How is the term 'sugatagarbha Buddha-Nature' to be understood? It refers to clear light luminosity, which constitutes the fundamental ground of being. The essence of this clear light nature of mind is unsoiled by any sort of imperfection. This clear luminous nature itself is the sugatagarbha [and] it pervades all sentient beings; 'pure being' is present in the mind of beings. "Pure being" is clear-light luminosity by nature, and this is precisely what the Buddha-Nature is.

-- Khenpo Tsultrim Rinpoche

转识成智

慧净法师

善导大师《般舟赞》言：

微尘故业随智灭，不觉转入真如门；

大小僧祇恒沙劫，亦如弹指须臾间。

第一句显示「随智灭业」。

「微尘故业随智灭」，我们无量劫以来所累积的罪业非常多，所以说「微尘故业」；以前多如大地微尘的故业，一旦往生极乐世界就会「转识成智」；一旦转识成智，罪业就完全消灭了。

如同百千万亿无量劫的黑暗从来没有光明过，可是一旦光来，暗立刻消除，是剎那间的。并不会因为黑暗太久，即使光来了也要渐渐的明亮，并非如此。同样的，我们数不尽、算不完的微尘故业，也是当下随智而灭。

第二句显示「任运入真」。

「不觉转入真如门」，「不觉」有「无作、自然」二义，就是不须任何的造作、修行，离觉观之作意，不用寻思等加行，是无作、自然的转入了真如门。

真如就是一真法界、真如实相、第一义谛，就是佛的果位。前面是消除业障，接下来是开显佛的真如智慧的功德。

第三、四句显示「时分无碍」。

「大小僧祇恒沙劫，亦如弹指须臾间」，「大小僧祇恒沙劫」就是大劫小劫、阿僧祇劫、恒河沙数劫；阿僧祇就是「无央数」，没办法想象计算的；恒沙就更多了。「亦如弹指须臾间」，本来需要经过小劫、大劫、恒河沙劫才能累积的功德，我们一弹指间就具备了。

所以到了极乐世界都是超越性的，一旦到极乐世界花开见佛，显现真如实相之佛智的时候，都是证入不生不灭；既然是不生不灭，哪还有大劫、小劫、恒沙劫呢？

不生不灭就是动静一如，不增不减，无有来去。在时间上，长时和短时都是自在无碍相融相入的，也就是「一念摄劫，劫摄一念」，一念之间能够涵盖大小恒沙劫，大小恒沙劫能够融入一念当中；最初的一念已经包含前际后际，前际后际都在一念当中。

极乐世界的正报依报都常住不变，既然如此，怎会有生灭、来去、增减呢？以世间人来讲，受苦时觉得时间漫长，欢乐的时候又觉得时间过得很快，所谓「苦则以短为长，乐则以长为短」。又如同入禅定之人，当下心是寂静的，甚至是寂灭的、不起心动念的，即使经过了十年、百年、千年，也等同没有时间，一剎那而已。

Whatever thoughts arise, do not do anything contrived, such as deliberately abandoning or adopting them — look at their very essence. 

-- 9th Karmapa Wangchuk Dorje

Nibbana For Everyone

by Buddhadasa Bhikkhu

When you hear the words "Nibbana for everyone," many of you will shake your heads. You'll think that I'm trying to "dye cats for sale"and probably don't have any interest in the subject. This only happens because you understand the meaning of such words too narrowly and out of line with the truth.

In the schools children are taught that Nibbana is the death of an Arahant. The ordinary man in the street has been taught that it's a special city empty of pain and chock full of the happiness of fulfilled wishes, supposedly reached after death by those who store up perfections (parami) over tens of thousands of lifetimes. Modern social developers see it as an obstruction to progress that we shouldn't get involved with or even discuss. Students in general consider it a matter for devout old folks at the temple with nothing of relevance for them. Young men and women think it's bland and unexciting, awful and frightening. All the candidates for the monkhood merely mouth without understanding the vow, "May I go forth in order to awaken to Nibbana." The old monks say Nibbana can't happen anymore in this day and age, and that an Arahant cannot exist anymore either. So finally, Nibbana has become a secret that no one cares about. They've turned it into something barren and silent, buried away in the scriptures, to be paid occasional service in sermons while no one really knows what it is.

In fact, without this business of Nibbana, Buddhism would be as good as dead. When nobody is interested in Nibbana, then nobody is genuinely interested in Buddhism. When nothing about Nibbana interests us, then we can't get any benefits at all from Buddhism. I feel that it's about time for us to get interested and bring about the highest benefit, as fits the words, "Nibbana is the Supreme Thing" — namely, the highest goal of living things, which is always inseparable from our daily lives.

Nibbana has nothing in the least to do with death. The word "Nibbana" means "coolness." Back when it was just an ordinary word that people used in their homes it also meant "coolness." When it is used as Dhamma language, in a religious context, it still means "coolness," but refers to the cooling or going out of the fires of defilement (kilesa, reactive emotions), while in the common people's usage it means the cooling of physical fires.

Throughout the Pali scriptures, the word "Nibbana" is never used in the sense of death. When death is discussed, the word "marana" is used. Otherwise, the word "Parinibbana" is used, such as when the Buddha said, "The Parinibbana will occur three months from now.

