Bodhicitta: the Perfection of Dharma
	Bodhicitta: the Perfection of Dharma / by Lama Thubten Yeshe

Think it is absolutely essential for us to have loving kindness towards others. There is no doubt about this. Loving kindness is the essence of bodhicitta, the attitude of the bodhisattva. It is the most comfortable path, the most comfortable meditation. There can be no philosophical, scientific or psychological disagreement with this. With bodhicitta, there's no East-West conflict. This path is the most comfortable, most perfect, one hundred percent uncomplicated one, free of any danger of leading people to extremes. Without bodhicitta, nothing works. And most of all, your meditation doesn't work, and realizations don't come.

Why is bodhicitta necessary for success in meditation? Because of selfish grasping. If you have a good meditation but don't have bodhicitta, you will grasp at any little experience of bliss: 'Me, me; I want more, I want more.' Then the good experience disappears completely. Grasping is the greatest distraction to experiencing single-pointed intensive awareness in meditation. And with it, we are always dedicated to our own happiness: 'Me, me I'm miserable, I want to be happy. Therefore I'll meditate.' It doesn't work that way. For some reason good meditation and its results—peacefulness, satisfaction and bliss—just don't come.......... Also, without bodhicitta it is very difficult to collect merits. You create them and immediately destroy them; by afternoon, the morning's merits have gone. It's like cleaning a room and an hour later making it dirty again. You make your mind clean, then right away you mess it up - not a very profitable business. If you want to succeed in the business of collecting merits, you must have bodhicitta. With bodhicitta you become so precious—like gold, like diamonds; you become the most perfect object in the world, beyond compare with any material things. From the Western, materialistic point of view, we'd think it was great if a rich person said,'I want to make charity. I'm going to offer $100 to everybody in the entire world.' Even if that person gave with great sincerity, his or her merit would be nothing compared with just the thought,'I wish to actualize bodhicitta for the sake of sentient beings, and I'll practice the six paramitas as much as I can. That's why I always say, actualization of bodhicitta is the most perfect path you can take.

"The best Dharma practice, the most perfect, most substantial, is without doubt the practice of bodhicitta."

Remember the story of the Kadampa geshe who saw a man circumambulating a stupa? He said, 'What are you doing?' and the man answered, 'Circumambulating.' So the geshe said, 'Wouldn't it be better if you practiced dharma?' Next time the geshe saw the man he was prostrating, and when he again asked what he was doing, the man replied, 'One hundred thousand prostrations.' 'Wouldn't it be better if you practiced dharma?' asked the geshe. Anyway, the story goes on, but the point is that just doing religious-looking actions like circumambulation and prostration isn't necessarily practicing dharma. What we have to do is transform our attachment and self-cherishing, and if we haven't changed our mind in this way, none of the other practices work; doing them is just a joke. Even if you try to practice tantric meditations, unless you've changed within, you won't succeed. dharma means a complete change of attitude - that's what really brings you inner happiness, that is the true Dharma, not the words you say. Bodhicitta is not the culture of ego, not the culture of attachment, not the culture of samsara. It is an unbelievable transformation, the most comfortable path, the most substantial path—definite, not wishy-washy. Sometimes your meditation is not solid; you just space out. Bodhicitta meditation means you really want to change your mind and actions and transform your whole life.......... We are all involved in human relationships with each other. Why do we sometimes say,'I love you,' and sometimes, 'I hate you?' Where does this up-and-down mind come from? From the self-cherishing thought—a complete lack of bodhicitta. What we are saying is, 'I hate you because I'm not getting any satisfaction from you. You hurt me; you don't give me pleasure. That's the whole thing: I—my ego, my attachment—am not getting satisfaction from you, therefore I hate you. What a joke! All the difficulties in inter-personal relationships come from not having bodhicitta, from not having changed our minds.......... So, you see, just meditating is not enough. If that Kadampa geshe saw you sitting in meditation he'd say, 'What are you doing? Wouldn't it be better if you practiced dharma?' Circumambulating isn't dharma, prostrating isn't dharma, meditating isn't dharma. My goodness, what is dharma, then? This is what happened to the man in the story. He couldn't think of anything else to do. Well, the best dharma practice, the most perfect, most substantial, is without doubt the practice of bodhicitta.......... You can prove scientifically that bodhicitta is the best practice to do. Our self-cherishing thought is the root of all human problems. It makes our lives difficult and miserable. The solution to self-cherishing, its antidote, is the mind that is its complete opposite—bodhicitta. The self-cherishing mind is worried about only me, me—the self-existent I. Bodhicitta substitutes others for self. It creates space in your mind. Then even if your dearest friend forgets to give you a Christmas present, you don't mind. "Ah, well. This year she didn't give me my chocolate. It doesn't matter." Anyway, your human relationships are not for chocolate, not for sensory pleasures. Something much deeper can come from our being together, working together.

"With bodhicitta you become so precious— like gold, like diamonds. You become the most perfect object in the world, beyond compare with any material things."

