2. A Meditation Practice

THE LINEAGE OF THE TEACHINGS 

[WFGS pp. 29–36]

Atisha’s teachings show three things: fully realizing all pure views of enlightened beings, listening to subjects and meditating stops delusions and purifies negativity and knowing different practices and the levels of teaching—Hinayana, Mahayana, and Vajrayana—increases the power of practice.

All methods lead to buddhahood; all depend on the practitioner’s understanding. We can’t say that any method is independent of the teachings—we need both wisdom and method to reach buddhahood. We can practice the different teachings at different times as our level of understanding progresses. 

There is great benefit that arises from listening to teachings; they can impart understanding by explaining everything. There is no way to perfect peace without the teachings. The full explanation of the subject brings full recognition, and then we must fully integrate them into our practice, avoiding meaningless actions.

In order to act positively we should recognize positive actions. Then, as our wisdom increases, our ignorance and negative minds decrease, allowing the three great purposes to arise: the attainment of the happiness of future lives, the perfect peace of nirvana and the peerless happiness of enlightenment. Unless we can control the disturbed mind, however, we will be unable to reach the higher meditations. This is the import of Atisha’s teachings.

Tsongkhapa, who is the founder of the Gelug school, was a highly realized being, a manifestation of the buddha of wisdom, Manjushri. He gave extensive commentaries on Atisha’s teachings and explained the graded path to enlightenment.

MORNING PRAYERS

[WFGS pp. 37–74]

This meditation course can be the key to make your life meaningful; this includes so much research.

The prayers are arranged to allow us to perform them by ourselves, alone. They are to be used to purify negativity and to facilitate successful meditation. No other books on Dharma have this arrangement, nor do they show how to meditate on subjects. The prayers are very deep since they contain the essence of all the teachings that follow.

For those who wish to do a retreat, if the prayers are done as shown, the practice improves and becomes more beneficial. Each prayer is of great importance to purify negative minds and to create merit. All of these prayers are powerful, containing so much Dharma, and are correlated with all the meditations that follow. As so much of the vast teachings of the pandits is related here, to go into great detail would take time.

The whole purpose of these activities of prayers, prostrations, making offerings and so forth is to prepare for meditation. They are to be done each morning after waking, before meditation. They are something that has to be done as part of daily life. The better the preparation we have, the quicker and better the experience of the meditation will be, and the deeper the understanding. Then, our meditation will help us to understand the meaning of the prayers as well.

OFFERINGS

There are physical offerings and visualized or mental offerings; both create positive karma. The purpose of making offerings is to purify miserliness and attachment to objects that our mind can’t renounce. Without purifying miserliness there is no way to achieve enlightenment. We have to eliminate miserliness and attachment to even get out of samsara. Making mental offerings helps us to become unattached to making actual offerings, and making actual offerings helps to destroy attachment and miserliness toward any object.

When we make visualized offerings to enlightened beings, although there is no such thing as that offering, giving up those mental objects is training and creates positive karma as it makes our miserliness decrease. It’s extremely good because we are making the offerings to enlightened beings. We shouldn’t be mentally attached. We shouldn’t be like we are in church—giving offerings but still thinking “I like that flower.” Then, there is the danger that we make offerings to ourselves, so we must check up. Because our mind enjoys samsara, we can easily find fault with any positive action we do, such as making offerings.

The best offering is the mind that is not attached to external things. That is the essential offering and making offerings of material things on the basis of this creates doubly positive karma—mental and material.

It’s negative karma to have the motivation of making the offerings in order for others to think we are such a good practitioner or that we will receive many things as a result and our life will be happy. It’s negative karma because it’s done with greed and attachment to the comfort of this life. If there is attachment to the offering it becomes a black offering. If it’s a Dharma motivation, it’s a pure action. Therefore, when we do actions, as we visualize, we should check up on our motivation. Then, we will be able to overcome any strong attachment.

If our mind is well trained in this practice of offering, we will remain at peace, away from the negative mind of attachment to this object or that person. During our meditation we can work with any object of attachment that arises, mentally overcoming the attachment. Visualizing offerings without attachment always creates positive karma and counters the negative, attached mind that we usually hold in a worldly life.

Overcoming miserliness is a positive action, stopping jealousy and generating generosity. If we become rich in the future, we will naturally be able to use those riches in a Dharma way because we will not be attached to them.

The only reason we make offerings, do prostrations and so forth is to overcome our mental problems; this is also the reason for reciting mantras, doing meditation and so on. Even if our work were to be finished for ourselves, it’s still not the end—there are so many other solar systems where there are so many other beings who have problems. The real purpose of all this work is only to achieve enlightenment, to cut off all the problems, all the suffering. It’s easy to visualize ourselves as capable of doing this if we have the understanding. We can even make a really big offering like prostrations to Chenrezig. This all depends on our level of realization.

CONFESSION

The more we repent a negative action, the greater the positive effect we create and the less the suffering result will be. Then, we make the decision that we won’t repeat the negative action. If we can’t honestly promise never to repeat it, we can decide we won’t do it for at least a month, a year or until death. The strength of our resolve affects the strength of the confession. The stronger the resolve not to repeat the negative action, the greater the possibility of not doing it. In order to make a worthwhile confession, we need strong resolve; we need the strong will not to engage in that action again. If we were to kill an insect and then immediately apply the four opponent powers,¹ it becomes that much easier to purify negativity. If we don’t confess today, then the negative karma that we created increases and is that much harder to purify.

It’s difficult to fully understand these prayers because they are very powerful and contain so much meaning. While some people may find them difficult, whoever understands the Dharma can talk about these prayers for years because when we talk about the Dharma, we are talking about everything that exists.

As our meditation deepens, we become more and more able to understand the necessities and meanings of the prayers. The prayers are very profound. Like the rainwater that originates from the ocean, all water finally returns to the ocean. In the same way, the whole of the Dharma that Guru Shakyamuni Buddha gave—the eighty-four thousand teachings to dispel the eighty-four thousand negativities—are subsumed in these Dharma prayers. If we are concerned about how we create karma in our life—when we travel, when we do a retreat or whenever—these prayers help in our meditation and are so beneficial in bringing realizations.

Although the monks in the Tibetan monasteries have to study many texts, studying alone is not the way to develop wisdom. Study can create many inner and outer disturbances. Of course, the monks study, but they also have to make prayers and do pujas. The whole purpose of a puja is to purify and create merit. Doing a lot of pujas helps them study, stops the disturbances to their meditation and brings realizations sooner. Realizations will only come with this combination of study, purification and the creation of merits. Therefore, I’m giving this introduction to these prayers for those people who wish to use them.

REFUGE IN THE HOLY GURU

[WFGS pp. 37–40]

The disciple who takes teachings from the guru does so by viewing the guru as the Buddha, who is the founder of the teachings. Learning from the guru is not the same as simply listening to lectures. The guru will show the disciple how to act depending on their own mind, which means that the discipline the disciple is asked to follow is a very individual thing.

As the guru’s disciple, we shouldn’t have a negative mind toward the guru, especially not creating negative actions with our teacher or giving up on them. We shouldn’t judge the teacher’s physical body or think badly of them because they don’t say sweet things to us.

When listening to the guru, we should avoid the three defects of a pot. Our mind should not be like an upside-down pot that can’t be filled, nor should it be like a dirty pot, which can be filled but which pollutes the food within. A dirty pot is like the mind that holds wrong meanings. Nor should our minds be like a pot with holes, easily forgetting everything we are taught.

We must integrate the teachings with our mind. We should consider ourselves, the disciple, as the patient, the teachings as the medicine and the guru as the doctor. Our suffering will be cured more quickly if we follow the guru’s instructions correctly. In the same way that it’s of no use to collect many medicines without taking them, not practicing the teachings we are given renders them useless. Just reading something in a book doesn’t alter the mind on its own. Guru Shakyamuni Buddha said that if we don’t practice correctly and fully after listening to the teachings, he will not be able to cure our suffering. We can’t cure the sickness by reading the prescription; we must take the medicine.

Every atom of the Buddha’s holy body has the same infinite wisdom that his holy speech and mind have. To fully understand this is to be enlightened; it can’t be explained. A painting cannot replicate his holy body.

The guru has to have higher knowledge even to give basic teachings. The unity of the guru and the Buddha can’t be seen until we have purified our mind. Until we reach a certain level of understanding, we can follow a guru who is less than perfect, but then we need to move on to a higher guru who, according to Dharma, is leading a better life.

The first benefit of following the guru correctly is that doing so brings us closer to the enlightened state. One of the Tibetan words for a spiritual teacher is ge wai she nyen. In this sense the guru is like a brother or a friend who shows the disciple the correct way of thinking, thereby correcting their actions. The guru instills the virtuous Dharma and moral discipline into the mind of the disciple.

The second benefit of following the guru correctly is that if we do so, it pleases all the buddhas.

Third, if we follow the guru correctly, we will not be disturbed, influenced or controlled by evil friends or spirits, both in the external world and in our own mind. It’s the guru’s responsibility to show the disciple how to remain in control and not be influenced by such things as greed, hatred or ignorance.

The fourth benefit is that we will not be reborn in the three lower realms.

The fifth benefit is we will experience the success that we wish for in both temporal actions and purposes and in terms of our Dharma practice. For example, our meditations will lead to quick realizations.

The sixth benefit is that we will receive enlightenment more quickly.

The seventh is that we will eliminate all our delusions.

The eighth is that our realizations and understanding of the Dharma will increase without us being distracted.

The shortcomings of not following the guru’s instructions correctly are almost infinite and include plagues and so forth, as well as the experience of results opposite to the above.