Nibbana Is One Of The Dhatus (natural conditions). It is the coolness remaining when the defilements — greed, anger, fear, delusion — have ended. Two types of this element can be distinguished. In the first, the defilements are exhausted and cooled, but the sensory system, the organs that receive sensory stimuli aren't yet cool. In the second, this sensory system is also cooled. A white-hot charcoal illustrates the difference. When it first goes out, it is still too hot to be handled. We must wait a while longer until it is cool enough to be touched. Through the explanations of later generations the meaning of "Nibbana" has changed to "death." Such changes and lapses are commonplace in this world, so nowadays we Thais use the later distorted meaning. I myself was taught this way when I was a child. When I first became a bhikkhu, I still understood it erroneously and passed that understanding on to my friends and students. Only when I could study the original Pali texts for myself did I discover that Nibbana was a whole other affair than death. Instead, it's a kind of life that knows no death. Nibbana is the thing that sustains life, thus preventing death. It itself can never die, although the body must die eventually.

As things are, other Indian religions contemporary with Buddhism also used the word "Nibbana." In the Pali texts there's a passage about a Brahmin teacher named Bavari from the area of the Godhavari River in Southern India. He sent his sixteen students, also well-known teachers, to ask the Lord Buddha about his version of Nibbana. Some of them may have understood Nibbana to mean "death." In Theravada countries, this story is well known as "the Sixteen Questions" (of the students).(4) The point here is that the theme of Nibbana was the highest concern of the Indian religions contemporary with Buddhism. Further, there must have been at least one group that interpreted it as "death" and spread its teaching in the vicinity of "The Golden Land" (Suvarnabhumi, the ancient name of Siam) before Buddhism arrived here. Thus, it was left behind as the general understanding among the common folk, similar to what happened with atta (self) and atman (soul). Now we had better return to our examination of Nibbana as taught in Buddhism.

When Prince Siddhartha first took up the homeless spiritual life, he wandered in search of the Nibbana that is the total quenching of all dukkha — he wasn't looking for death! From the famous teachers of India at that time, he learned nothing higher than the experience of neither perception nor non-perception (nevasanyanasanyayatana), a degree of mental tranquillity so deep that we can describe it neither as "death" nor as "non-death." He couldn't accept this as the supreme Nibbana, so he went off to search on his own until he discovered the Nibbana that is the coolness remaining when the defilements have finally ended. He called it "the end of dukkha," meaning the exhaustion of all the heat produced by defilements. However much the defilements are exhausted, there's that much coolness, until there is perfect coolness due to the defilements being finished completely. In short, to the degree that the defilements are ended, there will be that much coolness or Nibbana. That is, Nibbana is the coolness resulting from the quenching of defilements, whether they quench on their own or someone quenches them through Dhamma practice. Whenever the defilements are quenched, then there is the thing called "Nibbana," always with the same meaning — coolness.

Next, notice that the defilements are concocted things (sankharadhammas) that arise and pass away. As it says in the Pali,

Yankinci samudayadhammam sabbantam nirodhadhammam.

(Whatever things originate, all those will cease.)

Any reactive emotion that arises ceases when its causes and conditions are finished. Although it may be a temporary quenching, merely a temporary coolness, it still means Nibbana, even if only temporarily. Thus, there's a temporary Nibbana for those who still can't avoid some defilements. This indeed is the temporary Nibbana that sustains the lives of beings who are still hanging onto defilement. Anyone can see that if the egoistic emotions exist night and day without any pause or rest, no life could endure it. If it didn't die, it would go crazy and then die in the end. You ought to consider carefully the fact that life can survive only because there are periods when the defilements don't roast it, which, in fact, outnumber the times when the defilements blaze.

These periodic Nibbanas sustain life for all of us, without excepting even animals, which have their levels of Nibbana, too. We are able to survive because this kind of Nibbana nurtures us, until it becomes the most ordinary habit of life and of the mind. Whenever there is freedom from defilement, then there is the value and meaning of Nibbana. This must occur fairly often for living things to survive. That we have some time to relax both bodily and mentally provides us with the freshness and vitality needed to live.

Why don't we understand and feel thankful for this kind of Nibbana at least a little bit? We're lucky that the instincts can manage by themselves. Conscious beings naturally search for periods that are free from craving, thirst, and egoism. We might call this natural urge "the Nibbana instinct." If there is unremitting thirst, life must die. Thus, infants know how to suck the breast and mosquitoes know how to buzz around sucking blood to sustain their lives until they are slapped to death. Our instincts have this virtue built in: they search for periods of time sufficiently free from defilement or free from thirst to maintain life. Whenever there is freedom and voidness there is always this little Nibbana, until we know how to make it into the lasting or perfect Nibbana of the Arahant. It isn't death, but rather is deathlessness, in particular, spiritual deathlessness. If anyone sees this fact, they'll personally experience that we can survive only through this kind of Nibbana. We don't survive just because of that rice and food that so infatuate people. We realize that everybody must have this thing called "Nibbana" and must depend on it as their lives' sustenance. So who can object to us talking about "Nibbana for everyone"?

In order to better understand the meaning of the word "Nibbana," we ought to look at it from the perspective of linguistics. A material sense of the word is found in the phrase "pajjotasseva nibbanam" This "nibbana" refers to the ordinary quenching of a lamp, and more broadly to any source of heat or fire. When the rice porridge is still hot, the cook yells out from the kitchen, "wait a moment, let it nibbana first." When the goldsmith melts down gold and pours it into a mould, he sprinkles water on it to cool it down. The word used in Pali here is "nibbapeyya," to first make it nibbana or cool before working it into some shape or form.

Even the wild animals that are captured from the jungle and tamed like pussycats are said to have been "nibbana-ed." Sensual pleasures cool down foolish people in a way appropriate for them. Unwavering concentration on material forms (rupajhanas) brings coolness free from those fires of sensuality. Although temporary, these absorptions (jhanas) are certain levels of Nibbana, also. The "experience of nothingness" (akincanyayatana) and the other formless absorptions (arupajhanas) bring levels of coolness free from the fires that arises out of attractive material things. Nibbana due to the ending of all defilements brings the final coolness that is the ultimate in all respects.

