It is like, for example, the oft-made mistake of beholding a rope as a snake. The phenomenon of the rope is not seen for what it is, but is seen as possessed of a self. Yet as the rope a snake can never be, so phenomena are never self. 

-- Aryadeva

Buddhanature: You’re Perfect As You Are

by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

The modern world has become infatuated with the practice of meditation. Smiling meditators grace the covers of magazines. CEOs are bringing mindfulness into the workplace. We’re even teaching children to meditate at school. Seeing all the images and hearing the stories, it would be easy to think that the point of meditation is simply to sit in a certain posture following a certain technique.

But the real power of meditation isn’t in the method. It’s in shifting our perspective. In Mahayana Buddhism, we call this “the view.” The view is not a technique. It’s how we see ourselves and how we relate to our own thoughts and emotions. Without a shift in our view, even the most powerful meditation techniques will just reinforce old patterns and habits.

The essential view of buddhanature is as profound as it is simple: You are perfect, just as you are, in this very moment.

The problem with this view is that it doesn’t feel real to us. Focusing on the negativities that obscure our buddhanature, we can’t seem to experience it for ourselves.

I couldn’t.

I grew up in the middle of the Himalayas, right at the foot of Mount Manaslu, the eighth-highest mountain the world. My family was filled with great meditators and I myself was recognised as a reincarnate lama, known in Tibet as a tulku, when I was just a few years old. I was born into a fairy tale.

But that was just on the surface.

Despite the beautiful environment I grew up in, and the loving family and spiritual role models I was surrounded by, my early years were filled with anxiety. I was seven when I started to have panic attacks. Panic followed me like a shadow for most of my childhood.

This was about the same time that I started hearing about buddhanature. My father, a famed Dzogchen master, told me about the view of buddhanature, but I didn’t believe it. At least, I didn’t believe it was true about me. My reality was fear and panic; buddhanature just sounded like a fantasy. It was someone else’s experience, not mine.

When I first learned to meditate, I hoped it would help me get rid of all my flaws and shortcomings. Everyone else I knew seemed so calm and confident, but I was filled with anxiety. I was attracted to meditation because I imagined a new, improved me. One without the fear and anxiety. One who wasn’t so sensitive and easily overwhelmed.

I tried and tried to meditate my way to freedom. Meditation became my weapon in my battle against my own mind. But it didn’t work. There were times when my mind was calm and the panic seemed to disappear, but then it would re-emerge with even more force, and any small amount of confidence I’d developed would vanish like mist.

The big breakthrough came when I finally gave up. I had been fighting my emotions for so long, with so little success, that I finally let myself entertain a new possibility: maybe I couldn’t be fixed—not because I was fundamentally flawed, but because I wasn’t broken.

So I stopped playing the old game, and started a new one. Instead of fighting my panic and pushing away my fearful thoughts and anxious expectations, I let them in. I didn’t focus on them, but I didn’t ignore them. I dropped all the “doing” and finally gave myself permission to simply “be.”

I’d like to say that this is when the earth shook and the clouds parted, but at first, letting go of the impulse to always be “doing” something was uncomfortable and unfamiliar. My impulses didn’t disappear, but I let them come and go without following them — even the impulse to “meditate.” I wasn’t even doing that. I was just being there.

It was so simple and ordinary, but it was a radical shift: I was no longer trying to win the old game.

In this moment of letting go, I started to see that I’d completely missed the point of meditation. In my endless quest to improve upon the present moment, I was blinding myself to what was already there, and always is. Buddhanature. Our inherent perfection. Our true nature.

As my experience shows, letting go of the view that we are fundamentally flawed is not easy. We receive so many messages in our day-to-day lives that tell us just the opposite. We’re not smart enough, beautiful enough, or successful enough. If we could just work harder, eat healthier, or be a little less stressed, then maybe, just maybe, we would finally feel okay.

The basic assumption in all these messages is that we are not good enough, and maybe never will be. It doesn’t matter what we accomplish in life, what we look like, or how far we climb the ladder of success. There’s always something missing.

If we don’t question this assumption, meditation can easily become a subtle form of aggression. We might succeed in calming the turbulent waters of the mind for a few fleeting moments, but we’ll end up reinforcing the old habit of seeing only our flaws. Just like everything else in life, no matter what we do and no matter how hard we try, there will always be another hill to climb. There is no way to win this game.

