Emptiness Meditation

My most dear, most kind, most precious, wish-fulfilling one,
Thank you very much for your kind letter. I want to say something additional about emptiness.

It’s not just the first label that you have—the appearance—[like the car] is labeled on the base, the parts. [But to then think that the label and the base are intrinsic] is sort of a joke. That’s what you expressed regarding the car or whatever. You have to look at the base as the first label, the first level merely labeled by the mind. That base is then merely labeled on another base; then that base is labeled on another base; and so it goes on and on like that.

The body, for example, comes down to [limbs and so forth and then] to particles and atoms. According to the tenets of the four Buddhist philosophical schools, some do not accept truly existing particles whereas some accept there are fundamental particles.

[The Prasangika Madkyamaka view is that self and phenomena are] merely imputed. For example, the mind focuses on the base, the aggregates, and that same mind makes up the label “I,” which means the merely imputed I. That’s how the I exists. There is nothing even slightly more than that. If there were something slightly more than that, it would exist from its own side. Even though it wouldn’t exist completely from its own side, it would exist from its own side. That’s the subtle object to be refuted (Tib: gag cha), according to the Prasangika view.

The Svatantrika view is that the I exists from its own side [but it’s also labeled by the mind.]

The Prasangika view of emptiness is extremely subtle and it is the only way to realize emptiness. It is the only way to cease the root of samsara—the ignorance holding the I as real, as existing from its own side while it is not. The I is merely labeled by the mind, by that thought. There is nothing more than that. So we can see that from the label I on the aggregates, all the way down to the atoms and particles of atoms—all are merely imputed by the mind. Nothing more than that exists.

That is very good for meditation. That is very good for meditation. Meditate on that emptiness for as long as you can.

Next, look at everything in the world similarly, as merely labeled by the mind. Nothing exists from its own side. All phenomena in the whole world are empty, including your family, your house, everything. Meditate on that emptiness for as long as you can.

Then meditate on hell and enlightenment, after that samsara and nirvana, and after that the happiness and problems in your daily life. Meditate on the emptiness of each of these two things—hell and enlightenment, samsara and nirvana, happiness and problems—for as long as you can. Meditate on their emptiness.

There is one danger. Maybe it’s easy to say, but some people who haven’t done much study think that nothing exists. That would mean there is no I, no delusion, no karma, and no past or future lives. That means there is no Triple Gem or four noble truths. So it becomes like the Heart Sutra, if we believe in the literal teachings where it says “no, no, no”—no tongue, no ice-cream, no chocolate, no happiness, no pipi, no kaka.

Here you might think that things do not exist at all, but in this way you would be following nihilism. It is said in the teachings—I saw this in a commentary on the Four Hundred Stanzas, I think—that we create the negative karma of having killed 100 million people if we fall into nihilism, if we believe in that. So be careful.

This should help you to realize emptiness and understand how to think about emptiness. It should help. That is the main help to give you the realizations of how things exist. First you realize ultimate truth and secondly conventional truth—how things exist in mere name. How the name exists in mere name; how aggregates exist in mere name; how everything exists in mere name. The world exists in mere name; hell and enlightenment exists in mere name; samsara and nirvana exist in mere name; happiness and problems exist in mere name.

This is the most difficult thing to realize. Many learned meditators in Tibet have fallen into nihilism, have slipped into nihilism. I think maybe [this is like] Zen Buddhist philosophy, thinking that nothing exists, believing nothing exists, I don’t know. If we don’t exist, our hell doesn’t exist, then our enlightenment doesn’t exist, the four noble truths don’t exist, so it becomes very strange. I don’t know how Zen Buddhists reply to that.

It is extremely subtle, as I mentioned. The I exists in mere name, it functions in mere name. There is I because the base, the aggregates, exist in mere name. They exist but they exist in mere name, they function in mere name, so all the rest of phenomena are like this. They exist in mere name, they function in mere name. It is very subtle, that which exists in mere name.

There is the creator I [the subject], the action and the object. There is the creator I, there is the action of creating negative karma and there is the negative karma created. There is hell, there is I, there is actualizing the path and there is enlightenment. There is all this, but only in mere name.

 So you have to get more experience, then let me know. Meditate and let me know.

Please read some recent dictation I gave. [Now available from FPMT Foundation Store as a booklet Recognizing the False I.]

With much love and prayers ...

My most dear, most kind, most precious wish-fulfilling one,

This letter is to follow on from the cards I sent earlier. I hadn’t quite finished the letter then. I am sorry for the long delay.

Nagarjuna said: Body and mind—both are not I. The I is not together one’s body and mind. 

Nagarjuna mentioned that the I is not the body, which consists of the four elements. Nagarjuna said the I is not water, earth, wind nor fire. The I is not all of them together either, which means the same thing. [See v. 80 ff., Precious Garland.]

The I is not form, feeling, discrimination, compositional factors and consciousness. Meditate like that: the I is not all of them together.

The other way to meditate is: earth is not I, fire is not I, wind is not I, and so on. Even all together the four elements are not I, so these are not the real I at all.

