Kindness

We will share the reading of this book entitled “A Quiet Path” written by Xi-a-rong Khenpo tonight. One of the chapters mentions about the right attitude of a practitioner and the way of practice after taking refuge. We will be going to Mtn. Wutai soon. So, I encourage you to chant the heart mantra of Manjushri Bodhisattva before going. In this book, the author mentioned about one of his teachers, Jin Wang Khenpo, who learnt from H.H Jigme Puntsok when the former was still a very young student. He did not do well in his study and he could not understand many of the teachings. So, he prayed to Manjushri Bodhisattva and chanted a few billion times of His heart mantra. Finally, he was able to read the Five Major Commentaries with ease and became a renowned Khenpo of his time. He became a great teacher who was very eloquent in his speech and could make references readily from a wide range of sources; he had assimilated the teachings of all the sutras and commentaries in his heart. He understood all the teachings after chanting the heart mantra of Manjushri Bodhisattva rigorously. I am requesting you to just chant five hundred thousand times of His heart mantra because it can help you gain a higher wisdom.

This book mentions a quality of a practitioner – kindness. Kindness is actually easy. However, many practitioners are actually more unkind than the non-practitioners. A practitioner should reflect on his own shortcomings but not do so on others; he should discipline himself but not others. There are many practitioners who like to gossip about others but never do self-reflection. The author said, a practitioner should be humble and respectful of others. A Buddhist should abstain from hurting others at all times, in both speech and action. He should not criticize other religions including the Outer Paths, let alone other schools of Buddhism. Do not criticize other schools of Buddhism, be it Hinayana, Mahayana, Vajrayana etc., for all of them were transmitted by Sakyamuni Buddha to address the different needs of the students. We take refuge in different schools of Buddhism due to our own karma; we should not disturb others in their practice – do not perturb the minds of others.

Many of our friends and relatives, due to various reasons, have not taken refuge in the Three Jewels. They are struggling hard in this illusory world to earn their living and pursue their so-called happiness. According to the author, such happiness is just the cause of suffering. Most people thought that they work for money and raise their children in order to achieve happiness in life but it turns out to be the cause of suffering instead. A practitioner seeks to let go of such worldly pursuits.

There was a lady who has good faith in the Buddha teachings and was considering taking refuge but she dropped the idea after seeing many Buddhists around her behaving poorly in their conduct. Therefore, we should be a good role model to others but not just tell others that we are a Buddhist when we still behave poorly in our conduct; you will make others lose faith in the Buddha teachings. A Buddhist who is arrogant and self-centered, who is fond of criticizing others will make others lose faith in the Buddha teachings and drop their idea of wanting to take refuge in the Three Jewels. Instead, a Buddhist should make others aspire to become a Buddhist too. Change yourself and make others feel that you are a humble and kind person; this is the kind of Buddhist that can bring positive influence to others around him including his friends and relatives, colleagues etc. Do not just be a Buddhist in name but not in action. The author said, on the path of enlightenment, only a heart of kindness can eventually blossom into a flower of true happiness; an evil mind can never blossom into a flower of kindness.

Master Tsongkhapa said, “A person who is kind at heart will live a happy life in his present and future lives. A practitioner must have a kind heart.  A kind person who is firm and steady will not be far from enlightenment the moment he starts walking the path of enlightenment.” So, as long as you are firm, steady and kind, when you start doing your practice, you will not be far from the attainment of enlightenment. These are a few key points for the practice. Recitation of the sutras, chanting of the mantras, being more superior than others, and yearning to teach others or become a teacher to others are just not important. The more important point is actually about being humble, training one’s own mind, becoming compassionate and benefiting others.

A Dharma Discourse given by Acho Rinpoche on 21 Aug 2013.

Refuge

Only when one has taken refuge in the Three Jewels, he has truly entered the School of Buddhism and is called a Buddhist. To me, becoming a Buddhist is the most important decision in our life. Being born into this world, going to school, marrying a wife and being a top scholar etc., will pale against taking refuge in the Three Jewels. After taking refuge in the Buddha, you become the son of the Buddha, the prince of Buddha, and a seed of enlightenment is planted deep in your being which will lead you to the attainment of Buddhahood one day.

