How Meditation Changes Your Brain — and Your Life

by Daniel Goleman and Richard Davidson

One cool September morning in 2002 a Tibetan monk arrived at the Madison, Wisconsin airport. His journey had started 7,000 miles away at a monastery atop a hill on the fringe of Kathmandu, Nepal. The trip took 18 hours in the air over three days, and crossed ten time zones.

Richie Davidson had met the monk briefly at the 1995 Mind and Life meeting on destructive emotions in Dharamsala, but had forgotten what he looked like. Still, it was easy to pick him out from the crowd. He was the only shaven-headed man wearing gold-and-crimson robes in the Dane County Regional Airport. His name was Mingyur Rinpoche and he had travelled all this way to have his brain assayed while he meditated.

After a night’s rest, Richie brought Mingyur to the EEG room at the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds, where brain waves are measured with what looks like a surrealist art piece: a shower cap extruding a spaghetti of wires. This specially designed cap holds 256 thin wires in place, each leading to a sensor pasted to a precise location on the scalp. A tight connection between the sensor and the scalp makes all the difference between recording usable data about the brain’s electrical activity and having the electrode simply be an antenna for noise.

As Mingyur was told when a lab technician began pasting sensors to his scalp, ensuring a tight connection for each and placing them in their exact spot takes no more than fifteen minutes. But Mingyur, a shaven-headed monk, offered up a bald head, and it turns out such continually exposed skin is more thickened and calloused than one protected by hair. To make the crucial electrode-to-scalp connection tight enough to yield viable readings through thicker skin ended up taking much longer than usual.

Most people who come into the lab get impatient, if not irritated, by such delays. But Mingyur was not in the least perturbed, which calmed the nervous lab technician — and all those looking on — with the feeling anything that happened would be okay with him. That was the first inkling of Mingyur’s ease of being, a palpable sense of relaxed readiness for whatever life might bring. The lasting impression Mingyur conveyed was of endless patience, and a gentle quality of kindness.

After spending what seemed like an eternity ensuring that the sensors had good contact with the scalp, the experiment was finally ready to begin. A precise analysis of something as squishy as, say, compassion demands an exacting protocol, one that can detect that mental state’s specific pattern of brain activity amidst the cacophony of the electrical storm from everything else going on. The protocol had Mingyur alternate between one minute of meditation on compassion and thirty seconds of a neutral resting period. To ensure confidence that any effect detected was reliable rather than a random finding, he would have to do this four times in rapid succession.

From the start Richie had grave doubts about whether this could work. Those on the lab team who meditated, Richie among them, all knew it takes time just to settle the mind, often considerably longer than a few minutes. It was inconceivable, they thought, that even someone like Mingyur would be able to enter these states instantaneously, and not need much time to reach inner quiet.

Richie was fortunate that Buddhist scholar John Dunne — a rare combination of scientific interests, humanities expertise, and fluency in Tibetan — volunteered to translate. John delivered precisely timed instructions to Mingyur signalling him to start a compassion meditation, and then after sixty seconds another cue for thirty seconds of his mental resting state, and so on for three more cycles.

Just as Mingyur began the meditation, there was a sudden, huge burst of electrical activity on the computer monitors displaying the signals from his brain. Everyone assumed this meant he had moved; such movement artifacts are a common problem in research with EEG, which registers as wave patterns readings of electrical activity at the top of the brain. Any motion that tugs the sensor — a leg shifting, a tilt of the head — gets amplified in those readings into a huge spike that looks like a brain wave but has to be filtered out for a clean analysis.

Oddly, this burst seemed to last the entire period of the compassion meditation and so far as anyone could see Mingyur had not moved an iota. What’s more, the giant spikes diminished but did not disappear as he went into the mental rest period, again with no visible shift in his body.

The four experimenters in the control room team watched, transfixed, while the next meditation period was announced. As John Dunne translated the next instruction to meditate into Tibetan, the team studied the monitors in silence, glancing back and forth from the brain wave monitor to the video trained on Mingyur.

Instantly the same dramatic burst of electrical signal occurred. Again Mingyur was perfectly still, with no visible change in his body’s position from the rest to the meditation period. Yet the monitor still displayed that same brain wave surge. As this pattern repeated each time he was instructed to generate compassion, the team looked at one another in astonished silence, nearly jumping off their seats in excitement.

The lab team knew at that moment they were witnessing something profound, something that had never before been observed in the laboratory. None could predict what this would lead to, but everyone sensed this was a critical inflection point in neuroscience history.

The news of that session created a scientific stir. As of this writing, the journal article reporting these findings has been cited more than 1,100 times in the world’s scientific literature. Science has paid attention.

The next stunner came when Mingyur went through another batch of tests, this with fMRI, which renders what amounts to a 3D video of brain activity. The fMRI gives science a lens that complements the EEG, which tracks the brain’s electrical activity. The EEG readings are more precise in time, the fMRI more accurate in neural locations.

An EEG does not reveal what’s happening deeper in the brain, let alone show where in the brain the changes occur — that spatial precision comes from the fMRI, which maps the regions where brain activity occurs in minute detail. On the other hand, fMRI, though spatially exacting, tracks the timing of changes over one or two seconds, far slower than EEG.

While his brain was probed by the fMRI, Mingyur followed the cue to engage compassion. Once again the minds of Richie and the others watching in the control room felt as though they had stopped. The reason: Mingyur’s brain’s circuitry for empathy (which typically fires a bit during this mental exercise) rose to an activity level 700 to 800 times greater than it had been during the rest period just before.

Such an extreme increase befuddles science; the intensity with which those states were activated in Mingyur’s brain exceeds any we have seen in studies of “normal” people. The closest resemblance is for epileptic seizures, but those episodes last brief seconds, not a full minute. And besides, brains are seized by seizures, in contrast to Mingyur’s display of intentional control of his brain activity.

While Mingyur’s visit to Madison had yielded jaw-dropping results, he was not alone. His remarkable neural performance was part of a larger story, a one-of-a-kind brain research program that has harvested data from these world-class meditation experts.

Over the years in Richie’s lab, 21 Buddhist yogis have come to be formally tested. They were at the height of this inner art, having racked up lifetime meditation hours ranging from 12,000 to Mingyur’s 62,000.

Each of these yogis completed at least one three-year retreat, during which they meditated in formal practice a minimum of eight hours per day for three continuous years — actually, for three years, three months, and three days. That equates, in a conservative estimate, to about 9,500 hours per retreat.

All have undergone the same scientific protocol, those four one-minute cycles of three kinds of meditation — which has yielded a mountain of metrics. The lab’s team spent months and months analysing the dramatic changes they saw during those short minutes in these highly seasoned practitioners.

Like Mingyur, they entered the specified meditative states at will, each one marked by a distinctive neural signature. As with Mingyur these adepts have shown remarkable mental dexterity, with striking ease instantly mobilising these states: generating feelings of compassion; the spacious equanimity of complete openness to whatever occurs; or a laser-tight, unbreakable focus.

They entered and left these difficult-to-achieve levels of awareness within split seconds. These shifts in awareness were accompanied by equally pronounced shifts in measurable brain activity. Such a feat of collective mental gymnastics has never been seen by science before.

Preparing the raw data on the yogis for sifting by sophisticated statistical programs has demanded painstaking work. Just teasing out the differences between the yogis’ resting state and their brain activity during meditation was a gargantuan computing task. So it took Richie and his colleague Antoine Lutz of the Lyon Neuroscience Research Center quite a while to stumble upon a pattern hiding in that data flood, empirical evidence that got lost amid the excitement about the yogis’ prowess in altering their brain activity during meditative states. In fact, the missed pattern surfaced only as an afterthought during a less hectic moment, months later when the analytic team sifted through the data again.

All along the statistical team had focused on temporary state effects by computing the difference between a yogi’s baseline brain activity and that produced during the one-minute meditation periods. Richie was reviewing the numbers with Antoine and wanted a routine check to ensure that the initial baseline EEG readings — those taken at rest, before the experiment began — were the same in a group of control volunteers who tried the identical meditations the yogis were doing. He asked to see just this baseline data by itself.

When Richie and Antoine sat down to review what the computers had just crunched, they looked at the numbers and then looked at one another. They knew exactly what they were seeing and exchanged just one word: “Amazing!”

All the yogis had elevated gamma oscillations, not just during the meditation practice periods for open presence and compassion but also during the very first measurement, before any meditation was performed. This electrifying data was in the EEG frequency known as “high-amplitude” gamma, the strongest, most intense form. These waves lasted the full minute of the baseline measurement, before they started the meditation.

This was the very EEG wave that Mingyur had displayed in that surprising surge during both open presence and compassion. And now Richie’s team saw that same unusual brain pattern in all the yogis as a standard feature of their everyday neural activity. In other words, Richie and Antoine had stumbled upon the holy grail: a neural signature showing an enduring transformation.

There are four main types of EEG waves, classed by their frequency (technically, measured in Hertz). Delta, the slowest wave, oscillates between one and four cycles per second, and occurs mainly during deep sleep; theta, the next slowest, can signify drowsiness; alpha occurs when we are doing little thinking and indicates relaxation; and beta, the fastest, accompanies thinking, alertness, or concentration.

Gamma, the very fastest brain wave, occurs during moments when differing brain regions fire in harmony, like moments of insight when different elements of a mental puzzle “click” together. To get a sense of this “click,” try this: What single word can turn each of these into a compound word: sauce, pine, crab?

The instant your mind comes up with the answer, your brain signal momentarily produces that distinctive gamma flare. You also elicit a short-lived gamma wave when, for instance, you imagine biting into a ripe, juicy peach and your brain draws together memories stored in different regions of the occipital, temporal, somatosensory, insular, and olfactory cortices to suddenly mesh the sight, smells, taste, feel, and sound of that bite into a single experience. For that quick moment the gamma waves from each of these cortical regions oscillate in perfect synchrony. Ordinarily gamma waves from, say, a creative insight, last no longer than a fifth of a second — not the full minute seen in the yogis.

Anyone’s EEG will show distinctive gamma waves for short moments from time to time. Ordinarily, during a waking state we exhibit a mixture of different brain waves that wax and wane at different frequencies. These brain oscillations reflect complex mental activity, like information processing, and their various frequencies correspond to broadly different functions. The location of these oscillations varies among brain regions; we can display alpha in one cortical location and gamma in another.