THE PRAYER OF TAKING REFUGE IN THE GURUS

La ma sang gyä la ma chhö
De zhin la ma gen dün te
Kün gyi je po la ma yin
La ma nam la kyab su chhi (3x)

The Guru is Buddha. The Guru is Dharma.
The Guru is also Sangha.
The Guru is the creator of all [happiness].
In all the gurus, I take refuge. (3x)

Each time we recite this very powerful and blessed prayer we benefit because it leaves an imprint in our mind. This prayer can be said for refuge, but it can also be recited before eating in order to offer the meal and purify the action of eating, to purify greed (which creates negative karma and results in suffering) and to create positive karma.

This prayer contains the meanings of all the paths and realizations from guru devotion up until enlightenment, which can take a very long time to explain. Guru devotion is one of the most profound subjects and is most difficult to realize. It’s much more difficult than realizing emptiness, which can be attained through logic. While realizing the guru yoga practice brings very quick enlightenment, we need to do so much purification for that to happen. It doesn’t depend on logic alone.

In addition to what is given here, there is a separate meditation on the subject that can be practiced continuously in daily life. What I’m giving here is just a tiny seed to give you some idea. With skill and wisdom, the whole essence of the subject can be understood from just this prayer. It contains everything. If you wish to have this meditation, to make vows to continuously practice this, a further explanation can be made.

Just the introduction to this prayer alone has such vast meaning. The guru is the one from whom we take teachings for enlightenment. In Tibet, the ancient yogis checked their gurus thoroughly and the gurus checked their disciples thoroughly. If we were to do the same, checking our whole life, it would be over before we got any teachings. At the very least, the guru should have greater knowledge than us. This can be difficult to recognize because of our limited and obscured mind. In order to actually see an enlightened being, with light rays all around, having all the realizations, we need a fully purified mind.

Generally speaking, it’s also good to have a guru who is living in the practice, in discipline. In this way, their example can help our practice a great deal and can be a great inspiration. For example, if the guru meditates a lot, so will the disciple. Usually, since we have so much negativity in our minds, we see the guru as a mirror of ourselves. All that reflects back at us are what we see as their faults, which in reality are only our own. When our minds are purified, we will be able to see every manifestation of the buddhas with all qualities and perfections. So, in the very beginning it is very helpful for our own practice to have a guru who is living in the discipline. In this situation the disciple takes their example, which is good for purifying our minds. Of course, this mainly depends on our faith and living in our Dharma practice.

The highly realized Tibetan yogi Padampa Sangye says,

When will the demon of Death appear? There is no easy way to tell;
People of Tingri, right now be always on your guard.²

Before he passed away, this was the advice that he gave his followers, [the villagers of Tingri, where he stayed]. While we spend our lives trying always to work for the enjoyment of samsaric happiness, deceiving ourselves, our lives are in danger of being taken by the demon of death. At the moment, death has not occurred, so we have a chance. It’s therefore necessary to practice Dharma purely all the time.

Also, when we listen to the Dharma for a few hours, we should make it as pure an action as possible. A pure action depends on a pure motivation, which depends on having refuge in our heart, which comes from a profound fear of suffering and full confidence and belief in the wisdom of the Three Rare Sublime Ones. Furthermore, we should make it a Mahayana action, which depends on having the Mahayana thought, “I must attain enlightenment to be able to enlighten every sentient being, to release them from all their sufferings, to repay them for all their kindness in providing all my past, present and future happiness. I must purify my mind in order to attain enlightenment, therefore I’m going to listen to teachings on the graduated path.”

Chandrakirti, who wrote much on emptiness, said that the Three Rare Sublime Ones, the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, are the objects of refuge for those beings who wish to attain liberation. It’s impossible to follow the path without refuge. We can’t become an arhat without refuge. There’s so much to learn on this subject that to understand refuge more fully we must learn Tibetan and study the original texts. To translate the whole of this subject would be so difficult and it would take so much time.

No non-enlightened being can guide us out of samsara. If any living being doesn’t have the realization of the absolute truth and of the true cessation of suffering, even if they were surrounded by light, they would not be free from samsara. We can’t take refuge in such beings, and we can’t completely rely on them, no matter how they look. Many spirits who look sublime are no better than beings in the animal realm. For instance, in Tibet a shepherd once saw a being with light rays emanating from it and thought, “This must be the Buddha.” But it was a spirit, and it suddenly disappeared because it didn’t have the full power to be the recipient of this shepherd’s prostrations. It wasn’t the perfect guide. The perfect guide must be free from samsara.

Also, in Tibet there are piles of stones along the mountain trails that are actually places where mundane spirits abide. Spirits usually have a leader who sends servants to look for flesh. Once, a man who had a large goiter had to sleep near one of these places and the servant spirits took the goiter for their leader’s food. Because the man was very pleased to have lost it, he trusted the evil spirits and told others about this. Then, another person with a goiter slept at that place hoping to have his goiter removed as well, but the spirits not only didn’t like his goiter, they added another one as well. So, he was betrayed.

There are different ways a guru can manifest; they don’t only have to give teachings. A guru can also be a mandala or a deity. Learning the hand mudras for enlightenment can also be a guru. The practice of relying on a guru is one of the most important things there is, more important than anything else. However, it’s a little difficult for us to understand the actual meaning and purpose of this.

Without the guru there would be no existence of the Buddha. A great yogi, Khedrup Sangye Yeshe, mentions in the teachings,

Before the guru exists, there is not even the name of what is called “Buddha.”

In order to understand this quote, we need to understand the relative and absolute guru and to realize the actual guru.

The line of the prayer that says, “The Guru is the creator,” means that just as all the water on earth comes from many different places—lakes, streams, wells—it’s always water and it all comes from one main place, the ocean. Without the ocean, the lakes, rivers and wells couldn’t exist. Like that, without the existence of the guru, the Buddha, Dharma, Sangha and the path leading to enlightenment couldn’t exist.

The entire graduated path, from where we are now until we reach enlightenment, has to begin with the practice of guru devotion. This practice is like the gate at the border of the country—the correct approach to the gate allows easy entry into the country and to the country’s enjoyments. The guru devotion practice is the entrance to the path to enlightenment. All realizations depend on how pure we make this practice, how perfect; that’s why it’s so important. It’s the essential practice of ancient yogis and the essential practice of present practitioners. How quickly we attain the different levels of the path and all the different realizations depends on the guru. How strongly we depend on the guru makes the rest of the process much quicker and more successful; it takes less effort and is easier.

Incorrect practice, however, causes our problems to increase. It’s very important not to break the guru’s instructions and orders. This can cause a great obstacle to progress and may prevent enlightenment in a lifetime when otherwise it would have been attained. For example, there is the story of Milarepa’s disciple, Rechung, who was told by Milarepa not to go to his home near Lhasa. Not listening, Rechung went and gave a turquoise to a beggar when he reached home. He was then beaten by his wife with a soup spoon. After much trouble, he returned to Milarepa, who showed him the turquoise. As it turned out, the beggar had been a manifestation of Milarepa. All the trouble he had was due to breaking Milarepa’s instructions. From then on, he experienced much more trouble and failed to attain enlightenment.

The absolute guru comes close to being the absolute nature of mind, the essence of lack of self-existence. Without the absolute guru there can be no Buddha, Dharma or Sangha. Without the absolute guru there is no way for an enlightened being to exist; there is no way for all past, present and future happiness and suffering to exist. There is too much to talk about in relation to this topic; this is only a seed.

If our guru is a monk or Sangha member it’s a good example for our negative mind to follow. If our guru is a layperson with a spouse and family, the reason for following their precepts isn’t so obvious. We might wonder why we are asked to do this and that, and these kinds of questions create negative karma. The superstitious mind always looks for faults in the guru, which is a great hindrance.

When we see faults in the guru, our negative mind increases. Because we see the guru as ordinary, we never seek knowledge from them and thus there is no way for us to attain enlightenment. Like a reflection of our own face, greed sees the guru as greedy, anger sees the guru as angry, and ignorance sees the guru as ignorant. It’s possible for the guru to appear in the form of our negative minds, which should prove to us that we, the disciple, possess this negative mind that must be purified.

The first time Milarepa saw his guru Marpa, Marpa appeared as a very ordinary man, dirty and digging in the fields, and drinking chang, beer made from barley. Later in their relationship, Marpa made Milarepa do great physical work—but actually all these things were teachings, purifying negativity.

For many years the great guru Tilopa didn’t give Naropa teachings, no matter how much Naropa followed him and asked for them. Naropa had to follow strange instructions constantly, taking things from others and getting beaten as a result. Once there was a wedding going on in the street and Tilopa sent him to go there and take the wife, which resulted in Naropa getting beaten. Also, Tilopa appeared as a poor fisherman, wearing few clothes and eating the wrong parts of the fish.

One day, after all these years, Tilopa asked Naropa to make a mandala offering, although there were no materials to use. But Naropa needed to offer this mandala, the universe, to purify his negative karma—as had all the previous sufferings he had experienced over the years also been to purify. Tilopa told Naropa to make pipi into the sand as there was no water, and Naropa made the offering from that. Then Tilopa threw the wet sand into Naropa’s face saying, “Here’s your mandala!” and told Naropa to look into space. At that point Tilopa transformed the space in front of him into the full mandala of the deity Heruka and Naropa received full purification.

Therefore, we should remember that there is nothing to trust in outer appearances. It’s the inner mind that is important.

GENERATING BODHICITTA

[WFGS p. 40]

If we make charity of many universes full of the seven types of jewels to each living being without bodhicitta or of a small bowl of rice to an animal with bodhicitta, the benefits of the latter are much greater. They are much greater than we are capable of realizing, beyond the concept of the ordinary mind. The action of giving, making charity, depends on the mind, not on the action or the materials.

Even the action of giving when we have realized emptiness but without bodhicitta is nothing in comparison to giving without emptiness while having the realization of bodhicitta. Such action always brings enlightenment more quickly for ourselves and others. Therefore, it’s so important to practice bodhicitta as much as possible. Even if we don’t have the full realization yet, this keeps the mind living in the practice and keeps ourselves and others in peace, never causing confusion to arise between ourselves and others.