Why do we aspire to become a Buddha (the enlightened one)? If we do not attain Buddhahood, we will remain stranded in the Six Realms of Cyclic Existence (Samsara), no matter who you are. Samsara consists of the Three Upper Realms (God, Demi-god, Human) and the Three Lower Reams (Animal, Hell, Hungry Ghost). Even the highest among men like the President or Chairman of a country, or the richest man in the world, are just one of the beings within Samsara. All sentient beings within the Samsara suffer from all the imperfections in life, mental afflictions and the incessant cyclic existence of birth and death. Sakyamuni Buddha said, “This world is an ocean of suffering.” So, regardless of your highest achievement and richest wealth, or poverty as a beggar, you are just a human being who must face the inevitable process of birth, aging, sickness and death; you will not be able to break free from this cyclic existence.

A student asked Sakyamuni Buddha, “How long have we been around in this cyclic existence?” Sakyamuni Buddha said, “Imagine your skeletons accumulated after each death piling up to the peak of Mtn. Sumeru or Mt. Himalaya, which would mean millions of times. However, you do not know it because of the lack of wisdom. You have been living and dying for so long, sometimes you were born a woman, sometimes a cat, sometimes a dog and sometimes a cow….. It has never come to an end." How meaningless! You have never been able to break free from this cyclic existence. Maybe if you did good in your past life, you will be born a richer person who can afford a good meal each time. However, you are still stranded in this cyclic existence. Only when you have taken refuge in the Buddha, you have obtained an opportunity to break free from the Samsara.

The Buddha Dharma is the highest teaching in this world; the rest are considered the Outer Paths. So, after taking refuge in the Buddha, you must not take refuge in the Outer Paths. Another word, after doing your doctorate, you do not go study in the primary or secondary schools. Taking refuge in the Buddha is the most important decision in your life. What do you do after taking refuge? “Do good. Avoid evils.” This is the fundamental behaviour of a Buddhist. You must not behave like an ordinary person who is greedy and do bad things to others; taking refuge will be a meaningless act then as it makes no difference from one who has not taken refuge. If someone has not taken refuge in the Buddha but he is a good person who did many good things, he fares better than those who have taken refuge. Those who have taken refuge in the Buddha should reflect on your own behavior and strive to do better than others. You must strive to eradicate your selfishness and serve others – help the sentient beings.

The teachings of the Buddha Dharma are vast like an ocean. It is impossible for you to learn and practice all in one life. However, we can focus on one teaching and not be over ambitious. What we just did was to focus on doing only one practice. There are many schools of Buddhism including the Hinayana, Mahayana, Vajrayana, Pure Land, Zen etc. We belong to the Vajrayana. One of my lineage came from True Buddha School. I am a reincarnated master from the Nyingma of Tibetan Buddhism; I was the abbot of a monastery in Qinghai Province in China. When they found me, I was given the lineage of Nyingma. So, my practice is a union of both the True Buddha School and Nyingma.  

The highest attainment in the Hinayana is Arahat. Pure Land Buddhism told you that the attainment of Buddhahood is very difficult, that you will need to go through a period of Three Big Kalpas before attaining Buddhahood; there is no such thing as attaining Buddhahood in this lifetime. The Pure Land School teaches the incessant recitation of the name of Amitabha Buddha. When one attains a steady mind through the recitation of the name of Amitabha Buddha, he can be reborn in the Western Blissful Pure Land and start learning the Buddha Dharma there. Why don’t we start learning the Buddha Dharma now? We can do it swifter here. Vajrayana believes in the attainment of Buddhahood in this lifetime because it has a very special method. There are four major sects in Vajrayana including Kagyud, Sakya, Nyingma and Gelug. Gelug belongs to H.H Dalai Lama. Kagyud has H.H Karmapa. Sakya has H.H Sakya Trizin. Nyingma has six branches; we belong to one of the braches called “Dzogchen” (Great Perfection).

The highest attainment in Vajrayana is the practice of “Dzogchen”, the peak of the Nine Paths. There were many patriarchs of Nyingma Dzogchen who attained “rainbow body” when they passed away. They passed away in a sitting posture and their physical bodies transformed into rainbow before disappearing into space. The Dzogchen practice of our school is indeed very inconceivable. Those who followed me to the Shandong Tour this time witnessed the appearance of rainbows wherever we went; it does have a connection with the Dzogchen practice. When you have accomplished the Dzogchen practice, you will attain Buddhahood in this lifetime and rainbows will appear wherever you go. The Buddhas and Bodhisattvas will follow you. When you accomplish your Dzogchen practice, you are just a living Buddha no different from Sakyamuni Buddha. So, it is important to know that only Refuge can lead us out of the Samsara.