In the yogis, gamma oscillations are a far more prominent feature of their brain activity than in other people. Our usual gamma waves are not nearly as strong as that seen by Richie’s team in yogis like Mingyur. The contrast between the yogis and controls in the intensity of gamma was immense: on average the yogis had 25 times greater amplitude gamma oscillations during baseline compared with the control group.

We can only conjecture about what state of consciousness this reflects: yogis like Mingyur seem to experience an ongoing state of open, rich awareness during their daily lives, not just when they meditate. The yogis themselves have described it as a spaciousness and vastness in their experience, as if all their senses were wide open to the full, rich panorama of experience.

Or, as a fourteenth century Tibetan text describes it,

“…a state of bare, transparent awareness;

Effortless and brilliantly vivid, a state of relaxed, rootless wisdom;

Fixation free and crystal clear, a state without the slightest

reference point;

Spacious empty clarity, a state wide open and unconfined; 

the senses unfettered…”

The gamma brain state Richie and Antoine discovered was more than unusual, it was unprecedented — a wow! No brain lab had ever before seen gamma oscillations that persist for minutes rather than split seconds, are so strong, and are in synchrony across widespread regions of the brain.

Astonishingly, this sustained, brain-entraining gamma pattern goes on even while seasoned meditators are asleep — as was found by Richie’s team in other research with long-term vipassana meditators who have an average lifetime practice of about 10,000 hours. These gamma oscillations continuing during deep sleep are, again, something never seen before and seem to reflect a residual quality of awareness that persists day and night.

The yogis’ pattern of gamma oscillation contrasts with how, ordinarily, these waves occur only briefly, and in an isolated neural location. The adepts had a sharply heightened level of gamma waves oscillating in synchrony across their brain, independent of any particular mental act. Unheard of.

Richie and Antoine were seeing for the first time a neural echo of the enduring transformations that years of meditation practice etch on the brain. Here was the treasure, hidden in the data all along: a genuine altered trait.

One important lesson that I have learned is that there will always be someone ahead of me. Thus, in my opinion, it is better to be realistic in our approach and not to think only about oneself. We should keep this mind and just try our best at whatever we do in life, and at the same time, prepare ourselves for the fact that we too can fail in life just like anybody else. Practically speaking, failure and success are not our choice, but whichever comes first we should learn to accept it and move forward.

-- Zurmang Gharwang Rinpoche

世间的一切皆不可得

慧律法师

我们对这个死，时时刻刻都要放在头上，放在脑海里。有些人怕看到死人，他没有想过我们也会死。这个世间人很奇怪，譬如说，学校里有一次带了一群学生去参观博物馆，因为学生从来没看过人的骷髅，结果进去一看到人的骷髅，那些孩子竟然被吓哭了，很害怕。其实那个就是人的真相，我们人死后，就是只剩骨头，如果是骷髅跟我们一起睡，我们会很害怕，但是如果是一个美女来跟我们一起睡，我们就会很高兴。你会说：“女人漂亮啊！”你就不觉得害怕，事实上，有一天她死了之后，她也会变成骨头，会坏、会烂啊！

所以说，只有释迦牟尼佛见到世间的真相，只有释迦牟尼佛讲真话，世间人都是说虚伪的话：“祝你长命百岁啰！寿比南山啰、福如东海啰！”总是说这一些，对不对？世间人甚至到死了，都还是很执著，如果是请道士来办，道士把铁钉撒出去时，他就会这样喊：“祝你代代发旺财。”连人死后办丧事，都还是执著这种东西。听到发财，人们就答：“有哦！有哦！”道士随便乱念，你也不晓得。有一次有个道士，因为丧家红包给的太少，听到说只打算包多少红包给他，这个道士就很不高兴了，于是就趁着把铁钉撒出去的时候：“祝你代代发旺财。”底下还加一声：“哼！····”臭骂了几句，那一句比较小声，底下的人也没听到，底下的人还是照喊：“有哦！有哦！”人家在臭骂他了，他还是喊：“有！有！”人就是不了解生死的可怕、轮回的可怕，所以在假相中拼命的打转，一直到死不能解脱。

再来，我们要观照，观照这个世间不可得。

什么叫做不可得？世间有什么可得？你说你得到什么？有的人说：“我得到身上的钱。”金钱放在你的口袋里，就真的是你的吗？或许你会说：“钱放在口袋里，就是我的了！”——不一定，对不对？譬如说，我们看看路上的人，行人身上大多带有钱，可是突然间一辆车子迎面而来，猛力一撞，当场就死亡了，口袋里的钱就不是他的了，所以放在口袋里的钱，还不一定是我们的哦，真的哦！对不对？当然我不能讲，万一你出门发生意外……那我会被打死，我不能这样讲。

我有一次，因为我还年轻，讲话比较单纯，我说：“我们在这里听经，身上都有带钱，待会出去要是被车撞死了，这些钱也不是我们的了。”台下的人就骂我了： “真是触霉头！”所以我现在不敢讲了，来这里听经的人都不会死啦——这样讲算好话了吧？这样你们听了就很爽快。其实你们也知道这句话很虚伪，哪有人不会死的？又不是打算当妖精。我们要想：世间不可得。

所以我告诉你们，什么样的钱才是我们的？真正属于我们的钱，就是从我们的手中布施出去，做功德。我们亲手拿出去做功德，这才是真正属于我们的钱。有钱人如果不懂佛法，他会想：“我留下财产，我儿子会帮我做功德。”我告诉你，这可不一定，也许你儿子请道士来吵死你也说不定。难道不曾听过：道士比不过和尚？ 搞不好还用牲礼祭拜你，这也说不定。生前不会布施做功德，死后才想子孙替你做功德，这不是聪明人。

要观世间不可得，你拥有的金钱、名利一切，都会消失！佛陀告诉我们：一切世间的东西，你所拥有的，都会随着无常而消失。不管我们拥有什么，企业做得多大，地位有多高，都会随着时间而消失。所以修行是当急之务，我们若是不修行，就会继续六道轮回。今天不管你生活多富裕，总是无常，所以要观这个世间不可得，虽然我们看似有所得，但这不过是暂时的而已。

世间为我所用，非我所有，那都是暂时性的而已。包括我们睡觉的那张床，我们若是早上断了气，下午就别人被扛到大厅了，连那张床人家都不让我们躺了。真的喔！平时喊你妈妈、爸爸，叫得很亲切，一断气之后，就马上把你扛出来大厅了，没有办法的。人实在是很没有价值，生前还多少念一点人情世故，死后是人亡人情亡。所以要观这个世间不可得，然后对你眼前得到的东西，你也不会很执著，失去了的东西，你也不会很痛苦，你能够活得很解脱。一切名、利，包括感情，今天不管你拥有很多、很少，都不受影响。

所以一个开悟的人，身上没有钱，他也是这样子的欢喜心；身上有一亿，他也是欢喜心；身上有一百亿，他也是欢喜心；就算他穷得一毛钱都没有，他也是欢喜心。为什么？开悟的人，看一元跟一百亿都一样，他没有那种观念，一跟一百亿都一样，因为都是空性的东西，都是无常的东西，都是不可得的东西。所以说，我们要观世间不可得。我们仔细地观察，世间哪个人往生之后，能把钱带走的？带不走！所以我们要了解，观这个世间不可得。

我们要如何才能解脱呢？要观无我。

我们每天，时时刻刻都在说这个“我”，你冷静的想想看，你，你是谁？我现在问你们：“你是谁？你是什么人？”你能讲出你是谁吗？你讲不出来啊！你冷静的想想看，我们的色身，这不过是个四大假和的而已啊，地、水、火、风，地就是固体的，譬如说我们的骨骼；水，譬如说我们的尿液、唾液、口水、血液；火，譬如说我们的温度；风，譬如说我们的呼吸，我们这个色身，除了这四大以外，那有真正的我？既然没有我，我们今天在执著什么东西？对不对？

再来，观我们这个色身不清净。

所以说，我们就不会为了这个色身整天忙碌，整天忙得昏头转向。我们到日本去看，日本的女孩子，一个月都赚十几万，日币啦，不过还是不够花。日本人很奇怪、很虚荣，她们拿的那个皮包，都要拿名牌的，衣服也都是穿名牌的，身上宁愿没有钱，但是一定要打扮得漂漂亮亮的。你去日本看，很少有日本人不打扮的，就算他再穷，他还是要打扮。我们台湾也是一样，你再看台湾人，有一次我们去欧洲，导游带我们那一团去买化妆品，为我们介绍化妆品。一走进化妆品店，里面的种类真是多到吓死人，我才体会到女人的业障真的很重，化妆品的种类多得吓人，五颜六色的口红，牌子有死猪的（CD），还有死狗的，什么种类都有，多到让你眼花缭乱！我进去里面就开始念佛，在那里等他们买东西，南无阿弥陀佛……不然也不晓得要做什么，我也不可能买那个，我也没有化妆。我们若是能够观一切世间无我，知道化妆只是一种礼貌，今天我们就不会花许多时间，在这个假的色身上面，不会的，我们一定会利用时间来用功修行。

了解六道轮回的可怕，了解一切法无我，我们就知道要赶紧来用功。所以说要观无我，没有一个我，没有真正的我。我们若是有无我的精神，彻彻底底的了解，生生灭灭，变化无常的色身，随时都有死亡的可能，那有一个真正的我？我们今天，为谁辛苦为谁忙？对不对？我们在忙什么？我那时候要出家，我就这样想：世间最快乐的是什么？娶老婆啊，世间人说这是责任，再来呢？再来就是做大事业，我就这样想：做完大事业之后，要做什么呢？再来就是等着抱孙子，儿女都结婚了嘛，等着抱孙子，老了之后呢？老了之后，也不晓得要做什么，可能就是牵条狗去公园散步。真的啊，要不然就是养一只猪，养一只小猪来观赏，不然就是养些小鸟，否则也不晓得要做什么，人已经老了啊，这都没有意义啊！

若是在世间来说，我算是读了很多书，若是要去追求这个世间的快乐，可是我又知道，走上这一步，就是无常的东西。我今天若是不修行，来世我还会再来投胎，我还会再来六道轮回啊，对不对？反正我有三个哥哥，在传宗接代，让他们去生就好了，我个子小，基因差，就不必传了。所以说，我不是传宗接代的材料，让哥哥去生就好了，所以三个哥哥都有结婚，我是四哥，我没有结婚，我了解要修行，真的要修行。