If you want to be really, really happy, it isn't enough just to space out in meditation. Many people who have spent years alone in meditation have finished up the worse for it. Coming back into society, they have freaked out. They haven't been able to take contact with other people again, because the peaceful environment they created was an artificial condition, still a relative phenomenon without solidity. With bodhicitta, no matter where you go, you will never freak out. The more you are involved with people the more pleasure you get. People become the resource of your pleasure. You are living for people. Even though some still try to take advantage of you, you understand: 'Well, in the past I took advantage of them many times too.' So it doesn't bother you.......... Thus bodhicitta is the most perfect way to practice dharma, especially in our twentieth-century Western society. It is very, very worthwhile. With the foundation of bodhicitta you will definitely grow.......... If you take a proper look deep into your heart you will see that one of the main causes of your dissatisfaction is the fact that you are not helping others as best you can. When you realize this you'll be able to say to yourself, 'I must develop myself so that I can help others satisfactorily. By improving myself I can definitely help.' Thus you have more strength and energy to meditate, to keep pure morality and do other good things. You have energy, 'Because I want to help others.' That is why Lama Tsong Khapa said that bodhicitta is the foundation of all enlightened realizations.......... Also, bodhicitta energy is alchemical. It transforms all your ordinary actions of body, speech and mind—your entire life into positivity and benefit for others, like iron transmuted into gold. I think this is definitely true. You can see, it's not difficult. For example look at other people's faces. Some people, no matter what problems and suffering they are enduring, when they go out they always try to appear happy and show a positive aspect to others. Have you noticed this or not? But other people always go about miserable, and angry. What do you think about that? I honestly think that it indicates a fundamental difference in the way these two kinds of people think. Human beings are actually very simple. Some are a disaster within and it shows on their faces and makes those whom they meet feel sick. Others, even though they are suffering intensely, always put on a brave face because they are considerate of the way others feel.......... I believe this is very important. What's the use of putting out a miserable vibration? Just because you feel miserable, why make others unhappy too? It doesn't help. You should try to control your emotions, speak evenly and so forth. Sometimes when people are suffering they close off from others, but you can still feel their miserable vibration. This doesn't help—others with even momentary happiness forget about leading them to enlightenment. To help the people around you, you have to maintain a happy, peaceful vibration. This is very practical, very worthwhile. Sometimes we talk too much about enlightenment and things like that. We have a long way to go to such realizations. Forget about enlightenment, I don't care about buddhahood—just be practical. If you can't help others, at least don't give them any harm, stay neutral.......... Anyway, what I'm supposed to be telling you here is that bodhicitta is like atomic energy to transform your mind. This is absolutely, scientifically true, and not something that you have to believe with blind religious faith. Everybody nowadays is afraid of nuclear war, but if we all had bodhicitta, wouldn't we all be completely secure? Of course we would. With bodhicitta you control all desire to defeat or kill others. And, as Lama Je Tzong Khapa said, when you have bodhicitta all the good things in life are magnetically attracted to you and pour down upon you like rain. At present all we attract is misfortune because all we have is the self-cherishing thought. But with bodhicitta we'll attract good friends, good food, good everything. As His Holiness the Dalai Lama said recently, if you're going to be selfish, do it on a grand scale; wide selfishness is better than narrow! What did His Holiness mean'! He was saying that, in a way, bodhicitta is like a huge selfish attitude because when you dedicate yourself to others with loving kindness you get a lot more pleasure than you would otherwise. With our present, usual selfish attitude we experience very little pleasure, and what we have is easily lost. With 'great selfishness' you help others and you help yourself; with small it's always 'me, me, me and it is easy to lose everything.......... Remember, Atisha had over 150 teachers? He respected them all, but when he heard the name of one—Lama Dharmarakshita—he would come out in goose-bumps. He explained this by saying, 'I received many teachings from many, many great gurus, but for me, Lama Dharmarakshita, who gave me the bodhicitta ordination and teachings on the method and wisdom of bodhicitta and the six paramitas, was the most helpful for my life'. This is very true. Sometimes techniques of deity meditation are extremely difficult, but bodhicitta meditation is so simple, so incredibly profound and real. That's why Atisha would shake when he heard the name of his main teacher of bodhicitta.......... The main point, then, is that when you contact Buddhadharma you should conquer the mad elephant of your self-cherishing mind. If the dharma you hear helps you diminish your self-cherishing even a little, it has been worthwhile. But if the teachings you have taken have had no effect on your selfishness, then from the Mahayana point of view, even if you can talk intellectually on the entire lam-rim, they have not been must use at all.......... Do you recall the story of Shantideva and how people used to put him down? They used to call him Du-she-sum-pa, which means one who knows how to do only three things: eating, sleeping and excreting. This was a very bad thing to call someone, especially a monk. But that's all that people could see him doing. However, he had bodhicitta, so whatever he did, even ordinary things, was of greatest benefit to others. Lying down, peacefully, he would meditate with great concern for the welfare of all living beings, and many times, out of compassion, he would cry for them. Westerners need that kind of practice. Fundamentally we are lazy. Well, maybe not lazy, but when we finish work we are tired and don't have much energy left. So, when you come home from work, lie down comfortably and meditate on bodhicitta. This is most worthwhile. Much better than rushing in speedily, throwing down a coffee and dropping onto your meditation cushion to try to meditate. It doesn't work that way; your nervous system needs time and space. You can't be rushing through traffic one minute and sitting quietly meditating the next. Everything takes time and space. It is much better to r have a quiet, blissful cup of coffee, And don't pressure yourself either; that too is very bad. Don't punish yourself when you are too tired to meditate: 'I should be meditating; I am very bad.' You destroy yourself like this. Be wise. Treat yourself, your mind, sympathetically, with loving kindness. If you are gentle with yourself you will become gentle with others so don't push. Pushing doesn't work for me, that's why I tell others not to force themselves. We are dealing with the mind, not rocks and concrete; it is something organic.

"In a way, bodhicitta is like a huge selfish attitude because when you dedicate yourself to others with loving kindness you get a lot more pleasure than you would otherwise."

The Western environment offers lots of suffering conditions that act as causes for our actualizing bodhicitta, so life there can be very worthwhile. For example, it is much better to subdue an adversary with bodhicitta than with a knife or gun. When attacked, you can practice loving kindness. We could also do this in the monasteries of Tibet, where there were often horrible monks. Don't think that Tibet was full of only holy people—we had unbelievably wild monks there that nobody in authority could subdue! If you would try to control them wrathfully they would get only more aggressive. But arya bodhisattva monks, people who had completely given themselves up for others, would treat them with loving kindness, and the wild monks would calm down completely. They would feel, 'This man loves me; he has great compassion. He has given up everything for others and has nothing to lose.' In that way aggressive people would be subdued, without authority but with bodhicitta. There are many stories about this kind of thing, but I'm not going to tell them now. Perhaps you think they're funny, but it's true—you can conquer your enemies, both internal and external, with loving kindness and bodhicitta. It is most worthwhile and there's no contradiction bodhicitta is the totally comfortable path to liberation and enlightenment.......... In his text Lama Choepa, the Panchen Lama says, 'Self-cherishing is the cause of all misery and dissatisfaction, and holding all mother sentient beings dearer than oneself is the foundation of all realizations and knowledge. Therefore bless me to change self-cherishing into concern for all others.' This is not some deep philosophical theory but a very simple statement. You know from your own life's experiences without needing a Tibetan text's explanations that your self-cherishing thought is the cause of all your confusion and frustration. This evolution of suffering is found not only in Tibetan culture but in yours as well. And the Panchen Lama goes on to say that we should look at what the Buddha did. He gave up his self-attachment and attained all the sublime realizations. But look at us we are obsessed with 'me, me, me' and have realized nothing but unending misery. This is very clear isn't it? Therefore you should know clean clear how this works. Get rid of the false concept of self-cherishing and you'll be free of all misery and dissatisfaction. Concern yourself for the welfare of all others and wish for them to attain the highest realizations such as bodhicitta and you'll find all happiness and satisfaction.

"Bodhicitta is the most perfect way to practise dharma, especially in our twentieth century Western society. It is very, very worthwhile. With the foundation of bodhicitta you will definitely grow."