If you ask me, “What is the benefit of leaving the Samsara?” The state of enlightenment is beyond words. It is beyond the comprehension of sentient beings. It is beyond the conceptual thinking of all men. Sakyamuni Buddha said, He could manifest numerous Emanation Bodies to help all the sentient beings in the universe. This is an inconceivable state of enlightenment. Spiritual practice is about getting oneself out of the Samsara first, followed by helping others to get out of the Samsara next. Share with others what you have learnt including the people around you, your kids, your family, your relatives and friends, gradually enlarging the circle to the whole universe and all sentient beings; wishing that they will take refuge in the Buddha and attain Buddhahood one day; transforming this world into a Pure Land is our ultimate aim.

Tonight, after taking refuge, you should do good and avoid evils, practice well for the sake of enlightenment, and share with others your attainment. Although Tantra can help one attain Buddhahood in one lifetime, it is actually not that easy. It requires you to focus fully on doing the practice, which is not easy. If you cannot attain Buddhahood in this lifetime, do it in your next life; if you fail to do so still in your next life, continue to do it in your next three lives, six lives, twelve lives……. One day, you will definitely attain Buddhahood! Anyway, Vajrayana is indeed a swifter path than other schools of Buddhism.

Vajrayana also requires a practitioner to abide by the precepts strictly. Our prayer book contains many important teachings, including the sadhana and precepts. A practitioner cannot transgress the precepts of Dzogchen. We have the Five Precepts, Fourteen Root Downfalls etc. Of course, I do not expect you to be able to abide by all the precepts immediately. You can start by abiding by one, two, three, four, gradually increasing the number. One day, you will naturally be able to abide by all the precepts. There is no immediate success or immediate Buddhahood; it requires a long period of practice. Precept is very important. When Sakyamuni Buddha was about to pass into Nirvana, His students asked, “When you are gone, where can we find our next teacher?” He told his students “Let the precepts be your teacher.” That shows the importance of precept. Everyone should abide by the precepts strictly, do good and avoid evils, and help others.

One more point. Vajrayana brothers and sisters are closer than our family members. Our existence spans across numerous lifetimes. When you pass away from this life, you will not recognize those people whom you are associated with in this life when you make a return in your next life. You will not even know where they have gone in their next lives. Your connection with them only lasts one lifetime. However, the connection among Vajrayana brothers and sisters will last forever. Once you have taken refuge in me, our connection will never end; you will follow me life after life to do your practice. This is a very profound affinity. Like the saying goes, “A teacher for one day will be one’s father for an entire lifetime.” “Father”, in our context, does not refer to a relationship that only lasts one lifetime; it refers to an eternal relationship. And you are eternal Vajrayana brothers and sisters. So, you must treat one another closer than your own family members. You will all come with me to the Blissful Pure Land in future.  

A Dharma Discourse Given By Acho Rinpoche on 5 May 2013, in Shandong Province, China for seven Shandong students who just took refuge in Acho Rinpoche. 

Non-Sectarian (Rime)

I would like to let the new comers know about our background. Actually, our connection with Tibetan Buddhism is very strong. There are friends from Tibetan Buddhism who often pay us visits including the Khenpos and lamas from Nyingma, Gelug, Sakya and Kagyud. I am a “rime” (non-sectarian). I learnt from many schools of Buddhism during the initial stage of my practice including Hinayana, Mahayana and Vajrayana; Kagyud, Nyingma, Gelug and Sakya. I don’t care who you are, as long as you have something worth learning, I will learn from you. I always assume that I have nothing and  I am always prepared to learn from scratch and from everyone.

 I have been learning non-stop during the past 30 years; I have never stopped learning, listening and reading. I have learnt a lot from books, including two, three hundred books written by Grand Master, which I will usually finish reading at night on the very day I got hold of one, assimilating the essence of Grand Master’s teachings. I also read books written by Tsultrim Lodro Khenpo, Sodaji Khenpo, Master Nan Huai Jin, H.H Jigme Puntsok, H.H Diglo Kyentse, Master Liu Rui Zhi, Master Chen Jian Min etc. As long as you are capable of writing something, I will read it. They are my source of learning, I regard them all as my teachers and I learn from them.

Of course, I know that one is unable to attain enlightenment by simply reading. The books are just a guide telling a practitioner the various methods of practice. You will not be able to attain enlightenment after reading the Three Tipitakas and the Five Major Commentaries because they are just a finger pointing at the moon; you will not be able to reach the moon through mere reading the finger. If reading the books alone can give the reader the state of enlightenment, who among the students of Grand Master has attained enlightenment so far after reading the two, three hundred volumes of book written by Grand Master?  Even those who have been named by Grand Master for “hitting the target” (attaining the state of realization) can still fail the tests. In this regard, they are no different from those who are unable to “hit the target”. In my opinion, spitirual practice is never an easy task – it is something that needs to be done life after life. I have been practicing for numerous lives, non-stop, till now.