所以我当时要出家的时候，我冷静了一星期，我就拿起笔写着：出家的好处、出家的坏处，第一、出家的好处，第二、出家的坏处，第三、在家的好处，第四、在家的坏处。然后就开始思量了，我当时要走这条路的时候，我就想：我若是在家，在家的好处，结了婚，最大的好处，就是生个孩子，回家有人喊你：“爸爸！”就是这样，然后你就回一句：“心肝宝贝！”偶尔看一看还想：“幸好儿子长得象我。”否则就让人很怀疑了。或是抱着孩子逗他玩，然后换儿子帮我挠痒，我帮他挠痒，最快乐的事情，大概差不多是这样了。若是想听他喊一声爸爸，那要赚很多钱，忙得昏头转向。

上班工作，从早忙到晚才能回家，娶到好老婆还算很安慰，要是娶到恶妻，看你如何是好？对不对？在家的好处，就差不多是当父亲，做事业赚钱。若是要论在家的坏处，现在是讲我啦，不是讲你们，那可就多了，我常看到左邻右舍那些夫妻，老是吵得不可开交，常常听到邻居吵架时，总会说一句话，那句话我已经听了二、三十年了：“我要不是为了这三个孩子，我早就跟你离婚了！”这句话我听了二十几年了，到现在还不是没离婚，已经听了二、三十年了，整天就是听到震耳欲聋的锅铲声，一吵架就老是讲这句话。

所以说，快乐、追求，我都想过了，若是出家，很快乐、自在，没有人管，对不对？半夜不会有人要你起来泡牛奶喂小孩、换尿布等等，就是自己一个人，对不对？若是修行，我们出家想了生死，就比较容易，没有人会干扰你。

所以说，电视上辩论的人说：“成佛并不一定要出家。”没有错！但是问题呢，有几个维摩诘居士啊？有几个人，有维摩诘居士那种功夫？对不对？释迦牟尼佛的常随众，一千二百五十个阿罗汉，个个都是出家人，证阿罗汉果的，个个都是出家人，有修有证的，都是出家人，修行是很专业的事情，所以不能找一、两个例外来为难。若是论到究竟，当然没有话说啦，佛性人人平等，但是在尚未成佛以前，出家总是比较没有挂碍，在家的障碍一定比较多，这是难免的事情，所以我们不可以执理废事。

再来，我们要观万法皆空。

这个“空”，很难去体会，世间人，他就是生活在一个严重的错误的观念，他不了解空的思想，譬如说，这是什么？卫生纸，这是一，从小老师就教我们：这是一，这是一张卫生纸。对不对？但是如果在圣者的角度来讲，佛说这是一张卫生纸，即非一张卫生纸，是名卫生纸。套用《金刚经》上讲的，这是一张卫生纸，可是真的有一吗？把它撕开，就变成两张了，再撕开就变成三张了，变成四张了、变成五张了，这“一”的观念是什么呢？

“一”只是一个观念。所以真正的佛法就是彻底的觉悟，一绝对不是一，知道吗？譬如说，这是一朵花，这是真的一朵花吗？我们把它撕一点点，那这个是什么？ 这不能讲是花啊，花不过是种种的植物的细胞构成的，没有一个真正的一。“一”不过是人类生命的一种执著的观念，错误的观念。我们到现今的教育，都是执著的教育，只有佛陀的教育，是破除执著的教育，记住！一绝对不是一；我绝对不是我；杯子也绝对不是杯子；麦克风也不是麦克风。方便说是麦克风，方便说这是我，方便说这是一盆花，方便说这是文化中心，对不对？这都是方便说。

为什么说是方便说呢？因为这是因缘生、因缘灭的东西。所以圣人的标准是什么？圣人的标准，就是没有任何的标准——就是标准，法无定法！（众鼓掌）法无定法，因为这个法是天天都在变的东西，你今天拿这个做标准，明天这个就不标准了，你说世界选美大会，那一个是最漂亮的呢？这是很难论定的，是不是这样？所以说，我们一定要了解，法无定法，这叫做标准法。

圣人没有一定的标准，也没有绝对的善，也没有绝对的恶。这个问题困扰很多人，他说：“请问师父！什么是善？什么是恶？”我说：“这没有一个定论，只能勉强的定义，很勉强的给它下定义。”怎么定义呢？对大多数的人有利益的，利益多数的众生，这样叫做善，那么有害一切的众生、多数的众生，这叫做恶。这是很勉强的定义，很勉强的说：这样叫做善、这样叫做恶。不然你说什么是绝对善跟绝对恶的东西？善与恶本来就无法绝对，没有绝对，只有空性的思想，是绝对的东西。

什么是绝对？万法皆空，这是绝对的。处处相，处处无相，处处缘起，处处性空。譬如说，这是一张卫生纸，因缘生，它就存在，有一天因缘灭了，卫生纸就不存在。对不对？我们今天，父母生我们，借着父亲、母亲的因缘而生，有一天我们死亡，因缘灭，就没有我们了。所以缘起，处处缘起，处处就是性空。所以万法从小到大，从小东西到大东西，没有一法不是因缘生、因缘灭，没有一法不是缘起，没有一法不是性空。所以这样我们就能观照万法皆空，我们若是有这一层智慧，这样子的清净的头脑，我们就不会被假相迷惑。

有一次人家叫我去助念，有人往生了，打电话要我去助念，亡者的家人，并不是个个都信佛，来请的这个师姐有信佛，她打电话来，我说：“好啊！”我问：“她家在那里？”这师姐说就是她的邻居，我说：“你邻居又没有信佛。”“没关系啦！师父你慈悲！”然后我就去了，到那里正准备要为她加持、助念，她一个读医学院的儿子，还是博士哦，正巧赶回来了。他的母亲死于癌症，等他赶回家时，已经来不及了，整个人是哭得痛不欲生，他觉得很痛苦、自责哭泣，他说：“我读到医学博士，我救了那么多人，就是救不了自己的母亲，我真是不孝！”

他一直很自责，我就问他，“你哭完了没有？哭完的话就要换我了。”他说：“这个师父怎么这样讲？”我说：“你哭了老半天，对你母亲没有一丝毫帮助。你母亲往生时很痛苦，面貌很不好看。”他哭了老半天，母亲的脸是纠结成一团，对儿子更执著了！“你站到一边去，站到一边去。”我说：“这种事情，你们医学博士没办法啦，这种事要法师来才有办法，要由法师来处理。你站到一边去。”他是对我很怀疑，就盯着我看，可能是认为我英俊吧，他就乖乖站到一旁去了，因为他平时对佛法也不认识。

我们知道人往生之后都会执著，我就靠近对她开示，跟他母亲说：“你的儿女们都很有出息，老菩萨！你不要执著，我现在给你招魂，为你加持，如果阿弥陀佛现前，你要跟阿弥陀佛去，你不要执著。”我们就开始结手印，为她放蒙山，为她加持，经过十五分钟之后，她母亲竟然面带微笑、开始微笑了，面貌开始变了，一直改变……本来他母亲是很执著儿子，很执著、很痛苦，我们就给她加持，然后用毗卢遮那佛大灌顶光真言，给她加持，旁边的人则一直念佛……莲友一直为她念佛，我告诉他们：“你们要念大声一点，阿弥陀佛……要大声为她念佛。”才十五分钟，还不到半个钟头，他就说要替母亲换衣服，我说：“不行！不行！要等十八个小时后。”他看到我这样讲，顿时愣在一旁，他虽然是个博士，但是对这个并不懂，我说：“你有时间读博士，竟然没有时间来了解生死的问题，我也是觉得你很奇怪！”

他觉得我出家很奇怪，我也觉得他很奇怪。对不对？我们俩个相见恨晚啦！对啊！结果他亲眼目睹，看到他母亲从原本的病容，很痛苦的面貌，经由大家为她助念，为她加持后，全身柔软，面貌变成非常庄严，现出微笑。我交代着：“十八个小时内不能动她。”我说：“在母亲生前，你孝顺她，现在你母亲死了，你要听我的。”他说：“我为什么要听你的？”我说：“我是法师啊，你要听我的，因为你不懂啊！”他也真的肯听我的话，幸好没有揍我。十八个小时之后，看到他母亲面带微笑，笑容明显可见，我说：“现在可以了，可以为她换衣服了。”

结果为她更衣的时候，全身非常的柔软，让人很容易替她更衣，整个脸庞看起来，就知道很欢喜，我摸摸她的头顶，头顶上有热气，顶圣眼生天嘛，头顶上有热气，往生极乐世界了！这个博士感触很大，他说：“我读到博士，我竟然不懂这些事。”我说：“就算让你读到超博士，你也不懂啦！”他有时间读博士，但是没有时间读死亡，他不会想去研究，如何死亡才有艺术，没有想过！

人都只会活在现实的社会，我说：这就叫做面对现实。所以我才对你讲，出家人是真正在面对现实。面对什么？生、老、病、死！出家人是真正在面对现实，这是真正的问题，这一关你没办法，对死是茫茫渺渺。这个博士说：“师父！你有那里有没有佛书？”我说：“有啊！”我就送他佛书，送他录音带。听了录音带之后，度了他全家人，后来他非常的感谢，度了他全家人了（众鼓掌）。

他家住在旗山，后来他非常感恩的，拿了一包很大的红包，那个红包看起来，以我数十年的功夫来看，应该是十万，因为看起来很厚。他拿了一个红包来，丧事办完之后，还懂得跪下来，说：“供养法师！”我非常欢喜，他看到我很高兴，以为我是看到红包在高兴，其实不是，我是看到你一个医学博士，因为见到母亲往生的瑞相，就能够觉悟来学佛，你也算是很厉害了，我是在高兴这件事，不是因为看到那包红包。我不是这样的！

后来他就要供养师父，我就说：“不要啦！”他还是说：“供养师父！”我还是不要，经过一番的折腾，我很委屈的就收下来了，没办法！两人推来推去的也很辛苦。后来我收下这十万，再后来我又准备了二十万的录音带，再拿去给这位医生，我跟他说：“你自已开医院，地位又这么高，这些录音让你跟大众结缘，你供养我十万元，我也回送你二十万的录音带。”还送了很多书给他，他很欢喜。

所以我说，人一定得要等到家人往生了——我不是在讲你们哦，对不起，我是讲在路上走的那些人啦，我不是在讲你们——人一定要等到家人往生了，或是家里碰到困难，真的遇到逆境，才真正需要佛法了，才会彻底地，想要追求真理。要是他每天活得很快乐，他就不肯去探讨，他有饭吃、他有车子开、有冷气吹，他不会想到死亡的事。今天听人家讲一讲，明天还是跑去媚登峰，她还是为了这个臭皮囊，拼命的化妆，打扮得再美也一样，都是白忙一场！