Certain groups of teachers have come up with the word "sivamokkha-mahanibbana," which they explain as some kind of town or city. Although no one can make any sense of it, they keep it around for people to bow to when this strange word is declaimed from the pulpits of their run of the mill temples.

There is also the word "nibbuti," meaning an ethical level of Nibbana. It refers to a cool heart and cool life such as that which impressed a young woman on seeing Prince Siddhartha. She exclaimed, "Whoever's son this gentleman is, his mother and father are nibbuta (that is, cool); whoever's husband he is, that woman is nibbuta (once again, cool)." Such examples have the meaning of Nibbana, also. Nowadays the monks in Thailand chant the benefits of ethical behavior with "silena nibbutim yanti," which means nibbuti is achieved through healthy morality (sila). This comes after the lesser benefits of ethical living, such as acquisition of wealth and attaining happy births (sugati). The purpose here is for Nibbana to have a place in ordinary daily life.

This coolness of heart and peace of mind that everyone desires is the meaning of Nibbana. However, people misunderstand it and aim only for sex, which is hot stuff. Thus, they get a deceptive Nibbana. People have clung to such an interpretation since, or even before, the Buddha's time, such as can be found among the sixty-two wrong views listed in the Brahmajala Sutta.

Please consider the history and basic meaning of the word "Nibbana." In all cases it points to coolness of heart and mind, according to the higher or lower awareness of each person. The essential meaning, however, is always in the nurturing and sustaining of life. It lessens the time when fires burn the mind just enough for us to survive and eventually develops to the highest level, which absolutely quenches all fires. The highest degree of realisation in Buddhism, according to the Buddha, is the end of lust, the end of hatred, and the end of delusion, which is the final quenching of all fires and the coolest coolness that life can be.

Nibbana is not the mind, but is something that the mind can experience, or, as the Buddha put it, is a certain ayatana that wisdom can experience. Forms, sounds, odors, flavors, and tactile sensations are material or physical ayatana, things the body can experience. The formless absorptions from the experience of endless space (akasanancayatana) up to and including the experience of neither perception nor non-perception (nevasanyanasanyayatana) are mental ayatana that the mind can experience. Then, Nibbana is a spiritual ayatana for mindfulness and wisdom to experience and realise. We should consider it something that Nature has provided for the highest level of humanity. We ought to know it so that Nibbana and our lives are not in vain. Every one of us has mindfulness and wisdom in order to touch Nibbana. Don't let it go to waste!

The Nibbana-element exists naturally so that Nibbana will be realised, like a precious medicine which ends all dukkha. There is the dukkha or disease which ordinary medicines cannot cure, namely, the disease of defilement that must be cured by the extinction of defilements, through which this nibbana-dhatu is realised. This highest spiritual illness lies deeply hidden in us and torments us secretly. Anyone who can quench it has reached the pinnacle of being human.

The words "there is no Nibbana" are more wrong than wrong can be because the nibbana-element exists naturally, everywhere, always, only nobody is interested enough to find it. The Lord Buddha discovered and revealed it to us through his enormous compassion, but we cut the story short thinking that in this era there is no Nibbana anymore, when we should instead say that nobody understands it or is interested in it. Merely by becoming proper followers of the Buddha, Nibbana will appear. It is already waiting for people to find it.

We cannot create Nibbana because it is beyond all causes and conditions. Nevertheless, we can create the conditions for realising Nibbana, namely, all actions which lead to the abandonment of the defilements. We won't claim, as some do, that "doing good is a condition for Nibbana." Condition (paccaya) implies causal necessity, but there is nothing which has such power over Nibbana. The right words are "doing good is a condition for realising Nibbana," which can be done in any age or period. Old folks like the words "Stairway to Nibbana" because they think it is a place or city, which is what they have been taught. Still, it is an acceptable enough phrase, meaning simply "supporting conditions for the realisation of Nibbana."

There are dozens of synonyms for Nibbana, for example, the Deathless, Permanence, Peace, Safety, Health, Diseaselessness, Freedom, Emancipation, Shelter, Refuge, Immunity, Island (for those fallen into water), Highest Benefit, Supreme Joy, Other Shore, That Which Should Be Reached, and the End of Concocting. All of these are thoroughly cool, because there aren't any fires to make them hot. Peaceful coolness is their meaning or value; unfortunately, it is a value too subtle to interest people who are still overly enveloped by selfishness. When brushing aside the defilements for the first time, you will certainly be delighted by Nibbana more than anything ever before. This is available to and possible for everyone. May we take the word "coolness" as the supreme value.

The expression that best conveys the meaning of Nibbana is "the end of dukkha." Although the Buddha used this term, it's of no interest for those people who feel that they don't have any dukkha or suffering. They don't feel they have dukkha: they just want the things they want and think there isn't any dukkha to quench. Consequently, they don't care about quenching dukkha or about the end of dukkha. Even a large number of the many foreigners who come to Suan Mokkh feel this way. However, once we tell them there is a new life, or quenching of thirst, or life which is beyond positive and negative, they really start to get interested. This is the difficulty of language, which we nonetheless must use to get people interested in Nibbana. For each person, there must be one translation of the word "Nibbana" especially for that person. This is no minor difficulty. Yet deep down, without being conscious of or having any intention toward it, everyone wants Nibbana if only through the power of instinct.