You people are young, intelligent and not satisfied with what you have in your own countries. That's why you are seeking further afield. And now you have found that most worthwhile of all things, bodhicitta.......... But it is not an easy thing. Easy things bore you quickly. It is quite difficult, but there's no way you'll get bored practicing it. People need to be most intelligent to actualize bodhicitta, some, though, have no room for it. 'Forget about yourself and have a little concern for others?' they'll ask. 'That's not my culture.' It is very difficult to change holding yourself dear into holding others dear instead—the most difficult task you can undertake. But it is the most worthwhile and brings the greatest satisfaction.......... After practicing some meditations, such as impermanence and death, for a month you'll say, 'I'm tired of that meditation.' But you'll never get tired of meditating on bodhicitta. It is so deep; a universal meditation. You'll never get tired of bodhicitta.......... You have heard of many deities that you can meditate on, many deities to be initiated into - Chenrezig and the rest. What are they all for? I'll tell you—for gaining bodhicitta. As a matter of fact, all tantric meditations are for the development of strong bodhicitta. That is the purpose of your consciousness manifesting as a being with 1000 arms so that vou can lend a hand to a thousand suffering beings. If you don't like to manifest yourself this way you can relate the meditation to your own culture and see yourself as Jesus. Avalokiteshvara and Jesus are the same: completely selfless and completely devoted to serving others.......... Remember what happened the first time that Avalokiteshvara took the bodhisattva ordination? He vowed to guide all universal living beings to enlightenment from behind, like a shepherd.'I do not want to realize enlightenment until first I have led all mother sentient beings there first. That will be my satisfaction.' He worked for years and years, leading thousands of beings to enlightenment, but when he checked to see what was happening he found there were still countless more. So again he worked for years and years and again when he checked there were still so many left, and this cycle was repeated until finally he was fed up and thought to himself, 'For aeons and aeons I have struggled to lead all sentient beings to enlightenment but there are still so many left. I think it is impossible to fulfil my vow.' And because of the intensity of his emotion his head split into eleven pieces. Then Amitabha Buddha came and offered to help, and blessed him to be successful. So I'm sure some of you people can be like Chenrezig. The main thing is to have strong motivation. Even if it comes strongly only once, it is extremely powerful. It is very rare to have this kind of thought. A mere flash is so worthwhile; to have it for a minute for a day...

THE EGO
	The Ego --- Beauty is in the I of the Beholder / by Lama Thubten Yeshe

At some point in your life you are going to have to make the following strong determination: "I'm tired of being a servant to my ego. My ego rules my mind, and even though it gives me nothing but trouble, continuously, continuously, with no time for rest, I spend my entire life as its servant. My mind is constantly in turmoil only because of my ego. I'm not going to be a slave to my ego any longer!"

For example, we would all like to have beautiful bodies; our ego wants our body to be beautiful. But at the same time, our attachment—sneaky, grasping attachment—makes us eat more than our body requires. Thus our body becomes fat and heavy. So all the worry and bother that we experience as a result comes from these two departments, ego and attachment. This is just a simple example, common in many of our lives.

Check it out for yourself. Perhaps your body needs very little food, but your grasping attachment to over-eating makes you fat, heavy and uncomfortable. At the same time, you also worry about losing your beauty; these two things are in conflict. So which do you choose, the ego's wish for a beautiful body or the attachment to eating food? Look into your mind; find the one you cling to most. One mind is there, grasping at beauty; the other is there too, knowing consciously that if you eat too much you'll get fat and destroy whatever beauty you have. Still, you can't stop eating; these two minds agitate you, give you a psychological beating. But despite their constantly mashing you, you keep saying "Yes, yes, yes...." It's funny.

So funny. Completely. The human mind is so funny. So silly, if you really check up. The idea that thin is beautiful, fat is ugly comes from the mind. Of course, I agree, if you are too fat it can be physically unhealthy; that's OK. But the idea, the picture created by attachment and desire of what is beautiful, what is ugly, is so silly, isn't it? It's not the reality of the fat that bothers you but the idea that it's unattractive. Why? Because you are clinging to reputation, worried about what other people think of you. I tell you, the mother sentient beings on this earth are so silly. People in one country think something is pretty; people in another country think the same thing is ugly. Here, this is bad; there, it is good. To some, this is beautiful; to others something else is beautiful. It's all made up; they're just different ideas.

Otherwise, where is the external, permanent, absolute beauty? It is only the way our ego mind interprets objects that makes them beautiful or ugly. You check up; it's so simple. When you do the body sweeping meditation, for example, where your mind examines every part of your body, try to find the beauty. Check up: what's beautiful, which part are you clinging to as beautiful? Check up: your interpretation of what's beautiful and what's ugly is so superficial; it's just your ego's projection, but it makes you so confused. You're confused even now. You don't know any longer what is good or what is bad. Really!

When you go to the bathroom, you don't stand there admiring what you've just deposited into the toilet bowl, do you? Same thing; when you gaze into the mirror at your beautiful body or face, when you get stuck on the aspects of yourself that your ego's projection has deemed attractive, let your mind travel into your body from the inside of your nose all the way down, trying to determine exactly where your beauty is. You'll find that basically, every part of your body is identical to what you've just excreted. This is scientific reality, not a matter of belief. The object of beauty that you cling to is attractive simply because of an extremely superficial judgment made by your fickle mind.

Look at the confused young women of today. They run from one man to another, to another, to another, another man, another man, another man...they experience so much trouble, more trouble, so much trouble. But at the same time, they're expecting, "Maybe this one will be good for me, maybe that one will be good for me...." These are such superficial experiences, all mental projections, projections painted by their egos. "Maybe this, maybe this," with expectation, " Maybe this, maybe this, maybe this...." No satisfaction at all; always trouble.

Perhaps you're thinking, "Oh, Lama's putting women down too much." Men are the same thing! Such deluded men. They change their wives, change, change, change, superficially discriminating, "Good, good, good...." Then, after a while "good" turns to "bad," so they change again. Then good, then bad, then change; then good, then bad, then change. Their judgment, good and bad, beautiful and ugly, is so completely superficial; it has nothing whatsoever to do with reality, either inner or outer. There's no understanding, no communication, and such fear and insecurity, all because of ego and attachment.

All this comes from the mind. We're totally preoccupied with our ego's superficial projections, while we turn our backs on reality. No wonder we're completely confused and unable to communicate properly with any living being. All this comes from our big ego.

Therefore, it is highly worthwhile to switch your mental attitude from the attachment that is always saying, "I, I, I" to purely dedicating your life to the welfare of others. Recognize that you have been building attachment for years and years but still have nothing to show for it; it is so important to be aware of this. When you dedicate your life to others you are acknowledging that true human beauty is not on the outside, that beauty is not the view projected by your ego onto another person's skin, but rather that what is truly beautiful is others' inner potential. When you see that, you respect other sentient beings, instead of respecting only yourself and spending all your time developing your two inner departments of ego and attachment.

Wherever you go—East, West, sky, earth, beneath the earth—there are other sentient beings. If, through having recognized the false conceptions of ego and attachment, you generate the pure motivation of dedicating your life to others, your life will become truly worthwhile, you will give real meaning to being alive.

WE STUDY OURSELVES
	When We Study Buddhism We Study Ourselves / by Lama Thubten Yeshe

When we study Buddhism we are studying ourselves—learning about the nature of our own minds. The emphasis is not on something supreme; it is on practical things like how to Live the daily life and how to integrate it with the mind so that the mind remains peaceful and healthy. In other words, the emphasis is on experiential knowledge-wisdom, not dogmatic views. Actually, in Western terminology we would not say that Buddhism is religion, but rather philosophy, science or psychology.

An instinctive tendency; of the human mind is to search for happiness; in this respect Eastern and Western people are no different. But if your life-style overemphasizes the sense world and you grasp at it emotionally, it is very dangerous—you have no control. Now control is not an Eastern custom or a Buddhist trip; we all need control. Especially those who live a materialistic life and psychologically are too attached to objects. From the point of view of Buddhist philosophy such a mind is not healthy, is mentally sick. You already know that external scientific technological advances alone cannot satisfy the desires of your attachment or stop your emotional problems.