所以要观照，万法皆空不可得，心时时刻刻，统统要学习不要执著，要学习放下。放不下，我告诉你，你也无奈生死何。你说：“师父，我放不下。”放不下，百年之后你照常要死，你放不下，你能怎么样呢？你也是得死啊！所以很重要的观念——对一切相，莫求、莫著！不要求，不要执著。不要求，莫求，也不要执著，莫求莫著，这是修行的心的法要。

修行人只有八个字，可以决定修行：第一、决定不求，无所求；二、决定无所著。决定不求，决定不著，此人必定成道，这个人一定会成道！

为什么？因为我们求也没有用。我们求，求到最后，我们还是得不到东西。所以不求，才是真正的得法、得道。不著，才是真正的求道。若是求来的东西······要记住，世间人在拜佛拜神，那差别就很大了，世间人在拜神就是祈求：“你要保佑我发财。”保佑你发财，你就会永远富有吗？或是祈求：“你要保佑我儿子联考上榜。”我说：要是十万人都来求观世音菩萨说，你要保佑我儿子、女儿联考榜上有名，观世音菩萨就头痛了，因为一定有人上榜、一定有人落榜嘛，那么他要怎么做呢？我问你，对不对？

所以求人不如求已，求人不如求已。我们一定要记住，我们的心跟佛陀的心，究竟是平等不二的，平等不二的。我们今天虽然是凡夫，但是我们只要肯修行、肯觉悟，肯下决心来听经闻法，实实在在来解决我们生老病死的问题，就算是听到一句、听到两句，或是看一本书，懂得一点智慧的佛书，对我们的解脱也很有帮助。

所以说想要解脱，第一个，观无常；第二个，观死亡，时时刻刻，我们都要面对死亡；第三点，观世间不可得；第四点，要观无我，一切法无我；第五点，观万法皆空，观照万法皆空，无相可得。世间都是暂时性的，只是暂时性的而已，没有一样东西是永久的。我们今天长得很漂亮，也不必骄傲，有一天你也会年华老去，老到牙齿全掉光了，这是事实。今天你长得很丑，你也不必很有自卑感，虽然长得丑不是你自愿的，但是别常常出来吓人就行了！长得丑不是你的罪过，但是不要常常出现，让人家很惊讶，surprise 不要常常出来吓人。

再来就是莫求、莫著。那么这样子，我们的生命慢慢就会升华，对于这个世间的假相，慢慢地突破。所以要记住！修行跟学问没有关系，世间的学问，如果跟修行有关系，那读到博士的人就成佛了。没有这个道理！修行，识字也好、不识字也好，这个不关文字、不关学历的问题，六祖一个大字不识，广钦老和尚也不识字，为何能成为一代祖师呢？你记住！修行跟学问是两码事——修行是修真正的智慧，解脱的智慧，不关学问。学问是累积的执著，是一种累积的经验，它只是符号而已，人类创造出来的符号，你加上这一层的执著，那个叫做学问。没有错，学问能够解决我们许多现实的生活，衣食住行的问题，学问也能够解决我们很多交通、科学的问题，没有错，但是学问不能令我们解脱，饱学之士不一定是解脱的人。

所以我跟诸位讲过，电视上办的call in、辩论，一点意义都没有。你若是跟广钦老和尚辩论，也许你比广钦老和尚更会讲话，但是你是凡夫，广钦老和尚他是圣人啊，他不必跟你辩论，你讲得天花乱坠，你还是束缚的凡夫，因为你没有开悟啊，对不对？所以透过语言、文字，这不能代表佛法，那只是方便而已。

The victorious ones have said that emptiness is the relinquishing of all views. For whomever emptiness is a view, that one will accomplish nothing.

-- Nāgārjuna

A Brief Teaching on Refuge

by His Holiness the 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje

I would like to present a brief teaching on Refuge. It is the understanding and observing of the Refuge vow which defines one as a Buddhist. It is also said, "You are not a Mahayanist if you don't have Bodhicitta." The generation of Bodhicitta or the Bodhisattva aspiration to aid all sentient beings is what defines whether or not your practice is Mahayana.

It should be understood that the entire Buddhist path is included within the principles of Refuge and Bodhicitta. All the teachings given by the Buddha Shakyamuni come down to Refuge and Bodhicitta. Therefore we have teachings on the roots of Refuge, the general and particular precepts of Refuge, and many other instructions related to Refuge. The roots of Refuge are faith and compassion. First there is trust and confidence in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha (the Three Jewels). Also, there is compassion, wishing to liberate all sentient beings from suffering.

Faith in the Three Jewels consists of three types. Inspired faith is the positive inspiration you receive when visiting places of worship where there are many sacred objects, or when you meet great masters and attend sangha gatherings. Aspiration faith is when you wish to get rid of suffering and attain the peace of higher states of existence; you wish to practice good deeds and abandon negative deeds for that purpose, and have confidence in the possibility of achieving that goal. The faith of full confidence is to understand that the Three Jewels are your only and ultimate Refuge. One has heartfelt trust in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.

Compassion for all sentient beings is the pure wish to liberate sentient beings from all the kinds of problems and suffering in the ocean of Samsara. One should think, "All living beings have been my mothers (in past lives). All have loved me and cared for me as my mother. Therefore, I would like to help them to become liberated from all their suffering." This is compassion. These are the roots of Refuge.

What is the essence of the refuge vows? It is that I have no other ultimate guide but the Buddha, I have no other true path but the Dharma and I have no other companions with whom to tread the path of dharma but the supreme Sangha. We need companions with whom to tread our path: If we want to cross the river we need a boatman; the boat will not move on it's own. If we rely on wrong companions or friends we can be led astray, so we want to find the right companions and travel together on the right path. That is the supreme sangha (the noble sangha of bodhisattvas).

Clear and unchanging commitment to the Three Jewels of Refuge is necessary. The instructions on observing the Refuge commitments are many and can be categorised into the general, the particular and so on.

First of the general instructions is not to give up your Refuge vow even in exchange for your life, or for great awards. For example, even if someone might pile up the greatest amount of wealth on one side and tell you, "This could be yours if you would abandon your Refuge vow," one should not abandon the Refuge vow.

Second, whatever suffering and hardships you go through, you should not rely on anything but the Three Jewels.

Third, you should always make offerings to the Three Jewels and the sacred objects which represent the body, speech and mind of a Buddha.

Fourth, you should observe the Refuge vows and bring others to have confidence in the Three Jewels as much as possible. It is not enough that oneself alone should abide by the Refuge precepts, one should also bring others to the right direction; if somebody is going the wrong way you should try to lead them on the right path.

Fifth, you should make prostrations to the Buddhas of the ten directions, to the Buddha of whichever direction in which you are heading. This simply means to have respect, recall the kindness of and pay homage to the Buddhas morning, noon and evening.

There are the instructions on the particular precepts regarding the Three Jewels.

First, if we go for Refuge to the Buddha we do not ever take worldly deities and gods as an ultimate source of Refuge. Worldly gods are those like Brahma, Indra, Vishnu and Shiva, or Tsens and Gyalpo and other spirits. Since they themselves are in Samsara, how can they help you to become liberated from it? So, as it is said in the Thirty-seven Practices of a Bodhisattva (by Thogme Rinpoche), one should not go for Refuge to unenlightened and worldly beings.

Second, going for Refuge to the Dharma means giving up harming sentient beings. These living beings here include not just those with four legs and hair, but all those who have senses or a mind (including insects). One should give up killing and robbing, and should tread the path of non-violence.

Third, when you go for Refuge to the Sangha you should not spend time with negative companions; if you spend time with negative companions you will be led into negative ways and not into positive ways.

There are three precepts to observe with regard to paying respect to the Three Jewels:

First, regarding going for Refuge to the Buddha, you show reverence to the Buddhas and their representatives. This includes putting Buddha images in a place of respect, making prostrations and offerings, and so on (images of the Buddha should not be placed on the floor).

Second, going for Refuge to the Dharma requires you to show reverence to the Dharma and its representations, even to a letter or a syllable by which the Dharma is written.

Third, taking refuge in the Sangha requires you to show respect to the sangha and the representatives of the Sangha, like those who are wearing the robes of the Sangha. Even if you find a piece of red robe on the street you should think that this is also a representation of the Sangha and should not treat it in a disrespectful way.

Now for the three instructions on accordance of the vows.

First, in going for Refuge to the Buddha, let your mind be in accord with the Dharma. If we claim to go for Refuge to the Buddha but our mind is completely in opposition to the Dharma it is not right. Let your mind be infused with the Dharma, and generate peace and humility in your mind.

Second, in going for Refuge to the Dharma, we should let our speech be in accord with the Dharma. If we claim to be taking Refuge in the Dharma but let our speech be totally contrary to the Dharma this is very wrong. Therefore we try to give up telling deceitful lies, slandering others, and speaking hurtful words; we try to infuse our speech with the Dharma in our daily life.

Third, in going for refuge to the Sangha we should let our body be in accord with the Dharma. We should try to live our life in accord with the Dharma and give up negative actions of the body, such as sexual misconduct and so on.

What are the benefits of observing the Refuge precepts? By going for Refuge we begin to practice the Buddha's Dharma, this generates numerous benefits. We create a favourable basis for all precepts and levels of ordination. Also, we are protected from the harm of negative humans and non-human beings; all obstacles and harmful influences are pacified. We will not be separated from the blessings of the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha in all our lives to come. The effects of negative karma will be reduced. There are so many benefits that it is difficult to count them all.

Now we'll talk about Bodhicitta. All of the paths of a Bodhisattva must be completed within the context of Bodhicitta. First try to think of all those beings experiencing great suffering whom you have seen, like those people who are disabled or sick, and then think of all the other beings who are undergoing immeasurable sufferings. You think of this again and again until you feel real and great compassion for them. You feel as if one will personally dispel all their sufferings; I will do it even if I must do it alone.

When this kind of aspiration and courage arises in you, it is the beginning of becoming a Bodhisattva. Developing this kind of compassion and courage constitute the preparation and training of a Bodhisattva.

There are three kinds of aspiration for a Bodhisattva.

First is the king-like aspiration. A king has power and can give orders to help and benefit his subjects. This means one aspires to become enlightened, in order to be able to help all other sentient beings attain enlightenment.