The study of Nibbana in daily life is possible in order to have a better understanding of and a greater interest in Nibbana's meaning. When seeing a fire go out or something hot cooling down, look for the meaning of Nibbana in it. When bathing or drinking ice water, when a breeze blows or rain falls, take notice of the meaning of Nibbana. When a fever subsides, a swelling goes down, or a headache goes away, recognise the meaning of Nibbana as found in those things. When perspiring, sleeping comfortably, or eating one's fill, see the meaning of Nibbana. When seeing an animal with all its fierceness and danger tamed away, see the meaning of Nibbana. All of these are lessons to help us understand the nature of Nibbana in every moment. The mind will regularly incline towards contentment in Nibbana and this helps the mind to flow more easily along the path of Nibbana.

Whenever you find coolness in your experience, mark that coolness firmly in your heart, and breathe out and in. Breathing in is cool, breathing out is cool. In cool, out cool — do this for a little while. This is an excellent lesson that will help you to become a Lover of Nibbana (Nibbanakamo) more quickly. The instincts will develop in an enlightened (bodhi) way more than if you don't practice like this. Natural Nibbana — the unconscious quenching of defilement — will occur more often and easily. This is the best way to help nature.

In conclusion, Nibbana is not death. Rather, it is the coolness and deathlessness that is full of life. In the Pali scriptures, the word "Nibbana" is never used regarding death. Nibbana is a natural element always ready to make contact with the mind in the sense of being one kind of ayatana (sensible thing). If there were no Nibbana, Buddhism would have no meaning. The genuine kind of Nibbana, different from the Nibbana of other sects, was discovered by the Buddha. Natural Nibbana can happen simply because the defilements arise and end naturally because they are just another kind of concocted nature. Every time the defilements don't appear, Nibbana becomes apparent to the mind. This kind of Nibbana nourishes the lives of living things so they survive and don't go crazy. At least, it lets us sleep at night. Nibbana isn't any kind of special city anywhere. It is in the mind that is now void of besieging defilements. For the morality of ordinary people at home, its name is "nibbuti." Nibbana isn't the mind, but it appears to the mind as a certain ayatana. We can experience Nibbana here and now by breathing in cool and breathing out cool. It is the automatic quenching of heat, of thirst, of dukkha in ordinary life, even without our being conscious of it. It is the eternal nourishment and sustenance of life.

I hope that you all will begin to know that "Nibbana for everyone" isn't just "dyeing cats for sale," but is the genuine cat for catching rats — that is, dukkha and anxiety — according to the mindfulness and wisdom of each person!

Having slained mother (craving) and father (conceit) and two warrior kings (views based on eternalism and nihilism), and having destroyed a country (sense-avenues and sense-objects) together with its revenue officer (attachment), ungrieving goes the Brahmaoa (Arhat).

-- The Buddha

一般人容易混淆的四个概念

倓虚法师

现在有所谓佛法、佛教、佛学与学佛，四者之范围虽差不许多，可是其中多少是有些不同的。

何谓佛法？曰：佛者，具足云佛陀耶，译云觉道。觉有自觉、觉他、觉满，亦曰知觉、觉悟。在佛的方面来说，是有觉而又有道；在迷沦的众生方面来说，则是有觉而无道，觉非其道则为妄觉、错觉。佛字再往浅近一点说，就是明白，人谁没有觉性？没有明白？成佛就是成自己本有的觉性，明白本有的明白。“法”者，梵语达摩耶，此云法。法以“轨生物解，任持自性”为义，有色法、心法、心所法、相应法、不相应法、无为法。世间形形色色，般般样样，可思可议的，不可思不可议的，无一不是法。明白一点说，就是法则、样子。把佛法两个字联在一起，简单来说，佛法就是很明白的一种方法，用这种方法可以度人出苦海到彼岸。可是众生不往明白里去做，整天糊里糊涂，所以永为众生，永远不能出苦。

何谓佛教？曰：佛如上释。教者，圣人被下之言，就是根据佛法适合着众生根器而分出来的部类体系，如华严部度一类大机，阿含部度一类小机等。因众生根器不同，故教有显教、密教、大乘教、小乘教、人天教、不定教乃至三藏十二分教，这是在体上来说。如果在用上来说，教就是教导、教化。怎样教导？怎样教化？就是根据佛说的各种教法，用一种很明白的方法，先导人以舍邪归正，后化人以背尘合觉。一人觉，则一人明白；多人觉，则多人明白。

何谓佛学？佛学就是佛的学问，也就是一种至高无上的学理。人们研究佛学，就是把佛所说的法相和言教融和在一起，作一种学术性有系统的研究，拿佛法当一种学问看待。现在无论出家在家，以这类人为最多。因他能博览群经，多学强记，东征西引，写出来很多东西，称之为佛学家或佛教学者。当然，在修行方面来说，为了恐怕盲修瞎练，先研究经教，这是应该的；可是按佛学的真宗旨来说，如果只顾学，在行持上一条戒也不持，一点心地的观“念”工夫没有，一点惭愧心没有，整天花天酒地的，这样纵让你把三藏十二部都熟读背诵过来，也不过等于个活藏经楼，一点用处都没有。

何谓学佛？学佛就是由解起行，就是把所学来的佛法、佛教和研究的佛学的理论来躬亲实践、付诸实行；由于实行，才能证诸理论之谬误与否。所谓由闻而思，由思而修，行起解绝。比如佛在因地时，曾三祗修福慧，百劫种相好，由实行而证得法身遍满。佛既是由实行而证得法身遍满的，我们现在是信佛、学佛的，也应当由解起行，由实行做起。如果不实行，纵让你天天站在讲台上给人讲，讲到嘴里冒白沫，也只是像鹦鹉学人说话一样，一点用处都没有。譬如一个当教员的，或当医官的，当医生的，天天抱一大堆关于防治肺痨的书给人讲，还在黑板上画出解剖的图形来，让人怎样防范、怎样治疗，可是他自己却是一个面黄肌瘦的肺病患者，讲课时还咳嗽不止、痰中带血，末了自己还是因肺病而亡，这就是因他只顾研究书本上肺病怎样防范治疗的理论，而平素却不实行注意到自己的卫生。研究佛学的人，如果只顾学而不顾行，也和这种情形一样。

