virtue

The Illusion of Power

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The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Bringing Virtue into Life”

A lot of people play the power game of trying to gain power and domination over other people simply because they feel if they can control others it will make them happy.  They will be powerful.  They will be shielded from hurt because they are dominant. Others are weaker than them and they don’t care whether they hurt the people under them or not.  They do whatever they want to do in order to make themselves happy.  That’s what people do.  What they don’t realize is that in every conceivable sense they are making themselves more and more unhappy. That kind of power over others will never produce happiness. In some future time that very person who is such a power monger will be the most powerless of sentient beings.  Think about the helpless little creatures that are kept in cages in pet shops to be sold to who knows.  Think about the helpless little creatures that are kept in laboratories to be tested on for who knows what purpose.  That kind of helplessness.  So we are talking about curable suffering and unhappiness and we bring it on ourselves through cause and effect relationships. This is one of the teachings that the Buddha has given us that is very, very logical, and we can see small examples of it within our lives.  If we engage in non-virtuous behavior, it will produce unhappiness.

Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Norbu Lhamo.  All rights reserved

 

 

Examining Cause and Effect in Real Life

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The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Bringing Virtue Into Life”

You may have been born rich, or perhaps during the course of your life it has been relatively easy for you to make money, gain riches. Or perhaps during the course of your life, at some point you have inherited riches. And you wonder to yourself, “How is it that I hear about the starving poor and yet I, who wasn’t even hungry in the first place, have inherited this money, or I have this money? How is it?  It would seem as though I am completely undeserving.  How has that happened?”  You wonder about that.  “Why is it easy for me to make money?”  Well, the reason why it is easy for you to inherit that money or to make that money is because some time in the past you have earned it; and the way that you have earned it is by engaging in virtuous activity concerned with generosity toward others.   If you have given food to others, in this life you always have enough to eat, and more.  In fact, the problem is not eating too much.

So then, if you have a lot of money and things have been pretty comfortable for you, then sometime in the past you must have been very generous toward others, and your big problem in this lifetime is not how to make money but how to spend it, or not spend it.  In that case, you deserve everything that you get.  You deserve all of it.

Now, in this lifetime, if you just take that money and express through it no acts of generosity,… Let’s say maybe you keep it in your family to make sure that your children are provided for.  Well, that’s a kind of generosity.  You did give some to your children, but that isn’t real generosity, because children are kind of like an extension of our own ego.  We think of them as part of us.  We don’t think of them as being separate from us. We like our children to be rich because it’s a good reflection on us and it makes us die happy.

But let’s say in this lifetime, although you have lots of money, you haven’t really given any to benefit others.  You haven’t helped others not to be hungry.  You haven’t given it to children that don’t get any toys as Christmas.  You haven’t made any offerings to the temple where you receive all your spiritual benefit.  You haven’t done anything with your money.  If you think then that you’re going to somehow be able to legally make it happen that they’ll find you in your next incarnation and give you back that money,… Au contraire, monsieur.  You can’t take it with you.  It’s not going to appear again in your next life.  Forget it!  It’s not going to happen.  But in your next life you will probably be born much poorer because, even though you had the money before, you were not very generous.

So it’s very, very clear that cause and effect are interconnected.  In fact, the Buddha teaches us that they arise interdependently: When the cause arises, the effect arises at the same time, but in seed form.  Think about that.  Think about that the next time you have non-virtuous behavior.  One of the reasons why it’s so easy to be non-virtuous is because you think, “Well, O.K., I’m being non-virtuous now, but I don’t see the effect rising yet.  So maybe they…(Who are they anyway? We don’t know.) they’ll forget about it. “ You know, the guys with the x’s and the checks. They’re up there.  They’re sitting on the throne. You know, the guy with long beard.  Maybe he’ll forget about it by then.  But in fact the Buddha teaches that, number one, there is nobody with a book up there, or a beard. And number two, when you give rise to the cause, the effect is already born, and you will experience it.  You will experience it.

Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Norbu Lhamo.  All rights reserved

Flower of Gods: From “Sutra of the Wise and Foolish”

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The following is respectfully quoted from “Sutra of the Wise and Foolish” by Stanley Frye 

Flower of the Gods

Thus have I heard at one time: the Enlightened One was residing in the sity of Śrāvastī at Jetavana monastery in Añathapindika’s park together with an assembly of one-thousand two-hundred and fifty monks. At that time, in that country, when a handsome and comely son was born to the wife of a householder of the highest caste, a shower of flowers of the gods fell from the sky and filled the house, and the boy was named Flower of the Gods. When he had come of age, he went to the Buddha, and seeing the Lord’s body endowed with the incomparable signs, rejoiced greatly and thought: “I have been born into this world where I have met the Supreme Among the Noble Ones, I shall invite the Lord and his assembly”, and said: “Lord, tomorrow I shall prepare alms-food in my home. In order to lay the foundation for Enligthenment, I beseech the Lord and his Sangha to deign to come”. The Buddha, seeing the boy’s pure and firm intention, said: “We accept your invitation”.

Thereupon the boy called Flower of the Gods returned to his home and in his mansion caused a great throne of jewels to magically appear along with many other seats, and adorned the dwelling with various kinds of decorations.

Upon the morrow the Enlightened One and his Sangha came, and when each had taken his seat according to seniority, the boy though: “Now I shall offer various kinds of food,” and, because of his virtue many different kinds of food appeared by themselves and these he offered to the Lord and Sangha.

When the Buddha had taught the boy the Dharma, the house became filled with flowers of the gods and the boy requested permission of his parents to become a monk. When his parents consented, he went to the Buddha, bowed his head at his feet, and said: “Lord, I request ordination”, and when the Buddha said: “Welcome, monk”, his hair and beard fell away by themselves and he was dressed in the red robes. Exerting himself in the word of the Buddha, he became an arhat.

When Ānanda saw what had taken place, he knelt and said: “Lord, this monk Flower of the Gods–by reason of performing what former good deeds did a shower of flowers descend and jeweled thrones and various kinds of good appear? I beg the Lord to explain the reason for this.”

The Buddha said: “Ānanda, if you wish to hear this, listen carefully. In aeons long past, when the Buddha Kāśyapa was in the world and was visiting the cities for the weal of beings, a householder of the highest caste honored and made offerings to the Sangha. When a poverty-stricken beggar saw the Noble Sangha, great faith was born in him and he thought: ‘I have nothing with which to make an offering to the Sangha’. He gathered various kinds of grasses and flowers and with a mind of faith showered them on the monks, bowed, and venerated the Sangha. Ānanda, this monk Flower of the Gods was that beggar who at the time made offerings of flowers. Because he sought Enlightenment with a mind of firm faith and gathered flowers and showered the Sangha with them, for sixty aeons, wherever he was born he was always handsome and comely and endowed with whatever he wished to eat and drink. As a result of that merit he has attained bliss. Therefore, Ānanda, one must not think that there is no merit when one gives, even if it is very little. As was the case with the boy Flower of the Gods, the fruits will come by themselves.”

Thereupon Ānanda and the assembly believed what the Lord had taught and rejoiced.

 

Revealing the Hidden Faults: by Longchen Rabjam

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The following is respectfully quoted from “Drops of Nectar” compiled by Ngagyur Nyingma Institute:

Vajra Song:

Instructions for Rousing Myself: Longchen Rabjam

Namo Guru Bhaya! Feeling truly wearied by the worldly experiences of myself and others, at Orgyen Dzong, I, “The Yogi of Various Kinds of Self-Liberation”, Longchen Rabjam (1308-1363), roused myself with this song of advice.

Chapter 1
Revealing the Hidden Faults

The great ship of the primordial wisdom of vast compassion
Liberates all beings without exception from the ocean of cyclic
existence.
I bow to the feet of the glorious protector, the sacred guru
Who has gone to the precious continent, peaceful and
immaculate.

The ocean of samsara is extremely difficult to cross;
With its raging waves of birth, old age, sickness and death.
It is hard to escape from the boundlessly deep.
To you confused ones who are floundering here I offer these
suggestions from my heart!

Without applying these suggestions to dig out hidden faults,
There will be no time to cast off all your unwholesome
behavior.
Without looking back into your inner mind,
There will be no time to see your negative faults.
Therefore, today I offer these suggestions from my heart!
Keep this in mind. It is beneficial spiritual advice.

Even if you live in solitude, you can become more accustomed
to depending on others;
If you are not free from the eight worldly concerns and the
distractions of this life,
You can become someone who appears to benefit others while
pervertedly benefiting himself.
Consider whether you can get by with such conduct!

By abiding in solitude, the Victorious Ones of the past attained enlightenment
And even former practitioners of the dharma achieved
accomplishment,
But you are completely distracted.
Consider whether you can get by with such conduct!

