by Lama
Thubten Zopa Rinpoche
It is extremely
important that we make some spiritual efforts while we have the opportunity
as human
beings
to pursue inner methods which establish peace of mind.
It is a
common experience that happiness does not arise solely from external factors.
If we check up carefully
in our
own daily lives we can easily understand that this is true. In addition
to external factors, certain inner
factors
come into play in establishing happiness within us. If external development
by itself could produce a lasting
peace
within living beings, then whoever had more material possessions should
have greater peace, while whoever
had less
should have less peace and happiness. But life is not always like this.
There are many happy people with
few riches,
and many wealthy people are very unhappy. Here in India, for example, there
are many pandits, highly
realized
yogis and even simple Dharma practitioners, who live humble lives yet have
great peace of mind. The more
they have
renounced the unsubdued mind, the greater is their peace. The more they
have renounced self-cherishing,
anger,
ignorance, attachment and so forth, the greater is their happiness.
Great yogis
such as the Indian master Naropa and the Tibetan yogi Jetsun Milarepa owned
nothing
yet had incredible peace of mind. They were able to renounce the unsubdued
mind, the
source
of all problems, and thus transcended all suffering. By actualising the
path to enlightenment
they achieved
a superior happiness. Thus even though they often had to go days without
food--the
great yogi Milarepa lived for years in a cave subsisting only on wild nettles--they
rank
among
the happiest men on earth. Because they abandoned the three poisonous minds
of
ignorance,
anger and attachment, their peace and happiness was indeed great. The more
they
removed
the unsubdued mind, the greater was their peace.
If happiness
depended on only the development of external factors, rich countries such
as
America
would be happy. Many people try to follow America, thinking that in this
way they will
find happiness.
Personally I find greater peace in spiritual countries like India and Nepal.
These
are much
happier countries, more peaceful for the mind. When I return to India after
touring the
West it
is like returning home. There are so many differences. India is really
a very dharmic
country.
It makes a big difference to the mind. When you look at a materialistic
society and see
the people
and their way of life, your own mind becomes disturbed. The material progress
is
incredible
and it keeps on going--but as a result the people are kept more and more
busy and
many different
problems arise. People have no time to relax; they get nervous, very nervous.
Here
in India
you see people relaxing everywhere, but there you even feel nervous yourself,
you pick
up the
vibration of their agitated minds. If happiness depended solely on external
development,
places
like Switzerland and America would have the greatest peace. They would
have less
quarreling,
less fighting, less violence. But it's not like that.
This shows
that something is missing. It indicates that something is lacking in their
method of
seeking
happiness. Materially they may be on top of the world, but many problems
continue to
destroy
their peace and happiness. What is missing? Inner development. They pursue
external
development
but ignore the development of the mind, the inner development. That part
of method
is missing.
Materially, the Western world has progressed enormously but it is not becoming
greater.
Looking outside while completely forgetting the development of the mind,
the
development
of a good heart, is their great mistake. Material progress in itself is
not bad; the
material
factor should be developed, but inner development is much more important.
There's no
way to
compare the two. Inner development is a million times more effective in
producing lasting
happiness
than is external development. You don't find peace if you forget the development
of the
mind.
Through the development of a good heart one obtains peace in the mind.
So like that, we
should
develop outside, but at the same time should also develop the mind. If
we compare the
value
of the peace produced by an external thing with that produced by a good
heart--by
compassion,
love, patience, and the elimination of the violent, unsubdued mind--the
superior value
offered
by inner development is overwhelming.
Even if
you have a pile of diamonds equal to the weight of this earth there is
no way to compare
the peace
it provides to the peace afforded by inner development. The owner of the
jewels is still
beset
by mental problems like anger, attachment and so forth. If someone insults
him, anger starts
to rise,
followed by thoughts to give harm, to insult, to hurt. The man of inner
development reacts
quite
differently. He thinks, "If he got angry with me, insulted me and hurt
my mind, how upset I
would
be, how unhappy I would become; so I shouldn't do negative things to him.