学佛之实行实做，有从智门入手的，有从行门入手的。从智门入手的，多是利根人；从行门入手的，多属钝根人。可是现代人从智门入手的，往往被聪明所误，横起知见，易入流俗。如普通一般学教人，大多是觉于口而迷于心，长于言而拙于行，这样尚不如从行门入手的比较可靠。真正上根利智的人，虽然其宿根深厚，要之其前因亦从行门中来。如诸佛菩萨、声闻缘觉、阿罗汉等，莫不各有其所修之行。在劝化方面来说，也是劝人“修”，如说“老修行！你好好修行”，没有劝人修智的。实际上，“行”的工夫到家，自然就生出智慧来。因为众生本具妙智妙慧，无须另外去修，只要行力坚固，始觉妙观察智显发，本觉大圆镜智自然现前。尤其出家当法师，更要注重行持，如果没有行持，说得天花乱坠，也是无济于事的！想行持，必先持戒。

The great Kadampa lamas of the past have advised regarding Dharma practice: the best practitioners will experience great joy at the time of death, middling Dharma practitioners will be fearless at the time of death, and even the lowest of Dharma practitioners will at least die without regrets.

-- Ribur Rinpoche

Integration

by Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche

The definition of a sentient being is to have a mind that experiences pain and pleasure, suffering and happiness. As I mentioned previously, we humans all unconditionally desire happiness and freedom from pain. Likewise, in the animal realm, the instinct is also  to seek happiness and freedom from suffering. However, animals are limited in their pursuit of this due to their inability to think clearly and act positively. In the human realm we have the critical intelligence that animals lack.

Human beings have the ability to discern what is true happiness and what is not. We can understand the causes of happiness and reject the causes of suffering. Even though we as humans possess this capacity for discrimination, it remains dormant if we don’t use it. To be able to use this ability, we need to cultivate the three wisdoms. With the hearing wisdom, the contemplative wisdom, and the meditative wisdom, the natural aptitude we have can be brought out to the fullest extent to serve our most basic needs.

We must acknowledge our potential and capacity. If we fail to do so, we degrade ourselves to the level of animals. Demeaning ourselves is a common problem. Saying, “Oh, I can’t do this,” is actually a form of laziness. “Oh, it’s beyond me. I can’t think. It’s too much pressure to think.” Things like this keep us stuck at a lower level of intelligence, unable to develop our potential. First you must acknowledge your critical intelligence and how it needs to be trained  and developed.

Next, endeavour to comprehend true happiness, which has a wide range. There are two kinds of happiness: sensory pleasure and mental happiness. Sensory pleasure is when you see, hear, smell, taste, or experience something wonderful — music being played, a nice  perfume, a scented flower, tasty food, the feeling of being warm and comfortable, or coolness on a hot day. Mental happiness is much more subtle. Pleasurable physical sensations can only be created through objects that have the capacity to give you gratification. But who is the true experiencer of this happiness? Although sensory perception is experienced, the pleasure is in the  discriminative mind. It’s the inner mind that truly experiences this contentment, this pleasure. When the inner mind is totally stressed and worried about something, the pleasures surrounding the sensory body, like being in a beautiful house or a nice garden, do not give rise to mental ease. Mind is depressed. Mind is worried. This inner mind that is in pain dominates the experience and outshines the sensory pleasures that are being fed to the sensory organs. 

Most of the time happiness depends on its own resource, the inner mind. The inner mind has a constant dialogue going on within itself, depending upon your view, perspective, and attitude. It is this inner mind that shapes one’s ability to find deep happiness and strength. That’s where the Dharma comes in. The Dharma is not going to provide you with anything for the sensory body. Dharma is all food for the inner mind. Dharma provides you with the view, perspective, and attitudes to train yourself and discipline this inner mind. Dharma guides you to bring  out your positive qualities and eliminate your negative characteristics. If you really want  happiness, you have to first discern the kind of happiness you want. If you want sensory pleasure, then Dharma does not have much to offer you. If you want happiness of mind, however, then  Dharma has a lot to offer.

In our current condition, we have no consistent happiness. What is the problem? From my point of view, and I have really drawn a strict conclusion on this matter, it is because we lack the practice of bodhichitta — we are unaware of the practice of bodhichitta. If we gain a knowledge and awareness of the practice of bodhichitta, we will be able to follow Through on that longing to be free from suffering and be happy. The more we engage in bodhichitta practice,  the stronger the blessing of the practice will be in our lives. If that practice of bodhichitta is not there, it is very difficult to be free from suffering and to sustain our mind in true, uncommon  happiness. 

We have two states of mind: relative mind and the absolute state of mind, which is enlightened. Ultimately, there is no difference between an enlightened being’s nature and that of a sentient being. Realisation of the enlightened nature is one way to fulfil the longing all sentient beings have to be happy and free from suffering. Through realisation we can actually transform all our perceptions, thoughts, and emotions and attain the state of freedom, happiness,  and bliss.

Having this longing for happiness motivates us to eventually establish it. Fuelled by the power of this longing, we should generate the aspiration bodhichitta and not give up the wish to be free. When the realisation of that wish is completely stabilised, we can interact with the world like so many of the great practitioners of the past. But in our lifetime, for us to feel that strong renunciation is difficult; also, the circumstances of our lives don’t always allow us to do that easily. Still, we shouldn’t give up the desire to become a genuine practitioner. The reason to become a genuine practitioner is to fully understand the wisdom of the Buddha’s enlightened teachings and to be able to integrate our mind with them for the benefit of all beings. To do this, we first need to purify our mind in the correct ways. Next, we need to establish our mind in the state of happiness that comes from practising the Buddha’s teachings. Finally, we have to have the wish to benefit others as much as we can. The practice of bodhichitta makes  that possible. 

