3  : THE TRUTH OF CESSATION

The noble truth of the cessation of suffering is this: It is the complete cessation of that very craving, which means giving it up, renouncing it, emancipating oneself from it, detaching oneself from it.

— DHAMMACAKKAPPAVATTANA SUTTA

IS SUFFERING FOREVER?

WE MIGHT WONDER, “If mind is beginningless and thus the unenlightened mind has always been ignorant, is there any possibility of removing suffering by removing ignorance?”

This is definitely possible. Removing the delusion of ignorance will remove all other delusions that hinder our liberation and enlightenment. How is this possible? The answer is that the mind itself, the nature of the mind itself, is not in oneness with ignorance. The nature of mind is not merged with ignorance. The mind is only temporarily obscured by ignorance.

It is therefore wrong to believe we are stuck in samsara forever, that there is no freedom from suffering and no means of attaining liberation or release from cyclic existence. We are not stuck in samsara forever.

Although a piece of white cloth covered with dirt looks dark and dirty, the whiteness is merely temporarily obscured by the dirt. With proper cleaning the stain can be removed. Likewise, the nature of the mind is clear and its deluded states of ignorance, attachment, and anger are not fused with it. Study, meditation, and living one’s daily life in accordance with ethics and with the Dharma all work toward lifting the stains of delusions from our minds.

Some think that achieving liberation, attaining everlasting happiness, means their mind ceases. This is a completely wrong idea. It is impossible to stop the mind, to cease the mind. Mind is a continuum, which means that mind has no beginning, it has no end, and there is no period in which mind is not. Nirvana and enlightenment are mental states, but they are not zero. Mind does not end, but suffering can.

By applying meditation to understand the nature of mind better, our minds become much more powerful and better equipped. There is more wisdom to quickly destroy the delusions and wrong conceptions that make us see things in a distorted, wrong way. As we go through the levels of meditation, in particular the meditation that realizes the true nature of the “I” and of reality, the dangers posed by the delusions weaken and eventually are eradicated.

When Guru Shakyamuni Buddha gave his first teachings on the four noble truths, or what is often described as “the first turning of the Dharma wheel,” to his followers in Sarnath, he began with the true nature of suffering, followed by the true cause of suffering, before he showed the actual path to cessation or nirvana. Why? He did this because we first need to understand the suffering that appears in many forms so we can then have a clear idea of the causes of suffering, namely, delusion and karma.

Once we recognize delusion and karma as the sources of suffering, our minds are capable of uprooting the causes of suffering and accomplishing the cessation of suffering. Here we are not talking about just temporary relief from health problems, money woes, relationship difficulties, or even death. We are speaking of attaining everlasting peace and happiness. However, as long as we allow the true causes of suffering to endure within our minds, there is no way to achieve the ultimate happiness of real peace.

So what is real peace? The true cessation of suffering or nirvana is real peace and can only arise when we end the torture of delusions and karma. Nirvana is the absolute nature of our minds when purified of delusions. Only then is there total freedom, only then is there liberation from suffering. Achieving true cessation of suffering becomes the reason to seek the path. The path through which we cease delusions is the fully realized wisdom that realizes the nature of reality.

SEVERING THE ROOT OF SUFFERING

The greatest discovery of life begins when we realize the root of all our problems is the ignorance apprehending the “I” and all things as truly and inherently existent. When we realize this, the poisonous root of ignorance can be severed once and for all.

The oceans of suffering and sorrow have come from this deep-rooted view of inherent existence, fueling all the other delusions. To be free of samsara one has to gain the wisdom realizing emptiness, which pierces the hallucination of inherent existence and is the direct antidote to ignorance.

Even though loving-kindness and compassion are important virtues needed in daily life, practicing them alone will not remove the delusion of ignorance. Only wisdom realizing emptiness can directly eliminate ignorance. Understanding emptiness and meditating on it until one directly experiences it is imperative if one is to secure freedom from ignorance.

Just doing breathing meditation for a lifetime will get us nowhere. Meditating just to gain some rest for the mind, some relaxation and inner quiet, does not bring inner peace because it does not work on overcoming the delusions. Meditating only for personal peace of mind and nothing else becomes another form of worldly concern centered on relief in this life. It does not become a cause of long-lasting happiness, neither for us nor for others.

Therefore we need to find the courage to examine our motivation for meditation. If we discover we’re meditating just for worldly reasons, we are underutilizing and wasting that effort. It would be far more meaningful to use meditation to examine the shortcomings of samsara and delusions and to develop the unshakeable determination to gain liberation.

Concentration meditation or calm-abiding meditation is where we develop stable focus on the object of meditation, which should be vivid, clear, energetic, and undistracted. If the water in a pond is dirty, we will not be able to see what is underneath. For us to see through the water it must first be clean, and then it has to be calm. In the same manner for us to clearly see and realize the nature of mind, the absolute nature of ourselves, we need a concentrated, undistracted mind we can control to steer away from agitation, sluggishness, and other mental hindrances.

Accomplishing concentration depends on controlling mental scattering and mental dullness. Succeeding in this establishes control over the mind. The mind can then be calm, clear, and focused. Then we should apply analytical meditation on the topics of the noble truths because without it we will be unable to recognize factors, including impermanence and samsara.

Without analytical meditation we won’t recognize the impact of ignorance in our minds, which has created wrong conceptions about the self and everything around us. As long as we’re unaware of these mistaken conceptions, we can’t dispel or stop them. If we don’t dispel the wrong conception of “I,” we cannot realize the absolute nature of ourselves. To attain liberation from samsara and find everlasting happiness we must realize emptiness, the absolute nature of all things.

With the calm-abiding mind established, we can easily realize emptiness. The underlying factors for this attainment are to keep our body, speech, and mind clean, and of these primarily the mind. We achieve this cleanliness by guarding against negative actions of speech, body, and mind. Failure to discipline our mind is like churning water, which creates barriers to clarity and realizing the nature of mind.

The great yogi Milarepa said in his verses, “I was scared of death and escaped to the mountain. I have since realized the nature of the mind, which is emptiness. Now even when death comes, I have no upset, no worry.”

However, even if we achieve liberation, this alone is not sufficient. We cannot be satisfied with just our own liberation because that would simply be securing happiness for ourselves, which is nothing special. After all, even animals down to the tiniest insects seek happiness for themselves. There is nothing special about that attitude.