Buddhanature is not a better way to play the same old game. It’s an entirely different game. The principle of buddhanature invites us to explore our experience in a new way — not with an eye to correcting what’s wrong, but noticing what has always been right.

OUR EFFORTLESS AWARENESS 

One of the first qualities of buddhanature that my teachers introduced me to was awareness. Awareness is like a thread that runs through every experience we have. Our thoughts and emotions are constantly changing. Our reactions and perceptions come and go. Yet despite these changes, awareness is always present. It is wide open and accommodating like the sky, immeasurably deep and vast like the ocean, and stable and enduring like a massive mountain.

Awareness doesn’t get better when we have an inspired thought or a sublime emotion. It doesn’t get worse when we’re completely neurotic. Awareness just is. It’s not something we do. It’s who we are.

Since awareness is always there, the only thing we need to do is recognise it. We don’t need to improve it, and we couldn’t even if we tried.

The biggest challenge with awareness is that it’s so close, we don’t see it. It’s so ordinary, we don’t believe it. It’s just knowing, effortless presence.

Who is reading this right now? Who’s having this experience? It’s awareness. This awareness is who you are right now, in this very moment.

Let’s do a brief practice to experience this effortless awareness:

Before you read further, pause for a moment.

Let go of the doing for a moment and allow yourself to be.

Don’t meditate on the breath…just breathe.

Don’t meditate on sound…just listen.

Now don’t do anything. Just be here.

Whatever this moment holds for you, just experience it, as it is.

Awareness itself is whole and complete. It’s always here and it can accommodate anything. You can talk, you can move, you can even read, as you are right now. All of this is happening within awareness.

OUR NATURAL LOVE AND COMPASSION 

This effortless presence isn’t a blank, lifeless state. It’s alive and deeply engaged with the world.

When we are simply present with what’s happening within and around us, a natural sense of love and compassion emerges. Like awareness, these qualities are not something we have to develop or cultivate. They are abiding qualities of our true nature.

The seeds of compassion are present in our very simple wish to avoid pain and discomfort. Love is present in the movement toward happiness and fulfilment. In every moment we experience these movements. When we shift our posture or blink our eyes to avoid discomfort, we express compassion. When we enjoy a sip of water or respond to the smile of a friend, we experience love.

Love and compassion are present when we least expect them to be. They are even present within painful emotions like fear and anger, since these reactions are rooted in the impulse to avoid pain and discomfort and to experience happiness and well-being. They were present in my panic attacks. I didn’t want to suffer any more. I wanted to feel safe and secure. I just didn’t know where to look. But what I didn’t see was that the instinct to be happy and free from suffering was always there.

Pause for a moment and see if you can sense these qualities.

Do you feel the impulse to move away from discomfort, or to avoid anything unpleasant.

Just notice that.

That feeling is compassion.

Can you sense the wish to experience happiness, contentment, or simply to feel whole?

Rest for a moment and see what you notice.

That subtle movement toward happiness is love.

When you’re done reading this and you continue on with your day, notice these qualities in other people as well. They are like the rays of the sun. As long as awareness is present, love and compassion are present too.

OUR INNATE WISDOM 

Another essential quality of our buddhanature is wisdom. Every one of us has deep insight. We may not always notice it, but it’s there.

We are all searching desperately for something. We don’t always know what it is, but we feel something is missing. So we keep looking and looking.

Wisdom is the constant companion of all this endless searching. At some deep level, we know when we’re looking in the right place. And when we’re indulging an old habit, we know when we’re off track. We don’t always listen to that voice, but it’s there. We’re like a bird, flying from tree to tree looking for our nest. We know home when we find it, and so long as we’re not there, we know to keep looking.

When we start to shift from doing to being, we start to feel that sense of finally being home. We can let go of the search and relax. No one needs to tell us this when it happens. That intuitive knowing is wisdom. Every thought, every emotion, and every impulse is rooted in that wisdom. We just need to recognise it.

BEING BUDDHANATURE 

If awareness, compassion, and wisdom were qualities we could attain or develop, it would make perfect sense to do something to cultivate them. But we don’t have to cultivate them because they are part of our basic nature. We already have them.