We are trying to verify that which needs to be purified. We do not want to purify anything and everything, but rather something that harms and hurts us over and over again. We seek to purify something that we can actually verify, not only once, but again and again and again  with our critical intelligence.

That which truly harms us is anger of all types — big, medium, small, gross,  subtle — and all kinds of attachment, jealousy, competitiveness, and pride. The ultimate maker of all these negative emotions is stupidity. If we were wise and had no trace of stupidity, we wouldn’t get so involved in negative emotions. We wouldn’t be so hooked by these emotions. The motor that runs all of these emotions is stupidity itself — ignorance. This is the fifth disturbing emotion. These five, attachment, jealousy, competiveness, pride and stupidity are negative because they  cause use to experience the harm and pain that result from our mind being in an unhealthy state. This is what needs to be purified. Imagine a future without any attachment, aggression, jealousy, competitiveness, or arrogance. Our mind is going to be quite pure. Our mind is  going to be quite peaceful. Our mind is going to be quite free. 

We have to aim our mind towards being that way. We have to see the possibility for something like that to happen in our mind by taking the support of the Buddha’s teaching. If we remedy the root, the symptoms are naturally cured. That root, according to the Buddha’s  teachings, is nothing other than our self-importance. Our self-importance brings up these five negative emotions throughout the day and long into the night. Imagine having a good practice to remedy this self-importance, so it is not out of control. And then slowly, slowly get to a point where the self-importance is realised to be a thing designated by mind. In reality, there is no  self to be found. And then have a deeper sense of true wisdom to remedy the self-importance, a realisation of selflessness, the state of enlightened mind.

The initial stages of purification are very simple and easy to understand. We can all identify how much we have suffered from our own attachment, jealousy, pride, ignorance, and  aggression. There is no reason to deny or dispute this, although in the midst of an attack by  these emotions, we might defend or justify them. Later, when we regain our sanity and have some wisdom to fall back on — not simply going with the emotions or indulging the emotions — we will be  able to admit the suffering that has been created. We would never call it sane to indulge in our surging emotions and be carried away by deluded behaviour. The time when we are sane is  when we actually have some wisdom to fall back on in self-reflection, so that we can see what  actually hurt us, how it hurt us, and what could have been avoided, what we could have done  differently.

No matter how we are trained, as a philosopher or a practitioner, there are times when we are insane. But still, there are times we are sane. Otherwise everybody would have to be admitted to the mental hospital, and that would be too much of an expense for the state and federal governments! The times when we are sane are when we have wisdom to fall back  on. During those times, we want to practice the Dharma, learn the essence of the Buddha’s wisdom, apply the enlightened teachings to our mind, and actually change. We want to change this random insanity, unpredictability, and dependence on outer circumstances that create the  situation for our mind to react in terms of the five afflicting emotions. That we do not have control over outer circumstances makes our state of mind unpredictable in a negative way. If somebody says something that is hurtful, we react. This makes our life very unstable. We are shaky all the time, and to a degree, we are insane. And we want to change that.

To try to change that, we must get hold of our mind in a particular way. A lot of people try to control their rage, attachment, jealousy, and pride, but somehow the emotions get  out of control. We know these emotions are not good, that these emotions are not helpful, and that they hurt others and us. We want to try to hold them back, but we don’t know how to get a proper grip on them. Mind, with its emotional energy, is not something we can easily seize. A  concrete object, even a hot iron ball, can be held in our hands, given proper mantras and training. Workers building the Empire State Building actually threw hot iron from one hand to the other.

We can do that with physical objects, but with the mind it’s not so simple. Basically, there is no possibility of holding our mind without embracing it with wisdom. We have to give the mind something to do that is opposite to how it normally reacts or uses its energy. Unless we have the wisdom to counteract the habitual power of the mind that is making us react in a particular direction, that habit actually can become much more explosive and difficult.

We are talking through all this on the level of thought, on the emotional level. We must have some wisdom that actually guides the mind from the wrong habitual pattern to a new one, creating a new habit. Without this, it’s very difficult for the mind to control itself. And  that’s why we have hopeless cases. We never learn from life; we only wear ourselves out. And then maybe we get some freedom. But if we have to wear ourselves out to get some freedom, it is almost impossible to wait for all the neuroses to wear themselves out.

To try to hold your mind — to suppress the temptations and seeds of temptation that are ripening within the disturbing emotions — is disastrous. It simply doesn’t work. Mind at that point needs to know what it should do. What would be the best thing for mind to do when it gets angry, for instance? Use the energy of anger to fuel kindness. That you can do, because you know anger is not good. Anger harms you, and it harms others. You do not necessarily want to get angry. One who follows anger is powerless. So, be really convinced that being kind will remedy  this anger. Generate kind thoughts and feelings — this you have to learn from Dharma. But once you have learned it, you can do it.

Kindness and angry thoughts cannot exist together. One will always overpower the other. If you examine the competition between anger and kindness, which will win in the end? People tend to say, “Oh, maybe the anger will be much stronger.” That’s only because of bad habit, however. If you don’t have that habit, if your habit is not that way, anger has no reason to win, because it doesn’t do any good to you or anyone else. It harms you, and it harms others too. Anger is based on ignorance, based on actually having no self-control. All those points make the anger fundamentally weak. Kindness, on the other hand, does good for you and others. You know that already. It remedies anger by freeing you from it and from the sensation of it. Kindness based on practice is self-willed. For all these reasons, kindness will win out over anger.