Our precious human rebirth is capable of much more than just attaining self-happiness. We should look more broadly, reflecting on how everything valuable we possess has come from the kindness of others. This includes the kindness of numberless hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals, human beings, demigods, god-realm beings, intermediate-stage beings, and everyone else. We fail to realize this because we cannot see these beings with our bare eyes, so we cannot remember their kindness.

Do we think it right to seek happiness for only ourselves? Even difficult people, those we dislike or who dislike us, who hate us, who provoke and abuse us, who disrespect and treat us badly, have been kind to us in that we have learned much from them. We learn of our mistakes, we discover our strengths. Whether such people intended to help us or not, they have contributed toward our deeper understanding of ourselves. This helps us attain insight into the delusions and develop more empathy, more compassion, more patience, and more wisdom, and it enables us to practice virtue and gather merit, the source of happiness to come.

By thinking about these possibilities for growth and generating a positive mind, we can achieve much temporary happiness while in samsara, let alone in future lives. In addition, when we practice the good heart and consistently meditate on emptiness and why there is little sense in grasping at the “I,” enlightenment comes within reach.

Our enlightenment becomes possible through sentient beings. Yes, through sentient beings, especially the difficult, hurtful beings. Whether sentient beings intend to benefit us or not, their “troublesome” ways present us with opportunities to confront our delusions and to put the teachings into practice. They offer us the means to secure the ultimate prize, our enlightenment. This is why sentient beings are most precious, most kind, and most special, and why is it befitting that we constantly strive to benefit them.

The end of all samsaric suffering is called cessation because we are no longer shackled by delusion and karma, the causes of circling in misery. Eliminating the causes of suffering will be an extraordinary, amazing event, a completely new experience for us.

Until now all our worldly successes and excitements have offered nothing new. We have experienced them numberless times in samsara. We have gained them and lost them over and over during the course of beginningless rebirths. The rewards of ordinary life are stale. By clinging to worldly enjoyments, we have kept our ignorance, attachment, and anger fresh and active; we have created the causes to repeatedly return to samsara, to suffer, die, and repeat the cycle. Yet we look to the sky in despair and wonder why this is our lot.

When we conquer delusions we halt the cause of suffering. This is like wielding a giant knife that cuts off the vast expanse of suffering. This cessation is the most worthwhile, joyous thing to do, so that delusions, including their seeds, will not arise again.

Imagine never suffering again. When delusions and their seeds are uprooted, on what basis would suffering germinate and bear fruit? Because of this, eliminating delusions is one-time work. Striving toward liberation is a one-time task. Don’t you wish to start right now?

This task begins with fully understanding the first noble truth of suffering, which is recognizing that samsaric existence is like being in the center of a raging fire. It is like dwelling in a thick nest of poisonous snakes. We should find no attraction within samsara, not even for one second. Just as someone trapped in rising flames or a pit full of vipers tries all ways to escape from those dangers, we need to generate a firm determination to break free of samsara. Having recognized the second noble truth of the cause of suffering as the delusions and karma, we then persevere, day and night, to achieve liberation.

If we do not analyze carefully, we might not realize that attaining perfect peace or nirvana requires the total cessation of delusions and karma. If we don’t realize this, we will have no interest in working toward it. Yet if we don’t apply effort, we will never gain perfect peace and will be back at the starting point of suffering and complaining about problems! Sentient beings remain in samsara because they see little value in ceasing delusions. Guru Shakyamuni Buddha taught suffering first to get us to investigate its cause so we could turn to ceasing the cause. Ceasing the cause of suffering will bring about the end of suffering, therefore bringing complete, everlasting happiness.

After Buddha taught the nature of suffering, followed by the true cause of suffering, he then revealed the third noble truth of the cessation of true suffering. This is nirvana or liberation, true freedom and ultimate happiness. Nirvana is the mind that is purified of delusions and that has attained the wisdom that fully realizes the absolute nature of mind.

Maitreya Buddha, in his teaching Uttaratantra, used the analogy of suffering as an illness. He said we need to understand the illness, we need to avoid the cause of the illness, we need to fully understand the cure, and we need to know the medicine, which we can rely on to achieve the cure. This is how the Buddha guides us. When we recognize we are sick we see a doctor for help. The doctor will prescribe medicine, but if the patient does not take the medicine there will be no recovery.

Likewise, we suffer in samsara and delusions and karma are the cause. The Buddha is like a doctor who prescribes the Dharma path as medicine to remedy the sickness of delusions. However, if we don’t utilize the Dharma that we learn, our afflicted minds will not be healed and our suffering will continue. Only when we recover from the true causes of suffering will we gain the cessation of suffering.

Guru Shakyamuni Buddha taught the third noble truth of cessation to explain nirvana, the state of freedom from suffering, the state of perfect peace. He did this to provide the reason for following the path. If our minds and bodies are tied down by delusion and karma, the mind has no freedom, no peace, and is beyond our control. That is pure suffering. We have long believed that gaining some worldly pleasures will make us content and happy. Yet we have seen how these pleasures are not only temporary but in fact generate more dissatisfaction.

When people turn to temporal, worldly methods to remove suffering, such as changing homes, changing partners, getting new jobs, and buying more things, the relief does not last and suffering arises again. This is because worldly methods leave untouched the root causes of the problems, delusion and karma. The Dharma method permanently removes suffering because it targets every delusion with direct antidotes. If this were not so, Dharma practice would be meaningless, there would be no enlightened beings, and any expounding of the teachings by enlightened beings would be nonsensical.

A child who starts life with very little knowledge changes while studying at school, developing knowledge and wisdom. Similarly, through Dharma practice and mental purification we can achieve all knowledge with nothing missing, full omniscience. We can definitely achieve the enlightened mind that can clearly see every sentient being, know every tiny karma ever created by each sentient being, know each second of each day of each being’s life, and be able to provide the precise remedy needed to solve each sentient being’s problems.

Right now we do not possess this ability. We can think of only one thing at a time, so that when we listen attentively to someone we can’t clearly hear what anyone else is saying. When our minds are preoccupied we can’t read a book thoroughly and recall all its details. At this moment our minds have many limitations.

The omniscient mind has no such hindrances. It stretches our understanding to even try to comprehend the enlightened mind, which sees all past, present, and future existence. Consider the number of sentient beings just on planet Earth. The number of humans is nothing, there are numberless sentient beings, including animals and insects, everywhere — in trees, in houses, underground, in oceans, in the stomach, some visible, some invisible. Yet the omniscient mind is completely aware of each and every one of them in each split second and is simultaneously aware of each atom of nonliving matter.