Any attempt to change, fix, or improve what’s happening in the present moment reinforces the old belief that we’re missing something. On the other hand, if we do nothing, we’re right where we started. Nothing will change.

The key to this paradox is recognition. Buddhanature isn’t something we do, but it is something we need to recognise.

A simple way to explore this in your meditation practice is pause from time to time to simply be. If your usual meditation is to focus on the breath, drop the meditation from time to time and just be. Don’t control your attention in any way. Attention is like a breeze; awareness is like the sky itself. You don’t need to calm the mind. Awareness is already calm.

Any thoughts and feelings that arise can be left to themselves. There is not a single experience that can get in the way of awareness. Just let them all be there, and notice that awareness is always there too. If you’re aware of your awareness, that’s enough.

This will feel unfamiliar at first. It may even be unsettling, and you’ll almost certainly experience the residue of the doing impulse. That’s normal. As your familiarity with this quality of being grows, you will begin to see that compassion and wisdom are right here. You will realise that you will never be more perfect that you are right now, in this very moment.

All evil matters, are with falsehood as the root.

-- The Buddha

直心是净土

文｜安小悦

佛经称二十念为一瞬，二十瞬为一弹指，都是比喻时间的短暂。佛教本来大力提倡通过长期的艰苦的修行获得佛的最高智慧。经过长期发展，到了《维摩诘经》等为代表的大乘佛教，开始主张“直心是菩提净土”，认为一个人如果本心清净无染，做到识心见性，就能悟到佛的智慧，外在的各种修行形式并不重要。所以我国禅宗提倡顿悟成佛，只要内省“直心”，就能悟见佛国净土。

禅宗故事说有个人志在学佛，辞别父母独自到四川拜访无际菩萨。路上碰到一个和尚，和尚对他说：“你找菩萨，还不如找佛。”这人大惑不解，问：“佛在哪里？”和尚说：“你快回家去。有人会披着毯子，反穿鞋子，开门接你，那人就是佛。”这人听了和尚的话，打道回府。到家已是大半夜了，他母亲听到儿子叫门，高兴得来不及穿衣，就披着毯子冲出来开门，连拖鞋也穿反了。

禅宗用这个故事说明：母爱是人的本性，率然流露内心的真诚本性就是“禅”的境界。向外远求，不识自心，只会离正道越走越远。

六祖慧能在《坛经》中云：“善知识，一行三昧者，于一切处行住坐卧，常行一直心是也。”其大意是大师指示大家：所谓一行三昧，是指在任何地方，无论或行或住，或坐或站，都保持一种没有是非、对一切事物和现象都不作区别的心理状态。

“常行一直心”，禅宗常运用此语意为指导人们学会常用一种没有是非、区别的心去对待诸般事物，那样就不会因生活中的一些“生死大事”而提心吊胆、惴惴不安了。

生活中，人们总是不能摆脱这样或那样事物的束缚，因此面对众多突如其来的“大事”、“烦恼事”，大多数人不但不知该如何应对，有时还会背上沉重的心理负担。这样对身体和心理健康都是不利的。

我认识一位居士，她和她的姐姐先后被查出来得了乳腺病，她的姐姐反应非常强烈，从医生口中得知病情后就害怕得不得了，每天愁得饭也吃不下，觉也睡不好，而且常常对家人朋友发无明怒火，还常常觉得自己的病情会恶化成为癌症，因此连遗嘱都立好了。但是居士却没有像她姐姐那样，她只是按照医生所说的按时吃药，其他的时间还都象往常一样，早上起来依然去公园打太极拳，和孩子们一起去旅行，每个星期还是去那个固定的彩票点购买几张彩票，依然会为家人准备一大桌他们爱吃的饭菜。三个月之后，居士和姐姐去复查，得到的结果却是截然不同，她姐姐的乳腺病没有丝毫的好转，反而严重了。而居士呢，许多增生部位正在消失或者减少。

事实上，大部分人的身体机能都是大同小异的，有很多情况下人们得病的关键还在于“心”—有的人遇到点事儿就受不了、生闷气、焦急、上火，那病准找上他；有的人遇到天大的事，也依然乐观地对待，及时地调整自己的心态，这样的人即使是有病也不会病到不可救药，甚至还会有医学 奇迹发生。