Thus the method of Lord Buddha's teachings is to show you the nature of the human mind, your human potential and how you can develop further. Moreover, this method does not emphasize blind belief in, rather than understanding of, metaphysical processes. However, whether you are religious or non- religious, or a believer or a non-believer, the important thing is to know the nature of your own mind. If you don't, it is so easy to think that you are healthy and functioning well in your daily life while in fact the root of disturbing emotions is growing firmer and deeper within your mind. With this fundamental cause of psychological disease within you, a tiny change of conditions can precipitate mental illness. As long as you are totally immersed in blind attachment to the sense world, not knowing the nature of your mind, this can happen. You can't reject this: "I don't believe it." You can't reject your nose: "I don't believe I have a nose." Whether you believe you have a nose or not, it's there!

Many Western people say, "I don't believe in anything"; they are so proud of being non-believers. But check this—it's very important to know. In the West there are so many contradictions: scientists think they are non-believers; religious people think they are believers. However, whether you think you are a believer or a non-believer, you have to know the nature of your own mind.

You always talk about attachment, but you don't know how to control it. To say the word is easy, but to know the nature of attachment is very difficult. A simple example: cars and aeroplanes were invented to allow people to do things more quickly, leaving them more time for leisure; but the result is that people's minds are more restless than ever. I'm not complaining, but you examine your daily life. What I'm saying is that when the whole country is involved in the sense world under the control of attachment, you don't have the chance or time to see the reality of your mind. I call that kind of life-style difficult. There is no way you can really enjoy yourself and experience satisfaction, because true enjoyment comes from the mind, not from external phenomena.

Modern, intelligently skeptical young people do have some understanding of what is worthwhile in life, and know that enjoyment does not come from temporal—or, in Buddhist terminology, "samsaric"—objects alone. Thus they are searching for that which truly satisfies. When Lord Buddha talked so much about suffering he was not referring primarily to physical illness and pain but to dissatisfaction. Dissatisfaction is the real suffering. No matter how much you get, your desires do not abate; you always want more. That is suffering; that is deluded frustration.

Buddhist psychology enumerates six fundamental delusions, which frustrate and disturb the peace of the human mind and cause it to become restless: attachment, anger, ignorance, pride, deluded doubt and holding distorted views. These are mental, not external phenomena. So, when Lord Buddha taught people how to overcome these delusions, he emphasized the necessity of understanding their nature, not simply belief and faith. Without investigating your mind and developing introspective knowledge-wisdom it is not possible to develop such understanding. Even though we talk a lot about delusions, we don't really know anything. Those fundamental delusions come from the ego, they make the mind restless. To be free you don't have to give up your possessions. You can keep your possessions, but if you do so with attachment you will make yourself restless and your life difficult; you will keep your mind foggy and polluted. The unclear mind is by nature ignorant and agitated; the light of wisdom cannot grow in such a mind. The solution to this problem is meditation.

Meditation does not imply sitting in a corner doing nothing, trying to develop single-pointed concentration. It is a type of wisdom free from sluggishness whose function is awareness of the state of mind. In your daily life you should be aware of everything you do and why and how you do it. Usually we do everything unconsciously: we eat unconsciously, drink unconsciously, talk unconsciously. We have no idea of what is happening in our minds, even though we say we are conscious. I'm not judging you, putting you down, but you look for yourself. The way of Buddhism is to put forward ideas for you to examine and experience. I'm not talking about something way up in the sky. This is very simple.

If you do not know the nature of attachment and its object it's impossible for you to have loving kindness for your friends, parents and country. Since your mind is unconscious you hurt those close to you. Similarly, someone who is angry completely forgets himself; he has no idea what's going on in his mind. You know how it is; these are just examples of what we do. Many times we hurt others through being unconscious: we are not aware of our own behaviour or mental attitude and have no respect for others.

In the West there are people who have specialist education in psychology. But Lord Buddha wants us all to become psychologists; you should know your own mind. Lord Buddha feels that it is definitely possible, that every human being has the potential ability to understand, and thereby to control, his own mind. When you understand your mind, control comes naturally. Don't think that investigating the mind is just a Himalayan trip, something only for those who have no material possessions. Just check; whenever you are emotionally involved with something, instead of acting, relax; try to be aware of what you are doing. Ask yourself, "What am I doing? How? What is making me do this?" It is really wonderful if you can analyze yourself like this. With understanding you can stop your problems so easily. Our problem is that we lack intensive knowledge-wisdom, or awareness, or consciousness...it doesn't matter what you call. it.

Therefore, to show others loving kindness you have to know the nature of the object. If you don't you will get caught up in yet another arrogant ego trip. "I love him," "I love her." Make sure you know how and why —it is so important that you become your own psychologist. Then you can treat yourself with your own wisdom, and enjoy your material possessions with a relaxed mind instead of a restless and berserk one, which ruins your life.

To become a psychologist you don't have to learn some big philosophy; all you have to do is examine your own mind every day. You examine material things every day—the food in your kitchen, for example-so why can't you check your mind? This is far more important. Life in the West is based on an "I can always buy the solution to my problems down at the supermarket" mentality. You think that you can always go to the pharmacy and pick up some pills, that whenever you are emotionally frustrated you can get some drug from your doctor. Do you think remedies like those are really helpful? Of course they are not. Although they seem to help, they are so transitory. They don't even destroy the symptoms of deluded emotions; they only make you sluggish and more ignorant. Your materialistic mind thinks that pleasure and happiness can be bought, but they can't. In its depths lies the idea that you can buy a peaceful mind in the supermarket. That's a total misconception. Religious people should also try to understand their own minds instead of just trying to believe in something. That is far more practical. Belief alone cannot solve your problems; only understanding knowledge-wisdom can do that. Lord Buddha even said that it is dangerous to believe in Buddha and exhorted us to understand our own nature instead. When you have discovered something with your own mind, then it is all right to believe in it. Belief based on realizations or clear intellectual understanding is perfectly acceptable. But if you are not clear why you believe what you do, your faith can easily be destroyed by others. Many spiritually inclined people are weak because they don't understand the true nature of their spirit, or mind. Understanding is a form of mental energy: it supports your mind and keeps it healthy.

When you understand your mind's view, or perception of things, you realize that all along you have been grasping at the sense world—and at an imaginary, idealistic future that is simply a projection of your mind and has not the slightest physical reality—you have been completely unconscious of the present. You must agree that this is an unhealthy state of mind.

It is very important to maintain awareness throughout your day. The nature of wisdom and awareness is peace and joy. You don't have to grasp for the experience of joy or at anything that might bring it—you simply have to act correctly with right understanding. Thus the result of joy arises spontaneously. You don't have to think, "If I spend my life acting in this way, next life I'll experience the good result." You don't have to be obsessed with attaining some realization or other. As long as you act with as much understanding as you can, you will quickly attain the realization of everlasting peace.

LOVING ONESELF
	Loving Oneself / by Lama Zopa Rinpoche

To love oneself is not contradictory to what Mahayana Buddhism teaches. It is not saying one should not love oneself. Renouncing oneself and cherishing others is not contradictory to loving oneself. In fact, practicing the Mahayana teaching, bodhicitta, is the best way to love oneself, to take care of oneself.