The books can provide us with some experience which can enrich the contents of our teaching. However, the true wisdom does not come from the books; it comes from your own attainment; it comes from your own mind. Someone asked a Kagyud Master, “Is this book suitable for reading?” The master said, “Books have nothing to do with your true attainment. Don’t read them - get them out of the way.” He denied the usefulness of the books immediately because they will not give you the true attainment.

My view is that, reading is fine. However, you should realize that it will not bring you the true state of attainment. You will need to work on it. No doubt you will learn the experience of others from the books and know the teachings are as such but after learning the teachings, you will need to apply them in your practice. The books will not be able to set you free because everyone has different propensities acquired from the numerous past lives that must be treated differently; the tests are therefore different for the different individuals. No one could find all the answers in books. Maybe you will be able to find something close that gives you some insight - “I see, it is so!” However, the books have nothing to do with your true attainment. We cannot do away with the books entirely, of course. We should still read them but we should let go of them after reading. Everyone should understand this point. The tests will come one after another during the entire process of practice; they will never end.

Tantra can help one attain Buddhahood in a single lifetime. However, in reality, it is very difficult to achieve that. If you are a reincarnated enlightened master or Buddha, you will be able to attain Buddhahood in a single lifetime. Otherwise, one has to practice life after life, including myself. I have been practicing rigorously for 30 to 40 years by now; I used every opportunity in my life to practice and I blend the practice into my daily activity – reading, meditation, recitation etc. I learn from many teachers. I spent all my available time on practice. Today, I managed to achieve a little attainment which is insignificant in my opinion. So, do not think that practice is easy as just chanting a few mantras, forming a few mudras, doing some visualization etc. It is not that easy. Practice spans across thousands of lifetimes, and it requires a practitioner to learn humbly.

I am a “ligme” (non-sectarianism). It does not matter whether it is Hinayana, Mahayana or Vajrayana, as long as you give the right teachings, I will learn from you.  I only believe in one “yana”  – the Buddha-yana. As long as you are teaching the Buddha Dharma,  giving the right teachings, I will learn from you. This is my spiritual path. I hope you will practice with vigour. If you think that you can grasp everything in this world including your kids, family, career etc. and at the same time aspire to attain enlightenment – let me tell you this – it is impossible! Of course there are some individuals who are able to do so but I will not be the one for sure!

Even Grand Master has been practicing life after life before attaining Buddhahood. I hope that you will treat spiritual practice as the most important thing in life and let go of other worldly concerns. If you can do this, you will stand a chance to attain Buddhahood in this single lifetime. If you give worldly concerns the highest priority, you will never be able to attain Buddhahood; you can only wait for Grand Master or someone capable of bringing you to the Western Blissful Pure Land when you pass away from this life. Anyway, you will still need to do your practice in the pure land; you might as well start doing your practice now. Please ponder on what I have just said.

A Dharma Discourse given by Acho Rinpoch on 14 Oct 2013

Refuge & Lineage of Transmission

The author of “The Quiet Path”, Xi-a-rong-bo Khenpo, mentioned about taking refuge in this book. He said, some people thought that it is suffice to just have the Buddha in their hearts and that taking refuge is unnecessary. Actually, of course it is best to have the Buddha in one’s heart but it will not be suffice for one to be just complacent about the accumulation of merits in his past lives. Taking refuge in the Three Jewels (Buddha, Dharma and Sangha) is the only means to help us break free from the Six Realms of Cyclic Existence. Without refuge, we will be helplessly drowned in the ocean of samsara. So, it is insufficient to just bear the Buddha in mind. One should seek an enlightened master and take refuge in him, and obtain the lineage of transmission. He said, some of the practices have the pre-requisite of a lineage of transmission. If you do not take refuge, you will not be able to obtain the lineage of empowerment. You will not be able to obtain the lineage of empowerment regardless of how rigorous you do the practice because you have not acted according to the teaching. So, taking refuge is very important.        

Master Atisha was a highly revered Buddhist Master in India and Tibet. He was one of the spiritual leaders in the early stage of establishment of Buddhism in Tibet. He stressed the importance of taking refuge and made it a point to expound the teaching in every assembly during his time in Tibet. He was thus being addressed as the “Refuge Pandita”. He considered taking refuge the most important practice. If an accomplished master like Atisha took it so seriously, one can guess the true importance of this teaching.