人的经历不同，承受能力不同，面对压力的处置方式也不同。倘若能够深刻领悟“直心”的妙旨所在，就会排解许多的心理压力，活得比别人轻松开心很多。

“直心”的智慧，不仅仅表现在人们面对重大压力时，在更多的时候还表现在得失观上。如果我们能够保持一种冷眼观得失的心境，那便真正做到了“常行 一直心”。

《孔子家语》里记载楚王曾经出游时遗失了一张他心爱的弓，他手下的人要去寻找，但是楚王说：“不必了，我掉的弓，我的人民会捡到，反正都是楚国人得到，又何必去找呢？”孔子听到这件事，很感慨地说：“可惜楚王的心还是不够大啊！为什么不讲人掉了弓，自然有人捡到，何必计较是 不是楚国人呢？”

“人遗弓，人得之”应该是对得失最豁达的看法了。就常情而言，人们在得到一些利益的时候，大都喜不自禁，得意之色溢于言表；而在失去一些利益的时候，自然会沮丧懊恼，心中愤愤不平，失意之色流露于外。但是对于那些志趣高雅的人来说，他们在生活中能“不以物喜，不以己悲”，并不把个人的得失看得太重，面对各种际遇都能够心平气和，冷静地处理。

当我们在得与失之间徘徊的时候，只要还有抉择的权利，那么，我们就应当“常行一直心”。以一种平常的心境去思考得失，去衡量利弊，心里便不会再产生那么多苦恼与怅惘了。

“直心”还可以代指做人要正直，光明磊落。

正直，是立身处世之本。一个人首先要培养正直的心胸，而不是一味地盲从或顺应，它具有更强烈、更积极的内容，它是指没有私心、天真而不受物欲支配、据实探索事物真相的态度。缺乏正直的心胸，会常常被自己的欲望、利益或立场所蒙蔽，并曲解事物的真相，与他人对立冲突，最后使彼此都遭受不幸。

拿精忠报国的岳飞与奸臣秦桧来说，虽然岳飞被“莫须有”的罪名陷害而屈死风波亭，秦桧却飞黄腾达享受着高官厚禄，但最终是“青山有幸埋忠骨，白铁无辜铸佞臣。”、“人从宋后少名桧，我到坟前愧姓秦。”正直的人流芳百世，不正直的人遗臭万年，这就是直与罔的不同结局。正直意味着自己具有很强烈的道德感，并且高标准地要求自己，随时准备服从自己的良知，勇于坚持自己的信念，在需要的时候义无反顾，不计较自己的利益得失，站出来表达自己的意见。

正直，是人格的桂冠。一位顾客走进一家汽车维修店，自称是某汽运公司的司机。“在我的帐单上多写点零件，我回公司报销后，有你一份好处。”他对店主说。但店主拒绝了他的要求。顾客纠缠着：“我的生意不算小，会常来的，你肯定赚很多钱！”店主再次告诉他这事自己无论如何也不会做。顾客气急败坏地嚷道：“谁都会这么做的，我看你是傻瓜！”店主火了，他要那个顾客马上离开，到别处谈这种生意去。这时，顾客露出微笑并满怀敬意地握住店主的手：“我就是那家运输公司的老板，我一直在寻找一个固定的、信得过的维修点，你还让我到哪去谈这笔生意呢？”

面对诱惑，不怦然心动，不为其所惑，虽平淡如行云，质朴如流水，却让人领略到一种山高海深的韵味—这种发光点就来自于“直心”。

宋代高僧天童正觉禅师写有一首诗偈，云：“粥罢教令洗钵盂，豁然心地自相符。而今餐饱丛从客，且道其间有悟无。”

古来许多学僧参访学道时，师父并没有跟他们讲说什么高妙的佛法，总是叫他们先去洗碗扫地，很多人却不明白禅师的教化，为什么我来参学，你不教我禅法真理，却只让我做些琐碎的事情？但是突然的一天，在担水砍柴或烧火这无心于道的过程中，学僧忽然根尘脱离，心地开朗，见到了自己的本来面目。诗偈的后两句则是说，许多修行人的通病是没有恒心、毅力，没有安忍，或者计功求速，不明其中“无心于道道自得”的道理。