Whatever we do with our body, speech, and mind is for happiness. Even the activities of the tiniest insects, like the ants we see running around and keeping so busy, is also to achieve happiness. By looking at ourselves and at other living beings, we can see that it is the same: whatever we do is to achieve happiness......... A "problem" is what we do not want to experience and "happiness" is what we want to achieve. With this mind one can stop the problems, can stop all the undesirable experiences, and with this mind one can achieve all the happiness. Why is this? Because problems and happiness do not come from outside. The creator of problems and happiness is oneself in past lives. Therefore, with this mind all our problems can be stopped and we can achieve temporal day-to-day happiness and ultimate happiness, full enlightenment.

The problems of both non-religious people, those who do not have any faith, who do not meditate, and of the religious people who externally take the form of the teachings, doing prayers and so forth, even meditating, come from not understanding the meaning of loving oneself. One should give freedom to oneself, love oneself, but what does it mean? If we have a wrong understanding of this, we will always be followed by problems. In Buddhism, particularly in Mahayana Buddhism, the best way of loving oneself is to pull out the root of all problems, which is right in one's own heart: the ego, the self-centered mind. So, if one lets go of cherishmg the I, then it doesn't matter what situation one is experlencing, the problem becomes non- existent.......... The minute before there was such a serious problem, like gloom, like a mountain; but the minute you let go of the problem that makes you think, "I am going to kill myself, there is no other solution, I can't move," then the problem doesn't exist. It was so bad, but the minute you let go of this uptight, self- centered mind, the problem doesn't exist. The person still doesn't love you, doesn't treat you well, treats you badly - this is the same - but since you let go of the I, you no longer experience it as a problem. And changing one's own mind certainly can affect the other person's mind also, to help bring change, to stop their emotional negative thought.

Without talking about the long-term result of enlightenment, what effect immediately comes into your heart by letting go of the self-centered mind? The result is peace, happiness, satisfaction. With bodhicitta you have fulfillment in your heart, you see life as more meaningful. Even if you don't know lots of Dharma,even if you only know om mani padme hung and nothing else, if you let go of the root of the problems of life, if you let go of what makes you cry all the time inside your heart like a baby, "I'm not happy, I'm not happy, I’m not happy,' you can find happiness and satifaction. No matter how much one learns Buddhadharma, no matter how much the education expands externally with words and meanings, if the mind is always crying inside the heart, "I'm not happy!" "I," "I," "I" becomes the main concern in life.

The meaning of loving oneself then becomes loving attachment, the emotional mind. Rather than trying to get rid of this mind, one becomes a slave to attachInent, to the evil thought of the eight worldly dharmas. Then if somebody disturbs this delusion you see that as a problem. In reality this affliction is the main enemy that does not allow you to open your heart or have realizations. It won't let you achieve the ultimate freedom, to become completely liberated from all sufferings, including the cycle of death and rebirth, and the causes, karma and delusions. This affliction doesn't allow you to see emptiness of the I and blocks the wisdom that cuts the ignorance, which is the root of samsara. Not having meditated enough on the mistakes of this emotional mind, one becomes its slave. Attachment becomes the guru; you listen and follow whatever it says. Since one's definition of loving oneself is doing what attachment wants, then one is always dissatisfied, unhappy.

Even if one has learned the whole entire Dharma, has memorized all the hundreds of volumes of sutra and tantra texts and can explain fluently, effortlessly, still the unhappy mind is the same.......... Because of this there is some danger that one can blame the Dharma. There is something wrong so the blame goes on Buddha's teachings, and this creates very heavy karma. "Something must be wrong with the Tibetan Mahayana Buddhist tradition, there must be something missing there. Why is this happening?" The reason one doesn't escape dissatisfaction is because one has not recognized the fundamental practice of Dharma. The fundamental meditations on lam-rim are left out; one doesn't pay attention to them because the mind always wants to be higher, wants to meditate on beautiful visualizations, not suffering visualizations, not the hell realms. But the meditations on the perfect human rebirth, impermanence and death, results of karma, suffering of the lower realms become essential.

Of course we can say nice words like bodhicitta, but without first realizing renunciation of this life and future lives in samsara, there is no way to have the actual realization of bodhicitta. One can generally have a good heart, but without renunciation one cannot receive the actual realization of bodhicitta. Even if one has been practicing the completion stage practice of the Six Yogas of Naropa, without renunciation there is no bodhicitta, which is something very practical that enables us to enter the Mahayana Path and go towards enlightenment. Realizations have to happen step by step.

Even if one doesn't know anything intellectually but the mind is free from emotional mind, one receives so much deep peace in the heart. One doesn't show excitement, doesn't do disco dancing (I'm joking!), however there is incredible peace. There is no problem with loneliness or depression, because one lets go of the self-centered mind instead of holding it like baby, like a jewel. One who lets go like this is opening the door to enlightenment, opening the door to the happiness of oneself and for every living being.

This emotional, attached mind is your mind, and this healthy, renounced Dharma mind is also your mind. Satisfaction comes from the Dharma mind. If you follow this mind, the free mind, when somebody criticizes you it doesn't bother you, it doesn't hurt your compassion. But when you follow the attachment mind and somebody criticizes you, it bothers you, it hurts you. As you become the friend of attachment you begin to view this emotional mind as your self, your being, then when someone's criticism hurts your attachment, it appears like it is hurting you.

If you analyze like this, whether you feel hurt or not is completely in your hands. One can use the situation to make oneself more peaceful, to bring oneself satisfaction and fulfillment; to quickly achieve realizaitions, quickly receive the path to enlishtenment.......... The whole key to transforming everything into beneficial situations, to blocking all the problems, is which mind you follow, whether you follow delusion or Dharma - your own mind the delusions; your own mind the Dharma; the ego or the bodhicitta; the attachment or the free mind. You can have the satisfied mind, which is pure Dharma. It's up to you.

The Benefits of the Existence of Statues and of Making Statues
	The Benefits of the Existence of Statues and of Making Statues / by Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Having faith in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, we have the opportunity to accumulate inconceivable merit, to create the cause of enlightenment for oneself and for other sentient beings equaling the infinite sky, by making holy objects and by making offerings to these holy objects.

Success in life generally depends on how much merit a person has accumulated, as does success in particular practices such as the Six Yogas of Naropa in order to achieve the ultimate happiness of liberation and enlightenment, especially enlightenment. The whole of one's success depends on how much merit one has accumulated. The whole question concerns merit, how much merit one has accumulated. To actualize bodhicitta, emptiness, tantra, or even the fundamental realizations of the lam-rim path, you have to be very fortunate, which means you have to have accumulated a lot of merit in the past. So it is wise to attempt to create the cause for success as much as possible in our everyday life......... Manjushri asked Buddha, "One Gone Beyond, now you are the only object to whom sentient beings can make offering. After you pass into the sorrowless state, what will sentient beings do? How will they accumulate merit when they can't see Buddha any more? Please advise us."