Unless we train in this practice, we will continue to have a negative mind and cause confusion to others. Therefore, besides our own enlightenment and perfect peace, this practice is important for others. Because we make this kind of effort, others become less confused and there are fewer problems. If we even have a bodhicitta motivation for what we do, wherever we go it makes other people happy just seeing us. There is always peace; everybody likes us and wants to help us. Such is the power of bodhicitta.

Seeing a person with a bodhicitta motivation has a strong effect even on the mind of somebody without any Dharma knowledge. That person will have a good feeling, even though they might not recognize a holy person. Any doubt they might have had is overcome by the power of the holy being’s bodhicitta. Even a very evil person’s negative mind is subdued by the power of this mind. And so, the holy mind of bodhicitta, besides being helpful in terms of our own realization of enlightenment, is also extremely helpful for other people.

Our physical body comes from our father and mother, from the combination of sperm and egg, and is composed of bone, flesh, blood, and so forth, and is of limited size. Due to the power of bodhicitta, it becomes possible for us to discard this body and take on the holy body of the king, the holy body of a buddha, which has such infinite wisdom and knowledge not even realized by the highest bodhisattvas. It has no suffering of rebirth, old age, sickness and death; it’s completely free. A buddha’s holy body can appear in many trillions of manifestations according to different beings’ level of mind, and it also possesses the function of the buddha’s holy speech and holy mind. By discarding this body, which is always living in suffering, we can attain the precious holy body of a buddha due to the power of bodhicitta. The value of this present body is insignificant by comparison. Because it always gives us great trouble and gets us to work so much for it, we should be pleased to discard it in order to replace it with the holy body. However, although it is relatively valueless, we shouldn’t waste this body. Unless we practice bodhicitta, that is exactly what we are doing, wasting this body and our precious human life.

EVERYTHING COMES FROM THE MIND

[WFGS pp. 55–59]

It’s important to constantly investigate what makes different people have different feelings: about food, likes and dislikes and so forth. If it were only caused by particular external conditions, there would be no reason for hundreds of people to have different feelings about the same thing. For example, if we try to build something somewhere, some people will like it while others will see it as ugly and dislike it. We shouldn’t examine the external conditions, because since the beginning of the earth, if we were to try to find the external cause of peace, there would be no solution. What we should examine instead is the mind that makes a person enjoy things through the senses. Without knowing the nature of the mind, the door to finding the solution is closed. There must be a reason why a hundred people each have a different attitude to food in one pot and food in another pot. There must be a reason why some people like Tibetan tea and others don’t. These problems are not created by the physical body and do not depend on our genes.

The different feelings that we experience are not brought forth by the cooperative condition, the object itself, rather, they arise from a principal cause, that which is in the mind. This cause was created by the habitual mental patterning we have built up over lifetimes, not in the physical body. If the principal cause were in the elements—the stones, the water or in non-living things—it follows that there must be a creator. If this different principal cause originally arose from these non-living things, then suffering and happiness should arise from these as well. If we agree that happiness is an internal state of mind, then the elements like the earth that have caused this happiness must have mind. Further, there could be no existence of these non-living things.

This is a big wrong conception. Nobody thinks like this. If the original living beings came into existence without reason, without another creator, intuitively, there would be no reason for all people on this earth to work for peace. It would be better that all people just die as that would end all the troubles. If everybody were to die, there would be peace; while everybody lives, there is suffering. Talking frankly, it comes down to this.

If the original beings on this earth had no reason to exist, if there were no creator, when the mind ceased, there would be no reason for continuity. The great conflicts that we see in the world today should be the fault of these people’s existence. Therefore, everything else would become unnecessary; it would be better for life not to exist and all problems to be completely stopped.

We should explore this thesis. Why is there existence? What made the original elements of this earth exist? As we understand the subject of this evolution more deeply, our understanding of the mind will also deepen. If there were no creator, there would be no reason for us to exist. Each thing we see here has a reason for its existence, even that colored flower in a pot. Being in that pot over there, sitting on that table, being seen by us, that means there is a relation to us.

Sometimes, when we go to a new country and see new people, we may feel that we have lived with them for a long time, that they are familiar; we may feel a close feeling. With other people we may feel alienated and become frightened. There are reasons for these experiences; they have something to do with the mind.

When we see a new person for the first time in this life and feel afraid, we should check our mind. We have been a human being numberless times, as well as animals, spirits and so forth. To be afraid of this person we have just met means at some time, before this life, before taking this body, we were probably in the form of another human being and perhaps this person killed us, so now, due to the imprint carried on the mind, in this life we are intuitively frightened by this person. If someone was a friend in a past life, that is carried on in this life. Some people may especially like different animals for the same reason. We should study these things, research them—finding reasons helps us develop wisdom and find solutions. It means that there was a relationship in a previous life, which led to the creation of positive or negative karma. In that way, everything comes from the mind.

By subduing the mind, every external suffering that arises from outer cooperative conditions can be stopped and transformed into the nature of happiness.

BODHICITTA

Lama Tsongkhapa says,

The person whose mind has less anger and is humble is well liked by everybody, attracts helpers and has few enemies.

Generally, all actions become less troublesome as we follow the path due to the power of the noble mind. It’s noble—or arya—because it’s the opposite of cruel. For this mind, even external things become helpers. In contrast, the negative power of the cruel mind makes external objects—living and non-living—into enemies. The noble mind has patience and is humble.

Wherever the bodhisattva goes there is less disturbance—even in a wild, dangerous forest the bodhisattva’s great love, compassion and power protect them from tigers, snakes and other animals that might kill others. These wild animals become respectful instead of harmful. This is not due to the animals’ understanding but to the bodhisattva’s powerful presence. This has been the experience of numberless beings who developed bodhicitta.

The opposite example is a person who is very cruel and angry. Their body shakes, their nose turns red, and, creating many negative actions, they are disrespected and disliked by everybody. Because they are recognized as a bad person, they suffer because nobody helps them. This is the result of negative mind.

To have a pure, positive mind and to imitate the bodhisattvas is very important when we are trying to cultivate bodhicitta. Because there’s not one tiny happiness that doesn’t arise from bodhicitta, because we want happiness and want to avoid suffering, even if we don’t meditate or believe in karma, we still have to develop bodhicitta.

Each of us has a life to live. The duration varies but it will not be more than one hundred years. Among this group here, someone will die first—maybe me (because I’m smaller), maybe you—someone will die first. After fifty or sixty years none of us will exist; we will have become only names in books or on tombstones.

If we search for “life,” we find that the mind isn’t life and the body isn’t life. Life is the association of mind with body, the combination. Nothing is permanent. We might think, “Perhaps I shall live for forty years.” But “forty years” is just a title for the time, the name of a number, a collection of that many years. If one year is missing, then it’s not forty. A year is the collection of twelve months, and if one month is missing, then it’s not a year. A month is the collection of weeks, or the collection of thirty days—if a day is missing, it’s not a month. A day is the collection of twenty-four hours, an hour is the collection of minutes, minutes the collection of seconds, seconds the collection of split seconds and so on. If we check up, we can’t find anything permanent. There is no concrete entity we can call “time.” Everything is in a state of flux. As each split second passes, the second, minute, hour, day, month, year finishes—that “forty years” is finishing in dependence upon the split second, and in this way our life is finishing continuously, not stopping for even the smallest amount of time.

Now, that is clear. Or it’s supposed to be clear, anyway! That’s how time goes so quickly. It doesn’t exist as we believe it to, as concrete, permanent and self-existent. By a split second finishing, the “forty years” is on the way to finishing, like a river passing, like everything becoming decayed. Thus, it’s important to constantly think that each moment our human life is finishing, getting shorter, and that we have less and less time to live. Far from this understanding of truth causing suffering and the development of ignorance, it only causes the release from suffering and ignorance.

The worry that arises when we consider the shortness and impermanence of the human life, of how we are wasting time and missing Dharma practice, is very worthwhile because it makes us focus on positive action in preparation for the next life. Always thinking of the way life changes only keeps us more and more mindful of seeking the inner method to escape from ignorance and suffering and to purify the causes already created. This kind of thinking is always helpful.

We have to study any existent object in order to know its true nature. Study is something we usually do at school in order to become knowledgeable about the subjects taught there. Therefore, why don’t we study this fact of impermanence? Studying this is much more worthwhile. Even though people don’t want to know about death and cover the truth with ignorance, it makes no difference to the facts. The truth cannot be covered; no change can make ignorance into truth. The study of external things can never destroy our own ignorance; it can never release us from suffering. When we don’t want to hear the truth explained, when we are afraid to listen because of shock, it’s crazy—it’s like finding black marks on our face when we look in a mirror and smashing the mirror in order to not have to see them. You might laugh at this, but this is what we are doing when we deny the truth of impermanence; we are trying to close off wisdom as much as possible in order to not see the truth. Then, after some time, we miss the mirror, and we realize “Oh! I’ve broken it.”

PURIFYING THE PLACE AND INVOCATION

[WFGS p. 40–41]

Everywhere may the ground be pure,
Free of pebbles and so forth,
As level as the palm of the hand,
In the nature of vaidurya, and soft.³

The purpose of purifying the place before invoking the buddhas, arhats and holy ones is to create good merit. This action becomes an offering to the holy beings and creates good karma. The better we can visualize purifying a place, the more it will purify our negativity. The action of purifying the place before invoking the holy beings brings a result such as rebirth in a pure land, the realm of the enlightened beings. Pure lands are much higher than the lands we live in—there are no ugly objects, and the ground we walk on is as soft as a rubber bed and it reflects like a mirror. In a pure land, none of the cooperative conditions to generate a negative mind arise, only those that will decrease it. To visualize in this way is very good. We should do so in order to create good karma for the purpose of attaining enlightenment.

Although the enlightened beings definitely know this, we might be skeptical, doubting they even exist. An action done with skepticism won’t be very powerful. The more faith we have, the more power our actions have to purify negativities. The enlightened beings are always with us. Not seeing God is not his problem; it’s ours for not seeing. If we don’t understand the nature of our own mind, how can we understand the enlightened mind?