所以六祖慧能说：“自家修清净，即是西方。”陶渊明亦诗云：“结庐在人境，而无车马喧。问君何能尔，心远地自偏。”识心明道的人，即便身居喧嚣尘世，也能持守恬淡自然的本性，不为外物所动。无论周围环境如何，都不会改变。

平常心就是道，道就是要在你没有任何想法，自自然然的时候悟得，是靠一颗直截了当的心来成就的。

不妨以一颗直心来生活，适时地放松心态，从容地看待那些“大事”、“烦恼事”，用一颗做“小事”的心态去面对、去处理。不但我们的身心会得到放松，“大事”同样会变为“小事” 甚至化为“无事”。

Mindfulness and awareness are meaningful and beneficial practices to keep our minds calm and alert, because once we lose track of our minds then dullness and agitation will steal away our mental stability and peace of mind, which are the life line of human beings. Therefore, it is important to practice mindfulness and awareness, but we should learn from qualified teachers who also practice everyday.

-- Zurmang Gharwang Rinpoche

Preparing For Practice

by Ringu Tulku Rinpoche

We often find a heartfelt request for the help of all the Buddhas and the lineage teachers at the beginning of traditional meditation texts. Asking for these blessings gives our spiritual activity the best support. We pray for our good habits and actions to increase and for our training to be effective. Having made the decision to set off in a new direction, we draw on the enlightened energy of the Buddha to guide us. Liberating our mind and releasing all beings from suffering is the inspiration for everything we do in our practice. With this intention, sooner or later and without fail, we will be successful.

“First, train in the preliminaries.”

If our foundations are not right, whatever we build will not be right and our dharma training will not go very deep. These preliminary points give us a secure and correct basis for beginning our work. The delusions and errors that we have fallen into are so obstinate and elusive that we hardly ever notice or stop and think to question them. This is why establishing the right attitude is so important.

We begin with Four Thoughts or Contemplations. They are not sermons or holy rules but truths which we can reflect upon and use in our own way to revise and clarify our thinking about the world. They make us aware of our true situation and give us a sense of urgency about going forward on our spiritual path. Understanding the four preliminary thoughts is the first step in refining and directing our compassion. They are the groundwork of liberation.

PRECIOUS HUMAN BIRTH 

This is traditionally always the first principle we think about. No matter what our hardships or handicaps, it is important to appreciate the life we have been given. Even if we have nothing, no home or wealth or education, we are human and that in itself is a very great blessing.

A human birth is not more valuable than any other life form but it has greater possibilities and responsibilities. Human beings can destroy the world, animals and trees cannot. Our actions can be very positive or very negative. We are in a position to help thousands of other beings or to harm them, and this is why we need to understand the significance of this birth and use it mindfully.

It does not take any special talent to manage ordinary survival, even a worm can do that. Our human consciousness gives us exceptional potential. We are aware of our own thoughts. We can examine and reflect on the shortcomings of life. We have freedom of choice and can make our own decisions. We understand the difference between good and bad. Finally, our physical existence is not so harsh or precarious that it prevents us from following a spiritual path. Only human beings can fully recognise the misery of birth, old age, sickness, and death. This realisation was the first step in the Buddha’s liberation. We can develop the same enlightened strength and use the advantages of this birth by raining our mind. 

Just being alive is a great thing. It is such a pity when we break down or become self-destructive and forget all our advantages. A woman I know had an accident climbing in Japan. She slipped and fell into a crevasse in the ice and almost died. When she was rescued, she said that all her worries had gone. She had no more complaints, she was just happy to survive. If we live like this, our cynicism and melancholy will disappear.

IMPERMANENCE 

According to Buddhist thinking, something can only be “permanent” if it exists independently of everything else, is not caused by any conditions, and does not change. It is actually impossible to find anything like this. Everything that exists is interdependent, conditional, and subject to change. We can see this for ourselves. It is obvious. Nothing around us remains the same. We know things are impermanent but we do not always accept it.