There is no I separate from the five aggregates and there are no aggregates separate from the I. Therefore the real I cannot be found. As I mentioned before, there are the five aggregates and there is no real I in nature on that base, from the hair down to the toes. The real I neither exists on the valid base, the aggregates, nor does it exist outside anywhere in the world. Therefore the real I never exists and the omniscient mind sees the non-existence of the real I. There is no real I, and the omniscient mind never sees this real I which [we believe] existed before and will exist in the future. So the real I that we believe exists—not only from this morning, but from beginningless rebirth—the real I that appears from there, and not only that, we totally trust in it, so that real I is a total hallucination.

That is the false I, so when it dissolves or disappears, just there, it doesn’t go anywhere, through wind, through the door, through the house. Just from right there, from where it appears, we can see it is totally false. Just right there it disappears and we can recognize it is totally false. As we start to recognize it is false, it cannot appear like before, as it has from beginningless rebirth. So it disappears and we realize it is false.

At that time, lower intelligent beings, even bodhisattvas, can get incredible fear, because the mind is habituated from beginningless rebirth to believe what appears as real, that it really exists. However, to let it disappear totally is the correct way and we don’t need to be afraid.

Highly intelligent ones who have a lot of merit, when the I disappears—the I that is totally empty, what we believe is real or true—when seeing that it is totally false, they have unbelievable joy, happiness. Tears come out and the hair from their pores stands up. This happens to highly intelligent beings, bodhisattvas, and through that if strong fear arises, then that is very positive. [If we experience that] it means we’re meditating on emptiness correctly. So we have to go through that, like crossing a river by a sailing boat.

Later when the I disappears completely, it is the result of that. It is the cause of seeing the I as empty from its own side, and as a result we see that the I definitely exists, but it exists in mere name, as merely labeled by the mind. The first one is the realization of the absolute truth of the I, and the second one is the realization of conventional truth, the truth for the all-obscuring mind.

I don’t know what the English meaning is for conventional truth. In Tibetan kun dzob den pa means truth for the all-obscuring mind, so in reality it’s the hallucinating mind, what we believe. The false I that appears to exist from its own side, existing by itself or truly existent—this I doesn’t exist. We believe in this I, which doesn’t exist. We believe in that false I one hundred percent, day and night from beginningless rebirth, not only at this moment.

But the I that naturally exists is what is merely imputed by the mind. This is relating to the valid base, the aggregates. That [conventional I] exists but our mind never realizes that, never thinks of that. What exists is totally opposite [to what we believe.]

The I that exists in reality is most unbelievably subtle. Even famous meditators when they think of the I as empty—shunyata, tong pa nyi, only emptiness—if they lack merit, then they fall into nihilism or eternalism. Thinking that I exists from its own side, then it’s difficult to realize the middle way view.

When devoid of these two, eternalism and nihilism, then by realizing that the I is empty of existing from its own side—that it is not truly existent, it is empty of the real I—we discover or see that, and we realize shamatha, calm abiding, one-pointedness meditation. We cut the attachment and sinking thought, and on that basis have equipoise meditation. So try to achieve that and know that.

There are five paths to achieve nirvana and liberation from the oceans of samsaric suffering, to achieve everlasting happiness and then ultimate happiness. When we achieve the second path of preparation, at that time we achieve special insight. Then while our mind is focused on emptiness, on that basis we realize shamatha, calm abiding, and then we are able to derive physical ecstasy of the body and mental ecstasy of the mind and we can develop that.

Then we achieve the third right-seeing path that realizes emptiness directly. That becomes the antidote to the negative imprints of delusion, the negative seeds of delusion. That attainment ceases the delusions; they are removed by the third right-seeing path through equipoise meditation.

Next we achieve the path of meditation. That path removes [another] level of delusion, so we are free from the negative seeds of delusion. In this way all the delusions are ceased. Here we  achieve the realization of the ultimate nature of mind and become free from oceans of samsaric sufferings including the causes of delusion and karma, so we achieve liberation from the oceans of samsaric suffering—nirvana.

Still there is great liberation, full enlightenment, the total cessation of all the obscurations and completion of all the realizations. We need to achieve that for all sentient beings, and for that we need to remove the subtle defilements and obscurations by the direct perception of emptiness. By developing ultimate wisdom, directly perceiving emptiness, with the help of the method, bodhicitta, then we collect more than skies of merits. Unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable.

We develop bodhicitta aided by the wisdom realizing emptiness, the direct perception of emptiness, and in that way we are able to achieve dharmakaya and rupakaya—the Buddha’s holy mind and holy body—in order to free the numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric sufferings. Before bodhicitta there is great compassion for every sentient being. This has to be generated and before that, renunciation of our own samsara.

That is the evolution, the process of the path, to develop the path, what needs to be realized. Then we are able at that time to have omniscient mind and infinite compassion for all sentient beings and at that time we have perfect power to reveal all the methods for every sentient being, to gradually bring them to full enlightenment, the great liberation.

When we achieve a buddha’s holy body and holy mind, then we achieve the total cessation of all the obscurations and achieve all the realizations. At that time we have omniscience and perfect power to reveal all the different methods to every sentient being and bring them to enlightenment.