The “place” can be seen as Guru Shakyamuni Buddha himself, just as all beings and ourselves can be visualized as Guru Shakyamuni Buddha through continual practice. Purifying the place creates positive karma, especially if it’s done before the invocation of the buddhas, making it beautiful for them.

Creating the best smell that we can through the offering of incense is creating positive karma. This offering represents the reduction of miserliness and purifies our attachment to things we designate as “best.” In reality, of course, all things smell good to an enlightened being. But at the same time, passing wind in a place where there are enlightened beings, such as in a gompa or a place where people are meditating, is considered a negative action.

Then, we invoke the buddhas and bodhisattvas to attend.

Savior of all sentient beings without exception,
Divine destroyer of the unbearable hordes of maras and their forces,
Perfect knower of all things without exception,
Bhagavan, together with your retinue, please come here.

Invoking the holy beings creates great positive karma and purifies so much negativity. We should do an invocation when we first move into a new house and so forth. In these situations, we should first organize the house and fix it up and then make the invocation. The same can be done when we set up an altar.

PROSTRATIONS TO THE THOUSAND-ARM CHENREZIG

[WFGS pp. 42–45]

Prostrating and saying the mantra of Chenrezig (Avalokiteshvara) creates great merit for listening to, contemplating and meditating on the three divisions of the teachings, the Three Baskets or Tripitaka, that contain all the teachings on the three higher trainings: the higher training of ethics, of concentration and of wisdom.

The Tripitaka are the Vinaya Pitaka, the Sutra Pitaka and the Abhidharma Pitaka.

The Vinaya Pitaka sets forth rules of moral conduct that counteract certain kinds of extreme conduct, such as attachment to wealth and expensive possessions—clothes, cars, houses, and so forth, and attachment to individual possessions, even just to a set of old clothes or a suitcase.

The Sutra Pitaka sets forth the general rules of conduct that counteract certain kinds of extreme thought, such as independent existence. It includes the general religious discourses such as concentration on the twelve links of dependent origination, the four noble truths and so forth.

The Abhidharma Pitaka contains the metaphysical instructions, teaching on the wisdom that is the remedy for the wrong conception of a self-existent I and phenomena.

When you make prostrations, if you are an inner being practicing the Buddha’s teachings, you should hold your hands together with the thumbs inside enclosed by the hands. This symbolizes holding a jewel. (There are two other ways to hold the hands.) Then, touch the top of the head, the mouth or throat and the heart to symbolize body, speech and mind, respectively. The prostration of the body creates the karma to receive the double crown protrusion of Guru Shakyamuni Buddha when you attain enlightenment.

Because Chenrezig’s one thousand eyes represent one thousand buddhas and their great compassion, when you prostrate to Chenrezig, your merit is greatly multiplied. One prostration to Chenrezig equals one thousand prostrations, and the resulting merits are that much more. If you pray to this aspect of the enlightened form, which appeared especially to grant bodhicitta, you will find it very easy to establish a link with him, like a kind father meeting his child.

Making offerings and prostrations is not only a practice intended for worldly beings. Even noble beings transform their bodies into many manifestations, each having many hands, heads and eyes, and into the different realms where there are enlightened beings and then make offerings and prostrations with each of these bodies, chanting prayers admiring the wisdom of the enlightened beings.

Although you don’t yet have the power to make such transformations, you should think that if noble beings who have so many realizations do so, why shouldn’t you? Those who can see their past and future lives and have attained psychic powers make such offerings to enlightened beings, creating merits through body, speech and mind, and seeing this you should realize that it’s very necessary that you should do likewise. Actually, you should engage in these actions even more than they do. You are supposed to be able to transform into different manifestations like these beings, yet you have delusions. You need very good fortune to have the ability to create good karma through making offerings and purifying; this ability is very precious and those who are able to do it are rare.

Prepare for the visualization of Chenrezig by first thinking that there is no self-existent I, that your I is completely empty of the self-entity. This I doesn’t depend on the relationship of the body and mind; from the head down to the feet it exists nowhere, in no atom of the body. This concept is completely empty.

Then, visualize countless buddhas of the past, present and future in front of you. All become one with Chenrezig. Imagine that there are that many Chenrezigs on each atom of the universe, as already visualized. Imagine that the number of your bodies is equal to the number of atoms in the universe and each makes prostrations to each of these Chenrezigs—each one on each atom of the universe, all the countless past, present and future buddhas in the manifestation of Chenrezig.

Why such a visualization? This is a method to create incredible merit and to purify as quickly as possible. Higher beings actually have the power to transform into many thousands of manifestations, but as you do not have this power yet, you try to visualize like this. The more bodies you visualize making prostrations, the more positive karma you create.

People can do samsaric prostrations, merely imitating someone. Making prostrations to trees or dogs doesn’t create positive karma. You create positive karma and increase your faith in dependence upon the object you prostrate to—in dependence upon the infinite power and great wisdom of the enlightened beings. The nature of the power of the object is to create positive karma. Therefore, instead of samsaric prostrations, you should visualize like this, thinking of the past, present and future buddhas in the manifestation of Chenrezig on all the atoms of the universe and prostrating to them.

Then, you visualize yourself in the aspect of Chenrezig, visualizing the letter HRIH. This is a seed syllable of the buddhas, representing the mind. Visualize this syllable letter at your heart. If you can’t visualize yourself as the manifestation of Chenrezig, then just think of yourself as making many offerings to many Chenrezigs. Imagine yourself carrying many offerings for Chenrezig’s infinite happiness and enjoyment to each of the limitless Chenrezigs in front of you.

Then make prostrations with the mantra OM MANI PADME HUM. While doing this, you should visualize light entering your body from his holy body, purifying every one of your obstacles to attaining enlightenment. This is all visualized without the emptiness meditation.

After the prostrations, make the following prayer:

Please purify my body, speech and mind of all negativities 
So that I may fully receive all knowledge
Of your holy body, speech and mind.

Then, the Chenrezig in front of you enters your body through the head and comes to be seated at the heart. This visualization can be difficult at first but it becomes easier as the mind is trained.

Then, from the Chenrezig at your heart, visualize sending light out to all sentient beings, purifying all negativities and transforming their realms into pure lands. Pure realms are defined as such by the purified mind. A place that common people see as filthy can be seen as a completely purified place that brings only transcendental happiness by the purified mind. This level of view is only created by the mind in accordance with its stage of development.

Again, visualize yourself as numberless, as having bodies as many as atoms in the universe. Think, “The number of Chenrezigs is equal to the atoms there are in the universe. With my body is front of each of them, I make prostrations.” This is simple.

This visualization is a bodhisattva practice. Maybe we’ll talk more about this later when we do the mind meditation. You should visualize the central channel from your crown chakra down. After all sentient beings become Chenrezig within their pure land they are absorbed into the Chenrezig in your heart.

HOW CHENREZIG ATTAINED GREAT COMPASSION

Chenrezig is an aspect of the Buddha and there are many aspects of Chenrezig. If fortunate, great devotion may arise in relation to this deity.

Chenrezig received his great compassion in the presence of his guru Buddha Rinchen Nyingpo. In earlier times, Guru Shakyamuni Buddha prophesized that a being called Holder of the Great Eon would manifest after the number of eons equal to the number of grains of sand in the River Ganges passed, and in that place there would be a Buddha called Rinchen Nyingpo. He would liberate many millions of sentient beings, including insects, by showing the Dharma.

At another time, Guru Shakyamuni Buddha was surrounded by trillions of arhats in the cities near a king’s palace. The king went with many thousands of people to see this buddha, Rinchen Nyingpo, to make prostrations and receive teachings. For three months he made offerings to this buddha. The king had thousands of sons, the eldest of whom was called Not Closing the Eyes, and this son also made offerings to this buddha exactly as his father did. In addition, a man of brahmin caste made offerings to this buddha for seven years, and he asked the king to generate bodhicitta. The king did so, and Buddha Rinchen Nyingpo prophesized that this king would later become the Buddha of Limitless Life in the realm called the Western Paradise. The son Not Closing the Eyes developed such great compassion for sentient beings, wishing to release them completely from suffering and from their negative mental delusions, and because of this Buddha Rinchen Nyingpo prophesied that he would become a buddha called Chenrezig, and that as a result of his compassion he would release hundreds of thousands of billions of sentient beings from suffering. Buddha Rinchen Nyingpo also prophesized that when that son became a bodhisattva he would work just like a buddha, and when fully enlightened he would become Pagpa Gyalzig Kelpo, that his realm would become a pure land paradise, and that he would give many teachings to numberless sentient beings.

Countless eons before Chenrezig received enlightenment, he was called Chokyi Ngawang. Due to his previous prayers and great compassion, he took the aspect of a bodhisattva many times in order to benefit sentient beings. This aspect of the Buddha is the bodhisattva Chenrezig. There are so many other worlds where he gives Dharma as a bodhisattva or as an arhat. Also, he takes many different forms as it suits beings, to show them the Dharma and give teachings. For example, he may appear in the form of a desire realm god, a spirit, a leader of the army, and so forth.

Tibet is usually admired as Chenrezig’s realm on earth, but the story behind this is too long to tell. All the Dharma kings who established the Dharma in Tibet had the development of the Dharma as their main responsibility and are recognized as living bodhisattvas. Those of the lineage of His Holiness the Dalai Lama are recognized as incarnations of Chenrezig, including the present one.

The original Tibetan people are recognized as completely separate, of a different spirit, as unique in quality because of the Buddhadharma coming to Tibet from Guru Shakyamuni Buddha and also because of the generations before. Long before the Dharma came, Tibet was a very cold country with many jungles, inhabited by very wild people who ate human flesh. It was a very mischievous place of evil spirits, and people couldn’t travel there safely. Then, Chenrezig took the form of a bodhisattva monkey in order to bring Dharma to Tibet, and the female aspect of Buddha, Tara, took the form of a female cannibal. They lived near each other in the rocky mountains and had eight children of different shapes in the form of human beings. Although the blood of these humans came from these two deities, their minds came from the realms of samsara, under the control of karma and delusions. So, the blood generation of Tibetan people is unique, and they are recognized as a totally different race.