If you have habitually indulged in anger for a long time, of course, that might give it added power. But in objective terms, anger has no reason to win out over kindness, while kindness has all sorts of reasons to win out over anger, as does sympathetic joy over jealousy. If you don’t practice and want to continuously indulge, well, that is another story. But if you practice, sympathetic joy has many reasons to win out over jealousy, just as detachment has  much more reason to win out over attachment, as does humbleness over arrogance and pride. All the practices of the four immeasurables and positive qualities have solid, genuine, real  reasons to win. And this is your capital. Right? If you don’t know your own capital, you can never actually increase your wealth. You have to know what your capital is in order for your wealth to increase. The practices of bodhichitta that you try to cultivate have all the reasons to win over  that which you want your mind to be free from.

To do that, to free your mind is to learn through the hearing and contemplative wisdoms and to put them into practice through meditation. The application aspect is important here. Merely reading a medical text is not going to cure you of a disease, is it? You have to not only read it, but also do what the text suggests. You have to put the instructions into practice.  From my point of view — and this is from the point of view of the teachings, too — you have a great  chance to free yourself from the five negative disturbing emotions, day by day, week by week, and month by month. There can come a time when you will have no negative emotions in your  mind from morning till night, and eventually not even in your dreams. What makes this happen is the practice of bodhichitta, the practice of the genuine four immeasurables. Based on the practice of the four immeasurables, generate the real and genuine wish to be enlightened for the benefit of others. This is not just an ordinary wish, but a deep and heartfelt desire that all  beings be free from the suffering produced by the five disturbing emotions.

This is not an abstract thing. Our own suffering is very clear. We want to be free from suffering, not only for ourselves, but also for all beings. We want to attain the state of mind’s  perfect health — complete realisation of its own absolute and relative potentials, with the perfect  bliss that comes with it. If there is no bliss in the realisation of absolute truth and in the full blossoming of the potential of the relative positive qualities, what’s the point? There is bliss in realisation. Although it’s non-dual, it’s still blissful. We want that kind of freedom for all sentient  beings, as well as for ourselves.

It’s not like chanting by rote, when we have no time to think what we are saying. Now we know what enlightenment is. It is not theoretical. Now, with this wish — for all beings to be enlightened — strong inside of us, nothing else can occupy our mind. This wish comes up in our thoughts; it is a deep, burning flame inside of our heart. Thoughts come and go, but the burning  is there all the time. Yearning for enlightenment is there all the time.

In the past, perhaps the yearning for happiness and freedom was there, but it didn’t have a broad aim. Maybe the yearning only focused on the self. This time it’s not focused on yourself, it’s focused on all beings, everyone. That much is different. In the past, you did not know true, uncommon happiness. Now you know what happiness is. In the past, you did not know what freedom was. Now you do. In the past, you did not know what caused suffering. Now you know. In the past, you did not know how to get happiness. Now you do. In some ways it’s the same, but in another way it is not, and that makes all the difference. Very simply, there is a very  big change inside of you. That yearning is burning as it always has, but now it’s united with the  aim to be free from suffering: knowing what suffering is, what the cause of suffering is, and wishing happiness not merely for yourself but for all beings, to have the happiness that is  enlightenment.

What can bring uncommon happiness to you is wishing that others be happy. Wishing that others be happy, wishing others to be enlightened, and dedicating your whole life to the practice of the paramitas, which actually engages in the work of enlightenment, is what brings you there. 

Bodhichitta practice brings you to that ultimate happiness. This time, something is different. You were on the wrong track in the past, but now you are on the right track. Being able to discriminate between the two with your intelligence is a big improvement. In the past  you longed for freedom and happiness only for yourself, and that put you on the wrong track. Longing for freedom and wishing for happiness is good, because that’s needed. There’s no  harm in that. But wishing that only for yourself puts you on the wrong track. It is not only you who is in need of freedom and happiness. The need here is all-pervasive, because all sentient beings  need this, so you direct your focus towards them as well. Focusing only on yourself in the past led you astray. Now, longing for all beings to be free from suffering and wishing all beings to be happy and perfectly enlightened is the right track.

How do you know that this was the wrong track and that you are now on the right track? When you wished only for you own happiness, you never got it. Instead, it made things worse. But wishing all beings to be free from suffering and wishing all beings to be happy is  how all of the buddhas and bodhisattvas became enlightened.

If you want happiness for yourself, practice kindness — you will be happy. If you practice attachment, you will suffer. If you practice compassion, you will be happy. If you practice aggression, you will be unhappy. From your own life experience you can see the evidence and feel quite encouraged to go in the right direction. When you yearn from deep within not only for yourself, but for all beings, to be free from suffering and have happiness that gets  translated into wishing all beings to be free from the sufferings of samsara and to be enlightened. Occupy your mind with that and making those prayers — then nothing can attack you. There is no way for the negative emotions to strike. You have secured your mind completely. It is impossible for negative emotions to arise while you are practising bodhichitta. While there is sunlight, it is impossible for darkness to come.

As long as you are practising bodhichitta, how can negative emotions attack you? Only when your mind leaves bodhichitta practice and gets back into old habits, into its usual pattern, can your mind be attacked. This life, this day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month affair of your whole life, is where you must secure your mind. If you truly secure your mind, there is no way for it to be attacked by the afflicting emotions. Compare the power of your newly learned bodhichitta practice with the power of countless aeons of various births with all their negative habits. Which is more powerful? The newly learned practice is much more powerful  than anything else.