Buddha answered, "My four followers, there is not one single difference between making offerings to me now and in the future, with devotion, making offerings to my reflections. The merit is equal and the result is equal." The "four followers" refers specifically to the fully ordained monks, the fully ordained nuns, the getsuls and the getsulmas, the disciples closest to Buddha, but generally it includes all of us sentient beings who do not have the karma to see the actual living Buddha. We have only the karma to see Buddha's reflections: the symbolic representations of Buddha, such as statues, paintings and so forth.

Buddha is saying that even though we cannot see the actual Buddha, if we make offerings to these holy objects symbolic of Buddha, the merit is equal to that of actually seeing Buddha and making offerings. It is not that the merit of those who met Shakyamuni Buddha in ancient times and were able to make offerings to him is not more than that of offering merely to a statue of Buddha. The result is exactly the same. This is very important to understand and very important to remember in our daily life. When we offer our food and drink, when we make offerings on the altar, whenever we do the practice of offering in our everyday life, we should feel great happiness.

Then Buddha said, "This is due to the blessings of Buddha. This is the reality but ordinary beings whose minds are undeveloped cannot see these benefits." "This is due to the blessings of Buddha" means that making offerings to statues has the same result due to the power of the holy object. Further reasons as to how the benefits of making offerings to Buddha and the statues of Buddha are the same are mentioned in the Guhyasamaja root text.

Then it says, "A stupa is a palace where all the Buddhas are abiding." So this is the same with a monastery. The benefits exist as long as the monastery exists. And also the benefits you receive equal the number of atoms of the stupa or monastery. You do not necessarily have to build a monastery. Building even one shrine room—a place where Buddha abides, where holy objects of Buddha abide—has many benefits. It's important to understand these benefits of the holy objects, the various opportunities we have to create the cause of happiness by accumulating extensive merit with these holy objects.......... The text says, "Those sentient beings who do not have the fortune actually to meet the Buddha need the holy objects of body, speech and mind as the field in which to accumulate merit. These holy objects are necessary."

The existence of Buddha's teachings for a long time depends on the existence of the holy objects of Buddha. The teachings exist in the mind so how can they depend for their existence on the existence of these external holy objects? You have to think about this, you have to understand this. It is not easy to have the teachings in the mind. To have the scriptural understanding and the realizations of the teachings is not easy. For these, you need to have a lot of merit. The most powerful merit one can accumulate, and accumulate so easily, is in relation to holy objects of Buddha. By making statues of Buddha and making offerings to statues of Buddha, one accumulates infinite, inconceivable merit that immediately becomes a cause of enlightenment. Every merit accumulated by making statues and by making offerings to statues immediately becomes the cause of enlightenment. Without doubt, every single one becomes a cause of enlightenment.......... By accumulating such infinite merit in this way, one is able to develop the mind, one is able to understand the teachings, one is able not only to attempt the practices of listenlng to, reflecting and meditating on the teachings, but to complete them. All this has to come from merit. So you can see how the existence of the teachings for a long time depends on the existence of the holy objects. The existence and flourishing of the teachings depend on the existence of the holy objects.

Buddhism has started in the West only recently. Because one sees the problems of life, there is much desire for mind-peace, and this longing leads to much interest in meditation. This is common among Westerners. But because Buddhism has just started in the West there is not so much regard for holy objects. In countries where Buddhism is established, especially Mahayana Buddhist countries such as Tibet and Nepal, much effort is put into creating many conditions for oneself and others to accumulate merit actualizing holy objects, in those countries everybody, whether great yogis, sangha or lay practitioners, puts effort into this way of accumulating merit for the self and so many other sentient beings. Other sentient beings also accumulate merit by making offerings to or circumambulating these holy objects.......... This is why these countries have so many holy objects: so many monasteries, so many stupas, so many statues. For example, sight-seeing in Tibet is only a cause to purify and to accumulate merit because wherever you go you see only holy objects: statues, scriptures, yogis' caves.

Gradually, as you understand lam-rim and especially the practice of Jorcho more and more, the more you see the importance of holy objects, not only for your own happiness but for the many benefits they bring to so many other sentient beings. With these holy objects, they create the cause of success and happiness. Because these holy objects exist, sentient beings make offerings to them, pray to them. This helps them to create the cause of happiness, and this is how they experience happiness up to the highest happiness of enlightenment. Because the temporary and ultimate happiness of yourself and others depends on the existence of holy objects, there is a purpose in making them.

Liberation and Enlightenment
	Liberation and Enlightenment / by Lama Zopa Rinpoche

BL: Rinpoche, in Malaysia we have Buddhists from various traditions. Can one learn and practice different traditions?

LZR: Yes, definitely. We can learn from both Theravada and Mahayana. It is really a question of our mental capacity and intelligence to absorb the Dharma. We need to know our motivations—are we seeking enlightenment for ourselves or for the sake of other sentient beings? Having a tradition to follow is iportant but more important is to learn from qualified teachers—and it doesn't matter whether Theravada or Mahayana.......... If the practitioner is merely seeking liberation from samsara for himself, then he needs to learn and practice the meditation which will lead him onto the full path to liberation. But if his aim is to achieve enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings, then he needs to learn the full path to enlightenment. In this case there are additional meditation practices taught in the Mahayana teachings.......... To practice and have realizations on the path to enlightenment involves several levels. Firstly, there is the graduated path of middle capable beings, secondly, the graduated path of higher capable beings and finally the four levels of Mahayana Tantra. Very basic to the Mahayana practice is the development of bodhicitta, which is the door to enlightenment.......... However, you can't realize bodhicitta without first realizing the renunciation of samsara. We need of course to realize the graduated path of middle-capable beings, that is, to be free from samsara. The realization is that the nature of samsara is suffering, that there is not one second of pure happiness. In order to have this realization one needs to practice renunciation. This is also found in the Theravada teachings. In order to achieve this realization to be free from samsara, there are again various stages. This comes firstly from realizing the Four Noble Truths. When one practices renunciation, one develops a detached mind to this life and also to future lives in samsara. With this realization that the nature of samsara is suffering, it also becomes the basis to develop compassion.

BL: Rinpoche, in your book The Door to Satisfaction you mention the three levels of happiness— happiness in future lives, liberation from samsara (release from karma and bondage) and enlightenment. Why is liberation from samsara different from enlightenment?

LZR: Too achieve liberation from samsara there are five paths: the path of accumulating merits, the preparatory path, the right seeing path, the path of meditation and the path of no-more learning. To be liberated from samsara is to achieve arhatship.......... By achieving the right seeing path we remove 112 delusions to do with the desire realm, form realm and formless realm. Then through the path of meditation one removes sixteen obscurations and delusions. With this one attains arhatship. That's nirvana in the sense of having ceased completely all the causes of suffering, karma and delusion. However, there are still obscurations, but they are very subtle. They obstruct the arhat's mind even though he has tremendous psychic powers. Unlike the Buddha, the arhat is not able to see directly everything at the same time. An arhat does not have an omniscient mind; that's the quality of a Buddha, one who has completely destroyed all subtle obscurations.

In Mahayana teachings, wisdom arises when all obscurations are removed, not only gross obscurations but even the subtle ones. The wisdom to remove the subtle obscurations comes through the development of bodhicitta. With this the wisdom realizing emptiness is able to destroy the subtle obscurations. It's like washing cloth. First you wash the black, dirty part. Then there is still some smell and stain left. even that is washed. Eventually the cloth becomes completely cleaned. It becomes as clear as a mirror. We all have the Buddha nature in our mind when the subtle obscurations are removed.