Guru Shakyamuni Buddha prophesied that Chenrezig would enlighten so many people in the northern land.

The benefits of making paintings and statues of Chenrezig are much greater than those of making ordinary paintings or statues, including images of any other buddhas, and equal to those of making thousands of other buddhas. Similar benefits arise from meditating on Chenrezig. Also, Guru Shakyamuni Buddha said that so many other enlightened beings and realms of enlightened beings are contained in each atom of Chenrezig’s holy body.

The benefits of prostrating to Chenrezig and reciting his name and mantra are equal to the benefits of doing so in relation to all the other buddhas. Chenrezig’s mantra OM MANI PADME HUM is very beneficial and has to be given at an initiation. It’s the same with the visualization.

When you prostrate and recite Chenrezig’s name and mantra, it’s important to remember their meaning and to visualize the aspect of Chenrezig. Doing so creates so much positive karma. If you have no idea who you are prostrating to, just moving your physical body up and own, then it’s only exhausting.

THE VISUALIZATION OF GURU SHAKYAMUNI BUDDHA AND OTHER DEITIES

There are all kinds of different deities’ bodies that can help you in attaining a pure land, which is a creation of our own minds.

[WFGS pp. 47–51]

The purpose of doing this practice is to receive blessings and attain realizations. Visualizing Guru Shakyamuni Buddha and visualizing a rock or tree are two quite different things. If you can visualize correctly, the effect on your mind will be quite different. Because of the realizations he has attained, just seeing a statue of Shakyamuni that symbolizes his infinite wisdom and knowledge is quite different from seeing the picture of a beautiful man or woman. Merely seeing the statue makes the mind peaceful, calm, relaxed, well-controlled and subdued. Even a picture gives a very different effect. Actually, there is no more beautiful form than Guru Shakyamuni Buddha; there is no more inexpressible knowledge of beauty that we can see. The great effect that we receive from seeing his picture, or a statue of his form, is the decrease of greed.

It’s not that Guru Shakyamuni Buddha existed in previous days but doesn’t exist now anywhere. He sees us and we can see him. It’s definitely possible that we can communicate and receive teachings from him, but this depends on the level of our obscurations, and how strongly we do the purification practice. Even though we can’t see our own mind, that doesn’t mean that it’s not there. This is something within us but we don’t realize it because that mind is obscured by ignorance. Of course, it’s extremely difficult to see enlightened beings and communicate with them. Doing so is dependent on the blessings we receive and our foundation of faith.

There are many instances of beings that received teachings from various deities. Lama Tsongkhapa received the teaching on the absolute truth from the aspect of enlightened wisdom, Manjushri, who granted this realization for the purpose of benefiting all sentient beings. In fact, Tsongkhapa received many teachings from Manjushri and is himself thought to be the manifestation of the buddha of wisdom. His teachings on the absolute truth are incredibly clear and incredibly profound. He had so many followers, like stars in the sky. Many of them received realizations.

On the altar here are statues of Lama Tsongkhapa and two of his closest disciples, Khedrub-je and Gyaltsab-je, who helped him a great deal. Both of his followers achieved all of the different levels of realization and completed the Dharma practice. Khedrub-je, because of his deep devotion, saw Lama Tsongkhapa in five different manifestations. Gyaltsab-je was the substitute for the Dharma king; he cleared up misunderstandings in the teachings of Lama Tsongkhapa through logic, in debates. Before he met Lama Tsongkhapa, he lived in the lower part of Tibet and was already highly learned. When Tsongkhapa visited that place and gave teachings, Gyaltsab-je, thinking he might be more highly realized than Tsongkhapa, sat down on the same bed. Tsongkhapa took no notice and continued teachings. Then, when Gyaltsab-je realized the purity of Tsongkhapa’s teachings, he moved to a lower level. He later took teachings from Lama Tsongkhapa himself, and after Tsongkhapa passed away, Gyaltsab-je helped clear up any misunderstandings that remained.

Asanga, the highly realized pandit, tried to achieve a direct vision of Maitreya, who is the buddha to come after Guru Shakyamuni Buddha and who will descend from the pure realm of Tushita. Asanga spent twelve years trying to attain the vision of this future Buddha. After the first three years he came down from his retreat, discouraged. Then, he saw water dripping onto a rock into which it had worn a deep hole, and thought that if even water, which is not solid, can make a hole in a rock, how could it be possible not to achieve the realization of Maitreya, so he went back. Three years later he came down again, discouraged, saw a man cutting a rock with a thread, and went back again. Three years later he came down again, saw a bird flying into a small cave, and saw that its wings had eroded the rock. He went back again. Three years later he came down again, totally discouraged, and saw a dog whose entire backside was an open wound, full of maggots. He felt compassion and wanted to remove the worms to help the dog but realized that doing so could cause the maggots to suffer. Due to his great bodhicitta he made a strong decision, cut his own flesh and placed it on the side for the maggots, and, so as not to injure them, bent down to remove them with his tongue. As he did so, the dog transformed into Maitreya. Asanga clung to Maitreya and asked why he took so long to appear. Maitreya showed Asanga his robe and said, “I’ve always been in your cave; look where you spat on my body.”

We see from this story that Asanga’s obscurations were finally purified through the practice of bodhicitta, through caring for other beings more than ourselves and thus purifying much negativity. As a result of his fundamental devotion and the deep purification he engaged in with such great bodhicitta, Maitreya asked Asanga what he wanted. Asanga asked for teachings, and, telling Asanga to hold on to his robes, Maitreya took him to Tushita pure land and gave him five divisions of teachings in one morning there, which is fifty years of our lifetime. Tibetans still study these teachings—they are concerned with logic and practice, and also explain the absolute true nature of reality, the development of bodhicitta, and faith.

Once a mother sent her son to find relics of the buddha, but after looking everywhere he found nothing. Instead, on his way home he picked up a dog’s bone and brought it to his mother. With much faith and devotion, she believed in that bone and put it on the altar, making prayers and offerings to it and so forth. After some time, real relics began to come from that bone. That was a creation of her mind.

It’s definitely possible to perceive the Buddha. It’s our own mental creation, a creation from within that arises from our own knowledge. Even ordinary knowledge doesn’t come spontaneously from outside; it comes from our studying at a school or university.

Prayers are very powerful and make sense. In order to understand and develop realizations, prayers are set up in each meditation. Before the prayer, begin by visualizing Guru Shakyamuni Buddha.

VISUALIZING GURU SHAKYAMUNI BUDDHA

Guru Shakyamuni Buddha is seated on a throne, on which is a lotus, sun and moon. The space between the throne and you, the meditator, is equal to the length of the prostrated body, and it should be visualized at the height of your forehead. The bigger it appears, the better, but the size that stays best in the mind depends on your level of mind. Shakyamuni is smiling and his lips are cherry red. His very fine eyes are thin, narrow and long. He is crowned by the double knot. The image should not be visualized as a drawing but as a person, with the body made entirely of light. All of the hairs on his head curl to the right and are dark blue in color; they are short but nicely curled. Each of these features is a sign of his holy body. Also, he has chakras or wheels on his feet, and when he walks on the earth, he doesn’t touch the ground but remains four inches above it. His robes, too, don’t touch his body. Guru Shakyamuni Buddha has such a peaceful aspect that it dispels all negative minds straight away.

When Guru Shakyamuni Buddha was in the form of a bhikshu showing the Dharma to a great number of people, even those who didn’t receive teachings but merely saw him were helped a great deal, and their minds were purified of negativity due to the power of his realizations. When Shakyamuni looks at one person, even those who are standing behind him see him in the same way, and he sees everything that is happening all around. When Guru Shakyamuni Buddha was born as a prince, one of his relatives was sort of evil and wanted to kill him because he had so much power. Although the Buddha walked so slowly, this person with the wrong realization, carrying weapons and running after him, was unable to catch him no matter how fast he ran. Guru Shakyamuni Buddha said, “You are running but not coming to me.” This was his great control over ignorance.

Visualize Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s body absorbing into your body, and visualize your mind as one with his, as emptiness like space, without the self-existent I. Concentrate on this for as long as possible.

Begin with the breathing meditation, them purify with the light coming from the Buddha. Then concentrate your mind as above, without letting your mind and your superstitions disrupt your meditation. Those who are new to the meditation course can meditate on the other higher meditations, following the outlines and amplifying the meaning through your own wisdom. The form is the internal examination of your own mind. Realization can only be attained by checking.

As you go to sleep, do this sleeping meditation. Go to bed and lie down. Visualize Guru Shakyamuni Buddha in front of you sending light rays from his body. Think, “As I don’t desire suffering, I should make my sleep virtuous for the sake of all sentient beings.” Light comes from Guru Shakyamuni Buddha and enters your body, which then becomes the nature of light itself, and all impurities are expelled. Then Guru Shakyamuni Buddha absorbs into you, and you become one with his holy body and mind, as space, with no self-existent I anywhere in this absolute true nature. Hold this visualization for as long as possible. This is very good practice for many things. During sleep you may dream—it’s very good if you meditate in your dreams, with the gross mind not arising much and the sincere mind arising.

Then, when you wake up, as soon as possible try to be in that state visualizing space—then Guru Shakyamuni Buddha appears, and you yourself are him. You should try to remember the last part of the sleep meditation.

During the day, visualize yourself as Guru Shakyamuni Buddha and also visualize others around you in this way. This helps to destroy partiality, criticism and judgment, which are all only functions of the negative mind.

OFFERINGS TO LORD BUDDHA

Offering Beauty

Whenever we hear a beautiful sound or see a beautiful sight, offering it to Lord Buddha will greatly purify the negative mind.

