By Lama Zopa Rinpoche
As Nagarjuna explains in the verse that Dromtonpa often recited:
'Acquiring material things or not acquiring them; happiness or unhappiness;
interesting or uninteresting sounds; praise or criticism: these eight worldly
dharmas are not objects of my mind. They are all the same to me.'
It is easy to understand how it can be a problem not to acquire things, to be
unhappy, to hear uninteresting sounds, to have a bad reputation, to be criticised.
These are commonly recognised as problems. But you might not recognise acquiring
things, having comfort and happiness, hearing interesting sounds, having a good
reputation and being praised as problems. However, they are all the same; they
are all problems.
But the object itself is not the problem. Having wealth is not the problem.
So, what is the problem? The problem is the mind desiring and clinging to wealth
- that is the problem. Having a friend is not the problem; the mind clinging
to the friend makes having a friend a problem.
Desire makes having these four material things, comfort, interesting sounds,
praise - a problem. If there's no desire, no worldly concern, having or not
having these objects does not become a problem.
You might be sleeping comfortably one night when suddenly your sleep is disturbed
by a mosquito biting you. If you have strong worldly concern, strong desire
for comfort, you will be very annoyed at being bitten by the mosquito. Just
being bitten, by just one mosquito. It is nothing dangerous, nothing that can
cause any serious disease. The mosquito takes just a tiny, tiny drop of blood
from your body. But seeing that mosquito's body filled with your own blood,
you are shocked. You become angry at the mosquito and are upset all night. The
next day, you complain about the mosquito all day long. "I couldn't sleep
for hours last night!" Losing sleep for one night, or even a few hours,
is like losing a precious jewel. You are as upset as somebody who has lost a
million dollars. For some people, even such a small problem becomes huge.
There are also people who desire so much to be praised and respected by others.
If you ignore such people and walk past them with your nose in the air, or say
just one or two words disrespectfully, something that they don't expect to hear,
it causes great pain in their minds. Or if you give them something in a disrespectful
manner, whether purposely or not, again there is great pain. For such people
with so much expectation, so much clinging, the pain from even a small physical
action that they dislike is great. It feels like an arrow has been shot into
their hearts.
Suddenly anger arises strongly. Suddenly their body becomes very tense. Their
face, relaxed and peaceful before, now becomes kind of terrifying - swollen
and tight, with their ears and nose turning red and the veins standing out on
their forehead. Suddenly their whole character becomes very rough and unpleasant.
The greater people's desire to receive praise and respect, the greater the pain
in their heart when they don't get it. It is similar with the other objects
of desire. The stronger the desires for material things, comfort, interesting
sounds, and praise, the greater the pain when they experience the opposite.
If you expect that a friend will always be pleasant, smiling, respectful, kind,
and always do what you wish, but one day they unexpectedly do some small unpleasant
thing, that tiny thing causes an incredible pain in your heart. All this is
related to worldly concern, to how strongly you desire something. The less desire
you have for the four desirable objects, the fewer problems you will have when
you meet the four undesirable objects. Less desire means less pain. If you cut
off clinging to this life, there is not hurt when you experience criticism or
do not receive something, because there is no clinging to praise or receiving
things.
In the same way, when you do not cling to the expectation that your friend will
always be nice to you, always smile at you, always help you when asked, there
is no hurt when your friend changes and does the opposite to what you desire.
There is no pain in your heart. Your mind is calm and peaceful. By cutting off
the desire that clings to the four desirable objects, you don't have a problem
when the four undesirable situations happen. They cannot hurt you, cannot disturb
your mind.
The thought of the worldly dharmas clings to the four desirable objects of this
life. Without this thought, there is so much calmness and peace in your mind
that meeting the four undesirable objects doesn't bother you. And meeting the
four desirable objects also doesn't bother you. If someone praises you, it doesn't
matter; if someone criticises you, it cannot disturb your mind. There is stability
in your life, and peace of mind. There are no ups and downs. This is equalising
the eight worldly dharmas.
How do you keep your mind peaceful when problems happen? How do you protect
your mind so that experiencing the four undesirable things does not disturb
you? By realising that clinging to these four desirable objects is the problem.
You have to realise the shortcomings of these four desirable objects and abandon
clinging to them. This is the basic psychology. If you use this method, undesirable
situations will not disturb you.
Geshe Chen-ngawa would equalise the eight worldly dharmas by reciting this verse:
'Being happy when life is comfortable and unhappy when it is uncomfortable:
all activities for the happiness of this life should be abandoned like poison.
Virtue and non-virtue are functions only of the mind. Cut off non-virtuous motivations
and those motivations that are neither virtuous nor non-virtuous.'
The latter refers to actions of body note speech with indeterminate motivations;
these are called "unpredictable" actions.
The best way to train our mind is to expect the four undesirable objects rather
than the four desirable ones. Expect to be criticised and disrespected. This
practice of renunciation, which cuts off desire, is the best psychology. Having
trained our mind to expect undesirable things, when something undesirable actually
happens, it doesn't come as a shock to us; it doesn't hurt because we are expecting
it.
Before knowing about Dharma, before practising meditation, you regarded discomfort,
uninteresting sounds, criticism, and not acquiring things as undesirable problems.
Now, if you examine well the nature of the mind that clings to material things,
comfort, interesting sounds, praise, you won't find that it is happy; you will
see that it too is suffering. It is not the happiness you thought it was before
knowing about Dharma. It is not peaceful - it is painful.
The mind that clings gets stuck to the object of desire. When you receive praise
"You are so intelligent," "You speak so well," "You
understand Dharma so well" your mind gets stuck to the praise and is no
longer free. Like a body fastened with chains, the mind is fastened with attachment.
The mind is tied, controlled, chained by attachment. The mind is stuck like
glue to the object. Or like a moth flying into melted candle wax: its whole
body, wings, and limbs become completely soaked in candle wax. Its body and
limbs are so fragile that it is extremely difficult to separate them from the
wax. Or like a fly that gets stuck in a spider's web: its limbs get completely
wrapped in the web, and it is very difficult to separate them from it. Or like
ants in honey. Attachment is the mind stuck to an object.