If I am angry
with him
and insult him he will be terribly upset and unhappy. I become unhappy
when he is
negative
with me, so of course he will be very unhappy and his peace will be disturbed
if I am
negative
with him. How dare I do this to him?" You should try to think like this.
When my
friend says or does something to me which I dislike, and anger and the
uncomfortable
mind start
to rise within my heart, I may want to say very painful things; but I should
gather my
awareness
and be skillful and brave, thinking, "How can I get angry with him? How
can I say
painful
things to him? How can I bring him harm? I should try to think like that.
If he were to be
violent
with me, how unhappy I would be, how it would disturb my mind! How it would
hurt me.
Therefore,
if I do harm to him, to this friend who, just like me, wants happiness
and does not want
suffering,
how ignoble I would be. How dare I follow such a course of action?" When
you think
like this,
the anger disappears like a popped water bubble. At first the bubble seemed
to be as
solid
as stone, but suddenly it disappears. At first it seems to us that we can't
change the mind; yet
when we
use the correct method, when we meditate like this, the anger goes--like
a water
bubble.
You don't see the point of getting angry. You simply practise patience,
try not to let anger
arise,
try to remember that what disturbs your mind and destroys your happiness
also disturbs the
other's
happiness and doesn't help at all. Then how beautiful your face becomes!
Anger makes us
completely
ugly. When anger enters a beautiful face, no amount of make-up can hide
the
complete
ugliness and terror that manifest. You can see this in people's faces.
You can recognize
the anger.
You can become afraid of the anger just by looking at the face of an angry
person.
That is
the reflection of anger. It is a very bad vibration to give off. It makes
everybody unhappy.
The real
practice of Dharma, the real meditation is never to harm others. It protects
both
your own
peace of mind and that of other beings. This is real Dharma, a truly religious
action
bringing benefits both to yourself and others. As I said earlier, to be
able to
practise
this kind of patience even once is worth more than a pile of diamonds equal
to
this earth.
What inner peace can be derived from diamonds? You just run the risk of
being killed
for them.
There is no comparison between the value of a good heart and that of material
possessions.
Since we want happiness and do not desire suffering, it is extremely important
that
we practise
Dharma. Dharma is not chanting, doing rituals or wearing uniforms. It is
developing
the mind,
the inner factor. We have many different inner factors: the unsubdued mind,
delusions,
positive
factors such as love and compassion, negative factors such as ignorance,
and so on. We
all have
both positive and negative mental tendencies. Practising Dharma means cultivating
the
good mind,
which is to be developed. In one context dharma implies all existing phenomena,
but
when we
say, "the practice of Dharma," or "the holy Dharma," the meaning is to
protect oneself
from suffering.
That is the meaning of the holy Dharma, the Dharma that we should practise.
There are
many different levels of suffering from which we require protection. Dharma
is like a
rope thrown
to somebody about to fall over a precipice. It protects and holds one from
falling into
the realms
of suffering--the world of a hell being, ghost or animal. A second meaning
of the
practice
of the holy Dharma is that one finds protection from the entirety of samsara,
from all
samsaric
suffering. It protects us from all unsubdued minds, such as ignorance,
attachment and
anger,
from thoughts of self-cherishing, and from all the mental factors that
cause one not to
receive
enlightenment, the stage of buddhahood, the state of the highest sublime
happiness.
As long
as there is the self-cherishing thought there is no way to achieve buddhahood;
our path to
sublime
happiness is blocked. Self-cherishing is the greatest disturbance to happiness
and
enlightenment.
If one practises Dharma one finds protection from the disturbances of the
self-cherishing
thought and quickly receives enlightenment.