Our lives are fragile. The physical and mental capacities we have taken for granted are gradually wearing down. Our body can be damaged or destroyed in a second. We will all die. That is certain, but we do not know when our death will take place. The suspense about our time of death allows us to feel eternal and gives us a false security about time. We behave as though our lives will last forever. A sense of timelessness makes the mind passive and lethargic. It also causes insecurity and impatience in our daily lives.

Life would be unbearable if everything stayed the same because human beings find situations that are fixed and predictable very hard to tolerate. Even in small matters, we become uneasy if we feel there is no end in sight. I know of couples who live harmoniously together for ten years then marry and are divorced within a year. As soon as they feel bound to each other for the rest of their lives, they begin to fight. Impermanence removes our reasons for quarrelling with each other. Arguments only break out if we imagine that our relationships are endless. When we appreciate that our time with our families, partners, and friends may be shorter than we think, we get on better with each other. Awareness of impermanence gives us extraordinary inner strength and resilience. I have experienced this myself. When I left Tibet I travelled to India with thousands of other refugees. We had lost everything: our homeland, our property, families, and friends. People in the outside world who met us were struck by our reaction to exile. It surprised them that we all seemed so cheerful. We had arrived in a country that was completely unlike Tibet. The language, food, and weather were all totally different. It was terribly hot and the camps were crowded and noisy. The area was full of mosquitoes and leeches. Many of us had fevers and illnesses. It was a little bit like hell. People expected us to be gloomy but we were in good spirits. During the evenings, when we could not sleep because of the heat and insect bites, we laughed and joked and sang together. Although our future was uncertain, we enjoyed ourselves and I believe our Buddhist background was the reason for this. We had lost our country but life felt very precious to us. We accepted that suffering was not unusual and many other people had undergone similar ordeals before us. Among over a hundred thousand people in the camp there was death, disease, and hardship but there were remarkably few breakdowns or mental problems.

Bearing impermanence in mind pacifies our anxiety and fear. The factors causing our troubles are temporary and only here for a short time. Even in the lowest state of despair, there is the solace of knowing that things will sooner or later get better. We will also take greater pleasure in things and enjoy ourselves more if we realise that our joy will soon fade.

This thought is not about passively allowing events to control us or surrendering to circumstances. On the contrary, a sense of how transitory our lives are works against wishful thinking and lethargy. Nothing can be held back. The basis of our lives is change so there is no time to lose. We should make good use of every moment. So many complications come from holding on to the past. It is already gone, let it go. What will happen next? We do not know. By contemplating the impermanence of everything in existence, we discover a basic truth about the nature of mind.

There is a story about a wise man from Kashmir who gave two instructions to his son when he died. The first piece of advice was that his son should marry a new wife every day; the second was that he must never walk to or from his shop under the sun. The boy was obedient, he respected his father and promised to follow the directions faithfully but he could not decide how to take this advice. He searched everywhere for a woman who would marry him for one day until at last he found a beautiful girl who agreed to the conditions and they spent the night of their wedding together.  The following morning, he thanked her and told her she must leave. She protested, “Don’t be so foolish.” He insisted that he had to keep his promise to his father and find a new wife. She explained that he had not understood his father’s words: “Your father would not be so unwise. He did not expect you to find a different wife each day! He meant for you to love your wife anew every day, as if you had only just married her.” After considering this carefully he saw that she was right, so he he asked her what his father meant by telling him never to go to or from his shop in daylight. She said, “It’s very clear: you should go to your shop before sunrise and come back after sunset. Do not waste any time, use every minute. He meant for you to be hardworking.” He followed his father’s advice and had a very nice life.

THE DEFICITS OF SAMSARA 

Samsara is not a place or a situation but a painful state of mind, dominated by confusion and ignorance. This ignorance is subtle, it is not so much a lack of information as a lack of clarity. We do not know who we are or what we are doing. We wander in samsara and return again and again to the cyclic existence of samsara. Our true nature is absolutely pure and luminous. We lose sight of this purity when conflicting concepts from our senses and the ego cloud our minds. Our awareness is dulled by the repeating cycles of pleasure followed by pain, expectation followed by dismay, and desire followed by loss. The illusions and conflicts of samsara do not really exist. They are myths, constructed by the mind.