That is why we have received a perfect human rebirth just this one time and we have met the Buddhadharma. We have met the most precious, perfect virtuous friend—like His Holiness the Dalai Lama and other virtuous friends—who reveal the unmistaken path to enlightenment. This is how Buddha guides us to enlightenment; we must recognize that. But this doesn’t include me, I am not putting myself there.

I hope you enjoy the cards and enjoy this. It is most important for inner success, please enjoy. With much love and prayers and thank you very much. Please have a meaningful life. It is just this one time that we have achieved this perfect human rebirth.

With much love and prayers...

My very dear one,
Thank you for your kind letter. I read it.

Realizing emptiness of the I is not nihilism—that there is no I at all. In the beginning that experience of realizing emptiness may come like falling into nihilism—that there is no I—but at the end the conclusion is that there is I, but it’s like it doesn’t exist. It’s not that there is no I; it is like there is no I.

It’s unbelievably subtle. There is I, but how it exists is unbelievably subtle. It exists in mere name, merely labeled by the mind. There is explanation in the texts that the way things exist harms the real I, the truly existent I, existing from its own side, existing by itself. It harms that, the merely existing I.

With much love and prayers...

Student’s letter to Rinpoche 

My dear, smiling, happy monk, 

I cannot tell you how much I appreciated your gifts of books, posters, cards and most of all, your letter to me.

I have already read with great delight your book Transforming Problems into Happiness. What is interesting about your book is that I am very aware of the simple lessons you state. The only problem is that I have not put your advice into practice as much as I should. It is such a simple and great teaching, I am amazed I have not used it more. I am now utilizing it almost every hour of every day. It is beautiful, and I play with it as a mind game. What fun.

Now if I may, I would like to tell you a story that just happened yesterday that relates to your book and the point you made about Seeing the benefit of problems [see Ch. 2].

I went into a meeting with a very unpleasant fellow to negotiate a business deal. This fellow started right out being rude in an effort to throw me off. Each time he made a point counter to mine, trying to win his point, I just let my mind go to, “What are the benefits of what this fellow is trying to tell me?” Believe it or not, each time he was being unpleasant about a point I introduced, he inevitably let me know more about what I should really know about this business deal. There were a lot of very good things he said while he was being unpleasant. He had no idea how much information I received by just letting my mind move to the positive rebound of what he was actually saying while filtering out the negatives. I was so happy I could interpret what he said in such a positive way that I started laughing and happily turned down the business deal.

This fellow asked me what I was laughing at. When I told him about your book and all the wonderful information I was able to get from him on why I really should not go into this deal, he too started laughing and wanted to borrow my book.

Again thank you for your kind gifts and thoughts.

With great love and affection...

Rinpoche’s response:

My most dear friend, 
I was extremely happy to get your fax, even though you sent it some time ago. I am so sorry about how long it took me to reply.

I was very happy to meet both you and your wife. What made me really rejoice and is really a positive thing is how you used the practice. I am referring to the story you mentioned in your fax (if you remember) and what you discovered.

This practice of thought transformation is using one’s thoughts, one’s actions and especially any problems in the path to happiness, which also means the path to enlightenment. It also means the path to happiness for other living beings, who are numberless. This is the most important thing in one’s life—to cause happiness to others, who are numberless. Trying to cause happiness only to oneself, who is just one person, is where all the problems come from. From others we receive all our past happiness during beginningless rebirths, all our present happiness and all our future happiness, including the ultimate happiness of liberation from samsara, from all the oceans of samsaric suffering and its causes—delusion and karma—and the ultimate happiness of full enlightenment. We receive all this happiness from each and every sentient being: from every hell being, every hungry ghost, every animal, every human being, every asura being and every sura being.

You have realized, you have discovered, how this is so worthwhile and should be put into practice—wow! What a great success! I would say this is the best success in life.

Practicing thought transformation (transforming suffering into happiness) is simple. It means using all problems in the path to achieve the highest happiness, not just peace in the present moment. Wanting peace and happiness today is very common in the world; everyone is mainly looking for peace and happiness right away. People don’t think so much of the future; they don’t know about the happiness of future lives, liberation from samsara and enlightenment. The majority of the people in the world have no idea these things exist. They don’t know about the happiness of all the coming future lives; they don’t even know about liberation from samsara and the highest happiness, the peerless happiness of full enlightenment, with total cessation of even the subtle defilements of the mind and completion of all the qualities. This is liberation from the oceans of samsaric suffering, from the cycle of death and rebirth, old age and sickness, as well as from all mental sufferings, such as meeting undesirable objects, being separated from desirable objects, being unable to find desirable objects and, even after finding a desirable object, never being able to achieve satisfaction. A great example of this is in the famous Rolling Stones’ song: “I tried and tried, but I can’t get no satisfaction.” It’s great—they are singing from their heart, from their own experience.

The story you told me is a great success among all the successes in your life. Not only that, but also it means that you are using your problems, your sufferings, such as your ignorance, anger, attachment, pride and other negative thoughts, which make you unhappy and which make others unhappy. When you give rise to anger, wrong views and other negative emotions, you then cause others to suffer so much.

The I, or the self, action and object are dependent arisings. The I exists being imputed in dependence upon its base, the aggregates. Here aggregates refers to form, feeling, recognition, compounded aggregates and consciousness. The I exists in dependence upon the aggregates; the I is merely imputed to the base, the aggregates, which exist in mere name. So, the I is empty of existing from its own side, empty of existing by its nature; it does not exist inherently.

