If you go back to the source of the suffering of samsara, you will only find ignorance. Ignorance of what? Of the fact that beings and things are devoid of true reality, in that they do not exist in themselves and by themselves. How does ignorance manifest? If one night you pass by a coiled rope on the ground in the dark, you might think it is a snake curled up and be so terrified that your heart races. Similarly, when we are immersed in the darkness of ignorance, we have a mistaken perception of the temporary meeting of our body and consciousness. Unable to clearly discern its true nature, we take it as an "I". That "I" in fact has no reality. As a result, we create a distinction between "I" and "other": we are attached to the one and reject the other. Based on this double process of attraction and repulsion, all the other mental poisons arise, and under their influence, we take birth in the various higher and lower worlds of samsara in which we do a mixture of beneficial and harmful deeds with unfortunate consequences.

-- Shabkar Tsokdruk Rangdrol