Second is the captain-like aspiration, which means you want to become enlightened alongside all other sentient beings. A boatman loads his boat with passengers and goes with them across the river.

Third is the shepherd-like aspiration, which is when one aspires, "May all beings become enlightened because of my positive deeds. I will become enlightened only after every one of them has attained enlightenment." A shepherd will take care of the sheep first, and only then will he go home. This is the most supreme type of courage and compassion.

Of these three, the most noble is the third. But you can choose whichever is more suitable for you; there is no difference. There are three precepts of the Bodhicitta vow: abstaining from negative actions, accumulating positive actions, and working for the benefit of others. Abstaining from negative actions can be elaborated into the eighteen root precepts, but the essence of all of them can be condensed into not abandoning sentient beings. To give up on any sentient being is worse than any other negative deed, therefore one must place emphasis on this.

The Refuge vow and Bodhicitta are not just preliminary practices, or something to be done in the beginning and then be left behind. We recite verses on Refuge and Bodhicitta at the beginning of our practices, but they are not only for the beginning. These two should always accompany you throughout the path. One should maintain compassion, not give up on any sentient being, and should keep a strong commitment to the Refuge vow. This is the most important basis for the Buddhist path and one should always think that “I will personally bring all sentient beings to Enlightenment.”

One should try to generate a genuine aspiration of this kind and work on it as one would dig for gold. This means one should be genuine, and not false or hypocritical. For example if you are not drunk but act like a drunk to impress others, you are not being genuine. When someone is digging for gold, he or she is not thinking of anything else but that gold. Likewise, one should focus one's mind solely on the generation of Bodhicitta and not do it for fame.

If you do not place emphasis on Refuge you cannot even practice the Hinayana, let alone the Mahayana. If you do not have an inclination towards Bodhicitta you cannot practice Mahayana, let alone Vajrayana.

It is very important to understand this basic principle. If genuine Bodhicitta is established in your mind, you will enter the path of the Bodhisattvas and you will always meet genuine spiritual friends in your lives to come. One will receive the nectar of the Dharma teachings, and will actualise Enlightenment, the perfect Buddhahood, without much delay. Perfect here means the complete abandonment of all that is to be abandoned and the full accomplishment of all that is to be accomplished.

Buddha is translated into Tibetan as Sangye. 'Sang' means awaken: you awaken from all the afflictions. 'Gye' means blossom: the wisdom opens like the petals of a blossoming flower.

Now that we have laid the foundation for the ocean of Bodhisattva activities, we should say prayers such as the Zangpa Chopa Monlam, the prayers composed by Nagarjuna, etc. al. We should say them not just once or twice but every day, and as constantly as possible throughout our lives for the benefit of others.

The reason why I talk about Refuge is that we should not waste this life of ours which is endowed with the eight freedoms and ten opportunities. Of course there are many who are more learned than I am, but I have tried to say a few words on this. A fool like me doesn't know much, but if you keep it these words in mind I think there will be some benefits.

Buddhism does not advocate that people should forsake their desires completely; it advises people to follow the middle path. We shouldn't allow our desires to become rampant, but we also have to live with the fact that we do have desires. Therefore, we have to use our wisdom to guide us so that we only follow positive desires and not the negative ones.

-- Venerable Fazhao

清明节 且思且感恩

嘎玛仁波切

导语：清明的细雨纷纷，此节更深的意义在于让我们为一切如父母般的众生，对他们怀着且思念且感恩的慈悲之心，望他们不再深陷轮回之苦而祝福而合掌而鞠躬，怀着慈悲喜舍之情念一句”嗡嘛尼呗美吽”!

清明时节，垂柳依依，糜雨绵绵。此节不仅是中国的传统节日，也是中华民族最重要的祭祀节日之一。时临仲春与暮春之交，清明也正赶万物复苏的好节气。

或微微细雨或艳阳高照，踏着一抹春绿，捧着一束菊花，回归久别的故乡，带着追思的记忆，怀念已别的亲人。思绪中更多的浮现出已逝岁月中，离别亲人们健在时给予我们的温暖、关心、问候和细心照料。或许也有未曾谋面的祖辈们，我们同样也在追思，这是一份孝道更是一份感恩。因为每个生命的延续，每个人的成长都有太多的相伴和相助。这些如长辈父母般的恩情，不是一个谢字或是深鞠一躬就能完全回馈和答谢的，这种生命对于生命的传承和给予，我们唯有珍惜，超越和度过每个有意义的岁月，才能让此生更出彩。

每个人都有父母或也已经为人父母，那种血浓于水的情感是无法用言语描述的。世间的相遇没有无缘的聚首。每当我们细细体会与亲人们的爱别离时，都有锥心般的痛楚。或许是暂别，但在无常的定义下也许就是久别不重逢了。轮回中的一切影像的定格最终都逃离不了别离。因为生与死是不会停歇的。轮回的苦楚本质就是有生必有死。可是我们深陷轮回当中只期盼相聚却躲避离别，在面对一次次的病苦与死苦时，内心中那种期盼与亲人能再次相聚所求不得而倍感绞痛时，我们涕泪交加，内心恐慌而无助。在今后岁月的追思里，那种曾经与亲人们相守相望的记忆让我们多了一份忧伤，但也多了一份慰寄。

细细体味父母们给予我们的那一份伟大的关爱，每一个家庭祈求圆满幸福时，都是为了彼此互相给予的一份温暖而相伴相随。在轮回的世界里，有太多的众生曾经为我们的父为我们的母，只因每一次轮回之后我们的角色也在转变，那种宿世的记忆已被封藏。我们总会在陌生的人群中瞥见不相识的熟面孔。无常随时都在上演，离别也随时都会发生。在一个特别的日子里，去缅怀已逝的亲人们，是为了祝福他们在它方也能一切安好。

做为佛教徒，在清明节这个怀念与追思的节日里，我们能做到的最好祝福，就是用我们自己修行的方式或信徒的身份，祈祷与回向我们深爱的亲人们能早日脱离轮回之苦。以对亲人们的这份思念延展我们的小爱慢慢转变成慈悲的大爱，视一切众生如自己的父母和亲人，培养起真正的无伪菩提心。深思在轮回的漫漫长路上，真的有太多的众生为我们付出和奉献过。只是无常相伴时，之后的角色转变让我们退失了一些记忆。

真正的缅怀也是一份祝福。如果真要报父母之恩，报亲人之恩，报祖辈之恩，就是珍惜我们此生得而不宜的睱满人身，让此生更出彩的方式就是让更多的亲人们和自己告别轮回之苦。

清明的细雨纷纷，此节更深的意义在于让我们为一切如父母般的众生，对他们怀着且思念且感恩的慈悲之心，望他们不再深陷轮回之苦而祝福而合掌而鞠躬，怀着慈悲喜舍之情念一句”嗡嘛尼呗美吽”!

To accomplish these purposes we need a sincere practice of the Dharma, and for this we need a proper understanding of the Dharma, proper teachings and the blessings of the unbroken lineage of the Gurus’ oral teachings. We cannot rely only on books; although an intelligent person can learn something from books, to really practice we need the blessings of the lineage. So now, out of a great rejoicing state of mind, think how you are going to receive the teachings from a Mahayana teacher.

-- Ling Rinpoche

Respect Between Teacher and Student

by Orgyen Chowang Rinpoche

Without a good teacher-student relationship it is very hard for the teachings to unfold naturally. The teaching really depends on that connection. The teacher has to be inspired to teach that subject. The teacher can’t feel like, “Oh I don’t want to talk about this teaching,” or “No one will understand this teaching,” or “No one appreciates this teaching.”

Sometimes students request and recite long life prayers for their teachers. In one way, of course, those prayers are important. But the most important thing for a spiritual teacher’s longevity is that his or her students have respect and appreciation. That is much more important than any prayer for a teacher’s long life. Having respect and appreciation for the teacher is the most important long life prayer – it does more to help a teacher’s longevity than praying for it. You don’t need any other long life prayer than that. If you don’t have respect and appreciation, a long life prayer won’t help much. If the students don’t have respect and appreciation it is impossible to teach.

In order to teach, the teacher needs to be inspired. He or she needs to really want to teach that subject. They need to feel like they have a good container to pour that teaching into. Otherwise, if something is bothering a teacher, it damages their motivation to teach.

This good connection between student and teacher is a requirement especially for the Vajrayana teachings and for the Dzogchen teachings. The teacher and the student need to have certain qualities. It cannot be that the teacher is a disaster and the student is a disaster. Then nothing meaningful happens, in fact things get worse.

For example, as Guru Rinpoche says, “If you don’t examine the teacher’s qualities, it’s like drinking poison.” If you drink poison you may die. Guru Rinpoche also said, “If you don’t examine your students, it’s like jumping off a cliff.” If you jump off a cliff you may die or you may break your legs.

A teacher influences your life. If you meet the wrong kind of teacher then you are influenced to go the wrong way. It’s not a small danger. That’s why Guru Rinpoche says not examining the teacher is like drinking poison. This goes for any kind of teacher — religious teachers, spiritual teachers, or any other kind of teacher because the role of a teacher is to guide you. So the wrong teacher can misguide you, either intentionally or unintentionally.

Many students suffer because they met the wrong teacher. They take the wrong person as a teacher. They end up feeling betrayed and violated or very depressed and disappointed.

The other side is that sometimes the teacher gets the wrong kind of students. If a teacher has bad students it can also be dangerous. Those students end up undermining the teacher, or creating difficulties for the teacher. When the student is difficult and doesn’t have the proper respect for the teacher, then that disturbs the teacher’s mind. And that disturbs the teachings because when the teacher’s mind is disturbed then he or she doesn’t want to teach. Thus it prevents other people from receiving the teachings as well. Having the wrong students interferes with other people’s precious opportunity to connect with the teacher and the teachings.

Many teachers, even ones who are enlightened beings, don’t teach. Why is it that a being like this wouldn’t teach? Sometimes the reason is that the students are so complicated. The teacher would prefer to remain silent rather than share the precious teachings they have with the wrong people. They decide that silence is better than teaching complicated students. This is what happens when students disturb the teacher’s mind. These teachings are very precious, so a teacher of them needs to be in a good mood and have a good connection with the audience to feel like sharing them.

Therefore while a long life prayer is important in one way, the teacher and student must have this mutual respect. Both must make their relationship a priority all the time. For the teacher and the student to have a good connection they need to respect each other. That is the basis for any real relationship. Then wonderful and amazing things can happen on the basis of that connection.