We should never discourage ourselves and think enlightenment is beyond our reach. If we were unable to enlighten the ignorant mind, we would be unable to educate a child. The ignorant mind is not eternal. After all, the mind of the person who invented the rocket did not always possess that knowledge. He learned the basics, how to design and construct it, and gradually eliminated his ignorance of that subject matter.

In exactly the same way, we can achieve the cessation of ignorance, including the ignorance of enlightenment. We have the means to directly experience enlightenment through Dharma study, virtuous deeds, purification practice, reflection, meditation, and gaining realizations, just as we experience our ordinary education.

Leaving ignorance alone is dangerous because ignorance causes more ignorance. However, once ignorance is lifted suffering cannot return, as there is no cause for it. The cessation of ignorance cannot give rise to new ignorance. Instead, eradicating ignorance removes all suffering, bringing the perfect peace of nirvana.

OBSCURATION TO LIBERATION AND OBSCURATION TO OMNISCIENCE

What blocks our attainment of liberation and enlightenment? It is the mind afflicted by gross and subtle delusions or obscurations. The obstacles posed by the afflicted mind have two aspects. The first is the obscuration to liberation (Tib. nyöndrip, where the word nyön refers to delusions and drip means “obscuration”). The second is the obscuration to omniscience (Tib. shedrip, where the word she refers to existence), which is the subtle imprints left behind by delusion grasping at true existence, which in turn hinder realizing omniscience or full buddhahood. Together these delusions hinder us from attaining liberation from samsara.

These subtle imprints are so refined they are said to be mere inclinations or tendencies toward believing in inherent existence. The dualistic view is the subtle defilement that obscures omniscience. When this is finally removed, the mind becomes fully enlightened.

The obscuration to liberation arises when delusions such as the three poisons of ignorance, attachment, and anger arise, particularly the ignorance that grasps at the “I” and things as inherently and truly existent. This ignorance leaves a heavy imprint on the mind. We had earlier discussed how the “I” that seems to exist is not truly existent but is instead merely labeled on the base of aggregates. In other words, the “I” exists dependently and not inherently. Yet due to wrong concepts and negative imprints left on the mental continuum, ignorance projects the hallucinated appearance of a truly existent or inherently existing “I.” This mistaken appearance causes us to completely believe in true existence.

From that moment flow all other deluded attachments to this seemingly truly existing “I,” including anger, pride, and jealousy. How? Let us recollect the evolution of wrong view. When we believe an inherently existing “I” exists right here, the desire to satisfy the needs and wants of this “I” arises. From this, attachment arises, followed by anger if our attachments are not fulfilled, pride at the importance of the “I,” and jealousy toward others who possess what the “I” seeks.

All these deluded, disturbing thoughts began with the mistaken concept of an independently and truly existing “I.” We forget the “I” is merely imputed by the mind to the aggregates; it is a mere mental construct. The mind has been obscured from seeing the reality of all things, which is the lack of inherent existence, the emptiness of all things.

Ignorance and the other delusions bind us to samsara. When we fail to apply the antidotes, we cannot rid ourselves of the delusions, we cannot lift ourselves out of samsara to gain nirvana, which is why the delusions, particularly ignorance, are called obscurations to liberation. The primary interference comes from the imprint left by ignorance grasping at the idea of inherent existence. Without eradicating ignorance grasping at inherent existence, we cannot attain nirvana or liberation.

Even if this first level of obscuration is removed, subtle imprints continue to stain the mind in the form of dualistic view. They cause us to see objects and beings as existing on their own without any involvement with our minds. As long as these imprints remain, the misconception of self-existence or true existence continues.

Therefore the next level of obscuration is the obscuration to omniscience, or full knowledge of all existence. This is a subtle part of the imprint left by ignorance grasping at the idea of inherent existence, which produces the appearance of inherent existence. The appearing object is merely labeled by our minds and is not inherently there, but we believe it is inherently and truly there, existing from its own side. Like the movie projector that produces images on a screen, the imprint of ignorance causes us to see any sense object as truly existent.

Let us take the example of ice cream. When we are offered an ice cream cone, we tend to see the ice cream as self-existent. However, if we analyze more closely, how did the notion of “ice cream” arise? The base material first appeared to us, and only after that did we affix the label “ice cream.” The base and the label did not arise at the same time. Mental involvement intervened.

As another example, we see someone who looks like an old friend walking on the street. First we notice a person. Then we observe the person’s appearance, voice, shape, and size, and slowly our memory prompts us to think, “Oh it is my old friend!” Here again we see the base (the person’s form) first, and then once we recognize familiar features on this base, we label it as our old friend. The base becomes the reason that persuades the mind to craft the label of “old friend.”

As with the case of the ice cream, the base and label did not arise together at the same time. But when we do not analyze, it looks as if the base and label come into existence at the same time. We believe the label and the base are the same, inseparable, and then we react to the object.

Therefore right now all the things we see around us — people, floor, carpet, room, all phenomena — these appearances are labels our mind imputed and then believed in. Our entire world is dependent on causes and conditions and the mental labels our minds put on different bases.

Everything is a dependent arising. Since all phenomena exist in the manner of mental labels, there is nothing inherently existing within them. We have total freedom, we can change. We can remove the causes of suffering that are imprinted in our minds and be free from suffering.

In short, we have the capacity to actualize the path and achieve liberation and enlightenment. When that understanding comes right into our heart — that the projections of our ignorant mind have tricked us into believing in true or inherent existence — we will see how we have clung to the biggest superstition, the king of delusions, namely, the belief in inherent existence that has been left on our mental continuum over countless lives.

If you wear a pair of red glasses you see everything as reddish. Even the color white will appear as red. Just like that the subtle imprint of the ignorance that believes in inherent existence influences our entire perception. Therefore in order to cut off this ignorance we need to cultivate the wisdom that realizes emptiness, realizing that everything exists in mere name, is merely imputed by mind, and is therefore totally empty of existing from its own side.

When I say that all truly existent appearances are false, this includes the truly existent “I.” The “I” that does exist is the one that arises dependently on, and not independently of, the mind placing the label “I” on the base of aggregates: form, feeling, consciousness, discrimination, and karmic imprints.

As is the case with everything else, all these are merely labeled. So why do things always appear to us as inherently existent, even though in reality they do not exist that way? Why is it that from the first second that consciousness takes place on the fertilized egg in the mother’s womb, that being perceives “I” as truly existent and grasps on to the perception with ignorance?

