The Essence of the Doctrine

by Lama Dudjom Dorjee

When a doctor makes a diagnosis of a specific disease to a patient, she prescribes a specific medicine which, if taken in the right amounts and at the right times by the patient, will eventually cure the disease. At the point the disease is cured, the medicine becomes unnecessary. This is the essence of the doctrine of the Buddha dharma — when certain kleshas and afflictive emotions are identified and the specific practices are applied as an antidote for these poisons, eventually these negativities are overcome and liberation from suffering is attained.

For instance, when we encounter negative emotions, the confused mind perceives no separation between itself and the emotion: the two become conflated and suffering is perpetuated without interruption. However, the skilful mind perceives the negative emotion as separate from the mind itself, that it represents the mere appearance of a dependently-arisen phenomenon empty of any inherent existence.

In order to dig up the root of afflictive emotions, the practitioner must first learn the essence of Hinayana doctrines. No matter how many times we cut down a tree, if the root remains below the surface, the tree will grow back the following spring. The same principle holds true for the tree of negative emotions: no matter how much we engage in dharma practice to remove the appearance of negativities, as soon as the causes and conditions come together once again, like the sun and rain that nurture the roots, the afflictive emotions will reappear. Thus, the skilful practitioner must learn the essence of the doctrines of the Hinayana path in order to dig up the very root of these negativities.

To actually use these negative afflictive emotions as fuel for our practice and bring them onto the bodhisattva path we must learn the essence of the Mahayana point of view, which welcomes all difficult or painful experiences as opportunities to expand our practice.

Finally, from the Vajrayana point of view, we can actually transform these kleshas into the wisdom of the Vajrayana practice itself. This is possible as the afflictive emotions are recognised for what they truly are, when their basic nature of perfect purity is understood beyond conceptualisation.