After realising the things of this world are unreal, there is little benefit in dwelling in solitude. When the falsehoods of phenomenal appearances have collapsed into their own nature (emptiness), and the unaltered nature of phenomena has been recognised, do not nit-pick the subtle concepts of grasping and grasped, or attach to the contaminated virtuous deeds. Please maintain the stronghold of the vast expanse of primordial pure nature.

-- Padmasambhava, Guru Rinpoche

默然妄语

文｜远尘

不妄语戒是佛教五戒的基本戒条之一，也是佛教信徒必须持守的戒条。所谓不妄语，简单的说就是不说假话、大话。其本质是诚实无欺，禁止谎言。那种未见言见，见言不见，虚伪夸张，藉辞掩饰，是妄语最明显的表现。妄语不但欺人，而且自欺，破坏人与人之间的诚信。因此，佛教将不妄语戒作为一个重要的戒条归入五戒之中，要求佛弟子都要遵守。

佛陀无论是在向弟子作开示时，还是带领大众诵戒之时，都十分重视考察弟子对妄语戒的受持程度如何。佛陀认为，不妄语戒的范围很广，除了不亲口说妄语之外，如果一个人虽然口中没说妄语，但他的行为如果违反戒律，或者自己故意不持戒，而在众人面前示现持戒的假象，这种行为也属于妄语，这种妄语，佛陀称之为“默然妄语”。

佛陀提出的默然妄语观点，是佛陀在《法海经》中讲说的。经中说，有一次，佛陀与众弟子游访瞻波国的汉呿利池上。当时正好是月半，按照戒规应当聚众说戒。此时，大众都集中一起，等待佛陀说戒。佛陀此时也坐在法座之上，等了很长时间，佛陀只是默然不语，也不说戒。大众等不下去了，这时侍者阿难，整理好衣服，跪在佛陀跟前对佛说：“初夜已经过去了，中夜将要来临，大众聚集在一起很久了，世尊您尚未感到疲倦，希望能够为大众说戒。”佛陀依然默然不语。大众等了很久，当时有位比丘，名叫阿若都卢，整理好自己的衣服，长跪佛前对佛说：“初夜、中夜已经过去了。群鸡将要晨叫了， 世尊您也将感到疲倦了，众僧都聚集一起等了很久，恳请世尊为大众说戒。”佛陀依然默然不语。阿若都卢比丘隔了很久又对佛陀说：“启明星已经出来了，再不说戒，时间就会过去了。”这时，佛陀才终于开口说：“比丘，因为众僧之中有不持戒之人，因而我才不说戒。”听过佛陀的话后，大目揵连尊者心想：“我应当入定观察，看谁是不持戒之人。”目连于是对佛陀说：“我想入定观察谁是不持戒之人，然后，命令不持戒的人从大众中退出。”佛陀说：“你打算定中观察不持戒者，令他出去，这个办法很好。你现在即可入定观察。”目连随即入定观察，通过观察，照见其中一个弟子犯了重戒。目连便出定，走到犯戒比丘跟前，对这位比丘说：“你为沙门，奉戒为本，戒律就像人的头一样重要。沙门的戒行，应当清白无染，如水如玉。这是世尊的座位，贤圣聚会之处，度化世间众生者聚集之所，清净道德之人所会聚处。此座犹如旃檀之林，你以伊兰臭秽，乱于正道。”目连说着，亲自将这位不持戒的比丘领出戒场。目连边领着不持戒比丘出去边说：“你是被僧团弃舍之人，不能预知如来大众之清净集会说戒，你不能以秽浊之行来参与大众集会说戒。大海不受秽尸，你好好想想，不要污秽贤能之众。秽人自知不受持戒行，他也无法抵赖自己的犯戒，随即从僧团中出去了。”

目连将不持戒比丘逐出僧团之后，回到说戒之所，对大众说：“秽浊之人，已经逐出，在座大众都已经清净，希望世尊现在能为大众说戒。”出乎大众意料的是，佛陀此时依然默然不语。目连感到很奇怪，在大众中四向观察，见到刚才被赶出的那位比丘又回到他刚坐过的座位上了。目连随即呵斥这位比丘说：“你已经是被大众抛弃之人，为何不反躬自省，还以罪秽之身重坐此座。”目连再次驱赶他出去，这位比丘才在众目睽睽之下，起身离开自己的座位走出说戒之所。

逐出不持戒比丘之后，目连再次对佛陀说：“世尊，秽浊之人已经出去，大众都是受持净戒之人，再没有其他不持戒之人在场，祈愿世尊怜念大众，按时说戒，令众僧得修净业。”

佛陀告诉目连：“我从今以后，不再说戒，你们可以自己聚在一起共同说戒。有人在大众之中犯了戒，不反省自己的罪过，还默然不说，又来参加如来说戒。这种行为是默然妄语。默然妄语，头破七分。如来于大众说戒，很不容易。从今以后，你自己说戒。”目连尊者对佛陀说：“弟子闻道，是如来先度化的，而不是弟子自悟成道。如来圣德，厚重天地，言真而要，弟子诵习，得成道果。如来犹天雨，百谷草木，无不仰荣。弟子德浅道小，人不服信。希望世尊能够哀悯大众，使一切人都获得安乐。希望能圆满大众的志向。”目连如是恳请佛陀三四五次，佛陀才告诉目连说：“你为了一切众生，请求如来说戒，如此殷勤乃至四五次。我现在应当为你们说戒。”佛陀于是为大众讲说了僧法八德的含义。

佛陀严禁弟子对人说妄语(为救护众生的急难说方便妄语除外)，并将妄语定为佛弟子的必须守持的基本戒条，而且，佛陀还对那些屡次犯戒，不思悔改，还默然不语，制造持戒假象的人深恶痛绝，称这种人的造假行为为默然妄语，将其归于妄语者之列。在某种程度上，默然妄语比一般人的言语妄语更令人生厌。因此，作为佛弟子，不仅要做到口不说妄语，行为上也要远离默然妄语。只有这样，才能在别人面前树立起诚信的形象。

Any path that knows the sufferings, abandons the origin of all sufferings, actualises the cessation and meditates on the paths. In short, has the characteristics of a path.

-- Vasubandhu

The Importance of a Focal Point

by Tulku Thondup Rinpoche

Amid our difficulties and struggles, it can be so helpful to have a focal point. We can choose any positive mental image or experience to focus on. I encourage people to think about a peak experience and bring back the feeling from it.

One example from my own life is the spiritual experience I had on a visit to a great teacher. We may find that an obviously inspiring memory springs to mind, or else we could choose from many possibilities, like a wonderful experience in the mountains or at the seashore. Even if we feel so downcast that nothing seems inspiring, we can still find some focal point to help us. Viktor Frankl, the therapist who went through the hell of Auschwitz, was able to find inspiration in the thought of being ‘‘worthy of suffering.’’

A focal point can be like a trusted friend to whom you can turn to whether you are happy or sad. If your mood is dark or even bleak, take some time, even if it is only for a few minutes, for contemplation. Recall the image or experience, as you breathe in a relaxed way. The most important thing is the warm, open, positive feelings that come back. You can apply these feelings to the darkness of sadness, dissolving the negativity like a snowflake in water.

Sentient beings are limitless. Therefore if we cultivate bodhicitta by relying on the understanding that there are limitless sentient beings, our cultivation of bodhicitta becomes limitless too. The authentic cultivation of limitless bodhicitta is accomplished that way.

Then if our cultivation of bodhicitta is limitless, it goes without saying that the benefits would be limitless too. But the problem is that we do not fully understand that sentient beings really are limitless.

We may talk about "all old-mother-like sentient beings who are equal to space", but nobody seems to fully understand just how vast the universe actually is. And no one seems to know that it is pervaded by sentient beings. Some scientists even say that there are no inhabited worlds except planet earth. But such a perspective is too narrow! It is like only seeing the eye of a needle!

-- Yangthang Rinpoche

懂得随缘，你就不苦

梦参老和尚

“不受磨，不成佛”，要在苦难当中成长。对一切乐不贪著，对一切苦不厌离，这才能守护佛的无上法门。

若没有历代大德这么守护，我们现在能学到《华严经》吗？不要认为这是我们的功劳，诸佛菩萨早已创立安排好，我们只是随缘护持一切事业，佛弟子应常时如是观，如是行。

菩萨智慧广大，诸根明利，常乐度众生，勤修福德助道之法。要想成佛得有福德、有智慧，不度众生没的福德，不度众生不会开智慧。菩萨思维种种方便善巧，专利他人，忘掉了自己，无我精神强大，心量广大。

我们不能自由自在，是谁限制你呢？是你的烦恼，你自己的业障，不是外在有谁加给你的。我们经常会说自己业障重，你真的这样想吗？当你要做错事、要生烦恼的时候，如果你能说自己业障重，错事你也就不会做了，善根也就成长了，如果你有这样的思想，你容易入道。

行菩萨道不是一件事两件事，也不是一生两生，是无量生。在时间上无法计量，没有数字可言，常时行菩萨行。修一切白净法，住于白净法，如来智慧当中。

学佛和佛学不一样。现在社会上很多大学都开了一科来研究佛学，探讨三藏十二部经典，这是佛学而非学佛。学佛是学习佛心里所想的，口里所说的和身体所行的，学习清净自己的身口意，这是真正学佛的人。学佛的人，一定会发菩提心，行菩萨道，信心百倍成就佛果，并且把功德都回施供养给一切众生。如果用这种发心指导学佛就对了。反之，无论再怎样通达三藏也只是佛学，也不能称作佛弟子修行人。

业果来了要承担领受，你能认识它，就心无罣碍没有恐怖。好比欠人家债，现在人家来收，你把债还完了多轻松。业果来了要承当，过去了就要放下。有些道友业果来時不想承担，过去了又放不下，那就苦上加苦不能解脱。

咱们念经之前要修四加行，慈悲喜舍四摄法，念的时候应作观想：“大慈大悲大喜大舍救济一切众生”。说我没有力量，那你介绍四大菩萨十方诸佛，学华严经的，你把华严力给他加持一下。不要认为这是假的，这里头含着不可思议的力量，这叫加持力。你能保持善用其心，念念不忘三宝，不忘失菩提心，“魔事”自消。