After birth, when the six senses begin to function, why does our body and everything else appear as truly existent? The Buddha explained that everything is merely labeled but never appears to us in this way. Things appear concrete-like, independently and truly existing. Why?

The answer is that we have been trapped in the iron cage of the ignorant belief in true existence over beginningless rebirths. The imprints left by ignorance on consciousness were not uprooted life after life. They leave us firmly stuck in this hallucination, so we are overwhelmed by the ignorance that believes in inherent existence. This ignorance works like a drug, so that how we see things is the opposite of the truth.

That part of the imprint left by ignorance that causes us to see things as truly existent — both the appearance and that imprint — is called “shedrip,” or subtle obscuration. This type of obscuration does not interfere with achieving nirvana because it is so subtle that it remains after liberation. Even arhats who have achieved liberation see things as truly existent. Therefore unless shedrip is completely removed, this subtle obscuration will interfere with achieving omniscience.

Arhats, as well as eighth- and ninth-level bodhisattvas who are not in the state of meditative equipoise on emptiness, possess this type of subtle obscuration. It hinders the final achievement of omniscience or enlightenment. That is why it is called the obscuration to omniscience. It is very good to remember this.

Therefore the synonyms of cessation, nirvana, or liberation from samsara all refer to the end of suffering and its causes. What all sentient beings yearn for, the freedom from suffering and the attainment of happiness, is within our reach if we successfully cultivate the methods to eliminate delusion and karma, which are the causes of suffering.

TWO NIRVANAS: LIBERATION AND ENLIGHTENMENT

In the mind of every sentient being dwells the wish to be free from suffering and to achieve the highest and longest-lasting happiness. For this to happen, we need to eliminate suffering. However, until now we have had a limited understanding of what suffering means. We think of suffering only in terms of poverty, disease, relationship problems, or not having a job. We tend to understand only a part of samsaric suffering but not its entirety.

As a result, the cessation of suffering most beings seek is very limited. What we seek is to remove what troubles us now and perhaps in the near future. We give very little thought to removing suffering for all time, and because of this we make mistakes in our spiritual goals. The liberation many of us seek is incomplete. Consequently, our efforts do not produce ultimate liberation. They do not result in nirvana.

Nirvana is the cessation of the true causes of suffering, which are delusions and karma. By ceasing the causes of suffering — ignorance, attachment, anger, and so forth — we can completely stop all suffering, all problems. How amazing that would be! That is the ultimate happiness or liberation.

In everyday life when we make an effort to lighten and eventually remove the grip these delusions have over us, we will find our mind becoming increasingly peaceful and decreasingly dissatisfied. A major obstacle to achieving liberation is the discontented, dissatisfied mind. By cutting off such a prickly mind, we can persevere and complete the work of attaining ultimate happiness.

The way to achieve happiness in life is from within our minds by transforming the mind imprinted with delusions and karma into the virtue that is the cause of happiness, the cause of success. Dharma practice is about removing the delusions and transforming the mind into the causes of happiness and success.

We can do this! When we achieve liberation, when we achieve full enlightenment, the work is finished. We would no longer rely on temporary samsaric pleasures dependent on external objects; we would instead generate happiness, attainments, and bliss from within.

When we speak of cessation or nirvana in the Mahayana tradition, there are two nirvanas being considered. The first is the lower nirvana, overcoming delusions and attaining liberation from samsara for oneself. The second is great nirvana, which is overcoming delusions, including the subtle obscuration to omniscience, thereby attaining full enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings.

A short prayer Guru Shakyamuni Buddha taught to arhat meditators contains the line “Avoid dust and avoid smell.” Merely looking at these words does not offer much insight. However, they contain a profound meaning on the Buddha’s methods, the path.

“Avoid dust” refers to removing ignorance, attachment, anger, and the other delusions, which prevent attainment of the lower nirvana, liberation from samsara for oneself. Without the practice and realization of emptiness we’re unable to cut the root of samsara, namely, ignorance.

“Avoid smell” refers to removing the subtle delusion that is the hurdle or obscuration to attaining full enlightenment. What is this subtle delusion? It is the dualistic mind that grasps at inherent existence. This defilement is so refined and so subtle that it is described as the mere tendency of the mind to see inherent existence. We could say it is the tendency of the mind to hold on to the “smell” of seemingly true existence. This mistaken view blocks our attainment of omniscience, the enlightened mind.

The cessation of delusions, and therefore freedom from samsara for ourselves by following the Hinayana or Small Vehicle path, can be termed as the “lower nirvana” or “lower cessation.” Reciting prayers sincerely can become the cause for ourselves to receive lower nirvana, to attain our own perfect peace. However, without the mind of bodhicitta, which is the altruistic mind that has the welfare of all living beings at heart, our actions do not become the cause of our achieving the higher cessation or great nirvana of enlightenment. Therefore removing the subtle delusion requires the added element of bodhicitta.

After a practitioner attains the lower nirvana, the mind is absorbed into that blissful state. It is like a musician who spends the whole day playing beautiful music, listening to it with wholehearted attention, paying no attention to anything else, the mind completely focused on the music.

Similarly, the arhat dwells in that meditative blissful state for many eons. After a very great length of time, the Buddha persuades the arhat’s mind, through light energy or something similar to that, to follow the Mahayana path in order to benefit other sentient beings. Therefore it is worthwhile to aspire beyond merely gaining for ourselves the blissful state of peace or lower nirvana. The important thing is to benefit not only ourselves; we must benefit all sentient beings who suffer so much in samsara. Therefore we should strive for the great nirvana, for full enlightenment, in order to benefit all other sentient beings. This is the motivation of the Great Vehicle or Mahayana path, the bodhisattva’s path.

In summary, the lower cessation or lower nirvana refers to liberation, as it frees us from delusions that obscure us from liberation. The higher cessation or the great nirvana refers to great liberation or full enlightenment, as it removes the two obscurations, namely, the obscuration to liberation (the delusions) and the obscuration to omniscience (subtle dual view). When these two obscurations are eliminated, the pure, sublime, blissful state of full enlightenment is accomplished.

Enlightenment means we have purified all obscurations, both gross and subtle. While we cultivate the path, we work on purifying different levels of obscurations, which become more and more subtle as we progress.

We first purify the most gross obscuration of delusion. When we clean a greasy pot, we first wash the gross parts of oil and dirt and then later clean even the stains of dirt that might have remained in the pot. In the same way, we have to purify the various levels of inner obscurations gradually. We will finally arrive at a stage where not a single aspect of knowledge is missing, where we have perfected all knowledge and purified all hindrances and obscurations, even subtle ones, to attain omniscience.