It is the same with any action. How an action actually exists is as a dependent arising. It is not independent, but a dependent arising. “Action” is labeled on what the body, speech or mind does. It exists, but dependently. Any action, no matter what name it is given, is merely imputed by the mind. It is not independent, but a dependent arising. Action does not exist from its own side; it does not exist by its nature; it does not exist inherently, or truly.

It is the same with any object. In dependence upon the base and the thought, something is labeled “object.” The object came from the mind, not from the base. You could say that it exists from the side of the mind, or in dependence upon the mind, which imputes, or designates, it. But it also exists in relation to its base. So, it is the same with an object: it does not exist from its own side.

Therefore, I, action and object are all totally empty. They are not nonexistent, which is nihilism, but they do not exist from their own side. They do exist from the side of the mind in relation to the base, but they do not exist from their own side. Therefore, they are totally empty from their own side. This is the same with all the rest of phenomena. Nothing exists from its own side. While they exist, all phenomena are totally empty of existing from their own side. They exist in mere name and function in mere name, but that doesn’t mean that they are nonexistent.

This is a very subtle explanation of how the I, action, object and all other phenomena exist. It can be explained in a gross way, but here this is an extremely subtle explanation. Phenomena exist in mere name, being merely imputed by the mind. Here one needs to study and one needs to analyze, which means really check how things exist.

Here I am explaining how we create ignorance, which is the root of samsara, the root of all suffering. Ignorance is the root from where death comes, from where rebirth comes, from where old age comes, from where sickness comes, from where all the disasters come, from where all the delusions, or wrong concepts, come, from where all the negative karma comes. Ignorance is the root of all suffering: all the oceans of suffering of all the hell beings, all the hungry ghosts, all the animals, all the human beings, all the asuras and all the suras.

The Fifth Dalai Lama used the example of a rope curled up like a snake on a road at dusk. (This example is commonly used in the teachings.) Because it is dusk and there is no direct light, there is no understanding that it is just a rope. First there is the appearance of a snake. The mind merely imputes “snake,” though it is not a snake, of course. It appears to be a snake, and there is then a belief that it is a snake. Because there is the appearance of a snake, the superstitious thought, the ignorance, believing it to be a snake arises. The fear then arises, “Maybe it will bite me. Maybe it will kill me.” So much fear arises that you want to kill the snake or throw it away.

It is similar with the I. The thought that sees the aggregates merely imputes “I” to the aggregates. Right after that, there is an appearance of I. Right after the moment the I is merely imputed, it appears back to you as a real I, an I existing from its own side.

This is the most important discovery! It should have appeared as merely imputed by the mind, because that is what it is, but that doesn’t happen unless we are a fully enlightened being, a being who has purified even the subtle defilements, the negative imprints, left by the superstitious thought, the ignorance that holds the concept of things as truly existent. This ignorance holds the concept of true existence in relation not only to the I but to every other phenomenon throughout the day, throughout this life, from birth until death, and throughout beginningless rebirths up to enlightenment. The only other time we don’t see everything as truly existent is when we become an arya, or exalted being, with direct perception of emptiness or ultimate truth, and are in equipoise meditation on emptiness.

Otherwise, everything, even though it is imputed by our own mind, appears back to us as a hallucination, as not merely labeled by our mind, as existing from its own side. This is completely false, a hallucination, a deception. All this is totally empty. There is no such thing.

The way things appear to exist from their own side is like when we say “ I am here” and something real appears from there. The lack of discovery, or realization, of ultimate reality, ultimate truth, emptiness, is due to ignorance.

We have to know how this hallucination, this false view, this deception, happens after the mere imputation. True existence, existence from its own side, is decorated on the mere imputation. For instance, the truly existent I comes from the negative imprint left on the mental continuum by the past concept holding the I as truly existent. You can say that the appearance of true existence is decorated, or projected, on the merely imputed I. The mere imputation is covered by this wrong view like clouds cover the sky, carpet covers a floor or a tablecloth covers a table.

Right after it appears, the superstitious mind holds as a hundred percent true that inherently existent I, that real I, in the sense of existing from its own side. This is what is called “ignorance,” and this is what is present in every moment of our everyday life. Whenever we let our mind hold on to this real I, this I from its own side, as true, this is the ignorance that is the root of samsara, the root of all the oceans of suffering of the six realms.

You can now see that what is believed by this ignorance to be a real I, in the sense of existing from its own side and not merely labeled by mind, is totally empty, totally nonexistent. That is the ultimate nature of the I, the self. In reality, the I is empty, and because it is empty, it exists. (Here the meaning of existence is not what we normally believe; ignorance interprets existence as meaning existing from its own side and not merely labeled by mind.) So, that truly existent I is totally empty; it’s not true. The I exists in mere name, merely imputed by the mind in relation to its base, the aggregates. In other words, if the I is not empty, it cannot exist. Because it is empty of being an independent I, the I exists dependently, merely labeled by mind.