供僧如供佛，你能至诚恳切恭敬，以清净心供养三宝，完全没有分别，没一点杂念，这个福德就大。反之有数量、有计较的，福德就小。

菩萨度众生无有一定之规，我们凡夫看见菩萨示现“逆行”的时候，你虽不能理解也千万莫看成过失去毁谤，因为你看见的不一定是真实。为什么？你看见的是现象，不是本质。菩萨本体犹如虚空他为了救度众生，才会随缘示现“逆行”。

我们常常疑惑自己所学的法不够，了解的不够透彻。念一部经嫌少，念两部经有时候又嫌太长。往往追求越大越圆满的法，至于受灌顶也是要受大圆满的灌顶。这是贪心，一味想多累积功德。其实大家缺乏的是实际的行动力，没有一件一件地把我们所知道的去实行；不去实行，我们就不能证得，不能证得，我们等于没有得到法的真实利益。

想调伏无量劫的烦恼，我们要以“善”止“恶”。用善念来对治恶念，让恶念不生，善念多生，这样才能真正调伏和转变。

“安稳”，什么是安稳？得佛的真实法就叫安稳。了生死的、不受生灭所牵动的，这叫安稳。听经、拜忏、读诵大乘，你所做的事，都是安稳的。你一天心里所想的、身体所做的，没有六尘的染污，六根清净，漸漸的与如来的清净智慧相应。

个人有多大智慧，你就得多大的解脱；没有智慧，你就束缚。谁束缚你？你自己束缚自己，你会自己找些绳索给自己带上，那是你自己的事儿。佛教导我们的法，都是帮助我们解脱的。所以戒律不是束缚，戒是把那些扰乱，障碍你道业的染缘都遣除去，你自然就清净，解脱，最终成就圣道。

常行善法，于后不悔，所做善业经常增长。行善是好事，但莫要后悔，例如有人在财富盈满时行布施，等他受到困难时便后悔了，觉得自己当初不该布施那么多，或於布施之后即悔，这都叫善业悔。行善业不应后悔！

我经常劝道友，例如说打斋供众，他很大财富，叫别人替他去做，而他却没当一回事，没有恭敬供养心，那所得福报就很少。如果他亲自去做，无论供养谁，都很恭敬，平等对待，那他就能多生受福。供养时无分別无爱著、希求，才叫清净。

Gross conceptions are easy to recognise because they are so gross, and consequently they do not create such an obstacle. Politicians, especially very high-level politicians, often look like siddhas, realised men. They have a very austere demeanour and do not speak much. They consider everything carefully; and what they do say, they say precisely. They maintain an inscrutable and enigmatic pose, and one can never divine their feelings. They can seem peaceful and happy no matter how bad the circumstances, and can be extremely angry about something but still appear unruffled. By contrast, a good number of siddhas have no cares for anything in the world, yet are quite openly obstreperous.

There are also Dharma politicians, and some of them may also look as if they have a high level of realisation. They speak softly, conduct themselves well, and are very careful and considerate. They always look as if they are happy. In the case of both ordinary politicians and Dharma politicians, their outer appearance does not correspond at all to their real state of mind. There are many subtle and deep flaws in their minds, which do not receive any outward expression. People who are politically active have to be careful not to insult or denigrate others openly. Nevertheless, they often do so unintentionally. When a politician is praising somebody, one can often see that his praise is actually an insult. This occurs even in Dharma politics. Members of one sect will never disparage another sect, but the tone of their praise will show what they are really thinking. In the same way, gross conceptions are very easy to apprehend in meditation and one can understand them right away, but subtle conceptions are much more difficult to apprehend.

-- Thinley Norbu Rinpoche

The Ocean of Boundless Compassion

by Mark Unno

I remember as a small child the experience of my first pet. Our family had travelled to Japan because my father’s study had taken us there. We rented an old, traditional wooden house in Tokyo where year round the wind whistled easily past windows and doors that never quite shut completely. I desperately wanted a pet dog, but my parents said that we would have to wait until we returned to the United States. One day, however, they said I could have another kind of pet. We went down to the local outdoor bazaar, and they bought a pet for me; it was a grasshopper in a small bamboo cage. It didn’t quite have the feel of the dog I had imagined.

When we got home, my parents showed me how to care for it by feeding it fruits and vegetables. It especially seemed to like cucumbers and watermelon; I was hooked. My mother was studying ikebana, Japanese art of flower arrangement, and one day, we took the grasshopper out of its cage and put it on the flower blossom of one of her trial arrangements. The grasshopper took to eating the blossom, and it seemed so content that after awhile, when we left the house, we simply left the grasshopper munching on the flower. Thereafter, every time we went out, we left the grasshopper on the flower arrangement. Even though it could easily have escaped, it never even tried. When our little grasshopper died, I cried.

In the Shin Buddhist path, the emphasis is on the Buddha’s compassion for all sentient beings. As human beings, our ability to convey compassion to other people and creatures comes to us through the cosmic compassion of Amida Buddha. Yet, Amida Buddha is not viewed as being separate from us; rather, Amida Buddha, as boundless compassion, is our deepest, truest nature. For Shin Buddhists, nature and the universe are filled with boundless compassion.

Compassion means literally “to feel with.” Our family’s sense of feeling attuned to the life of the grasshopper came to us from the creature itself and from our own hearts, but more accurately from the deepest reality of oneness that we call Amida Buddha. However, in our foolish attachments, we tend to forget our true nature. For this reason, in Shin Buddhism we are called foolish beings filled with blind passions.

It may be beautiful to think of a small child feeling in tune with the rhythms of a grasshopper’s life. Yet, I did not have the same feeling when a mosquito bit me, or a dog barked at me. Thus, my own sense of compassion is limited, inconsistent. Nevertheless, the deep feeling of oneness, the reality of boundless compassion is always there, if only I would awaken to it. When I become impatient or irritated with someone or something, if I can be reminded that this is due to my own blind ego-attachment, then I may become gradually less impatient, more embracing. In this way, the ever-present compassion of life itself, of Amida Buddha, my own nature, breaks through my ego-self into the realisation of boundless compassion.

Here in the Pacific Northwest, rain is plentiful. Thousands, millions, billions of raindrops fall from the sky every year. Just like snowflakes, however, no two raindrops are alike. Large or small, warmer or colder, liquid sunshine or refractions of a wintry gray, each takes a journey unique unto its own. Then, as they fall into the great Pacific Ocean, they all become as one, each giving itself to the Ocean of Compassion.

Each of us rises up with life, like water seeking to escape the salty seas of samsara, forgetting that liberation rests not in escape but in immersing ourselves in the very depths of suffering. Illuminated by the limitless warmth of the sun, we are reminded to return to our own true nature, in the ocean of samsara.

The clouds of ignorance release the sweet rain that descends, filling the ocean. The salty seas of samsara are transformed into the warm waters of boundless compassion. Each of us, these unique raindrops filled with blind passion, just as we are, enters and becomes the Ocean of Compassion. Rising and falling, rising and falling, we take this journey, over and over, forever and ever.

All beings are one with me, and I am led to become one with all beings. Illuminated, touched, embraced, and dissolved into the great Ocean of Compassion. I, this foolish being, entrust myself to Amida Buddha, my deepest, truest reality. Namu Amida Butsu.

This itself is the whole of the journey, opening your heart to that which is lovely. Because of their feeling for the lovely, beings who are afraid of birth and death, aging and decaying, are freed from their fear. This is the way you must train yourself: I will become a friend and an intimate of the lovely. To do this I must closely observe and embrace all states of mind that are good.

-- The Buddha, Samyutta Nikaya

四諦

懺雲老法師

假如沒有風吹，海面上也不起波，平平靜靜

心海寧靜，和天一樣，天水一色，這就是滅

苦諦：第一苦諦。眾生在娑婆世界，就是生生死死。要是眾生沒有苦，尤其沒有生死苦，佛不出現於世。

比方說，有些神通、以至於沒有死的，在街上遇到了，相互問︰「你貴姓啊？」對方答︰「我姓殷，是商朝的後人。」或「我是唐太宗時代的人，你呢？」「我是宋太祖時代的人。」就這麼三代、漢唐宋元明清的人，都不死，都在街上來回走，那麼佛不出現於世。以至於人都不生病，都市的病院沒有、殯儀館也沒有、連棺材店都沒有，四肢五體車禍也撞不死，撞完了，拍拍泥巴又可以走了。家親眷屬之間，也沒有生離死別。

人生沒有這些苦，佛不出現於世。因為有這些苦，還要生生世世都受這些苦的煎熬，佛才出現於世。所以佛講苦集滅道四諦，第一先講苦。

道諦：「道」就是戒定慧。戒定慧是藥，惑業苦是病。惑業是病因，苦是病的果。道諦戒定慧是藥，藥到病除︰有戒定慧，不起惑造業，就不受苦。我們可以拜佛，或是將惡業轉成善業，依善業懺悔惡業；將染業轉成淨業，以淨業懺悔染業，這都是戒定慧。

道諦呢，再是八正道，或是三十七道品。戒定慧三學，譬如說八關齋戒，或是種種佛法我們體會依著去做，那些熱鬧場、跳舞場、夜總會、卡拉ＯＫ餐廳種種不相當的地方，我們不去，社會上許多打殺的事件多從那兒起的。

以至於晚間，我們多在宿舍看書用功，和同學談談佛法，以至於修行，念佛、持咒、修學佛法，都好，避免出去，尤其到那些花花場中，這屬於戒。我們戒除迷惑的心理、顛倒的行為，或是痛苦的遭遇，沒有這些惑業苦。這總說是道諦下的戒。

再念佛修定、做觀，止觀雙運，修定慧。慧就要看開，觀的分明，世間華燈初上，那些熱鬧，就像貓捉老鼠，並不好。老鼠不好吃，貓以為好吃。又像雞用嘴叼蜈蚣、蚯蚓種種蟲子，再是狗吃小孩拉的屎。現在一般都用衛生器了，三十年前那有衛生器？有時候小孩在街上拉屎，狗過去咬著就吃。再就像豬，豬都是在混水塘裡頭，豬感覺這個最好、最香。以至於豬看豬感覺曲線美，狗看狗也是感覺世界第一美狗；相比之下，人也是，都是顛倒。這就需要慧觀，要是能析空觀、體空觀，觀夢幻泡影也好，馬上沒有這些，心無罣礙，無罣礙故，無有恐怖，遠離顛倒夢想，究竟涅槃。析空觀也好、體空觀也好，都需要。觀就是慧。

滅諦：懺悔惑業苦，戒定慧是藥，惑業苦是病因、病果，藥到病除，都沒有了，就是「滅」，「生滅既滅、寂滅現前」，所有一切的痛苦、一切迷惑的心理都滅了，生滅既滅、寂滅現前。就像平靜的大海，有風就起浪；業障的風、迷惑的風，不吹心海、不造業，風平浪靜、水天一色的時候，千江有水千江月，那是滅諦的意思。海上的波–心海上的惑業；波有起有落，心有生有滅。假如沒有風吹，海面上也不起波，平平靜靜，心海寧靜，和天一樣，天水一色，這就是滅。滅諦並不是「沒有了」的滅，而是「煩惱生滅心滅、寂滅的心理現前」那種滅，皓月當空，好﹗

一切佛法的內容，總攝起來不離開四諦的道理。而四諦也不離開這念心。苦集二諦是染汙心，所成就世間的因果；滅道二諦是清淨心，所開顯出世間的因果。知道這原理，便能將所學的法義都往心上會，也就處處能以教照心，這樣的生命才是有意義的。

From the point of view of those who understand the workings of karma, everything that happens to you — the stuff you like as well as the stuff you hate — is the inevitable result of your own actions, maybe in this life, maybe in previous lives. But the point of seeing that isn’t to try to figure out if your eczema is payback for that slave you mistreated back when you were Cleopatra (even if that is indeed the reason). The point is rather that, understanding this to be the case, you learn to cultivate the compassionate mind states that lead toward happiness starting right now.