BL: Rinpoche, you mentioned that no matter what action we do, it is extremely important to have the right motivation. Can we interpret this to mean having the right intention?

LZR: Yes, yes.

BL: Rinpoche said that if gamblin, for example, is done with pure motivation it will also become pure Dharma. How could an action like gambling which is rooted in delusion and greed be a pure action?

LZR: If you gamble with the intention that with the money you win you want to help refugees, hospitals or poor and starving people, the motivation is compassion to benefit others. If one truly has a pure attitude then the action becomes Dharma.

BL: But wouldn't gambling be an unskillful action, even if one gambles to help others?

LZR: The natural action of gambling is itself clean. If it is done with compaassion and the intention is to use the money to benefit others, then it is wisdom. Knowing that it is done with compassion for others it becomes Dharma. There is both compassion and wisdom.

BL: Rinpoche, you mentioned that to practice Dharma we have to constantly think of impermanence and death. Wouldn't this lead one to develop a morbid attitude to life. Isn't this negative?

LZR: Actually, Buddhism is very positive. Bodhicitta makes life unbelievably beneficial. Not only can one achieve an Y happiness one wishes, one can also cause many: others to be happy and help create the cause for enlightenment. That Is the beauty of Dharma. With bodhicitta we get great fulfillment and satisfaction in whatever we do, be it our career, doing a retreat and practicing Dharma or spending leisure time with the family. So there is beauty and joy in life. The Buddha's teaching is always positive.......... For instance in the Lam-rim teachings there is mention of the preciousness of human life. It explains how we can achieve happiness in future lives, liberation from samsara and achievement of ultimate enlightenment. Each of these happinesses is more precious than a mountain of diamonds or a whole sky filled with millions of dollars. So we look at this life as precious and wonderful. We then begin to ask how this human birth can give such unbelievable opportunity for us to realize our Buddha nature. All these opportunities create the cause for our happiness and that of numberless other sentient beings. Well, that's the beauty of life.......... But we also need to face reality. For instance, if we want to buy gold we need to differentiate the real from the false. If we don't we may end up cheated and regret our actions. Similarly, we need to understand the reality of existence and recognize that impermanence, disease and old age are part of life. The nature of samsara is the reality of life. Rather than ignoring it, it is better to learn about its true nature and be aware of it. This will make us develop the strong inspiration to be free from samsara.

BL: What is the final spiritual goal for Buddhists?

LZR: The final spiritual goal for Buddhists is enlightenment. But firstly we must learn to see attachment and clinging as the main cause of suffering, like a chain which continuously ties us to samsara. Then there will arise a strong renunciation of the suffering realms of samsara. The Dharma practitioner will want to seek lasting happiness and not temporary happiness. This is seeking final liberation from the suffering of samsara. With this realization of samsara we will enter the path to full liberation or enlightenment.......... It is also Important for Buddhist to note that the very purpose of our life is to benefit other sentient beings. That is our ultimate spiritual goal in life. We practice meditation so that we can develop ourselves spiritually in order that we can make ourselves useful for other sentient beings. When we develop bodhicitta we cherish this life, take care of it and keep it busy for the benefit of others. Realizing; that the nature of life is impermanence and suffering will have incredible benefits; it is the basic meditation that we can use to immediately cut the emotional problems of the mind. When the mind is completely overwhelmed by desires and we don’t get what we want, anger will arise to harm oneself and others, including family, friends and other sentient beings. But by realizing that the reality of life is suffering we begin go see that there is no point to follow our emotional mind. This is the understanding that the reality of life is suffering as explained in the Four Noble Truths.

Remembering Death
	Remembering Death / by Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Reflecting on impermanence and death in itself is not really a big deal, but thinking about it because of what follows after the death is important. If there is negative karma, then there are the lower realms of unimaginable sufferings, and this is something that can be stopped immediately.

We cannot be liberated from samsara within this hour, today, this week or even this year, but we can purify negative karma now, this hour today, and therefore stop being reborn in the lower realms if we die now, this hour, today. This is possible.

By remembering impermanence and death, karma and the lower realms of suffering, the mind is persuaded to use the solution of Dharma practice. Immediately the mind prepares for death. Immediately it purifies the heavy negative karmas that cause one to remain in the lower realms, where there are unimaginable sufferings and no possibility to practice Dharma.

Whenever there are problmes in our lives it is always good to remember the lower realms of suffering. We can't stand the problems we have now, but the lower realms of suffering are a zillion, zillion, zillion times greater, like the sky. If we put together all the energy of fire, no matter how hot, it is cool compared to one tiny fire spark of hell. All the energy of this human world's fire put together is cool compared to one tiny fire spark of the hell realm. Like this, it's always good to make a comparison.

Beings possessing a human body who haven't met Dharma, no matter how much wealth they have, no matter how may friends they have, no matter how much they appear to be enjoying their lives, in reality are only living with hallucination; they are living with wrong concepts, so many piles of wrong concepts. They are not aware of what is happening to them, they are not aware of their own life. They are not aware of the powers of their hallucination, the piles of wrong concepts that compel them to create the causess of samsara and the causes of the lower realms. They don't have the opportunity to plant the seed to be free from samsara, to cut the root of samsaric ignorance, because there is no understanding of emptiness, no opportunity to meditate on emptiness.

If a person has a good heart, a sincere mind, and gives some help to others without expecting any results, then maybe they create some pure Dharma—and that's very rare; otherwise not. Usually people live the life only with a worldly mind, particularly attachment, clinging to this life. They use the whole human life, the precious human body and all their education just to create additional causes to go to the lower realms.......... This is what is happening in every day life. For the entire life people act like a moth attracted to the flame, completely hallucinated, completely deceived, not knowing the flame will burn, that it is completely other than what it appears. Even though they get burned, while they still have the power to fly they will continue to go towards the flame.......... It is exactly the same with a fish and a baited hook. The fish does not know that there is a hook that cheats, leading to death and unbelievable suffering. Having no idea of the danger, it is constatnly being drawn with strong desire toward the hook baited with a piece of meat. The result that the fish experiences is completely other than what it expected. Once caught, there is no way to get away alive.

Following the dissatisfied mind, desire, the worldly mind, brings exactly the same result. Once sunk in the quagmire of the activities of this life, it is difficult to escape the hundreds of different problems, emotional pains of the mind and of the body that come from this one root, the dissatisfied mind, desire, attachment, clinging to this life. All we are doing is making samsara longer by creating karma; we are making a donation, a contribution to samsaric suffering, making it longer and longer. And then, of course, there are the sufferings of the lower realms, which are difficult to get out of.

It's the same with the way in which an elephant can be caught. A female elephant is used as a lure, the male elephant becomes crazy with disire and as a result, becomes trapped inside a cage. What was expected in the beginning was happiness, but what was received in the end was something else, something completely frightening.