There are four schools of Buddhist philosophy: the Vaibhashika, Sautrantika, Cittamatra and Madhyamaka. The fourth, the Madhyamaka or Middle Way school is divided into two: Svatantrika and Prasangika. What I have been explaining is according to the Prasangika view.

In reality, the very nature of the I is that it is empty from its own side. Therefore, it exists being merely labeled by the mind. It exists dependently. It exists in mere name, merely imputed by mind. As well as the I, everything else also exists in this way, as a dependent arising. Dependent arising has a gross and a subtle level. Here I am explaining the subtle dependent arising.

You can now understand that while this I is existing, at the same time it is empty. This I unifies emptiness and existence, which means it is a dependent arising. If you don’t think about subtle dependent arising, if you don’t think about the meaning of existence in this way, you cannot unify the very nature of the I, emptiness and existence. Emptiness and existence then become contradictory to each other. When you see these two as contradictory, even if you believe you have the realization of emptiness according to the Madhyamaka view, you have a wrong realization. If you find these two contradictory, you are actually holding a wrong view.

In our life, when we think of ourselves and also of other sentient beings, we are constantly following ignorance. We think that there is an independent I, a real I in the sense of existing from its own side, and we then do everything for this I, which does not exist.

This is an excellent meditation on the right view. You first have to recognize the wrong view, and this is an introduction to wrong view. We live our life doing everything—from morning to night, from birth to death —for this I, which is not there. Not wanting the I to suffer and wanting the I to have happiness, we keep our life unbelievably busy.

But if we look for that I, we cannot find it; it is not there. We cannot find the I, neither on this body nor on these aggregates. We cherish and are attached to this I, which is not there, which does not exist. From that, discriminating thoughts of anger and attachment arise, discriminating some sentient beings as distant and others as close. If others do actions with their body, speech and mind that give us what we want, we like them and get attached to them. With this discriminating thought, we bring so much suffering to ourselves and cause so much harm to other sentient beings, to the world. When others do actions with their body, speech and mind that our attachment doesn’t like, anger rises, and we then harm them, kill them and so forth.

To achieve happiness for this I, we engage in killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, telling lies, disparaging others, slandering, gossiping, covetousness, ill will and heresy, or wrong views. In this way we cause so much harm to ourselves and to others. The whole point is to achieve happiness for this I, but the I is not there.

I am not going to mention much more on this, but you can meditate on this, elaborating on the basis of how you and other sentient beings live their lives. When you then go out in the street or to the beach, go to a restaurant or a movie or go sightseeing, you can use everything for meditation. When you watch other sentient beings, you will see that everybody believes there is an independent I, a real I existing from its own side. We believe that it has nothing do with our mind, that everything just exists from its own side. This view is gross.

We believe not only that the I exists from its own side, but that it is permanent. This view is much more gross. We believe that the I is not compounded by causes and conditions. The I is changing, decaying, second by second, and even within a second; it does not last. This is the nature of the I, but we don’t see it. There is a projection, a belief, that the I is permanent; that it exists alone, without depending on its parts, the aggregates; and that it exists with its own freedom, without depending on the collection of the aggregates and the continuity of the aggregates. This mistaken view of the I is extremely gross. This belief, or philosophy, also comes in some other religions.

When you go out and watch others, you see that many people are very unhappy. While some people smile, others have anger, sadness and grief, depression, feelings of hopelessness and many other forms of unhappiness. They want to achieve happiness for this I, but are unable to achieve happiness. They worry about this I, that they are unable to achieve happiness for this I, that they are unable to gain satisfaction for this I. However, in reality, there is no such thing; it is totally nonexistent. Nothing of the I that they believe in exists there. It is similar when people have excitement in their life: there is no such I there. You see how sentient beings have unbelievable suffering, and this is the fundamental suffering. Here we are not talking about the suffering of anger, desire and all the other delusions; here we are talking about just the suffering of ignorance.

Wherever you are, whether people are lying down on a beach, flying in a plane, in an army at war, experiencing the tsunami, homeless, living in danger from the elements (wind, earth, fire and water), working in the government or politicians, what everybody wants is to have happiness in this life for this I, which is not there. Throughout their whole life, they put unbelievable effort into this.

You can also see now how you yourself have been suffering with this ignorance and harming others. This is terrifying; it is an almost unbearable thing. When you then see how others suffer, compassion arises. There is no choice but to give rise to unbearable compassion for others. You then think about how to help others, how to liberate others from suffering.

You can find many more examples to use for meditation. Look at the people who play on surfboards, successfully riding the high waves. All those people are trying to enjoy themselves, trying to give happiness to this I, but the I is not there. It doesn’t exist in the way they believe it exists. There are also all those people who hang-glide (tying wings to their hands then coming down from cliffs) and the people who jump from cliffs with or without a parachute. They are all trying to achieve happiness.

People do unbelievable things for the I, but the I doesn’t exist. The I in which they believe is not there. The view of the I held by ignorance is unimaginable. You can meditate extensively on this. Meditate on your own life. From birth, from beginningless rebirths, it has been like this. If you do not realize emptiness, if you do not eliminate this ignorance, the root and continual cause of suffering in samsara, you will continue to suffer in future lives.