-- Venerable Thubten Chodron

The Twelve Links of Interdependent Origination

by Geshe Rabten Rinpoche

UNDERSTANDING LEADS TO RENUNCIATION 

Dharma practice entails more than just calling yourself a Buddhist or making superficial changes in the way you live your life. It means totally integrating the teachings with your mind.

To integrate the teachings with your mind, you must first prepare yourself by cultivating spiritual stability — pure renunciation — within your stream of being. The Tibetan term for renunciation, nges-jung implies that you must first realise that you are caught in the process of rebirth in samsara, a state of being characterised by a great many sufferings. Therefore, at the beginning of your practice you have to realise the true nature of samsara itself and how you exist in it; you must become acutely aware of the unsatisfactory nature of samsara, the condition in which you find yourself. This is very important.

Once you have recognised the true nature of samsara and become sufficiently disillusioned with it, from the depths of your heart you will generate the spontaneous aspiration to liberate yourself from it. This pure, spontaneous, constant aspiration to be free of samsara is renunciation.

Generally, there are two ways to develop the fully renounced mind. The first is to meditate on the two aspects of samsara: its nature of suffering and the causes of this suffering. The second is to meditate on the twelve links of interdependent origination. Here I will discuss briefly the latter.

There are two main ways of presenting the twelve links: the scriptural way, which explains them in terms of how samsara evolves in general, and the experiential way, which explains them in terms of how they are experienced by an individual over a continuum of lifetimes. These two systems differ slightly in the way the order of the twelve links is presented. I’m going to explain them the second way: how they are experienced.

IGNORANCE 

The first of the twelve links is ignorance, the root of all samsaric suffering. The Sanskrit term, avidya [Tib: ma-rig-pa], means “not seeing” and implies an obscuration of mind. To explain precisely what this ignorance is and how it functions requires a great deal of time and energy, so let’s just focus on the general principles instead.

When we go to teachings, for example, we have the intention, “Today I’m going to go and listen to teachings.” Whenever we think like this, we all have a certain conception of our “self,” or “I.” Buddhism calls this sense of self the ego. Our ego is with us at all times and becomes more obvious on certain occasions, like when we encounter highly favourable circumstances or great difficulties. At such times our sense of self becomes more intense and visible than usual. Each of us is subject to our own conception of “I.” We can see it quite easily in our daily experiences without need of lengthy, theoretical reasoning.

Whenever our ego-concept arises very strongly, it grasps us as if it exists within us as something very solid, very vivid and totally uncontrollable. This is how the false self grasps us. However, it is important to contemplate whether or not this “I” really exists as it appears. If we search for it within ourselves, from the top of our head down to the soles of our feet, we’ll come to the conclusion that neither our physical body nor any of its individual parts can serve as the “I” that under certain circumstances arises so strongly. Nothing in our body can be the “I”. Our limbs, organs and so forth are only parts of the body, which, in a sense, “owns” them.

If we analyse our minds in the same way, we’ll find that the mind is nothing but a stream of different thoughts and mental factors and conclude that nothing in the mind is the “I” that we conceive either.

Moreover, since there’s no separate entity outside our body or mind to represent the “I,” we can conclude that the self that we normally feel doesn’t exist. If we meditate like this, we’ll see that it’s true that the “I” can’t be found. However, this doesn’t mean we don’t exist at all. Non-existence cannot be the answer, because we’re analysing how we exist.

Actually, the situation is very subtle. We neither exist as simply as the ignorant mind supposes, nor do we not exist, and gaining an understanding of the true nature of the self requires thorough training and sustained meditation practice.

The mental factor that holds the wrong, fabricated view of the self is what Buddhism means by ignorance, the first of the twelve links of interdependent origination. All the other delusions — such as attachment to ourselves, our friends and possessions and aversion to people and things alien to us — rest on the foundation of this false concept of the self. Acting under the influence of such attachment and aversion, we accumulate much unwholesome karma of body, speech and mind.

VOLITIONAL FORMATIONS 

The distorted actions of body, speech and mind that arise from ignorance, attachment and aversion stain the mind with what are called volitional formations. This is the second of the twelve links. The moment after we create a distorted karma, the action itself has passed and is gone, but it leaves on our stream of consciousness an imprint that remains there until it either manifests in future as a favourable or unfavourable experience, depending on the nature of the original action, or is otherwise disposed of.

CONSCIOUSNESS 

The continuity of the mind stream serves as the basis of the imprints of karma. This is the third link, the link of consciousness. It carries the imprints and later helps them ripen and manifest in the same way that seeds are sown in the earth, which then serves as a cause for the growth of a crop. However, not only must seeds be sown in the ground; they also require favourable conditions to grow. Contributory causes such as water, fertiliser and so forth must be present in order for the seeds to ripen and reach maturity.

CRAVING

The attachment that evolves from ignorance helps condition the karmic seeds sown in our stream of consciousness. This particular attachment, which is called craving, is the fourth link.

GRASPING

There also exists in our mind stream another type of attachment, called grasping, which has the special function of bringing karmic seeds to fulfillment. This is the fifth link of the twelve-linked chain. It manifests at the end of our life and conditions the throwing karma that gives rise to our next rebirth.

Although both above types of attachment have the nature of desire, each has its own function. One helps to ripen karmic seeds; the other brings them to completion and connects us with our next life.

BECOMING

The sixth link is becoming. At the end of our life, a throwing karma arises and immediately directs us towards our future existence. This special mental action that appears at the final stage of our life is called “becoming.”

These six links are generally associated with this life, although it is not necessarily the case that they will manifest in this life. In particular, some situations may develop in other lifetimes, but in most cases they belong to this life.

As we near death, our body and mind begin to weaken. Bodily strength and the grosser levels of mind dissolve until finally we enter a level of consciousness that the scriptures call the clear light state. This is the final stage of our life, the actual consciousness of death — the most subtle level of mind. We remain in this state for a certain time, then there occurs a slight movement of consciousness and we enter the intermediate state — our mind shoots out of our body and enters the bardo, the realm between death and rebirth.

The intermediate state has its own body and mind, but the body is not made of the same gross elements as ours. Therefore, bardo beings do not have the gross form that we do. The bardo body is composed of a subtle energy called “wind,” which exists in a dimension different to ours. We should not think that this is a wonderful or beautiful state, however, for it is characterised by great suffering and difficulty. We undergo a total loss of free will and are driven here and there by the force of karma until we finally find an appropriate place of rebirth. The beings in this state subsist on smell rather than on ordinary food and it is this search for food that eventually leads them to seek rebirth. After a certain period in the bardo state they take rebirth in accordance with their karma.

There are many different realms into which we can take rebirth and each of these has its own causes and conditions. For example, to be born human, our future parents must unite in sexual union, their white and red cells (sperm and ovum) must combine and enter into the womb of the mother, and so forth. Then, when the bardo being, driven by the force of its individual karma, reaches its karmically determined parents, certain circumstances arise bringing to an end the life of the bardo being, upon which its mind enters the conjoined cells of the parents.

REBIRTH

The moment the wind leaves the bardo body and enters the united cells of the parents, the link of rebirth is established. This is the seventh link. Mere union of the parents, however, is not a sufficient cause for engaging this link. As well, the womb of the mother must be free of obstacles that could interfere with the birth of the child; the material causes of the physical body of the child, that is the parents’ sperm and ovum, should also be free from defects; and the three beings involved must have a karmic connection with one another in order to establish this kind of father-mother-child relationship. When all these circumstances are complete, rebirth takes place.

NAME AND FORM

From the time the link of rebirth is established until the sensory organs of the child are developed is the eighth link, which is called name and form. The material substances that constitute the sperm and ovum of the parents are “form”; the consciousness that dwells within that material basis is called “name.”

THE SIX SENSE ORGANS

After the sense organs of the child have developed into a mature, functional state, the ninth link, that of the six senses, arises. This is like the construction of a building in which the finishing work, such as windows and doors, has been completed.

CONTACT

The tenth link is contact. After the sense organs have evolved they function through the sense consciousnesses to establish contact with outer sense objects, such as visible forms, sounds and so forth.

FEELING

Contact gives rise to the eleventh link, feeling. Pleasant feelings arise from contact with pleasant objects, unpleasant feelings from unpleasant objects and so forth.

AGEING AND DEATH 

All this produces the ageing process, the twelfth link of the chain of interdependent origination, which eventually finishes with our death.

We are all trapped in this process of repeatedly circling on the wheel of birth, ageing, death, intermediate state and rebirth. It is not something special that applies to only a few beings or something that happens only to others. It is a process that embraces every one of us. We are caught in cyclic existence and experiencing the twelve links every moment of our existence.

It is very important to contemplate this. If we become fully aware of this constant process of evolution, we’ll come to a correct realisation of the problems of samsara.

Meditating on this, we’ll gradually generate the sincere aspiration to achieve liberation. That aspiration is pure renunciation. However, merely having that aspiration is not enough; we must put great effort into practicing the methods that bring about liberation. On the one hand, we need the help and guidance of the objects of refuge, but from our own side, we must learn and put into practice the actual methods that have been taught. Through the combination of these two, we will attain liberation from the sufferings of samsara.