Our minds are like mirrors in which we can see the whole world and everything in it, except that they are obscured by dust. Our minds are temporarily obscured by mental impurities brought about by delusions. But the mirrors, our minds, are not actually fundamentally changed by the dust, but only temporarily obscured by the dust. If the mirror itself were merged with the dust, there would be no way to clean the mirror. When all the mental dust and obscurations are purified, this mind becomes an omniscient mind. When the mind reaches that stage, it is called enlightenment.

Why is full enlightenment everlasting? This is because once the obscurations are removed, the delusions, their seeds, and the subtle imprints that are the cause of all suffering are completely eliminated. It then becomes impossible for suffering to return, impossible for happiness to degenerate. It is impossible because there is no longer a basis for the cause of suffering to reemerge and interfere with happiness. For example, today our minds are controlled by disturbing thoughts of ignorance, anger, and attachment. Our minds are presently obscured by these afflictions because they are the continuation of the mental afflictions that existed yesterday. We did not remove yesterday’s disturbing thoughts, so they continue today.

It is the same with the life before this one. If we had completely removed the delusions by actualizing the remedy of the path within our mind in past lives, it would be impossible for us to be born with such mental afflictions in this life. There would be no disturbing thoughts if the continuation of those delusions had been stopped, so there would be no unhappiness or problems in this life. The logic is plain: if a cloth covered with dirt was completely cleaned yesterday it would be clean today, as there would be no “continuing dirt” from yesterday. Similarly, once the delusions and obscurations are completely removed, there will be no continuing delusions and obscurations to trouble us.

I wish to say again that even if we are able to achieve the cessation of delusions and thereby attain liberation for ourselves, it is not sufficient. That is not the real purpose of life; it is not why we have taken this precious human body. The real meaning of life, the real goal, the real purpose of having this precious human body is to bring all sentient beings to the everlasting peerless happiness of full enlightenment by liberating them from delusions and the mental stains of obscurations. How wonderful! This is how to repay the kindness of sentient beings.

ACHIEVING NIRVANA

The path to achieve nirvana and the path to attain full enlightenment are elaborated in the chapter on the truth of the path, but here is a brief outline of each.

Due to ignorance, the wrong conception of the “I” as truly existent arises, and from there ignorance of karma arises. As this ignorance of seemingly true existence has no beginning, the ignorance of karma also has no beginning. As ignorance has prevailed in our mindstreams, we have circled in the six realms of samsara during beginningless lifetimes, experiencing sorrow and fear again and again until now. Having accumulated so much karma through ignorance, we are repeatedly born in the suffering realms. Can you now see how crucial it is to break free of ignorance of inherent existence and of ignorance of karma?

Liberation begins with a genuine, heartfelt renunciation of samsara. Through observation and analysis, we become convinced of all of samsara’s shortcomings and of the terrible suffering delusions bring to our lives. If we are halfhearted in our efforts, sometimes renouncing samsara but sometimes seeking out samsara, our progress toward liberation will be slow and difficult. Our determination will always be in danger of growing weak.

We see the value of cultivating the noble eightfold path — right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration, right view, and right thought — and we put effort into it. The eightfold path can in turn be grouped into the three higher trainings of morality, concentration, and wisdom. The training in moral conduct forms the basis for actualizing the other two trainings — concentration and wisdom.

There is a reason for describing morality, concentration, and wisdom as higher trainings. Other religions include their own moral standards, such as avoiding killing humans, and may also teach some practices to develop concentration of mind. However, in Buddhism morality covers a wide range of conduct. It includes avoiding the ten nonvirtues we discussed earlier, namely, abstaining from harming any living being, killing, stealing, engaging in sexual misconduct, lying, harsh speech, divisive speech and idle gossip, covetousness, ill will, and wrong view. Buddhist morality also includes holding precepts and vows, such as lay vows and ordination vows, which are to be guarded even at the cost of one’s life.

In Tibet we have an animal called a yak, a big and strong animal that looks something like an ox. These yaks are very protective of their tails. If while walking in the forest their tails get caught in the bushes, they will not pull themselves free in a hurried manner. Even if a hunter is about to shoot them, they will not run off quickly because they do not want to damage their tails by dragging them through the bushes. Losing a few strands of hair for the sake of freedom seems too much for these yaks!

This is the same way holy Lama Atisha upheld his vows, from the minor vows to the major ones. He protected his vows the way a yak protects its precious tail, caring more about his vows than his life. Morality is premised on refuge in the Three Jewels of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. So the three higher trainings mean practicing morality with refuge, cultivating meditative concentration with refuge to analyze the Buddha’s teachings, and practicing wisdom or penetrative insight with refuge to gain direct realization of emptiness and nonduality.

ACHIEVING FULL ENLIGHTENMENT

We should well understand that realizing the absolute nature of self as lacking inherent existence does not mean we automatically cut off self-cherishing. The antidote to ignorance is undisputedly wisdom realizing the emptiness of all things, but self-cherishing can only be dispelled by bodhicitta. As long as the self-cherishing thought is not destroyed, even the full realization of emptiness will enable us to merely remain in individual nirvana for a very long time but not work for sentient beings.

Therefore the practitioner who aspires to do more, who abandons mere self-liberation and seeks full realization to benefit all beings, as bodhisattvas do, first must develop unshakeable renunciation of samsara. This person then needs to practice the six paramitas, or six perfections, of generosity, morality, patience, perseverance, concentration, and wisdom that form the bodhisattva’s conduct, followed by the practice of tantra, which will be elaborated on in the next chapter.

THE DIFFERING QUALITIES OF NIRVANA AND ENLIGHTENMENT

I mentioned before that nirvana can be categorized into the lower nirvana or liberation and the great nirvana or full enlightenment. These two states differ, which means the qualities of the attainments differ.

Nirvana, or liberation, is the cessation of all conceivable forms of suffering. In this state, we are no longer subject to the suffering of suffering, the suffering of change, and pervasive compounding suffering. We gain release from samsara and we experience everlasting happiness for ourselves and can remain in that solitary, blissful state for eons.

Enlightenment or the great nirvana is likewise the cessation of all forms of suffering and, beyond that, is the completion of all realizations, including the eradication of subtle grasping at inherent existence. It is the state of peerless happiness where the perfect qualities of an enlightened one’s holy body, holy speech, and holy mind, motivated by the welfare of all beings, is now able to benefit and guide all sentient beings without the slightest mistake.

