation, Lama Zopa urges us to look at the I who is taking the initiation. How does it appear to you? If it appears as not merely labelled by the mind, this is the false I. This is the object to be refuted; it is a hallucination.From April 10 to May 10, 2004, Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave extensive teachings during the Mahamudra Retreat at Buddha House in Australia. While the retreat focused on Mahamudra, Rinpoche also taught on a wide range of Lamrim topics. This retreat marked the beginning of a series of month-long retreats in Australia. Subsequent retreats were held in 2011, 2014, and 2018, hosted by the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion in Bendigo.Find out more about Lama Zopa Rinpoche, his teachings and projects at https://fpmt.org/