Sleeping

When in bed, we should visualize Guru Shakyamuni Buddha and pray from the heart to receive enlightenment by purifying negativity.

Before the visualization is made, we should think, “I am going to dedicate to attain enlightenment in order to help all sentient beings.” This makes our sleep different from that of animals and insects; it gives meaning to our human life so that it makes sense. Then we visualize that light enters our body and that our mind becomes one in the nature of infinite space. Then, we try to sleep.

Offering Food

When we see food, we should examine how we feel about it, trying to discern if there is any greed, if the mind is unpeaceful. When we want to enjoy the delicious taste of the food, unless we are careful, we can become very attached to the taste, exaggerating its qualities and wanting to experience the worldly pleasure of eating it. This is very difficult to differentiate from just eating to sustain the body. Attachment is a main cause of rebirth in the three lower realms and a major cause of our present suffering.

We should also check and see if we want to use this food with the self-cherishing mind, thinking more of ourselves than other beings—human, animal or buddha—and taking care only of ourselves, eating with that thought. This is the most subtle, ignorant negative mind, the most powerful obstruction to attaining enlightenment.

Attachment and ignorance are the two main disturbances in our life, and since we don’t want to experience suffering, we must destroy them. We should think, “Eating with greed and ignorance only makes me more greedy and ignorant; it is eating just like an animal. Since I am human, my actions should be higher, and not like those of a dog eating kaka. Animals don’t check up since they have no wisdom; they just eat as quickly as possible before the food gets taken away by someone else, and it doesn’t matter to them if the other is hungrier or not. Therefore, I am going to make an offering of this food to Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, the essence of all buddhas, who is at my heart, that I may receive enlightenment by purifying all negativity.”

Then, we visualize the sun, moon, lotus, throne and Guru Shakyamuni Buddha at the heart, as beautiful as possible. The more beautiful, the better the karma. Then, we think. “This food doesn’t belong to me; it’s Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s holy mind and belongs only to him.” This is the most important thing—to make a strong and clear decision that will have a great effect on the mind. Great Tibetan meditators recognize this sort of thing as the best puja, done with our own mind and body. As we do this meditation, we shouldn’t think of other things but think that Lord Buddha has received infinite happiness from our offering, and when he is finished, he sends the light of realization, power and happiness to fill our body.

When taking food, we should meditate to cleanse and purify the negative mind of rubbish with the broom and water of dedication, without being involved in samsaric practices. But it’s not so good to purify sometimes and then afterwards to create more negative karma. In this way, we never finish. Therefore, we must keep our mind as clean as possible once it has been cleansed. Because the purpose of meditation is only to cleanse the mind, there is no point in continuing to create negative karma once we have purified it. Instead, we should try to create as much positive karma as possible. We should meditate to purify all the time. The less negative karma we create, the less purification we will need.

We must have discipline when eating and drinking. In retreat, every action—getting up, washing and so forth—is done in conjunction with a meditation. The effects of this depend on our level of realization.

We either visualize ourselves as one with Guru Shakyamuni Buddha or visualize him at our heart, then offer the food to him without attachment. When eating, we think, “I must become free from all suffering; I must not be attached to these objects, which are not mine. I am offering it to him, it completely belongs to him.” Just as we don’t have much feeling for someone else’s ordinary possessions, we should try to feel the same way about the food. Strongly feel, “I am Guru Shakyamuni Buddha,” and give it to the Buddha, thinking, “I am offering it to him, who is the infinite buddhas.” Don’t talk while eating; concentrate fully on Guru Shakyamuni Buddha and on offering the food. This lessens attachment, purifies negativity and creates much good karma, which stops suffering and brings us closer to the Buddha. We then visualize that the Buddha has received infinite happiness from the food and sends light to us so that our entire body is filled with it, from our head down to our feet, purifying it completely. His infinite knowledge dispels every single one of our negativities so that they no longer exist anywhere, neither inside nor outside the body—like a light switched on in a dark room. This will help us to soon attain all his wisdom.

Before eating say the offering prayer.

OM AH HUM

The supreme teacher, the precious Buddha;
The supreme refuge, the precious Dharma;
The supreme guides, the precious Sangha:
To the Three Rare Sublime Ones, the objects of refuge, I make this offering.

May we and those around us, in all our lives,
Never be separated from the Three Rare Sublime Ones,
Continuously make offerings to the Three Rare Sublime Ones,
And receive the blessings of the Three Rare Sublime Ones.⁴

When I’m in retreat on a mountain such as at Lawudo, it’s customary for people to bring food, so it’s very useful to visualize it as kaka. This way the mind is so free, unattached, relaxed. Sometimes the mind becomes one with the object, stuck to it, but visualizing the food as kaka is the most helpful way to overcome our attachment to it.

INTERFERENCES

When doing pujas, inner, outer or secret interferences can happen. Outer interferers appear in fearful forms, like the images we see on some thangkas, but as light. These interferers appear as beings with wrathful aspects, outside and around each of us. They can also invite other interferers, spirits who disturb the teaching by making us unhappy and causing different kinds of sickness. Inner interferences are the delusions: greed, hatred and ignorance. The secret interference that destroys the Dharma is the impure view.

The outer interferences appear in the form of very wrathful beings surrounding us and also around the edge of the country. An offering of nectar from the skullcup is given to them as a gift to fulfill all their wishes. Because of this, they vow to never harm the practice, to leave this place, crossing the great ocean and leaving this earth. Their forms are like that of Yama and are just to exemplify the different spirits that are karmically created by mind. “Yama” means those who disturb our success in Dharma practice. If we do this visualization with confidence, it can be very useful, because then we can think that there are no inner and secret interferences left to disturb our practice.

Ignorance, suffering and so forth depend on one thing—our concept. If somebody recognized a doctor as a person who could completely cure them, they would have full confidence in them and the doctor could help them, whereas if they were doubtful and skeptical, it might be difficult to be cured. For this reason, having full confidence can be helpful.

In tantric practice, holding a wrong view such as of inherent existence is considered the secret interference. Stopping the secret interference depends on eliminating the inner interference and that depends on our study and listening to these teachings.

Since so much good karma from previous lives has brought this precious human rebirth, it’s our responsibility not to waste even one hour of it. Since we are doing this practice with a bodhicitta motivation, it can also help many mother sentient beings as well as the world. Whatever mundane activity we do—even working for the government—becomes a Dharma activity with this motivation and is greatly beneficial.

VAJRASATTVA AND GREEN TARA MEDITATIONS

One very powerful method of purification is to recite the Vajrasattva mantra while visualizing Vajrasattva above our head, in union with the consort, upon a moon and a sun disc and a lotus. Facing the same direction as us, his body is made of white light. It emits rays of light and nectar that drip down onto us like rain, purifying our negativities, eliminating our greed, ignorance and doubt, and turning our body into a body of light.

Tara, the female aspect of Buddha, has green and white forms. Green Tara encompasses all the power and great compassion of all buddhas. Remembering and praying to her constantly can help overcome dangers and catastrophes. Tara is especially effective in helping practitioners gain realizations, especially the teachings of bodhicitta through the method of exchanging oneself with others.

The green color of Tara’s holy form symbolizes the granting of wishes and the symbolic purification of the defilements of envy and jealousy, as well as the purification of the ordinary impure aggregate of form. The fifth of the five transcendental wisdoms is the completely purified transcendental wisdom of the fulfillment of wishes. Her green color also symbolizes success in action.

Reciting her mantra and remembering her can bring success and realizations. Countless people who have faith in Tara have received the benefit of her blessings, including travelers of old that were pure practitioners. Within the Tibetan community, so many Tibetans have received great benefit from making prayers and pujas to Tara. Even family problems such as infertility and so forth can be overcome with Tara’s assistance. One of her great qualities is that she quickly grants the wishes of those who petition her.

There is no way to attain enlightenment without attaining the realizations of the meaning of Tara’s mantra.

OM refers to the Buddha’s holy body, speech and mind and the three kayas or bodies of a buddha. It also symbolizes release from the sufferings of the three lower realms, from samsaric attachment and cyclic existence in general and from the great release of the subtle obscurations, from the attachment to liberation and the thought of perfect happiness for ourselves alone.

TARE symbolizes the release from temporal attachment and the sufferings of the three lower realms.

TUTTARE symbolizes release from samsaric attachment and from samsara itself.

TURE symbolizes great release from the subtle obscurations, attachment to liberation and the thought of perfect happiness for ourselves.

SOHA is said at the end of the mantra and enables the blessings of these syllables to take root in the heart, and to absorb and remain in the mind.

THE SEVEN-LIMB PRAYER

[WFGS pp. 52–54]

Usually, people in retreat say the seven-limb prayer every day. This is the essential puja. The purpose of saying this prayer and meditating on its meaning is to purify the negativities, to lengthen the lifespan by stopping dangers and to create infinite good karma without physical activity. This prayer contains such great meaning. Meditating on what this prayer means creates such positive karma that it can never be destroyed by anger or heresy. Such is its power. It also purifies negative karma created from beginningless lifetimes until now. Even high bodhisattvas engage in this practice. The effect of this prayer depends on our motivation and understanding.

I prostrate reverently with my body, speech and mind.
I present clouds of every type of offering, both actually arranged and mentally emanated.
I confess all my negative actions and downfalls collected from beginningless time.
I rejoice in the virtues of ordinary beings and aryas.
Please remain until the end of cyclic existence 
And turn the wheel of Dharma for transmigratory beings.
I dedicate my own and others’ virtues to great enlightenment.⁵

The first of the seven limbs is prostration, the antidote to pride. Respect for a person is the remedy for pride. Pride is one of the worst negative minds. For instance, if we have pride in our own knowledge of some subject, and we think, “I know that,” pride causes us to feel that we have no need to listen to the knowledge of others, that we don’t want to be told about anything. A person with pride never develops their wisdom.