Not recognizing all material wealth, fame, glory, and valuable
possessions as magical illusions
And deceptive obstacles to accomplishment,
It’s like you are receiving something from one person and
giving it to another.
Consider whether you can get by with such conduct!

Not recognizing as manifold demons of distraction and illusion
All kinds of business with many different people,
you think that babbling platitudes about the dharma will
benefit others.
Consider whether you can get by with such conduct!

Being uncertain about exactly where you are heading,
You gather material wealth, build castles on dung heaps and so on.
Reckoning that you will live there forever, you take illusory
appearances to be real.
Do you think such conduct will suffice?

Failing to tame and stabilize your own mind,
But hoping to tame and stabilize the minds of others,
You will experience incessant suffering and torment.
Do you think such conduct is good enough?

Never applying yourself to the actual essence,
While day and night making great efforts for this life is a great mistake.
Such childish and imprudent ones are objects of the noble
beings’ smiles and laughter.
Consider whether you can get by with such conduct!

When a group of many aimless ones have gathered,
Distracted teachers and students fetter one another.
This is like making an aimless search for a guesthouse.
Clinging to never-ending appearances of magical illusion
As happiness and bliss, you lose the enlightened path to liberation
And feel no weariness toward cyclic existence.
Do you think such conduct is good enough?

This year is the dwelling ground of the Female Fire-Hog,
And twelve years from now will be the ground of the Male Iron-Dog, when
Foreign invasion is prophesied. Yet you make no effort to escape.
Do you think such conduct will suffice?

From all directions, war and strife will increase,
People will become intolerant and there will be many types of destruction,
But you are not trying to find the precious hidden land.
Consider whether you can get by with such conduct!

Even if you always perform good deeds without deceit,
Since there won’t be time to complete this, both inside and out,
The foundation of purposeless suffering will be uninterrupted.
Do you think such conduct is good enough?

Remaining in solitude in the mountains, but acting like you
were on the edge of a city,
Accustomed to countless meetings and gatherings,
You become completely careless and your occupations never end.
Consider whether you can get by with such conduct!

Although you mentally renounce this life, you cannot let it go;
Although you dismantle deluded ego clinging, it doesn’t fall apart;
Even remaining alone in the mountains, you’ll find no occasion for solitude
Do you think you can get by with that kind of conduct!

Although with words you talk about needing nothing, you
pursue food and clothing;
Although you speak of the impermanence of life, you’re still
not mindful of death;
Even remaining in solitude to practice, you’re still distracted by
entertainment.
Consider whether you can get by with such conduct!

Despite talking about the delusion of ordinary life, you chase
the eight worldly concerns;
Despite talking about the pointlessness of illusory appearances,
you still find a lot to do;
Although you say all things are equal, you maintain your partiality.
Do you think that kind of conduct will suffice?

Even if you sit down to accomplish the natural state, present
worldly concerns deceive you;
Even practicing the Dharma of your own free will, external
influences mislead you;
Whatever you do, day and night you are beguiled by illusion.
Consider whether you can get by with such conduct!

Although you ponder everything, this is not the essence.
Whatever you do lacks meaning and is a cause for suffering.
Abandon everything in an empty place without people.
If you could go today itself, this would be best!

Since there is nothing nearer than oneself,
I give this useful advice out of pity,
Listen, you virtuous-minded one who desires liberation!
If you heed these suggestions it will always be virtuous!

At the outset, the virtue is to abandon your present worldly activities.
In the middle, the virtue is to discard entertainment in solitary retreat.
In the end, the virtue is to achieve exhaustion in the natural state.
Ease in this present life and happiness in the future is the
intention of this advice!

I compose this advice by myself and for myself
To encourage others as well I offer this instruction.
It will be excellent if both others and I listen carefully!
Please pursue this excellent permanent aim from today!

From the Vajra Song of Instructions for Rousing Myself, this completes the first chapter of exposing one’s hidden faults.