The mind creates samsara because it is the mind which interprets what the body experiences in an incomplete and deceptive way. Our eyes are engineered to picture something visually. We respond to the object with our sense of sight but when we close our eyes, we can only see what we mentally recall, not the original vision. We are never able to reproduce exactly what our senses received because the mind records the information in our imagination, under the influence of former associations and memories. These subjective mental patterns shape our whole perception of reality.

Each of us has a characteristic blueprint for the external world and the impressions which do not fit into this model are simply ignored or overlooked. When we are introduced to new ideas, we try to adapt them or cut them down to size, but if they still do not match our mental expectations, they will be discarded. I encountered this in a very vivid way when I arrived in India after leaving Tibet. I was told about something called a “train.” I had never heard of one before, there was no such thing in Tibet. We had no trains there. People told me the train was made of metal and travelled down two iron tracks. You could ride in it drinking a cup of tea and the tea never spilled. I tried to imagine this. I pictured a ball rolling down an iron road and myself turning around and around inside it but I could not imagine drinking a cup of tea without spilling it because the image my mind produced gave me only a very partial understanding of the train. With practice, we can confront the delusions of cyclic existence and free ourselves from them. Being human means we are likely to be unhappy but it is possible to look for a way out; to renounce the suffering of samsara, to transcend it.

KARMA: ACTION, CAUSE AND EFFECT 

Just as each seed has a flower, every action has a consequence. This is the law of karma. Our karma is everything we are from our past lives; through this lifetime from birth until now, today, and yesterday. Our karma can be plus or minus. We do negative things when emotions like anger, pride, jealousy, and greed take over and this leads to negative results. Memories of the virtuous things we may have done before or our plans to do better in the future are not going to make any difference now. The impact of our immediate thoughts is what truly matters. This moment is the outcome of our previous actions and if our situation is unfavourable, it is the effect of our past negativity. The future is created by what we do now. This makes liberation possible.

By recognising and regretting negative conduct, our karma can be changed. The best way of improving our actions and their outcome is to purify the way we think. When our mental attitude is more wholesome, our physical and verbal behaviour will be better. It is always possible to turn bad mental habits into good habits but we have to be skillful to remedy our karma. We cannot push too hard. The mind is very sensitive and subtle and too much pressure will not work.

People sometimes have the impression that Buddhist philosophy is dull and serious but it is actually an extremely optimistic way of life. If we follow the preliminary thoughts, we are in no doubt that our human existence is valuable. We know that nothing in the world is permanent or lasting and we recognise suffering as an inevitable result of our own negative actions. These are all insights which lead to peace of mind.

To secure our own happiness and causes of happiness, we must first act to create wholesome causes of happiness. We must create virtue. We must engage in good conduct. We must generate wholesome attitudes. These are important. 

--17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje

Since pure awareness of nowness is real Enlightenment, in openness and contentment I found the Truth in my heart. By simply relaxing in this uncontrived, open, and natural state, we obtain the quality of effortless freedom of whatever arises.

-- His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche

The reason we are unhappy is because we have extreme craving for sense objects, samsaric objects, and we grasp at them. We are seeking to solve our problems but we are not seeking in the right place. The right place is our own ego grasping; we have to loosen that tightness, that's all.

-- Lama Thubten Yeshe

What is the benefit of an altruistic mind? It will destroy self-grasping. When self grasping collapses; on their very ground, all sentient beings are Buddhas. Lord Buddha said: " The Buddha is within all sentient beings. Yet they are obscured by adventitious stains." What are these adventitious stains? All thoughts and afflictive emotions are contained within a single turn of mind; the root of all sentient beings of the three realms is self grasping. In reality self grasping is a mental fixation, a thought grasping at a reality. Tilopa said, " Son! You are not fettered by the appearance; you are fettered by grasping at them." Once all grasping is cleared away, there is nothing that can obscure the mind. Even if thoughts arise, they will not obscure mind, if you do not grasp at them. If you grasp at them, you will be hurt like being pricked with a thorn, you will become obscured. This is called 'fettered.' We are not fettered by the extend of thoughts that arise, as long as we do not grasp at them. All the practitioners, retreatants, mountain hermits, know this, yet listen to the advise of me, a man with experience. I have gathered many experiences of suffering and difficulties in this lifetime. It is said. " An elder sick person is the best doctor."

-- Garchen Rinpoche