Upon attaining enlightenment, a being becomes a fully awakened one, a buddha, whose holy mind of transcendental wisdom is called the dharmakaya and whose holy body is called the rupakaya.

THE FOUR KAYAS

When we attain enlightenment, the mind becomes the dharmakaya, the omniscient mind. The nature of this mind is that of the nature truth body, the svabhavikaya, which is free of all stains. In other words, the enlightened mind is fully knowing, and its absolute nature is completely pure of all the gross delusions and subtle delusions. Thus the enlightened mind is not like an empty sky but instead is all-knowing and totally pure.

The holy mind of dharmakaya is completely purified of the subtle dual view, free from the appearance of true existence and the obscurations to omniscience. It abides in equipoise meditation on emptiness forever, directly seeing the emptiness of all existence without the duality of subject and object. The omniscient mind’s realization of emptiness is like pouring water into water.

The durability of the omniscient mind’s realization of emptiness is distinct from that of the practitioner who may have realized emptiness directly, one who, during the time of equipoise meditation directly concentrated on emptiness, subdues the subtle dual view. Despite being subdued, the stain of that subtle dual view remains as an obscuration to omniscience. Thus such a practitioner cannot meditate in equipoise on emptiness forever, like the omniscient mind can. Such a person’s realization of emptiness is not like pouring water into water without needing to arise from that meditation. During the break from that meditation, the suppressed dual view arises again and once more sees the apparition of inherent existence.

By comparison, the holy mind of dharmakaya is completely free from this and all stains, even the subtle dual view.

However, we cannot guide sentient beings simply by abiding in dharmakaya, in a mental state. The omniscient mind must be manifested in a form that can be perceived by beings. Sentient beings have different levels of mind, so to guide each of them, omniscient beings must manifest in different forms: as a king, a leader, a worker, a beggar, a virtuous teacher, a butcher, a prostitute, a judge, and so forth.

Therefore the form aspect of the Buddha that living beings can perceive is called the rupakaya and includes two aspects, the samboghakaya and the nirmanakaya. The samboghakaya form is visible only to arya bodhisattvas, those realized ones who have perceived emptiness directly. The nirmanakaya form is visible to ordinary sentient beings and is the form Guru Shakyamuni Buddha took when he turned the wheel of Dharma and revealed the path.

The enlightened state of Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s holy body, holy speech, and holy mind have infinite good qualities.

Sentient beings derive many benefits from looking at the Buddha’s holy body. A being contemplating the Buddha’s appearance, with its thirty-two major marks and eighty minor marks, feels an immediate peace within the mind and experiences a subdued calm. Merely looking at the Buddha purifies vast amounts of obscurations and negative karma. In addition by making devoted offerings to the Buddha, while keeping in mind his qualities, such as knowledge, wisdom, and compassion, we create positive connection and karma. This helps us in our ordinary lives and sets us on the path to actualize our fullest potential of buddhahood.

The Buddha’s holy speech is so vast that just one line of advice is heard by countless sentient beings in their own languages and contains advice suited to each sentient being’s needs and karma. The Buddha’s holy speech also guides us through words in books, teachings, and chronicled conversations.

While there are many methods to reveal Dharma to sentient beings, those beings can’t realize the teachings until their minds have reached the karmic level or condition to receive them. Otherwise teachings will benefit little, as the mind is not able to digest what is being revealed. For instance, god-realm beings lack strong karma to receive teachings from a Buddha manifestation. Very few god-realm beings have affinity to the Dharma and hear those teachings only on special days like full moon days, and only in the form of Dharma drum beats from a god-realm drum not made by ordinary beings.

The Buddha’s holy mind is infinite and precise in its knowledge. For instance, if we cut up many different plants from different countries into tiny pieces and then pour these particles into the ocean for one hundred years, the Buddha’s omniscient mind will be able to perfectly identify the plant type of each particle and where it came from. This illustrates the incredible psychic power, clairvoyance, and perfect knowledge of the Buddha’s mind.

The Buddha’s omniscient mind sees all existence. The Buddha’s holy mind is everywhere. Omniscience means the Buddha’s mind knows every situation, every single sentient being’s mind, every being’s karma, and every being’s characteristics, strengths, weaknesses, and wishes in complete detail. This also means Buddha’s mind knows the guidance that is exactly suited to each sentient being, according to their level of mind and karmic condition, to help each sentient being’s mind become purer and more developed. The Buddha’s holy mind knows every method shown to each sentient being to guide that being to enlightenment.

In my own experience, there have been many times when I sought to clarify a Dharma point and somehow always easily found the text or passage that gave me the explanation I needed. This would happen even when I was unaware the answer would be in the text. I used to get the feeling something was directing me to the Dharma source I was looking for. This is what the action of the Buddha’s holy mind is like. Just as falling rain enables crops to grow, the omniscient mind nourishes the field of sentient beings’ minds and helps them grow in virtue, thus leading sentient beings away from suffering and toward enlightenment.

THE FIVE PATHS

In science, we learn how things come about, how they function, how to solve problems through remedial methods, and how atoms, upon meeting each other, produce power and so forth. In the same way, Dharma explores how samsara functions, what its causes and consequences are, and the remedies. Dharma examines the potency of the mind that meets the Dharma and the subsequent results of liberation and full enlightenment. Therefore we progress spiritually by removing layers of obscurations and gaining more profound realizations toward the goal of the cessation of suffering.

The five paths are the stages at which different types of obscurations are removed and realizations gained. The five paths enable the practitioner to better understand the entire process toward liberation and enlightenment.

First, here is a general idea of the five paths. The first two paths relate to the gathering of virtue and preparation for the direct realization of emptiness. This realization occurs in the third path, also called the path of seeing, where the obscuration to realizing emptiness is removed. The practitioner then continuously develops the wisdom seeing the absolute nature of things and reaches the next level, where the subtler obscurations are overcome. This gradual progress continues until all the gross and subtle obscurations are removed.

Therefore, it is not the case that a practitioner sits in meditation and suddenly all obscurations are removed. It is not like this. Instead, obscurations are removed in layers, through following a gradual path of cultivation and meditation.

At present our minds are temporarily obscured and impure because they are obstructed by delusions and the negative actions and thoughts produced by delusions. By purifying such pollution through doing virtue, undertaking purification practices, and meditating on the absolute nature of things, the mind can be restored to its completely pure state.