The Law of Karma: From “Treasury of Precious Qualities” by Jigme Lingpa

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The following is respectfully quoted from “Treasury of Precious Qualities” by Jigme Lingpa translated by the Padmakara Translation Group:

The Karmic Process in General

There is absolutely no doubt that when we die, we must go where we are propelled. Like fish caught on a hook, we are entangled in the strings of our karma and pulled into one or other of the six realms, high or low. This is nothing but the effect of actions, positive or negative. It is true that, ultimately speaking there is no such thing as origination, but on the level of relative truth, the karmic principle of cause and effect as inescapable. It is like a gardener planting two kinds of seed, the bitter aloe or sweet grape. The resulting crops will have a corresponding taste. In the same way, the existential quality of our present lives, whether fortunate or otherwise, is but the product of positive or negative actions to which we have become accustomed in our previous existences.

Actions never fail to produce an effect

The shadow of a bird soaring in the sky may be temporarily invisible, but it is still there and will always appear when the bird comes to earth. In the same way, when attendant causes coincide with the factors of Craving and Grasping, karma comes to fruition and results in a life situation that is either favorable or unfavorable. As the sutra says, “The karma that living beings gather is never worn away even after a hundred kalpas. When the moment comes and the appropriate conditions gather, the fruit of the action will come to maturity.”

For as long as phenomena are apprehended as truly existent, even small negative actions are liable to have immense consequences.  They are likened in the root verse to a monstrous fire-vomiting mare–a reference to the volcanoes that encircle and ocean of brine on the rim of the world. The fire of those volcanoes is able to dry up the countless waves of the sea that here symbolize happy incarnations, the fruit of positive action. It is important to study the sutras such as the Saddharmasmrityupasthana, Karmashataka, Lalitavistara, and Karmavibbanga, for they describe how our human condition, which is like a ship in which we can sail to the precious isle of Omniscience, may be wrecked and brought to utter ruin.

The results of evil deeds, namely, the lower realms so full of dreadful and inescapable misery, are said in the root text to have been unable, for the moment, to overwhelm our strength, our army of ten “virtues tending to happiness”–in other words, our fortunate existence in higher states. These virtues are like heroes whose land is not yet overrun by the legions of suffering. And yet if our determination weakens, we shall fall into the ten evil actions and thence into lower existences. There are many ways in which this might happen. Some people, aspiring to liberation, receive the vows of pure discipline from their abbots or preceptors. But tempted by  desire or other evil thoughts, they break their commitments and fall, defeated in their monastic resolve. Again, some people kill animals for the sake of gain, thereby shortening their own lives. Some, out of aggression, go off to war only to be killed themselves. Some, inspired by virtue, embrace an ascetic discipline, becoming indifferent even to food and clothing. But later, victims of their desire, they settle down to married life. Some devote themselves with great effort to study and reflection, but they are unable to free themselves of the eight worldly concerns and are carried away by mundane preoccupations. Some, instead of offering their wealth to the Three Jewels, lavish it on their relatives and squander it.

On the whole, a moral conscience with regard to oneself and one’s religious values, and a sense of shame in respect of the opinions of others, are two factors that work in tandem to put a brake on evil behavior. Some people, however, abandon both their conscience and their sense of shame. They disregard virtuous conduct and in one way or other indulge in evil, succumbing to the habits they have grown accustomed  to from time without beginning. This is how people fall into the lower realms and stay there.

 

Drops of the Nectar of Oral Instructions 1

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The following is respectfully taken from “Drops of Nectar” by Ngagyur Nyingma Institute:

Drops of the Nectar of Oral Instructions 1: Orgyen Terdag Lingpa

Om Svasti!

Relying upon him, one is completely protected from the many fears of worldly existence.
And established on the path of liberation.
I pay homage to the most kind Master, the Three Jewels Incarnate.
Understanding that he is the essence of my own wakeful awarness.

It is the responsibility of those who wish to attain liberation to follow the displine
Concerning what must be cultivated and what must be abandoned
In accordance with the Victorious One’s teachings, commentaries and instructions,
Thus, adopting this way of acting is appropriate.

The human body, adorned with freedoms and favorable conditions,
Is more extremely difficult to find and is of great importance.
At the time you have something like this, if you do not accomplish the ultimate aim
Who could be more stupid and deluded than that?

All composite things are impermanent and are certain to die.
The time of death is uncertain and the circumstances of death are limitless.
Since at the moment nothing but the sublime teachings will be of benefit,
Without procrastinating practice diligently.

The sufferings of the lower realms are unbearable like a pit of fire.
Sinking there once, how will you find the opportunity for liberation?
Even in the realms of happiness, suffering is actually experienced.
Therefore, you must conclusively establish the means of becoming free.