Sometimes this kind of mental state can arise when listening to the Dharma. We may think, “Why is the teacher repeating this?” Pride sometimes involves a negative form of shyness, the mind that is attached to the comfort of this life. Pride also means being attached to reputation, wanting others to understand our great level of knowledge and exclaim how clever we are.

A common Tibetan proverb says that the nature of pride is like a glass turned upside down. A person with strong pride is like this; nothing goes inside, and they will never become the receptacle of Dharma understanding.

The second of the seven limbs is the limb of offering that we have already talked about.

The third is the limb of confession.

The fourth limb of the seven limbs is the limb of rejoicing. Rejoicing is the best remedy for jealousy and envy. Rejoicing doesn’t depend on material or physical actions; it can be done while we are working, eating or sleeping. It can be done at any time and it is such a simple way to create good karma. When we see a person with many friends, we should naturally feel joyous, thinking how lucky that person is. This result is due to the good karma they created in past lives. It’s the same with somebody who has many possessions or children. Seeing this, we should feel joyous. Rather than feeling jealous of some couples who have harmonious and loving relationships, we should think that this is due to having created the cause for such experiences in past lives. So, why shouldn’t they experience the joyful result now?

Avoiding jealousy and envy and trying to feel joyful for others’ happiness creates so much positive karma. Feeling joy also keeps the mind at peace. If we are jealous and envious, we will feel very uncomfortable—like we have a big stone in our mind. But feeling joyful keeps the mind peaceful, without problems. When we are joyful, we don’t create a bad atmosphere or show a bad aspect to others.

We should also try not to feel jealous or envious of anyone who meditates and studies the Dharma a great deal. Instead, we should try to feel joyful. When bodhisattvas see another being attaining bodhicitta, their holy minds are extremely pleased, as if they have found a jewel. They feel very joyful that the other being understands the Dharma and is working for sentient beings due to karma. This kind of thinking keeps the mind relaxed, not bubbling like boiling water, and keeps peace between us and the other person.

When we judge other people, we exaggerate their negative qualities so much. Putting people down creates so much bad karma. Whenever we see other people creating positive karma, we can always create good karma ourselves by simply rejoicing. This not only keeps the mind happy, because there are infinite numbers of sentient beings, this creates infinite good karma.

This is a very simple way to purify and create good karma. The mind that rejoices in others’ merits is always pure. There is no danger of having too many expectations from thinking like this, such as hoping that others will like us or having other desires for temporal rewards for the comfort of this life. The mind that is pleased that others create merit is always happy.

The fifth of the seven limbs is requesting the buddhas to remain in existence until samsara ends. The purpose of doing this is to request our own purification, that we may receive the path. It doesn’t imply that the buddhas will become nonexistent. There are many different nirmanakaya or emanation bodies of the holy form of the buddhas—giving teachings, showing the path in many different worlds, and showing people the nature of suffering. When we request the buddhas to remain in existence, we are requesting that these emanations will remain longer in that form, so that many other beings can take teachings. For example, if His Holiness the Dalai Lama didn’t exist, then all the hundreds of realized beings in this world would be without guidance, especially in these times. Asking them to remain until samsara ends is a cause for our own purification, as well as a cause for us to continually receive teachings.

When we are doing retreat, at this point in the practice we should offer from our heart a throne with a double vajra on the front, for longer life, and adorned with jewels, offering it to the nirmanakayas in order to make the conditions for us and other sentient beings to continuously receive teachings from them. This also becomes a cause for us to live longer.

The sixth of the seven limbs is requesting the buddhas to reveal the teachings. Here we should meditate that we are offering a golden Dharma wheel from our heart to the visualization of the Buddha. This is also purification. Stepping over Dharma books or pictures of the Buddha arises from great ignorance of the Dharma and is one of the worst things we can do, creating much negative karma.

The seventh limb is dedicating the merits. As grain burned by the fire no longer has the power to produce a plant, merits when dedicated become like the burned grain; they can no longer be destroyed by anger and heresy, minds that would otherwise cause the greatest destruction, destroying any undedicated merits and even delaying the results of merits that have been dedicated. For instance, even though somebody might have created incredible positive karma in this lifetime but then gets angry just before they die, unless that is purified, it will delay the result of that positive karma from arising. Say, they were about to realize bodhicitta, anger and heresy would block that realization and prevent enlightenment. This is why it’s so vital to not let anger arise.

The perfect prayer must include motivation, action and dedication.

THE MANDALA OFFERING

This is only a rough presentation of the mandala offering. The practice is an incredibly profound one, but this explanation is enough for now.

In the mandala, there is the universe: the sun, the moon, the planets and the different worlds. Generally, there are many different ways to look at the universe. It can’t always be the same shape. According to different people’s karma, there are different ways of seeing it, and according to the time it appears in different shapes. The universe is also not something that permanently exists; it’s possible for it to become empty. This earth, too, is just one of the worlds.

There are four levels up [above sea level] and four levels below, with the gods living above and the demigods living below. The demigods sometimes come up to fight. The principal cause of a human rebirth on this earth is karma and delusions. It’s possible to be able to see these other karmically created realms when we have developed high psychic powers. They were described by Guru Shakyamuni Buddha and the ancient highly realized pandits to help us when we meditate to understand other beings’ karma and how they live their lives.

Besides visualizing this mandala, we should meditate by offering this universe to the guru, to the enlightened ones, in order to complete our realizations and purification. This is one of the wisest ways to gain higher realizations. Even those with highly developed powers make mandala offerings. It’s one of the most vast and important ways to create positive karma, especially if we understand every aspect of the evolution of karma and how different beings live.

We should practice like Naropa, whose main offering was in his mind—the symbol of the universe. Just after Tilopa threw the mandala in his face, Naropa saw the deity transformed by his guru in the sky. If he had not made that offering, his ignorance would never have allowed him to see the deity, his guru. This is such a great Mahayana tantric practice.

Yesterday, we talked about a mentally transformed offering, visualizing a universe full of jewels, and making the offering to the Guru Buddha we receive enlightenment and perfect peace from. As much as we can visualize, we create that much good karma. This is why the mandala offering is especially recognized as the best practice to do. Yogis consider it better to offer the mandala as many times a day as we can. Offering the mandala is the most beneficial practice to purify the mind.

After we visualize the mandala as it is explained here [WFGS pp. 55–65], we think that the outer mandala is the universe, and all our possessions are as explained. The inner mandala is the transformation of our body. All of our past, present and future virtuous actions are offerings around Mount Meru. There are also the inner, secret and suchness ways to offer the mandala.

Offering a mandala is a very powerful purification. Having visualized and offered the body, speech and mind and transformed them into the inner mandala and all existence in the universe into the outer mandala, we offer it to Guru Shakyamuni Buddha and think that it belongs completely to him—everything in our world, including friend, enemy and stranger. This will bring peace to our environment, for us and others. It will subdue the mind of partiality that creates friend, enemy and stranger. World peace will never come about until the partial mind is eliminated.

We should think that all sentient beings have been friend, enemy and stranger in countless former lives, are so at present and will continue to be in future lives as long as we have a mind of partiality and discrimination and are not free from samsara.

Besides offering all the possessions of the universe, we also offer every enemy, stranger and friend, and all beings, and our body, speech and mind to Guru Shakyamuni Buddha. We completely give whatever is ours to him, dedicating it. Because it all belongs to him, there is no reason for attachment. The success of this practice depends on the mental decision.

As Guru Shakyamuni Buddha used his holy body, speech and mind to fulfill his wishes, now our body, speech and mind should only be used for the same purpose. Also, as we have completely dedicated enemy, friend and stranger to Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, we can’t make other sentient beings our enemy or get angry with any of them. How can we get angry? Just as killing a Nepalese person would hurt the King of Nepal because they are his population, harming any sentient being, any enemy, is completely against the wishes of Guru Shakyamuni Buddha. It’s like telling a lie. The Buddha’s work is to free all sentient beings from suffering and bring them to enlightenment, and his wish is for us to do the same, to enlighten all beings from suffering. How can we lead them from suffering with a partial mind? In the same way, how can we be attached to any sentient being—to the friends we presently have in this southern continent or to any beings in other realms we may encounter in the future. This is a very shameful habit, to offer them in the mandala and yet still be attached to them. We can’t be attached to them because we are responsible for fulfilling the Buddha’s wishes to release sentient beings from suffering.

It’s very effective for the mind to think like this. If we are attached to them, they also become attached to us, and this, too, is against his wishes. To release all sentient beings from suffering and to enlighten them, we must first attain enlightenment and release ourselves from negative minds. To achieve this, we must not be attached.

Then, as we offer the mandala, we visualize Guru Shakyamuni Buddha accepting our offering. The entire offering absorbs into his heart, as if it had been given into his hand. Then, we visualize light shining from him and absorbing into our body, causing all the interferences that block the realizations from guru devotion up until enlightenment to be purified. We receive every realization.

We should not offer the Sangha money that has been obtained by wrong means, such as from the sale of holy books, statues and so forth. This creates bad karma, degenerates wisdom and builds ignorance.

The Outer Mandala

[WFGS pp. 66–70]

The practice of offering the outer mandala is the practice of offering the universe without transforming ourselves, without the details of the inner mandala practice. In this practice, we offer the mandala as it is.

Mount Meru is not the kind of mountain that we can see, such as the Himalayas. It’s in a different category, on a different level. The gods of the senses live here in the god realm. We can’t see these levels with our human perception and without a great deal of control, but we have been born in all of these levels in the past. If we could develop the appropriate degree of clairvoyance through meditation in this lifetime, we could travel to these places. Mount Meru is karmically created, as is the world of form.

The Inner Mandala

[WFGS pp. 71–72]

The objects of my attachment, anger and ignorance—
Friends, enemies, strangers, body and enjoyments—
Without any sense of loss I offer them.
Please kindly accept them,
And bless me to pacify the three poisons in dependence on their own objects.⁶

Although we say the prayer at certain times, we shouldn’t regard this as a job lasting only a few hours. Our mind should live in the meaning of the prayer all the time. It should be said from the heart, in such a way that we feel a weight lifted from our mind. It’s best if done each day.