Without taking refuge, it will be very difficult for you to practice accordingly. He also said that one must go through the proper ritual of taking refuge before a qualified master in order to obtain the “body of refuge”. This is the right method of taking refuge in the Dharma. Without taking refuge, a person who offers incense and prostrates before a Buddha, or recites a sutra, cannot be regarded as a real Buddhist. He said, only one who has taken refuge is considered a true Buddhist. Especially in Vajrayana Buddhism, the lineage of transmission is very crucial.

He said, when you have decided to take the practice seriously, you must keep an open mind and learn, without your own opinions, from the Buddha. You will not be able to break free from the cyclic existence without learning from the Buddha. So, you should express your determination before a lineage of transmission that “I must attain Buddhahood! I must attain enlightenment!” and learn from the master of that lineage. However, taking refuge is not ordination. Sakyamuni Buddha transmitted the teaching of taking refuge in order to bring a person into the Dharma, enabling him to start walking the path of enlightenment. It does not require the person to become a monk or nun. He can practice as a layman Buddhist, at home. Both a layman Buddhist and an ordained practitioner can practice the Dharma and they stand an equal chance of attaining enlightenment.

It is important for you to obtain a refuge certificate and a spiritual name but it will be even more important for you to revere your Vajra Master and the Three Jewels, have full faith in them and obey them. You must never betray your Vajra Master and the Three Jewels in the face of great adversity, even at the risk of losing your life. There is nothing more valuable and important than taking refuge in a qualified master and the Three Jewels in this world. Taking refuge and learning the Dharma are the most important thing that you have done in this life.

All the teachings transmitted by Sakyamuni Buddha are spiritual jewels. The Hinayana, Mahayana and Vajrayana give the same advice on taking refuge. The different schools of Buddhism are a result of the different methods taught by the Buddha for the different target audience, tailoring the methods to their different needs. All methods will ultimately lead the practitioners towards the path of enlightenment. There is no other way. So, we should not criticize any method for being the wrong one.

“Sangha” refers to the spiritual friends on the path of enlightenment. You must not take refuge in any Outer School (as opposed to the Inner School of Buddhism). According to Hinayana, four monks can form a Sangha (spiritual community). According to Mahayana, a practitioner who has attained the state of emptiness is a qualified Sangha, regardless of whether he is a layman Buddhist or an ordained Buddhist. Sangha is a source of refuge. In Vajrayana Buddhism, a Tulku or re-incarnated Rinpoche who is a layman Buddhist can be your source of refuge too.

After taking refuge in Buddhism, a student must observe the precepts. First, he must maintain a strong faith in the Vajra Master and the Three Jewels. No matter what happens, he must revere his Vajra Master and the Three Jewels. Second, he must place all the Buddha images, monk robes and Buddhist literatures at clean places and not simply place them anywhere or walk over them (which are acts of transgression). Third, a Vajra Master and the Three Jewels are the only sources of refuge; he must not take refuge in other parties.

Also, he said that we should feel sorry for the animals being killed for food in the market. A Buddhist should develop a sense of compassion towards all sentient beings and aspire to help them. Vajrayana Buddhism encourages vegetarianism. After taking refuge, it will be better if a practitioner can become a vegetarian. If he cannot do so due to health, work or other reason, he should at least refrain from killing live animals including fish, prawn etc. If he must continue to eat meat, he should just eat only three types of “Clean Meats”. Meat eating will create bad karma. Although eating three types of “Clean Meat” will also create bad karma, it is slightly better than directly killing the animals for food.

Many people mistaken that Vajrayana Buddhism allows meat eating, while Mahayana Buddhism widely practiced in China disallows meat eating. Actually, all schools of Buddhism including Mahayana, Hinayana and Vajrayana encourage vegetarianism. Nowadays, H.H Dalai Lama and H.H Karmapa are encouraging all Buddhists to embrace vegetarianism. Almost all Tibetan monks are vegetarians now, including the author himself who said a Vajrayanist must be a vegetarian.   