The seeds of constructive and destructive actions unfailingly
Ripen into the fruit of happiness and sorrow.
As this is the very nature of interdependence, you must rely on attentiveness and mindfulness
Concerning the manner of what to engage in and what to avoid.

From the bottom of your heart, pray to rest your hope permanently
In the unfailing protector, your Master, and the Three Jewels.
Cultivate the enlightened mind of Bodhicitta by offering your compassionate responsiveness
To your fathers and mothers, beings most kind, who are as pervasive as space.

From beginningless samsara until this moment,
Your mind has wandered continuously through ignorance and delusion.
From now on, with no attachment to deluded activity,
Make effort to realize the undeluded true nature of reality

Respectfully following a spiritual master who has all the defining characteristics,
By ripening your mind stream through receiving the perfectly pure four empowerments
Of the great mandala of Vajrayana
Establish yourself unmistakenly in profound interdependence.

As spiritual commitments themselves are the only root of accomplishment,
Without transgressing the boundary of prescribed precepts,
Knowing the restrictions and purposes, practice without confusion
The disciplines of adopting and abandoning according to the Three Vehicles.

The primordial reality and the nature of all phenomena
Is profound, tranquil, unelaborated, luminous and unconditioned.
Apply yourself in the methods of realizing exactly as it is
This vajra mind, perfected in its ground and unchanging.

The manifold appearances of mind, as many as there are,
From their mere appearance, are unreal as magical illusions.
Under the power of habitual tendencies towards singular phenomena,
The causes and conditions of attachment and hatred are
uncertain, and lack single identity.

If analyzed and investigated, it cannot be established as anything.
Yet everyting arises in the brilliant clear awarenss.
As the manifestations of mind are arising unceasingly
It is said that the appearances are themselves what is called mind.

The nature of mind is luminous, intangible and inconceivable.
Its expanse is free of mental constructs, and falls in no particular direction.
Vividly wakeful in the continuity of unconfined self-appearance.
Rest in the primordial purity that is changeless and perfect from the ground.

Binding the essential movements of body with the key points,
Let the movement of the breath in and out come to its natural state.
With no distraction from the focus of meditation on mind itself,
Focus the three doors in union on the essential practice.

Without attachment to the apparent yet empty form of the deities, the illusory bodies,
Engaging in recitation with indivisible wind and mantra train in the continuity
Of mind– luminous, uncompounded great bliss,
The path of method that purifies channels, energies and essential drops.

Through the yoga of the indestructible three vajras: body, speech and mind,
Cleanse the energy channels, dissolve the energies and thoroughly purify the essential drops.
Drawing on the interrelated enhancing pracitces of day and night.
You will experience the fruition of the natural state.

Clearly and without grasping, recognize your own nature by yourself
By the pair of calm abiding cultivated through resting in awareness
And the extraordinary insight of perceiving your nature nakedly.
Nurturing this without distraction is the essence of the path.

The view that understands emptiness is the natural state itself.
Cultivating undistracted mindfulness is the path of meditation.
For the yogi who trains in compassionate expressiveness
As diligently as possible, the foundation of liberation will be firmly laid.

Putting enormous effort into the meaningless activities of this life,
Many are left with only superficial practice toward the ultimate purpose.
Even with the intention to practice the Dharma, those who take it in hand are very rare.
Thus in short, concentrate on the holy dharma.

Persevere in the pure vision that knows with certainty the
Master to be your own awareness.
By arousing unbearable devotion and fierce respect,
You will be blessed to realize the self-arising primordial wisdom
And effortlessly conviction will develop from deep within.

Whatever unfavorable conditions of illness or malevolent influences may arise,
Through never finding their essential nature to be truly established
Except as manifestations of deluded ignorance,
Train yourself by taking adversities on to the path as the play of illusion.

Seek out different spiritual masters upholding their respective Dharma traditions.
According to the interests of those to be tamed, each is profound in its own manner.
In this way, without accumulating the evils of attachment and anger.
Genuinely train in pure vision, non-sectarianism and superior intention.

In a place of solitude, engaging in ordinary food and drink,
Being occupied with frivolous entertainment in attending to your retinue of disciples and patrons,
Endlessly engaged in deceiving people,
Do not be caught in samsara, deceiving yourself through confusion.

By becoming distracted into the many kinds of knowledge that appear to benefit others,
Methods of healing and astrological calculations,
Coming up with examples, and so on, ordinary thoughts build up, and
The images of a great many dharma practitioners are lost.