We make the strong decision to give up attachment to the negative minds of greed, hatred and ignorance. Offering those objects of our three poisonous minds—our friends, enemies, strangers and enjoyments—to Guru Shakyamuni Buddha and to the other enlightened beings, we should think that they now belong to them and are no longer ours. Therefore, we can’t feel attached or averse to them. All our possessions should be visualized in the form of the mandala. A strong decision makes the best mandala.

To “give up” doesn’t mean actual separation from body and mind, for then we would cease to exist; it means giving up the attachment from the heart. This is the most important thing. These things are no longer ours; they are offered to the enlightened beings in the same way that we would sincerely give something to a friend. Then, because the enemies, strangers and so forth now belong to Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, we must take good care of them.

If the mandala offering is made in the morning, it can be remembered if problems arise during the day. With a strong and conscious mind, we can’t get angry at anybody. Nor can we become attached to gifts or anything else. If we were to become attached, we should feel positive shame.

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE RIGHT MOTIVATION

The nature of the motivation is what determines the nature of our meditation; for perfect meditation the motivation must also be perfect. If dirty water is used to make tea or prepare food, the result is not good. Even if the water were to be chemically purified, its taste is spoiled, so again the tea isn’t perfect. Just as the quality of the water is important here, so is the quality of the motivation important for our Dharma practice in determining whether our actions will be virtuous or not. If the motivation is impure, our meditation can become the cause of suffering and confusion. Therefore, to avoid wasting time—and wasting our life—we should take care to prepare our motivation well.

Preparation and motivation are more important in Dharma work than in our mundane life. We might get fired from our job because we were late, but this may or may not make any difference finding another job. However, meditating with a nonvirtuous mind will certainly cause problems, even in this lifetime, so our motivation must be as pure as possible.

Why should we care if it’s virtuous or nonvirtuous? Because everything we do, including this meditation course, is in order to find some deeper happiness. This means that our actions are done with the expectation of happiness. Besides a bodhisattva who experiences suffering for the benefit of all sentient beings, no sentient being, including us, desires suffering. Most of us don’t wish to experience suffering for ourselves, let alone for all sentient beings.

Therefore, the solution is to seek the cause of happiness. In order to do this, it’s vital to recognize the cause of suffering. Wanting happiness yet still creating the cause of suffering is like a blind man walking toward a precipice. Numberless beings even now are in great suffering, just as that blind man is.

Most people think in a materialistic way, seeing the cause of suffering as a lack of material possessions. They fail to realize that seeking happiness from external conditions is never able to eliminate suffering and bring happiness; the relentless search for more material possessions is itself a cause of suffering.

Food, for example, is neither the principal cause of happiness nor suffering. It can fill the stomach yet it can also cause diarrhea. If it were the principal cause of happiness, it should always bring happiness and never change to suffering, and yet this never happens. If we were to eat nothing but cake, believing it was the principal cause of happiness, we would get bored after only three or four days. This is the nature of the mind that finds the pleasure it experiences at first turns into suffering afterwards. These feelings are merely a creation of the mind. Thus, such external methods are not the principal causes of happiness.

The real principal cause of happiness can only be something that can never change into suffering; once we have attained it, we will always have it. It is that which is in the mind; it is a mental state. Similarly, the principal cause of suffering is also a mental state. The cause of happiness is virtuous action, and the cause of suffering is nonvirtuous action. The creator of the actions of our body, speech and mind is our motivation.

At the moment, we can see only two different forms of sentient beings, humans and animals, but there are many other kinds of beings that we are unaware of in different realms that we can’t see. Some of these living beings can see us. Each being sees different people and places in different ways, with different feelings arising for each. If we were to check up to see what causes the difference, perhaps we would understand how these differences occur.

In Tibet, there was a very famous holy statue created by a miraculous bodhisattva. Every day, the area around it was very crowded with many people coming to make offerings and receive blessings. Yet one person saw a dog instead of the statue. If the mind is that which is clear and knowing, when we misperceive something, that shows there is some delusion clouding our consciousness. This person who saw only the dog instead of the statue that the others saw was deluded by lack of positive karma. His negative karma had built up in his mind so that he was habituated to seeing negative things and, because of that, he was unable to see the holy statue.

Another example of mental obscurations created by nonvirtuous actions is the mind of the person who, attending teachings given by a lama who had a large pile of texts in front of him, only saw the lama eating from a large pile of meat.

There are many other types of beings in the world, and we should not limit our understanding of them. There are essentially six different types in the uncontrolled cycle of death and rebirth, the cycle of samsara. Samsara is created by ignorance and ignorant actions. We are included amongst the samsaric beings. The six different realms are divided into three upper realms (the realms of god, demigod and human) and three lower realms (the realms of animal, hungry ghost and hell being). All beings in this cyclic existence called samsara are living in ignorance.

We should think, “I must receive enlightenment only to help release other suffering beings, besides myself, from samsara. In this way. I will meditate.”

CHECKING INTERNALLY BEFORE CHECKING THE EXTERNAL WORLD

[WFGS p. 75]

“Checking internally” is the inner method to discover the negative mind, which we must fully recognize as the creator of suffering by understanding its wrong views. “Checking the external world” is done after we have checked internally, when the outer objects and wrong views are more easily recognizable. Then, we can see our misunderstanding, our mis-knowing of subject and object and how that creates conflicts. Then, we can understand how to overcome them.

Making the mind positive and holy depends on our recognition of the deluded minds that make us create nonvirtue and of the false object that our negative mind believes in. Without recognizing the creator of the negative mind and its object, there is no way to make the mind positive and holy. Without recognizing and avoiding the false object created by the negative relative mind, there is no way to see the true positive object and its absolute nature.

Because each person’s mind is a mixture of positive and negative, each sees the same object differently. When viewed with a negative mind, we see the object falsely. To be holy depends on the creation of the positive mind, the mind that sees an object in its true nature, as it actually exists. To see it like this depends on recognizing its opposite, how the negative mind creates the object in relation to its mode of perception. Because that mode is false, the object it perceives is false. Through this process, we can destroy the negative mind and cultivate the positive one. This is the way to become virtuous and to eliminate problems.

The solution to problems doesn’t depend on destroying the object, making it nonexistent. For example, if we are suffering because of a thorn in our flesh, although we might hate the thorn for causing the suffering, completely destroying it—burning it and so forth—will not solve the problem completely and forever, because we can easily get another thorn in our flesh at some other time and place. The external solution is flawed because it doesn’t even help externally. Before this earth even existed, we experienced great suffering from thorns. Even in the future we will continue to have problems with external objects. To destroy a thorn in one place and time doesn’t make all thorns nonexistent.

More importantly, trying to find an external solution doesn’t destroy the relationship between our suffering now and that of the future. For example, we have an enemy we hate and we want to be rid of them. This negative mind of anger is created by ignorance. We might kill the enemy with the mistaken belief that they will never be our enemy again. But they will be reborn, possibly as an animal that attacks and kills us. Killing the enemy in this lifetime is nonsensical because that enemy will continue to be our enemy again in many lifetimes. All this one negative action gives us is great suffering, keeping us in ignorance longer, holding us in the cycle of death and rebirth for so many eons. As long as we keep ourselves in the suffering realms, further ignorance is always produced. It’s entirely our fault that they became our enemy, not theirs, and because of that, we keep ourselves in the prison of ignorance, samsara.

Greed, hatred and ignorance create problems. Ignorance is the fundamental cause of all suffering, producing greed and anger. No problem can ever be completely ceased until we are released from ignorance, so the whole problem is only our own fault. Even killing all enemies or totally destroying a particular place will never bring a final solution. Ignorance only causes more problems; it never cuts off the problem.

The mind checking internal causes and relating them to the external world can never create actions done with ignorance. On the other hand, miss-seeing the world through ignorance only creates greater problems that become more long-lasting and habituated, causing us to remain trapped in the eternal cycle of suffering that is samsara without even bringing any solution.

A solution is the complete cutting off of the problem between the object and the subject, the cessation of the negative mind that is the creator of suffering. To bring about such a perfect solution we should check the internal causes—greed, hatred and ignorance—and the way they distort our thinking. In this way, we can realize which object is true and which is not. With correct understanding, we can develop the positive mind, and through this all problems can be ceased.

Much of what is taught in Buddhism is about understanding and eliminating the negative mind. Without checking the internal causes of suffering, we will always make mistakes. There will be no solutions, only problems. Understanding the external world requires understanding the internal world, our mind.

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Notes

¹ The four practices used to purify nonvirtuous imprints on the mindstream. They are: 1) the power of the object, taking refuge in the Three Rare Sublime Ones and generating bodhicitta; 2) the power of regret, feeling deep regret for the negativity committed; 3) the power of resolve, determining not to repeat that negativity; and 4) the power of remedy, a practice such as Vajrasattva that effectively acts as an antidote to the negativity. [Return to text]

² V. 30. From The Hundred Verses of Advice of Padampa Sangye. Taken from tibetbuddhistencyclopedia.com. [Return to text]

³ Taken from FPMT Essential Prayer Book, p. 24, which can be found in the FPMT Catalogue. Vaidurya was previously translated as lapis lazuli but Lama Zopa Rinpoche suggested this was not an exact translation. [Return to text]

⁴ Taken from FPMT Essential Prayer Book, pp. 57–58, which can be found in the FPMT Catalogue. [Return to text]

⁵ Taken from FPMT Essential Prayer Book, p. 76, which can be found in the FPMT Catalogue. [Return to text]

⁶ Taken from FPMT Essential Prayer Book, p. 28, which can be found in the FPMT Catalogue. (Here, it is called Offering the Objects of the Three Poisonous Minds.) [Return to text]