Death is
followed by a stage called intermediate (Tibetan: bar-do), after which
we take rebirth in
one of
the six realms. Rebirth, life, death, the intermediate stage, again rebirth:
constantly we travel
in this
circle, repeatedly experiencing confusion and suffering owing to impure
conceptions and
views.
When we practise the holy Dharma, it guides and protects us from the impure
conceptions
and views
that cause us to be always bound to cyclic sufferings. There are many different
levels of
how the
Dharma guides and protects those who practise it.
The problem
is that our body and mind are in the nature of suffering; they are not
beyond
suffering.
This is the whole problem. Because they exist in the nature of suffering
we are constantly
kept busy.
Why is the body in the nature of suffering? Because the mind is in the
nature of
suffering.
The mind is not liberated from suffering. It is not liberated from the
unsubdued minds of
ignorance,
anger, attachment and their actions, karma, therefore its nature is one
of suffering, and
in turn
the body is caused to suffer. That's why without choice our body is subject
to the sufferings
of heat,
cold, hunger, thirst, birth, old age, sickness, and so forth. We do not
have to seek out
these
sufferings; they come to us naturally and we have to experience them. All
this is because we
have not
liberated our mind from suffering. Delhi is not samsara; the market is
not samsara.
Samsara
is this body and mind in the nature of suffering, this body and mind that
constantly make
us worry
and keep us busy. Our having a body and mind bound by the unsubdued mind
and its
karmic
actions is samsara.
Samsara
is a cycle, like the wheels of a bicycle. Its function is to circle. How
does it circle? The
aggregates
(Sanskrit: skandhas), our body and the mind, continue from this life into
the future life.
They join
the past life to this and this to the future one. They always continue,
always join one life
to the
next. They create an ongoing circle, like the wheels of a bicycle, always
going different
places.
You are the subject who circles, like a person riding a bicycle. The self
is like that. We
circle
on and on from life to life, taking rebirth in accordance with how we have
lived our lives, the
karma
we have created and our general state of mind. Dependent on these factors
we take rebirth
as an
animal, a human, a god, in hell and so forth. Our aggregates carry us like
a horse carries its
rider.
The problem
is that from beginningless time throughout all previous lifetimes we did
not work or
attempt
to liberate our mind from unsubdued minds and karma. Therefore our mind
and body are
still
living in the nature of suffering, experiencing the same problems over
and over again. Had we
already
been liberated from these unsubdued minds and karma it would be impossible
for us to
experience
suffering again. Once you have been liberated from samsaric suffering,
from the
bondage
of karma and the unsubdued mind, you can never suffer again; no cause for
you to fall
into suffering
remains. If you had been liberated before there would be no reason for
suffering
now; your
mind and body would not be in the nature of suffering. If we don't have
a samsaric
body there
is no reason to have a house, clothing, food, and other temporal needs.
There is no
need to
worry, to make preparations, to collect many material possessions, to chase
after money,
to have
hundreds of different clothes to wear for the different seasons, to have
hundreds of shoes,
to make
business and so forth. There are none of these problems. But we do have
a samsaric
body,
so our entire life, from rebirth to death, is kept busy taking care of
it.
Lama Tsong
Khapa, a highly realized Tibetan yogi recognized as an embodiment of Manjushri,
the Buddha
of Wisdom, wrote from his personal experience of the path: "If one does
not think of
the evolution
of samsara, one will not know how to cut off the root of samsara." To give
an
example,
let's say there is a person who is always sick because he eats the wrong
food. As long
as he
doesn't recognize the mistake in his diet, the cause of his sickness, he
will continue to be
sick no
matter how much medicine he takes. Similarly, if we don't understand the
evolutional
patterns
of samsara, there is no way for us to receive the peace of nirvana that
we seek. For this
we must
cut off the root of samsara, and in order to accomplish that we must know
the correct
methods.
This means that we must recognize the samsaric process, the causes of our
being bound
to samsara.