During beginningless rebirths we have experienced all the oceans of suffering in the six realms, and this will be without end. Also, we won’t be able to enlighten other sentient beings; we won’t be able to liberate them from even the oceans of samsaric suffering. So, they will suffer unimaginably.

All human beings…actually, I can’t say all human beings, because, of course, there are people who are embodiments of buddhas and bodhisattvas, who have realized emptiness and see everything as being like an illusion. There are also arhats, who have pure vision and are liberated from the oceans of samsaric suffering and its causes. Even though things appear truly existent, with their wisdom they realize that things are empty. For example, when you are crossing a desert, when you look back, it looks as if there is water there. You have a vision of water but you realize that it is not true because you know there is no water there. You are seeing a mirage.

Anyway, most human beings have this wrong view of ignorance. From this ignorance all the other wrong views then arise. On the basis of ignorance, anger and attachment arise, and attachment has its own projection, its own wrong view, and anger has its own projection, its own wrong view.

You see a truly existent object, your enemy. By reflecting on how that person has harmed, criticized or abused you, you think that his actions are bad. Anger then arises, and you want to hurt him. Anger has its own projection of the object, that person, as bad or undesirable. You then think to hurt that person.

You see an inherently existent object, your friend. On the basis of that, you project that that is something nice or good. First you think that, and next the person appears as beautiful. You think that they have a beautiful form, that they are educated, that they can sing and dance and so forth. Attachment and grasping then arise, and it becomes suffering because it is difficult for you to be separated from that person and so forth. Here, when attachment arises, it creates its own object, its own view, which is also a wrong view.

Jealousy can also arise on the basis of an object of ignorance. When the jealous mind arises, it wants to harm others. Like this, so many delusions arise on the basis of the object of ignorance, which is totally false. There are the projections of the different delusions, which are totally false.

This is a very good meditation. It is a powerful, deep meditation. You discover so much falsity and truth in life. When you discover this, it brings you so much peace in your heart, and so much freedom. It is the initial step to knowing what truth is and what deception is. This is what gradually leads you to ultimate liberation, ultimate happiness, to full enlightenment. It also enables you to generate compassion towards all sentient beings and to actualize bodhicitta and wisdom.

The only way to be free from the root of suffering, this ignorance, is to totally cease it and all the other delusions, as well as karma. You are then liberated from all the causes of the oceans of samsaric suffering. You never have to experience suffering again, because the cause does not exist. You have removed the cause of delusion—the seed or imprint—by meditating on and actualizing the path.

Therefore, practicing Dharma is just one-time work; achieving liberation from all suffering and its causes is just one-time work. No matter how long it takes or how difficult it is, it is extremely worthwhile to practice Dharma. It is the most beneficial thing, not only for your happiness but also for the happiness of all the numberless living beings in each realm. It becomes most unbelievably, unbelievably, unbelievably, unbelievably beneficial to practice Dharma, to meditate on the path. This is the most urgent thing.

After this there is enlightenment. You can reach enlightenment, which means you can enlighten all sentient beings and bring them to enlightenment. This is what they really need. This is the ultimate goal of your life, the purpose of your life. It is unimaginable, like limitless space. Since simply knowing about it makes you the happiest person, there is no doubt about actually living it. So, this is the conclusion.

Thank you very much. I am sorry I have written so much. This evening I came from an initiation by the great lama Chöden Rinpoche, which was at Tse Chen Ling, our center in San Francisco. A student called Holly helped me to write this letter by taking the dictation, and now it is 4.30am.

I hope both of you will enjoy this letter. I am extremely happy about what you said, your story, about your being able to practice and as a result help that person to open their mind, their heart. You were able to bring the light of Dharma into his heart. In other words, you are beginning to enlighten others. You might not be removing defilements, but it’s a start. So, now you have started, there should be more like this.

If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to contact me, and I hope very much to see you both soon.

With much love and prayers,

Lama Zopa

PS: These postcards are for you to enjoy. You can send them to other people if you want, even to people in other universes.

The red cards are to go above doors, so that anyone who goes under them receives blessings.

The headband and earrings are for your wife.

The hats, along with the details of the mantras, are for both of you.

Some sutras.

I hope you will enjoy.

Still do that meditation on emptiness. Think problem why, because of the I, the self. But this is not there. Then meditate one-pointedly on that point. Depending on time, you can do other things as well, then look at the problem. HA HA HO.

Who! What have you discovered? How do you feel??? Isn’t it great!

My very dear one,
Thank you very much for your kind letter. You mentioned a self-destructive habit and other things, however this can definitely be changed. It can definitely be changed by looking at the mistakes and shortcomings of such a habit. Look at the harm to yourself and to other sentient beings, and the benefit of not doing those things.

Instead, think more about bringing benefit to other sentient beings for all their future lives and their happiness, then you can change. We get more courage to avoid destructive acts and to develop good behavior, to abandon harm to others and to have less courage to harm others.

What I would like to advise is to read the many, many, different books of His Holiness the Dalai Lama's teachings. Those are very, very good for you, so you should learn Buddhism; it is deep and wide.

My main emphasis is to please, please, please study the Bodhicaryavatara  [A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life], especially His Holiness the Dalai Lama's teachings on this. See if you can get this book; it should be the main book for you to study, reflect and meditate.

