Honestly, there is no such thing as “something we cannot do.” Look at art. When I look at art, it looks so complicated. Look at how many colors are in there. Look at the shapes. It looks really complicated. But when I look one by one, in detail, it’s not that hard. If I put in more effort, even I can do art. Then, if I do it again and again, it becomes easier. That is the nature of everything. That means, there is no such thing as something that is too hard to study.
It’s important to listen to hard things, like [Aryadeva’s] 400 Verses. It’s really hard right? If you ignore it from the beginning, you become like the upside down vessel. If you try to listen, at least you are not like the first vessel…
I do sometimes have problems with maps. Then I get lost. Even if I read the map, then I don’t look carefully. I just look at the address. I feel like I know immediately. I read the map in my head. “Oh, go two blocks and then left, and there it is. Oh…actually its three blocks.” Then, street names are different. I came with my own [folded] map. And I’m lost somewhere. The map is in my hand. Yet I could not find the place. I just wonder how come I’m lost. Map is in my hand; then I’m lost. Why? How?
Then, I realize that I did not read the map carefully. I read my own map that’s in my head. I’m following my head, then I’m lost.
Sometimes we do these things in teachings. So when you listen to the teachings, put away all your imagination. Just put it away, and try to get something new. You might find new things. Right?
I have that problem. Sometimes, I’ll listen to people at the beginning. I’ll hear the very beginning of their sentence, and then I’ll think they might say, “This and this,” then I stop and don’t listen. Actually, I’m listening to myself. Right? That is like the contaminated vessel.
Then, the third one [a vessel with a hole in the bottom of it]. To prevent [forgetting the teachings], we have book reading groups, and also daily prayers. Those help with that. Why should we do daily prayers? We don’t want to be like the third one. We don’t want to forget, so we have to think again and again, every day. At least we recite it.
These three things are what we call the Three Faults that we have to avoid.
~ Demo Rinpoche, Jewel Heart Ann Arbor, Lam Rim – Stages of the Path, Session 4, October 22. 2018