 A Dharma Discourse given by Acho Rinpoche on 16 Aug 2013

Breaking Free from Cyclic Existence

The teaching of “impermanence” is a key teaching in Vajrayana Buddhism, which is repeatedly stressed by all the Khenpos and Rinpoches, regardless of their sects and the level of practice. They have been practicing for a long time, at least for ten to twenty years, but their teachers would continue to stress the importance of the teaching of “impermanence” throughout their training. The same teaching would be repeated in many ways, in any assembly and in any discourse, in order to make them feel very deeply about the impermanence of life. As long as you have not developed a sense of impermanence in you, you will be easily influenced by worldly enjoyments, and a sense of love and hatred which will perpetually bind you to the cyclic existence (samsara). Actually, what they are trying to say is that life is impermanent, and we can die anytime and very soon. So, we should strive to break free from such cyclical deaths.  When you truly feel the urgency of death, you will develop a sense of renunciation swiftly and lose your interest in all the worldly concerns; this will make you focus all your energy on the practice leading to the ultimate freedom.

Gunga Wangchok Lama gave a lot of teachings in his life and he had groomed many Khenpos. In one of his books, he cited a phenomenon in the cyclic existence - “In the human world, one's father could become his son and one's mother could become his wife.” A father could be reborn as a son to his own son. A mother could be reborn as a wife to her own son. Also, “One's enemy could become his close relative.” Your enemy from previous life could be reborn as your family member and create trouble for you. Cyclic existence, as its name suggests, never ends. We are clueless of who will become who next? This is how we go through the endless cycles of birth and death. When we obtain a human birth again, we might bump into our late father who has become our child etc. Sakyamuni Buddha told his students that sometimes, your father in this life would become your son in his next life; your son in this life would become your father in your next life; your mother in this life would become your wife in her next life; and your wife would become your enemy in her next life. The roles keep changing and they will never remain the same.

During the time of Sakyamuni Buddha, there was an Arahat by the name of Jia-tuo-yan, who went around for alms one day. He came across a house where he saw a woman eating pork while holding a baby in her arm and breast feeding him. There was a dog right in front of her house which was waiting for a chance to eat a bit of the gravy from the meat that she was eating. Later, that woman threw a piece of bone at the dog after finishing the meat. Sakyamuni Buddha told the Arahat, “Do you know that the meat eaten by that woman came from a pig that was the rebirth of her late father? Her father fell into the animal realm. The baby who was sucking her milk was the enemy who killed her husband; she was feeding him with her milk now and loved him so much. Her mother was reborn as a dog because of her own negative karma. Now, the daughter threw a piece of bone on the face of her late mother (the dog), and the mother was chewing the bone of her former husband (the pig). Her late mother was reborn as a dog and her late father was reborn as a pig. The Arahat, after witnessing the phenomenon realized that all the worldly relationships are but transient; he developed a very strong sense of renunciation as a result.

                Many students developed a sense of renunciation after hearing this strange phenomenon from Sakyamuni Buddha. They found cyclic existence absolutely meaningless for one’s father, son, student, spouse  etc. are just transient relationships that will continue to change and one is just going round and round a circle. The Arahat developed a sense of renunciation and completely lost his attachment to the Three Realms (Desire Realm, Realm of Form and Formless Realm) thence. What Sakyamuni Buddha was trying to do was to break our attachment to this life, especially our attachment to our family. As long as you love your children, your parents etc., you are actually blinded by the superficial value of cyclic existence, which is very scary.

Sakyamuni Buddha also mentioned about the Heaven Realm. The heavenly beings enjoyed great fortunes in heaven but they would fall into hell and suffer great hardships when their merits are exhausted. This is real. Heavenly beings enjoyed great sensual pleasures in heaven and they live a very long life that could last for thousands of years, equivalent to millions of years in the Human Realm. They could touch the beautiful breasts of the female heavenly beings and enjoyed the sense of touch. They could also touch the slim waist of the female heavenly beings and enjoyed the sense of touch. However, when their merits are exhausted, they will plunge straight into two gigantic iron mountains in hell.  Their bodies will be scotched by the fire of hell and cut into pieces by iron birds. The iron birds will cut away your eyes, your nose, your mouth and your tongue; you will feel the greatest pain and misery in hell. These are inconceivable fruits of negative karma in hell. One enjoyed inconceivable sensual pleasures in heaven and went through inconceivable pains in hell next. In the human world, your relatives and friends will have their roles change from life to life…… Therefore, Sakyamuni Buddha kept telling us about the impermanence of life, and that we should break free from this cyclic existence, and  break free from sufferings. When we realize that the human world is full of sufferings, we should turn towards the teachings of the Buddha and put them into practice. Only through practice, we can eventually break free from the cyclic existence.  

A Dharma discourse given by Acho Rinpoche on 29 Jun 2013