The natural disposition of the mind is to be self-aware and to rest in its own place;
The radiance of the mind is the unceasing arising of all manner of things.
Recognizing delusion’s own faults and the non-existence of the basis of delusion,
Study, contemplate, and train on the path of indivisibility.

In short, whatever arises, don’t construct thoughts about it;
Nurture it without fabrication, naturally, in its own radiance,
just as it is.
Whatever occurs, be it abiding or moving, do not obstruct or strive.
Always sustain the self-nature of your awareness without distraction.

When gazing directly at your mind,
From the instant of emergence, without defining it as ‘it is thus’
Strive to maintain with no distraction the original face
Of the natural state of your primordially self-liberated awareness.

You have the power to bear the meaningless hardships of this life
Yet for the sake of dharma you don’t give up a single session of sleep.
Be unmistaken in your choice of what to adopt and what to abandon;
Always strive to achieve the ultimate goal.

So be it. This copy is offered from the admonition of oral advice in the words of the King of Dharma, Orgyen Terdag Lingpa, which is known as the Drops of Nectar.

Love and Compassion: From Compassion in Tibetan Buddhism

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The following is respectfully quoted from “Compassion in Tibetan Buddhism” by Tsong-ka-pa

The fourth of the seven cause and effect precepts is love. The field of observation is all sentient beings, and the subjective aspects are three:

  1. How nice it would be if all sentient beings had happiness and its causes.
  2. May all sentient beings have happiness and its causes.
  3. I will cause all sentient beings to have happiness and its causes.

These are three levels of increasing strength which should be cultivated gradually until the point of spontaneity is reached.

The King of Meditations Sutra (Samadhiraja) says that the benefit of cultivating love with all sentient beings as the field of observation is immeasurably greater than that of offering to  Buddhas and Bodhisattvas over many aeons even lands filled with food, drink, and articles. The Sutra of Manjushri’s Buddha Land (Manjushribuddhak shetra) says that there is a Buddha Land to the north-east of this world where beings have attained cessation of coarse feelings and discriminations, abiding most comfortably in meditative stabilization without suffering. Being so happy, they find it easy to behave purely, not killing, stealing, engaging in sexual misconduct, and so fort, for many thousands of ten millions of years. The sutra says that although the benefit of their practice is great, it is more beneficial to cultivate love here for the time it takes to snap the fingers.

One should first take as the object of observation a friend and cultivate the wish that this person have happiness. When this becomes easy, one should consider a neutral person and cultivate the wish as before. Then, one should consider an enemy and cultivate love until there is no difference between the wish for happiness that one has for the friend, the neutral person, and the enemy. The meditation should be extended slowly to all sentient beings throughout space, reflecting again and again on the disadvantages of not have the advantages of having happiness. One may then gradually ascent through the three subjective aspects.

Even if one meditates only for five minutes taking cognizance of all sentient beings and if even the love consciousness, due to unfamiliarity is weak, the virtue is inconceivable because the scope is so vast. For example, if a sesame seed is squeezed, only a little oil comes out, but if many are squeezed, a barrel can be filled with oil.

Initially the meditation should not be longer than fifteen minutes in order to avoid fatigue and retain enthusiasm. Later, it can be lengthened until immeasurable love, conjoined with meditative equipoise, is eventually attained. When love is cultivated little by little, very clearly, with all beings as the field of observation, it is as if one is repaying in part the immeasurable kindness that others have extended in former lifetimes.

The next step is to cultivate compassion. The field of observation of a compassionate mind is all sentient beings who have any of the three types of suffering – of pain, of change, and of being so composed as to be always  ready to undergo pain.

The suffering of pain is actual physical or mental discomfort including in which are birth, aging, sickness and death. Many billions of years have passed since this world was formed; many have been born here, but there is no one who has managed just to stay alive. It is necessary to die and take rebirth again and again.

Sufferings of change are feelings of pleasure which, when superficially considered, seem to be pleasurable but can change into suffering. For example, if a person is out in the sun where it is too hot, he is pleased to go to a cooler spot, but if he stays there too long, he will become cold and sick. Similarly, when one becomes too cold and then goes to a hot place, if one gets too hot, one will fall sick. Although there is seeming pleasure in becoming cooler or warmer, if one stays in that state too long, it turns into suffering. This shows that these situations do not have an inherent nature of pleasure.