We must realize what binds us to samsara and then generate aversion for
and
renunciation
of the causes of samsaric existence. Lama Tsong Khapa concluded the above
verse
by saying,
"I, a yogi, practised like this. I request you who seek liberation to do
likewise." This
great
yogi, who achieved enlightenment by actualisjng the path, advises us in
this way. It is very
important
that first we desire liberation from samsara; then we must recognize the
evolutionary
laws of
samsara; finally we have to cut off its root.
To understand
the evolution of samsara we must understand the twelve links of interdependent
origination,
or dependent arising. These twelve links clearly explain how we circle
in samsara.
How did
our present samsara-these aggregates, which are in the nature of suffering-come
into
being?
In a past life, out of ignorance, we accumulated the karma to be born with
this human
body.
Just as we were about to die in our last life, a split second before we
died, clinging and
grasping,
not wanting to leave the body, not wanting to separate from this life,
arose. Then we
were born
in the intermediate stage, and after that our consciousness entered our
mother's womb.
The fertilised
egg grew and the other senses gradually developed. Then contact and responsive
feelings
came into existence. Now our rebirth has occurred, we are aging, and all
that remains for
us is
the experience of death.
In this
life there is no peace, from the time of our birth until our death. We
continually go through
much suffering
as human beings: the pain of birth; not being satisfied with our situation;
meeting
undesirable
experiences; having worries; having fear of being separated from desirable
objects,
friends,
relatives, and material possessions; sickness; old age and death. All these
problems come
from karma.
Karma comes from ignorance. Therefore the one root of samsara is ignorance,
the
ignorance
of mistaking the nature of "I", the self, which is empty of true existence.
Although this "I"
is empty
of true existence, we completely believe as we project, that it is truly
existent.
Ignorance
is the cause of all suffering. We receive nirvana by cutting off this ignorance,
the root of
samsara.
Without doing this, there is no way to receive nirvana.
In order
to remove completely the root of samsaric suffering and receive nirvana
we must follow a
true path.
If we do not want to experience true suffering, we should cut off the true
cause of
suffering.
Once we have cut off and removed this root, nirvana is attained. However,
that is not
sufficient
because only one person has been benefited. There are numberless sentient
beings, and
all sentient
beings have been our own mother, father, sister and brother, in numberless
previous
lives.
There is not one single sentient being who has not been kind to us in one
life or another.
Even in
this life much of our happiness is received in dependence upon the kindness
of others.
Not only
humans; many creatures work hard and suffer much for our happiness; many
die or are
killed
for us. For example, in order to produce rice in a field, many creatures
are killed, many
people
work and suffer under the sun, and so forth. The happiness of each day
of our life
completely
depends on the kindness of other sentient beings.
As human
beings we have the opportunity to repay their kindness. They are ignorant
of and blind
to Dharma
wisdom. We have the opportunities afforded by the holy Dharma, the opportunity
to
understand
the nature of reality and to help all sentient beings. We have the opportunity
to reach
enlightenment
and liberate them from suffering. We should think as follows:
"I should
do this; I should achieve enlightenment in order to benefit them. Sentient
beings have
been extremely
kind and have benefited me very much. They are suffering. These sentient
beings,
all of
whom have been my mother in many previous lives, are suffering; I, their
son, must help. If I
do not
help them, who will? Who would help them gain enlightenment and liberation
from
suffering?
To do that I myself must first receive enlightenment. I must become a buddha.
I must
actualise
the omniscient mind. Then my holy body, speech and mind would become most
effective.
Each ray of light from the aura of a holy body can liberate many sentient
beings and
inspire
them on the path to happiness, nirvana and full enlightenment. I must become
buddha in
order
to liberate all sentient beings." The path is the holy Dharma. The essence
of the path is the
good heart.
The greatest, highest good heart is the bodhicitta, the thought of wanting
to become a
buddha
in order to liberate all the sentient beings from suffering. This is the
supreme good heart.
This is
what we should generate.
source: http://www.fpmt.org
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