When a piece of white cloth is stained, this does not mean the white color below the dirt has vanished. The whiteness continues but is temporarily obscured by the dirt. Similarly, the essence of every sentient being is the clear, light, pure nature of mind, but that is temporarily overshadowed by delusions. This pure nature of mind is exactly why we can attain enlightenment, simply because our minds are not permanently tainted by ignorance and delusions. Remember this.

The five paths are:

The path of accumulation (or merit)

The path of preparation

The path of seeing (or path of right seeing)

The path of meditation

The path of no more learning

Both the Hinayana Vehicle and the Mahayana or Bodhisattva Vehicle use the term “five paths,” although they differ in how obscurations are removed and in the realizations involved.

According to the Hinayana Vehicle, we must proceed on the five paths to attain nirvana, which is the release from samsara. As the Hinayana practitioner’s goal is personal liberation or the lower nirvana, such a person enters the Hinayana five paths by generating the stable and pure renunciation of samsara.

A person seeking full enlightenment on the Mahayana or Bodhisattva Vehicle also pursues five paths with the same names. But as the goal of the Mahayana Vehicle is the welfare of beings, a person enters the Mahayana five paths by renouncing samsara and generating bodhicitta, the altruistic intention to attain enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings.

Hinayana five paths

When a practitioner strives day and night to be free from samsara and finally actualizes this renunciation, he or she enters the Small Vehicle or Hinayana five paths. The first stage is called the path of collection or accumulation, where the practitioner collects merit through engaging in virtues. Then through virtuous conduct and meditation the person enters the path of conjunction, also called the path of preparation, gaining profound understanding of the true nature of things and preparing the mind to achieve freedom from delusions, the source of samsara.

This is followed by a life of virtue and more meditative efforts leading to the path of right seeing, where the person attains direct realization into selflessness.

Within this path of seeing there are two stages: the stage without hindrance and the stage of release. When the stage without hindrance is completed the stage of release is simultaneously achieved, removing 112 delusions. Next the practitioner enters the path of meditation, where the remaining gross and subtle delusions are removed. When this is complete the practitioner achieves the path of no more learning, attains nirvana, and becomes an arhat.

The Hinayana Vehicle path speaks of two levels of practitioners: The hearer (Skt. Shravaka) receives teachings from the guru and then explains the teaching to others. The solitary realizer (Skt. Pratyekabuddha), after receiving these teachings, enters a state of solitude to meditate until realizations are attained.

The Hinayana five paths lead to liberation, which is the cessation of samsaric suffering and its cause. Ignorance, the root cause of suffering, is eliminated by realizing the ultimate, empty nature of the “I.” By developing this wisdom, all the other delusions are eradicated, so that actions produced by delusions cease and even the seed of ignorance left on the consciousness is completely removed. When even the seed is completely removed, one becomes free from samsara as well as all forms of problems, including ordinary death and rebirth into samsara.

By completing these five paths, the practitioner stops delusions in his or her mental continuum, attaining what is called nirvana or liberation, the sorrowless state of peace.

However, it is not sufficient that an individual gains complete freedom from suffering and its causes. Because numberless sentient beings remain locked in great suffering, practitioners need to enter the Mahayana path, the Great Vehicle path that seeks to liberate all sentient beings from suffering and bring them to the bliss of enlightenment.

Mahayana five paths

When we have explored the nature and extent of the sufferings of samsara and see how that strikes ourselves and numberless beings, we come closer to establishing the firm renunciation of samsara. From that basis of renunciation, we then generate bodhicitta, the altruistic intention to benefit all living beings, in order to enter the five paths of the Great Vehicle or Mahayana. These are the Mahayana paths of accumulation, conjunction/preparation, seeing, meditation, and no more learning. By completing these while also engaging in the bodhisattva’s deeds of the six perfections or paramitas, we achieve full enlightenment. It is only then that we are able to perfectly benefit all beings.

The first stage, the Mahayana path of accumulation or merit, is divided into small, middle, and great. The first step is the realization of bodhicitta, the constantly arising altruistic intention to lead beings to enlightenment, which is the door of the Mahayana path. Generating bodhicitta brings us into the Mahayana path of accumulation, where we collect merit through listening to Dharma teachings — we reflect, contemplate, and meditate, and we act virtuously and live life in accord with the Dharma. As we deepen our practice at each level, gross delusions are gradually removed.

The minute our minds reach this great path of accumulation, we see enlightened beings in the nirmanakaya form wherever we are, whether it be outside in the open or inside doing chores. Before that our minds were far from purified, so we did not see buddhas in this way. Instead we saw a buddha as an ordinary human in a totally ordinary form. This is simply because our minds are impure and not free of obscurations.

Buddha appears according to the level of mind. Because we’re habituated to believe in “reality” just as it appears to our senses, and because we limit our understanding of people according to what we see, we wouldn’t see the Buddha as the Buddha even if he were sitting next to us! This old habit of believing in ordinary appearances blocks realization on many levels, from guru devotion up to recognizing a buddha as a buddha. But when we achieve the great path of accumulation or merit, the mind is much more purified, so we see numberless buddhas right there in the nirmanakaya aspect, the form that is visible to sentient beings.

The bodhicitta motivation enables a person on the Mahayana path of accumulation to create more merit than would be created by a person following the Small Vehicle path of accumulation, because the Mahayana motivation goes beyond liberating only oneself and extends to liberating all living beings.

We next move to the Mahayana path of preparation. Here through continued practice, virtues, and meditations we gain realization into the four noble truths and the absolute nature of reality. We continue to remove more layers of delusion and obscuration, preparing us to attain the third stage, the right-seeing path. This Mahayana path of seeing removes 112 obscurations.

At this level, we gain the wisdom of directly perceiving emptiness, moving beyond a merely profound understanding of emptiness. We now directly experience emptiness. Once direct perception is attained, all gross delusions in our mindstreams are destroyed, the obscurations to liberation are purified, and we are released from all of samsara.

Right there we become an arya being, a holy being who has seen emptiness directly and who is free from suffering, sickness, death, and uncontrolled rebirth. At this stage, the mind is so much more purified that we see all buddhas in their sambhogakaya aspect, the aspect visible only to arya beings.

Once the gross delusions have been eliminated at the path of seeing, there remain only the subtle defilements. The subtle defilement that obscures omniscience, this subtle stain of the mind, is the subtle negative imprint in the mental continuum caused by past misapprehending of “I” and all phenomena as inherently and truly existent. This subtle defilement obstructs full awakening or omniscience.