It is very, very important to keep this book wherever you go. I don't mean you should take it along with you when you go to the bathroom - I am not saying that! But generally, wherever you are traveling, keep this book with you. It came out from my observation that this book is very, very beneficial for you. It covers everything, according to your problems.

Then also read Lama Tsongkhapa's teachings on the great lamrim, or the middle lamrim. The middle lamrim is not printed, but you can get it from FPMT centers which run the Basic Program.

Read the book Bodhicaryavatara well. Anything that you don't understand, write all the questions in another book, and from time to time go to Sera Monastery, where you can discuss with some monks who speak Hindi or English, and who study well.

However, understand how things that appear to us—how things we see all come from our mind. It all depends on what label we put on things at the beginning. Our mind is merely imputing a label; it depends on that.

Please understand this. First of all, for example, it will take time to understand; you may not get the idea immediately. Think about it over and over again, and check.

For example, the “I”. When the “I” comes into existence, we only have the collection of aggregates of form, feeling, cognition, compounded aggregates and consciousness. Among the 51 mental factors, there are 49 compounded aggregates. So, the others are feeling and cognition, and consciousness. So there is the collection of these five aggregates, but when there is no “I” labeled by the mind, the “I” doesn’t exist at that time.

The “I” is merely imputed by the mind, and if there are no aggregates, no base, at that time the “I” doesn’t exist. When the “I” comes into existence, there is the base, the aggregates, then the mind merely imputes “I”. So, the “I” comes into existence because there is a valid base and the valid mind labels the merely imputed “I”. That is how the “I” comes into existence.

What is that “I”? It's nothing more than what is merely imputed by the mind. It is a false “I” in the way it has been appearing to us, but we believe it is 100 per cent true. It appears as not merely labeled by the mind, which means we think it exists from its own side. However, if we look for this “I” in our body, inside our chest, there is no way we can find it; neither here nor anywhere in the world. That means this totally false “I” doesn't exist at all. It doesn't exist at all; it's totally empty. Therefore, this shows that the “I” is false in the way it appears to us and the way we believe it is 100 per cent true.

Meditate by looking at this emptiness, concentrating on this emptiness. The way this false “I”  appears to us and what we make our mind do is false. We give a job to our mind to trust that as true, but it is totally false. Meditate on the appearance of this false “I”, the hallucination. This is an excellent meditation. Sometimes meditate on this emptiness and sometimes look at the hallucination, the false “I”. This is a very powerful meditation.

Meditate that the “I”, action, objects or phenomena are empty one day, then the next day look at the hallucination, the false “I”. See the “I” as false, just as we become aware of the dream while we are dreaming, and look at it as a dream. When we do that, no negative emotional thought arises, because we see it as empty. There are no negative emotional thoughts; our mind will experience great inner peace and we will enjoy our life. Then whatever activity we do becomes the antidote to samsara. We are continuously reincarnating into these aggregates which are in the nature of suffering, so this meditation becomes the antidote for that. "Antidote" means it becomes an opponent to resist that, therefore it becomes the antidote to the root of all the delusions, karma and suffering, to continuously taking rebirth with these aggregates.

So what is the root of suffering? It is ignorance. Although there is no such “I”, the hallucination “I” not merely imputed by the mind appears, because our ignorance projects it. We believe in that ignorance and we see the “I” as real, which is completely not true; there is no such “I”.

Living life with this mindfulness becomes the antidote to this samsaric root of suffering, this ignorance. So, we can eliminate it. By eliminating this and by developing wisdom, we purify even the seed of this ignorance, which is in the nature of imprints. Then it is impossible to experience suffering, because there is no cause. There are no delusions and no karma, so there is no suffering. So, we are totally free forever from suffering, we are always in the state of bliss and peaceful also.

On another day we can meditate on how the “I” exists in mere name. It is merely imputed by the mind, so whatever action we do also exists in mere name and is merely imputed by mind. And whatever object of the action is also merely imputed by the mind. So the whole of phenomena exists in mere name and is merely imputed by the mind. That's another day of meditation.

Similarly, as I mentioned with the “I”, the “person” doesn't exist when the body, the base, and the aggregates exist, but a person is not labeled yet by the mind. Also, when a person is labeled by the mind but there is no aggregate, at that time the person doesn't exist. So the person exists only when there is a valid base and the mind immediately imputes the “person” relating to that base. That shows that the "person" is nothing more than what is merely imputed by the mind.

So the person appearing to us as slightly more than what is merely imputed by the mind is false. It's a false person which doesn't exist there; it doesn't exist there at all, it’s totally empty. That's a false person, who doesn't exist at all. It exists nowhere. That's the emptiness—the shunyata—of the person.

So, what a person is, is most unbelievably subtle. A person exists, but it's unbelievably subtle; it is never the person that appears the way it has appeared before and that we believe is true. So, the person is totally empty. There is a person, but it's totally empty of a real person existing from its own side.

Nor is the person non-existent. So, the person is free from eternalism—existing from its own side without being merely labeled by the mind; and also free from nihilism—that the person doesn't exist. This way of seeing the person as merely labeled by the mind is the ultimate reality.

