By Lama Thubten Yeshe
It is a common mistake to think that a religious person is someone who is
afraid of new and potentially challenging situations that might threaten their
beliefs. As true religion is the very light of wisdom, why should a religious
person ever be afraid of darkness? Similarly, the clean, clear light of wisdom-knowledge
cannot be disturbed by confused and foggy states of mind. Nor is the spirit
of scientific investigation in any way contrary to true religion. After all,
scientific experiments do not contradict the light of the sun and moon, so why
should they be opposed to the light of inner wisdom?
The weak - those who lack the discriminating eye of wisdom - accept religious
beliefs passively. Having no background in philosophic thought and ignorant
of the reasons supporting their faith, they experience great uneasiness when
someone questions their beliefs. Such people often live closely guarded lives,
fearful of encountering someone or something that might shatter their insecure
spiritual foundation. This attitude, however, is not the fault of religion,
but of their own limited understanding. True Dharma leads in exactly the opposite
direction. It enables one to integrate all the many diverse experiences of life
into a meaningful and coherent whole, thereby banishing fear and insecurity
completely.
Of course, the type of philosophy and logical thinking that underlies true religious
belief is not exactly the same as that taught in schools. Mathematical logic,
for instance, enables you to deal with a certain strictly defined external problem
in a reasonable manner. The problem is restricted in scope and the solution
that is found completely satisfies. Dharma logic, on the other hand, has a much
higher and more encompassing goal. It deals with inner problems and looks for
solutions to the most important questions in life: how to find happiness and
avoid suffering for oneself and others. When you arrive at solutions using such
Dharma logic you find that you have not merely answered one isolated problem
but have discovered the interrelatedness of many inner processes previously
thought to be unconnected. This type of reasoning, therefore, is very demanding
for you must continually cheek up and investigate the many bows and whys you
uncover. But it is also ultimately more satisfying because it affects the very
quality of your life.
How do you apply this inner Dharma logic? Perhaps you feel unhappy and as a
result the thought of hatred starts to arise within you. Rather than observing
this process passively or being swept along by it involuntarily, you should
investigate what is happening. Try to discover why you are unhappy and cheek
to see if hatred is an appropriate response. In other words, ask yourself whether
what you are about to express will improve your situation or not. Making such
an analysis is not an act of neurotic self preoccupation. Rather, it is a way
to reveal the light of an answer to your problems.
Such questioning then is a process of causation in that it leads to a solution.
It is the same as a scientist trying experiment after experiment in order to
come up with the best answer to his problem. While making inner experiments,
you should ask yourself a series of questions in the same way. By doing this
properly you will develop and mature spiritually and as a result will overcome
the uneasiness and dissatisfaction gnawing at your life. You will be able to
analyse your growing hatred, for example, and discover not only its causes but
an effective way to disperse and eventually eliminate it.
We often suffer from strong desire or craving for something. This arises from
uncontrolled happy feelings experienced in relation to that object. When such
feelings arise you have to check up and see clearly what is happening. It is
very important to investigate why these happy feelings produce the uneasiness
of craving and desire. Similarly, when you are unhappy try to discover why such
a feeling leads automatically to hostility. Sometimes you feel neither happy
nor unhappy about something. This medium feeling often leads to mental fogginess,
an ignorant state in which you do not wish to be bothered about considering
the object at all. These three ways of responding to your experiences are not
always gross and obvious but often so subtle as to be barely noticeable. As
humans we are under their influence at all times even though we are usually
unaware of it. Therefore, if you wish to train your mind, you must sharpen your
wisdom and become more conscious of what is actually happening within.
When you look closely at the main characteristics of your feelings and see how
they function, you discover something very interesting. If I can make a statement
here. All psychological problems come from feelings. When a happy one arises
your uncontrolled mind is tossed here and there by it. When it is an unhappy
feeling then of course your mind is uncontrolled and it is obvious that problems
arise in its wake. Even medium feelings which are not particularly pleasurable
or painful lead eventually to problems and sufferings. You wish to ignore whatever
aroused those in-between feelings and therefore you avoid exploring its reality.
This reaction of closing yourself off from something is the very nature of ignorance
and is totally contrary to the development of liberating wisdom-knowledge.
While it's true that feelings produce desire, hatred and other psychological
problems, this is only half the story. These psychological states in turn arouse
further disturbing feelings. It is a circle. Each is the cause of the other
and they all spin endlessly in our consciousness occupying nearly all our time
and energy.