Similarly, in this world of beings–whether animal or human–mate with pleasure, but if it is not done in a moderate amount, the pleasure is lost. Excessive copulation can cause a disease called “cold and wind” in the lower abdomen, harming both male and female genitals. Though enjoyable at first, it can ruin the very basis of comfort in the vital channels (nadi). Thus, these feelings of pleasure are said to be contaminated and are called sufferings of change.

The third type of suffering is called that of pervasive composition. Whenever a sentient being takes birth by the power of contaminated actions and afflictions in the desire, form, or formless realms, there are periods when he does not have manifest suffering. However, if certain conditions aggregate, suffering will be generated because the basic causes misery pervade all types of life within the three realms. For instance, though one might have no manifest suffering now, if one is pricked with a needle, cut with a knife, or kicked, pain is immediately produced.

The field of observation for the compassionate mind is all sentient beings who have these three types of suffering; however, to understand the suffering of others, it is necessary first to know the immeasurable fault of one’s own birth in cyclic existence. One should think:

I have engaged in non-virtue since beginningless time and have accumulated bad actions (karma). I suffer pain and change. I am afflicted by being always liable to suffer pain.

One should contemplate the causes of suffering–the ten non-virtues, how one has engaged in them, and how one has suffered in this lifetime. There are three physical, four verbal, and three mental non-virtues.

PHYSICAL NON-VIRTUES

  1. Killing: taking the life of a human or any other being. If one has committed murder, one is born in a bad migration, and then when the migration is finished, even if one is reborn as a human, the lifespan will be very short.
  2. Stealing: taking what is not given. Through its force one will have few resources in the future, and whatever one has others will steal.
  3. Sexual misconduct: incest, copulation in the presence of an image that is an object of refuge, or with a woman about to give birth, and so forth. Such misconduct leads to being controlled by desire and hatred in the future.

VERBAL NON-VIRTUES

  1. Lying: saying what is is not, that what one does not have one has, or the opposite. From such deception one will not hear the truth in the future.
  2. Divisiveness: creating dissension between people or increasing dissension that already exists. The fruit of dividing people is that one will not have friends and will hear oneself frequently faulted by others.
  3. Harsh speech: speaking from anger in order to harm. For instance, when directing someone to go here or there, one does not speak politely but says, ‘Can’t you get over here?!’ The effect is that one will be reborn in a place where one must always be scolded.
  4. Senseless talk: conversation that is not about religious practice, the affairs of one’s family or country, but about meaningless subjects. Through wasting one’s life unsconscientiously in meaningless talk one will not hear sensible talk in the future and will be reduced to speaking gibberish.

MENTAL NON-VIRTUES

  1. Covetousness: the desire for acquisition upon seeing the property of another person. This causes poverty and leads to losing whatever property one has.
  2. Harmful intent: the wish to injure another, male, female, animal and so forth. Based on this deed, people will not be agreeable in the future.
  3. Wrong views: asserting that the cause and effect of actions do not exist, that the Three Jewels are not sources of refuge, and the like. If due to such views one perversely holds that there is no fault in engaging in the three physical or four verbal non-virtues, this harms the roots of virtue already formed in one’s mental continuum and thereby induces great suffering in the future.

One should gradually call to mind one’s own non-virtues and reflect on the cause and effect process that induces suffering. It is appropriate to generate contrition, a sense of discomfort with former misdeeds, and a promise to refrain from those deeds henceforth.

Reflection on one’s own involvement in the causes of suffering ultimately generates an intention to leave cyclic existence. One comes to know that just as one has suffered in this lifetime, after death the process will begin again and wherever one is born–even as a god or a human, oe must suffer. Having formed a clear sense of one’s own situation, one should then consider a friend:

This person has the three types of suffering and is also engaging in the causes the further misery. Even when he finishes undergoing the suffering of this lifetime, he will have more in the next. How nice if he were free from suffering and its causes! May he become so! I will cause him to become so!

Then one should consider a neutral person and after that an enemy. Gradually and over a long period of time, one can slowly extend the meditation to all sentient beings.

Having developed facility first with respect to a friend, such as one’s mother, one is able to measure the progress with respect to neutral persons and enemies by comparing it to the strong feeling for the friend. Why should one make all neutral persons and enemies equal to one’s mother? If she had fallen into a ravine or a river, or into a chasm made by an earthquake, and if her own child whom she had helped from the time of his entry into her womb would not help her, who would?

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