All these examples show us the way in which samsara and the samsaric perfections cheat us, that they are not to be trusted. Therefore always remembering impermanence and death becomes so essential. Reflecting on impermanence and death makes life highly meaningful, and so quickly and so powerfully destroys the delusions and seed imprint. It is very easy to meditate on and one can cease the delusions. It leads one to begin to practice Dharma, and to continue and complete the practice.

ANGER
	Anger / by Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Emptiness is a remedy for the foundation of all delusions—ignorance—so all the other delusions will disappear. The minute one meditates on emptiness, anger for example, will stop. Anger arises when you believe in the false I, false object—all this that does not exist. So when one meditates on emptiness of the self and other objects, there is no foundation for anger. This is the most powerful antidote. But if it arises again, it is because there is no continuation of the meditation; the meditation, the mindfulness, has stopped. The problem is to remember the technique. Once you remember the technique, it always works. When you don't remember the technique, it is delayed and the delusion, anger and so forth, has already arisen and taken you over.

One thing I tell people is always to think about karma. His Holiness always says Buddhists don't believe in God. This basic Buddhist philosophy helps you remember there is no separate mind outside of yours that creates your life, creates you karma. Whatever happens in one's own life comes from one's own mind. These aggregates, all the views of the senses, all of the feelings happiness, sadness and so forth—your whole world comes from your consciousness. The imprints of past good karma and negative karma left on the consciousness manifest, become actualized. The imprints to have human body, senses, views, aggregates, all the feelings—everything is realized at this time, and all of it comes from consciousness, from karma.

If your meditation on emptiness is not effective, this teaching of karma is very powerful for us ordinary beings. The minute one meditates on karma, there is no room in the mind for anger because there is nothing to blame. Thinking of karma is practicing the basic Buddhist philosophy that there is no creator other than your mind. It is not only a philosophy but a very powerful technique. Anger is based on believing in a creator: somebody created this problem; this happened because of this person. In daily life, when a problem arises, instead of practicing the philosophy of no creator, we act as if there is a creator, that the problem was created by somebody else. Even if we don't use the word God, we still believe someone else created the problem. The minute you think of karma and realize there is no creator, there is no basis for the anger.

We need to think: In the past I gave such a harm to sentient beings, therefore I deserve to receive this harm from another sentient being. When you get angry what you are actually saying is you can harm others, but you feel that you should not receive harm from others. This is very illogical. So in this practice you say, 'I deserve this harm.'......... Another practice is to use this situation to develop compassion: I received this harm because of my karma. Who started all this? It's not because of the other person, it's because of your own actions. You treated other sentient beings this way in the past, that is why you receive harm now; your karma persuaded the person to harm you now. Now this person has a human birth and they harm you because of something you inspired in the past. By harming you now they are creating more negative karma to lose their human rebirth and to be reborn in lower realms. Didn't I make that person get lost in the lower realms?

In this way you are using that problem to generate bodhicitta. This means one is able to develop the whole Mahayana path to enlightenment, including the Six Paramitas, whether sutra path or tantra path. One can cease all mistakes of the mind and achieve full enlightenment. Due to the kindness of that person you are able to generate compassion, free sentient beings from all the sufferings, to bring enlightenment, to cause perfect happiness for all sentient beings.......... One can also think in this way: by practicing compassion on that person, one is able to generate compassion towards all sentient beings. This person, who is so kind, so precious, is helping you stop harming all sentient beings, and on top of that, to receive help from you. By not receiving harm from you, peace and happiness come; also, by receiving help from you, numberless sentient get peace and happiness. All this peace and happiness that you are able to offer all sentient beings comes from this person.......... Similarly, one can practice patience in this way and is able to cease anger. In the Kadampas' advice, there are six techniques for practicing patience; I don't need to go over all that now. They are good to memorize, to write down in a notebook, in order to use.

Another thing that is very good is what Pabongka Rinpoche explains in Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand: generally speaking one doesn't get angry at the stick that the person used to beat you. The stick itself is used by the person, so therefore there is no point in getting angry at the stick. Similarly, the person's body, speech and mind are completely used by the anger, by the delusion. The person's body, speech and mind become like a slave, completely used as a tool of the anger. The person themself has no freedom at all—no freedom at all. So therefore, since the person has no freedom at all, they should become an object of our compassion. Not only that, one must take responsibility to pacify that person's anger. By whatever means you can find, help the person's mind, pacify the anger; even if there is nothing you can do, pray to Buddha, Dharma and Sangha to pacify the person's mind.

What His Holiness teaches is to meditate on how that person is kind, how that person is precious like Dharma, precious like Buddha, precious like Guru; kind like Buddha, like Guru. The conclusion is that if no one has anger towards us, we can never develop patience. If everybody loves us then we can never generate the precious quality of patience, the path of patience. So therefore there is an incredible need in our life for someone to have anger towards us. It is so precious, so important that someone has anger towards us. It's not precious for that person, but for us it's very precious. For that person it's torturous, it's like living in the lower realms. But for us, that person having anger towards us is so precious. We have a great need for this, a great need.......... It's important that someone loves you, but it is even more important that someone has anger towards you. You see, if someone loves you it does not help you benefit numberless sentient beings or actualize the entire path to enlightenment. So why is this person the most precious thing to me. Because they are angry with you. To you, this person's anger is like a wish-granting jewel.

Also, your anger destroys merit, destroys your happiness, not only in day-to-day life but in long term happiness. As Bodhicaryavatara mentions, one moment of anger delays realizations for one thousand eons. Anger is a great obstacle, especially for bodhicitta realizations. Therefore, because this person is angry towards me, I am able to develop patience and overcome my own anger and complete the entire path to enlightenment. One can complete the two types of merit, cease all the obscurations, achieve enlightenment, and free all sentient beings and lead them to enlightenment.

Bad and Good
	Bad and Good Depend on the Individual Person's Interpretation / by Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Bad and good depend on the individual person's interpretation. In general, if you are able to spend your life collecting more virtue and less negative karma, that's a good life. Even spending half the life this way is quite good. Spending even one quarter of the day creating good karma is better than spending the whole 24 hours creating only negative karma. So today, if you are able to create more virtue than negative karma, that's a good life. Even though you might be exhausted, even though you might have almost died from practicing Dharma, you had a good life today.

Naropa, for example, had to experience the 12 great hardships and the 12 small hardships under the advice of Tilopa. And Marpa would not allow Milarepa to come to teachings and initiations; he received scoldings and beatings only, no sweet words like "you are such a good disciple" or "you have done excellent practice"; he only received Marpa's wrathful aspect. Then Milarepa had to build a nine-story tower by himself, alone, and not just once; he had to tear it down and build it three times. Because of doing these intensive preliminary practices and following exactly his guru Marpa's advice without having any negative thoughts towards him, Milarepa became enlightened in that life.......... That's the best life, you see, the best life. The definition of a bad life and a good life is very important, because if you don't know you will be very confused; if your connotation is wrong you will go in the wrong direction. The result of this will be no attainment, no realization. The result will be that the mind is empty.

There is an interpretation of bad and good life according to attachment, according to ego. Then there is an interpretation of bad and good life according to the point of view of Dharma wisdom, the wisdom understanding karma, understanding lam-rim. Of course, they are totally opposite.