Feel encouraged. This is the capital that will secure your mind through the practice of bodhichitta. Never second-guess what supports you the best. The more convinced and clear you are inside, the greater the practitioner you will become. If you are second-guessing, doubting, not quite sure what supports you the most — wondering if you want this support for sure — it will take a long time to mature. Eventually you will mature, but in the process you will be quite abused by all the negative emotions. The sooner you settle your mind on this, the quicker you  will be able to secure your mind in the practice of bodhichitta.

Additionally, there won’t be such a contest between wisdom and ignorance. Right now we are still somewhat relying on ignorance. When we pit wisdom against ignorance, wisdom has already won. We only have to fight against habit. In the deepest analysis, we have  no real conflict here, but only a conflict in the power of habits, which is easy to remedy. When habits challenge us, we can take them on. However, we can’t take ignorance on all by ourselves and win.

The first step is to get as clear as possible. Gain conviction in the wisdom of the Dharma, in the practice of the Dharma, as the remedy that supports you. Do not second-guess yourself, have doubts, or remain unsure. If the challenge of the habitual tendencies comes, you can take them on. That can actually be exciting, since you have no confusion. It’s a way you can actually measure your growth. Everyone wants to grow, so it can be exciting. The more habitual power you can overcome, the more exciting it gets. Removing fundamental ignorance is the most important thing. Your own experience removes that ignorance. You yourself are the best teacher of all. Your own experience teaches you what supports you and what doesn’t, what makes sense and what doesn’t, what enlightens you and what makes you stay in the same dark  ignorant place.

From all of our experiences, we can discern that what the Buddha taught and what sentient beings experience are not different things. It’s proven that the five negative afflicting emotions harm us, hurt us, and bring us down constantly, day by day, hour by hour. The primary cause of that is self-importance. What can actually remedy the five negative disturbing  emotions? The practice of the four immeasurables, and particularly a wish for all beings to be free  from suffering and happy — this wish being translated into a wish for the enlightenment of all beings. That yearning for all beings to be enlightened, making that a prayer and keeping that yearning and praying going all the time, is aspiration bodhichitta. That deep wish for oneself  to be enlightened for the benefit of all beings secures your mind. The negative emotions  cannot attack you when this is present. Only habit can attack you. And the frequency and success  with which habits attack you are a measure of your growth. This can be exciting. It’s not like you are always going to win. You might have some regrets here and there. But basically you will win. You could bet on this, unlike on a soccer game, which could go one way or the other. Here you  can bet, because there’s no danger of losing in the long run.

This is really the essence of the Buddha’s teachings, the essence of the practice. This is what you will learn. Try it out. From tonight until tomorrow morning, right before you fall asleep, or right after you wake up, or simply continuously, make this yearning for freedom inside of you — yearn for all beings to be free from suffering. Make this wish inside of you for all beings to be happy, and translate that into the wish for enlightenment for all beings. Keep this wish throughout the night and day; see how your mind is sustained in a state of peace and bliss and is subsequently protected and secured from negativity. That alone is evidence, and will make you more convinced.

When a water drop merges with the ocean, it is indivisible from the ocean. And the one space on the outside and inside of a broken vase cannot be differentiated, but extends into a single, all-pervasive space. Likewise, in the identification within yourself of the pure awareness, the nature of your mind, there is nothing to be altered and nothing else with which to engage.

-- Sera Khandro

佛教中“缘起”的特征和内涵是什么？

多识仁波切

“缘起”一词有一般和特殊两种含义。“缘起”的一般含义是“因缘所生”。“因缘所生”只适合于有为法，不适合于无为法；只限于事物的因果关系，不适用于非因果关系的事物。这种缘起又分内外两种。

“外缘起”指有为法的一般因果关系，如植物的种子和果实之间的因果关系和其他自然科学所掌握的各种事物的因果关系。

“内缘起”指的是有情生命的生灭、流转的因果关系。

“外缘起”是通过世俗分别智和直觉经验可以认识到的因果规律，而“内缘起”是佛地的现观直觉智和逻辑思辨所达到的认识对象，事涉隔世，世俗经验很难证明。“缘起”是一切事物的普遍规律。

“缘起”一词，除了上述一般性含义外，还有一个只有中观论使用的特殊的哲学含义。在宗喀巴大师的《中论大疏理海论》中对“缘起”义解释有相连、相依、相对三种含义。大小乘通用的缘起概念只有“因果相连”之义，没有相依、相对之义。而中观论使用的“缘起”一词，远远超出了因果相连之义，包括了并非因果关系的事物相互之间的相依、相对关系。

如事物的整体和部分，名称和事物，大和小，长和短，有和无，快和慢，常和无常，有和非有，生和灭，来和去，上和下，左和右，东和西，美和丑，善和恶等等，都是相依和相对的存在。

因果关系只适用于有限的范围，从因果相连意义的角度讲，只能说果的存在依赖于因的存在，但不能说因的存在依赖于果的存在。如果因的存在要依赖于果的存在的话，那么，在未生果之前，其因也应该不存在。但这与事实相背，因果有时间的先后，因在先，果在后，有因之时无果，有果之时，因已成过去的不存在了。同一事物和事件的因果，不能同时存在，故因依赖于果的观点是说不通的。

但从相依、相对的角度上说，果不但依于因，而且因也依于果。因为果是因的相对存在，因也是果的相对存在。因为无因不能称作果，无果也不能称其为因。

比如“母亲”与“子女”相对，若无子女，怎么会称“母亲”？一个妇女，对其父母是“女儿”，对其丈夫是“妻子”，对其子女是“母亲”，若离开她的相对条件，她便不具备上述三种性质中的任何一种性质，这便是相对存在之义。

这种事物存在的相对意义，不但外道不理解，就连教内中观以下的唯识、经部、有部均不能理解。