After we enter the third Mahayana path of seeing, we start cultivating the ten grounds or ten stages. In Sanskrit these are called the ten bhumis, referring to ground or base. The Small Vehicle path does not have these ten bhumis or ten levels of realizations. There are more realizations in the Mahayana path. When we enter the Mahayana path of seeing, we begin to cultivate the first bhumi, followed by the next bhumi and so on. By the time we attain the eighth bhumi, all the gross delusions have been removed. The uninterrupted path is completed here and the path of release achieved.

While we are cultivating the first to the seventh bhumis, delusions remain in our minds. But after we attain the eighth bhumi, all gross delusions are removed and cease completely.

When this occurs, we are no longer in samsara. This is why the eighth and subsequent ninth and tenth bhumi stages are called the three pure stages — gross delusions are gone. The earlier seven stages are called the impure stages because delusions remain in the mind of the practitioner. The function of these three later stages is solely to remove the remaining subtle obscurations of the dualistic mind.

In addition to its mighty motivation to benefit all sentient beings, the Mahayana path is called the Great Vehicle path because it generates more realizations, it has more functions, and it purifies and removes more obscurations. Each of the Mahayana paths generates more knowledge, realizations, and skills than the corresponding paths of the Small Vehicle.

The ten bhumis continue into the fourth stage, called the Mahayana path of meditation, where through continued equipoise meditation without interruption, realization of the absolute nature of reality is continuously developed and refined. There remain only the subtle obscurations.

Again, there are two stages: the uninterrupted path and the path of release. The uninterrupted path becomes the remedy to our subtle obscurations in relation to the emptiness of the “I” and phenomena. The completion of the uninterrupted path coincides with the attainment of the path of release, where these remaining subtle obscurations are finally uprooted.

After this completion, no blockages remain within our mental continuum. The remaining 108 subtle obscurations are removed. The obscuration to omniscience is completely eliminated. At that time, we enter the final path of no more learning and become a fully enlightened buddha, at one with all buddhas.

Try to remember the function of each of the five paths of the Small Vehicle and the five Mahayana paths as well as the ability of the right-seeing path and the path of meditation to remove delusions and subtle obscurations. It is very, very helpful to do self-checking and analytical meditation on our Dharma practice to remember the significance of each path and its function for removing specific types of delusions and obscurations.

As we actualize each path, various levels of delusions, obscurations, and wrong conceptions get removed. That is how the Dharma releases us from the grip of samsara all the way to the subtle obscurations. It is now easy to understand.

We receive guidance and help from the Buddha because of the Dharma. If Guru Shakyamuni Buddha had not trodden this path he would not have achieved enlightenment and he would not be able to help or guide us sentient beings. His benefiting us illustrates the ability of the Dharma, how it enables us to leave all suffering behind.

There are two ways to analyze the Dharma. We can check how Dharma knowledge and advice offered by realized beings guides all living beings out of suffering. We can also check how the Dharma we have actualized within our own minds guides us out of suffering in the short term and in the long term. Both analyses encourage us to practice and persevere.

Guru Shakyamuni Buddha completed the collection of merit and the collection of wisdom and thus achieved all the kayas. He then revealed all the teachings to us sentient beings to enable us to accomplish the cessation of suffering and taught the methods in a very detailed way.

On altars at Tibetan monasteries are placed volumes of the Tengyur and the Kangyur, which contain these teachings of the Buddha as well as commentaries from the great Buddhist masters. All these teachings were left in this world for us to study, contemplate, and meditate on — and to live our lives accordingly.

So when we enter a gompa and see these scriptures, let us take the time to remember that the Buddha taught the Dharma to guide sentient beings to the great cessation, to enlightenment.

ANECDOTES FROM THE LIFE OF KYABJE LAMA ZOPA RINPOCHE

Offering to the mosquitoes

While at Deer Park Center in Madison, Wisconsin, Rinpoche had been going for daily walks in the evening as the sun set. We walked for an hour along a narrow country road with corn fields on either side. Rinpoche walks while reciting a scriptural text out loud. Each day Rinpoche recites by heart a different text.

However, the area attracts lots of mosquitoes and other kinds of sharp-biting insects! The bites really sting. Suggestions to Rinpoche about using something for protection falls on deaf ears. Rinpoche isn’t interested in any protection for his body because he thinks that even if they bite and feed on his blood and flesh, it is just a small offering to these little guys.

Blessings and missed flights

It’s time to leave the small Indian hotel for the airport. Everything is packed and ready and we are making good time. Suddenly a hotel staff person has fallen seriously ill, a plea is made to Rinpoche for a puja to be done . . . Rinpoche says he will do it now!

We all anxiously wait. Of course it’s important the puja is done, but it’s just that something always happens when we desperately need to be somewhere on time — like being at the airport to catch a flight. The puja begins . . .

Fifteen minutes later Rinpoche’s puja continues. In these situations, Rinpoche seems to have no concern about the time. He carefully explains to the person what the puja is about and what to think, how to motivate, what to understand. What can the rest of us do but wait? It’s getting late . . .

Half an hour later we’re still at the hotel. We’re trying to leave, but another man from the hotel staff wants Rinpoche to write something so that he can frame it in his house as a blessing. Rinpoche writes a verse about bodhicitta. It’s getting terribly late, so I think I will have to rush ahead first to check in the luggage and hope that Rinpoche can come soon after.

Four hours later we finally arrive at the airport, but other people have as well, still asking for things to be signed. Rinpoche is taking time and care to not only sign but to also write something meaningful. We rush through check-in, but when we get to immigration they say that because we didn’t register at the Foreign Registration Office on entering India we cannot fly today! Rinpoche never gets upset or distressed over such things — it is time to relax and have a cup of tea and a nice samosa!

Coca-Cola and bodhicitta

A man who had started a meditation center in a Malaysia port town had come to seek advice from Rinpoche. He told Rinpoche that he felt that he had some kind of special sensory perception and wanted to develop that into clairvoyance so as to be able to help more people and even heal them. He went into detail about his abilities and asked what practice he should do to develop clairvoyance.

Rinpoche listened intently, remained silent for a while, and then looked at the man and said, “Drink more Coca-Cola!” The man was startled by this unorthodox advice. Rinpoche burst into laughter and patted him on the shoulder, saying, “Just joking!” and then said in a more serious tone, “Clairvoyance itself is a low-level attainment. It is better to aim for bodhicitta. Put your effort into developing that because when the realization of bodhicitta comes, clairvoyance also comes, and then one can really help others.”