Now we should get the idea of the false person. Ignorance leaves negative imprints on the mind, then projects the real person as not merely imputed by the mind. This decorated “I” exists as something more than what is merely labeled by the mind. This is decorated on the mere imputation, the person who is merely imputed by the mind just a second before. Then we allow our mind to hold and believe that is true. That time we are creating ignorance. It is not created by God; it's created by us.

On the basis of that hallucination, that belief, depending on what and how the person thinks—if the person is criticizing us or is angry toward us, then when our mind is following the selfish mind of attachment, we think there is harm to us. So it's bad because the selfish mind of attachment doesn't like the person getting angry with us; scolding and criticizing us. We make up the label and our mind follows the self-cherishing thought of that attachment. We merely impute the labels, thinking, “that is bad”, “there is harm” and also “that person is an enemy”— so all that.

It's all merely imputed by our mind, by our negative thought, but we don't realize that, we don't see that, because it's so subtle. The next second, we see that person's attitude and action as real harm and bad to us, and we think that person is our real enemy. Decorated by our own ignorance, we believe that this is true, as if it really exists. We believe that person is harmful and bad; the real enemy. We see something existing from the person’s own side, but that is totally false. There is no such thing; the person is totally non-existent, empty.

When we follow a healthy, positive mind of compassion, bodhicitta, cherishing sentient beings and also loving kindness, that person doesn’t appear as harmful, bad or the enemy. With this view it doesn’t happen, because compassion would like that person to be free; we wish that person to be free from suffering. Great compassion is that we want to free sentient beings, whereas loving kindness is wanting that person to have happiness and great loving kindness is wanting to bring that.

With the view of bodhicitta we want to cherish that person, and we do not renounce cherishing that person. Just as we think we are so important and cherish ourselves now, in the same way, bodhicitta cherishes that person and lets go of cherishing the I. So, we don't reject the person; we keep them in our heart as the object to be cherished, because they are very precious.

And also with the positive mind of patience, we don’t renounce that person. With the view of patience, we see that person who was angry toward us and criticized us as most unbelievably kind and precious. Most precious and kind toward us. The anger and criticism is something which is of the utmost need for us. It is more important than a hundred thousand million dollars. So that person is not harming us; he or she is only helping to destroy our ego, our selfish mind, attachment, anger and so forth.

Without these, we can achieve ultimate happiness and enlightenment. So the angry person is giving us enlightenment, realizations and patience. Apart from patience, he is giving us enlightenment. Buddha and the guru teach us about patience, so we need to practice it, and in order to practice patience, we need somebody who has anger and harms us. We need that.

Therefore, a person’s anger does not harm us, but is the most beneficial thing for us to achieve enlightenment and to liberate numberless sentient beings from the ocean of samsaric sufferings, and bring them to full enlightenment. Therefore, this person having anger toward us and criticizing us is most unbelievably precious. He is the kindest, dearest one. More precious than billion, trillion, zillion dollars; more precious than even the wish-granting jewel.

Even if we have a wish-granting jewel, that doesn't give us enlightenment. A wish-granting jewel doesn't have anger, which makes us practice patience. It doesn't have suffering, so it can’t help us practice compassion. What it helps is only temporary happiness and enjoyment in this life; the material possessions that we need for this life.

Actually, the person who is angry and wants to harm us, if we use that person for Dharma practice, he is like a wish-granting jewel, fulfilling all our wishes. So, it is very powerful.

With the view of this positive mind of patience, the anger and harm from others becomes very, very positive. It is not bad, it is very positive and it becomes an utmost need and most beneficial.

With the view of the ego—the self-cherishing thought, attachment and anger—the person becomes harmful and bad. All these feelings are built up with the view of attachment and grasping, that is projected by exaggerating that it is nice and so forth. It's also the same with the view of anger, but all these are built on the basis of the object of ignorance, which is decorated by ignorance that is totally false and completely non-existent.

It is beneficial to find such a person who has anger and wants to harm us, and to use that to practice patience and generate compassion, bodhicitta and so forth. The other view is looking at the person as empty and using that to practice wisdom. This gives us a method to lead us to achieve enlightenment, so we can liberate numberless sentient beings from the ocean of samsaric suffering and bring them to full enlightenment.

So please, these are your meditations. There are very extensive teachings about patience, wisdom and many other things in the Bodhicaryavatara. So you can learn these things. There are also six techniques on patience from the Kadampa geshes. So, if I can find out I will send these to you.

Please study Dharma, meditate and make the best use of your life, using the human body. Use your life in this human body to achieve enlightenment; to do perfect work for all sentient beings. Use this body like a boat to cross over the ocean or river to get to the other side. Use this human body like a boat, to cross over the ocean of samsaric suffering and its cause—karma and delusions—to achieve liberation from samsara, and enlightenment.

Please try this. Thank you very, very much. After some months of practice, please let me know.

Please enjoy these cards. Look at these cards at least when your mind is upset or angry. The most holy stupa is called the All-encompassing Wish-fulfilling Stupa. Each time you look at this, it plants the seed of enlightenment. Even when you are dying, if you look at the stupa, you will never get reborn in the lower hell, hungry ghost and animal realms. So please keep this stupa, and maybe buy a good frame for it when you have some rupees.

With my love and prayer...