Wisdom

"Take, for example, my own practice. I have adopted bhikshu (monastic) vows according to the The Sutra on Monastic Discipline, or the essence of the Lesser Vehicle teachings, in which are included rules binding upon members of the monastic community. My daily life and conduct are based on its teachings; I live as a monk. In our tradition, fully ordained monks observe 273 rules. We have to keep them. Moreover, every day I practise calm abiding (shamatha, zhi gnas) and special insight (vipashyana, lhag mthong) meditations, which are also teachings of the Lesser Vehicle. Yet my main daily practice, development of the mind of enlightenment (bodhichitta, byang chub sems) based upon compassion (karuna, snying rje) and love (maitri, byams pa), is from the teachings of the Greater Vehicle. And I practise the six perfections (paramitas, phar phyin) of generosity, discipline, patience, vigor, meditation, and wisdom as much as I can. These are teachings of the Greater Vehicle.

In addition, I also practise deity yoga with mandalas. This practice is from the Tantrayana teachings. Thus, in Tibet one could practise the essence of these three doctrines simultaneously. This is the unique feature of Tibetan Buddhism, its great breadth of techniques. To begin nevertheless with a simple approach, we can say that all the teachings of Buddha Shakyamuni can be divided into two categories: conduct and view. The conduct which Buddha taught is non-violence ( ahimsa, tshe med zhi ba’i lam), not to harm. Not harming others also includes benefiting them and working for their welfare. Most major world religions teach non-violence. They teach us to be warm-hearted, have a good motivation, good character. In their aim of benefiting all humanity, the major world religions agree. To accomplish this end, however, different philosophies have arisen, since there exist human beings of many different dispositions. For certain people, certain philosophies are more suitable and effective than others.

Therefore, people of different dispositions and interests can engage in the practice of those systems that suit them best. Irrespective of these different philosophies, the most important point is to have a tamed and disciplined mind and a warm heart.With this perspective, consider two different philosophies and approaches to our spiritual situation. Some religions teach God as a creator, with us as the created. Finally, things depend on God and if we act according to the wishes of God, we shall achieve permanent happiness. The person is nothing and the creator is all-important. If one explains to certain people that everything is in the hands of the Creator, and therefore they should do nothing against his wishes, they act accordingly. It gives them mental satisfaction and moral stability.

Other people approach religious philosophy with scepticism. They rely upon interdependence. If it is explained to them that everything is not in the hands of an almighty creator but in their own hands, they too gain mental satisfaction and moral stability. This is the Buddhist approach. Although Buddhists can say that if someone harms others he acts against the wishes of the Buddha, this is not the significance of the Buddha’s teachings. Buddha taught that the sufferings we do not wish for and the happiness we desire and cherish are all the products of causes and that we control our whole destiny. In Buddhism, there is no creator. The ultimate creator is one’s own mind. This mind is intrinsically pure, and with a positive motivation, our verbal and physical actions can become positive and can produce wholesome results, results that are pleasant and beneficial. On the other hand when the mind remains coarse, then we commit harsh verbal and physical actions, which by nature harm or hurt others, and the result is unpleasant and painful. One cannot blame others for one’s own suffering. One can only blame oneself. The responsibility for it lies on one’s own shoulders. Thus Buddhists believe in self-creation. There is no almighty God or creator.

As the Buddha taught the conduct of non-harming, he taught the view of ‘dependent arising’ as its complement of wisdom. Dependent arising according to the Buddhist teachings means, as has been suggested, that the happiness which we cherish is the consequence of a cause, and in the same way the suffering which we do not desire is also the consequence of a cause. Therefore we should seek to cultivate the cause of happiness and abandon the cause of suffering. Dependent arising is explained in detail in the twelve links, the first of which is ignorance and the last death. The links are explained as a cycle. It is not that we start with ignorance and end with death, thus completing the whole cycle and finishing existence, but rather that the links are different moments of ignorance, and each instance of ignorance has its own action, which in turn gives rise to rebirth. This is an endless cycle. It must be emphasized again that dependent arising explains the happiness and suffering which we are experiencing as the products of causes.

As the Buddha explained in the sutras, specific actions will have specific results, and all effects or fruits are products of one’s own actions and causes. Apart from that there is no creator. Nor is there a ‘self ’ with inherent existence and independence of this cause and effect process. Buddha taught two groups of cause and effect. One is the group of cause and effect of delusions. For example, if the cause is negative thought, the result is suffering. The other is the group of cause and effect having similar identity, for example, a positive cause and a joyous result.

This teaching is expressed in the Four Noble Truths with which the Buddha first turned the wheel of Dharma. The first truth is the truth of suffering, which is divided into three types of suffering. First there is the suffering of suffering, the mental and physical pain which is experienced by human beings, animals, and so forth.Then there is the suffering of change. This refers to the suffering of, for example, hunger and thirst. We eat and drink to overcome this suffering, but if we go on eating and drinking, we create other problems.

The suffering of change is experienced especially in the so-called developed countries. When people there get something new, they feel happy. They have a new camera, a new television set, a new car, and for a moment they are very happy. Soon, however, their happiness starts to diminish as the new article begins to give worries. They throw it away and want another one. They get it, then again the same things happen: initially great happiness and satisfaction, but soon irritation. This is what we mean by the suffering of change.

The third type of suffering is that of conditioning. The main cause of this kind of suffering is our psychophysical aggregates which are a product of our own contaminated actions and delusions. These are the three types of suffering included in the First Noble Truth, the truth of suffering. Nirvana, or liberation, is release from our suffering. Release from the first two categories alone, however, is not what is meant by nirvana.

We can say when we are sitting here and feeling comfortable that we are free of the first suffering, the suffering of suffering. But we are still potentially afflicted by the second type, that of change. There are people who, through the force of their mental quiescence, insight and meditation, are able to go beyond the experience of these gross types of suffering and happiness, and remain in a neutral state of mind. They are free from the first two kinds of suffering. But only when these persons are also free from the third type of suffering, that of their conditioned aggregates produced by contaminated actions and delusions, have they achieved nirvana.

In order to find release from suffering, we must investigate its source more closely. This investigation relates to the Second Noble Truth, that of the cause of suffering. There are two types of causes. One is our own physical and verbal actions, and the other is the delusions of our minds. For example, if at this moment as I talk to you I use nice words and gentle physical actions, I create a pleasant atmosphere. On the other hand, if I use harsh words and rough physical actions, like beating, I create an unpleasant atmosphere as the immediate result of that action.

While a person is engaged in an action either physically or verbally, he leaves an imprint on his own consciousness. The consciousness on which the person implants that imprint is called the temporary basis of the imprint. The person or self to whom this consciousness belongs is called the permanent basis of the imprint. Because of the imprint which the action of that person has left on his consciousness, he is bound to experience the consequences of his actions, irrespective of the length of time that elapses. This explains the experience of suffering, which we do not desire, and its cause.

The Third Noble Truth is the truth of the cessation of suffering. Nirvana, the state in which one is permanently freed from suffering, can be achieved in this lifetime. The means by which we do this is the path to the cessation of suffering, the Fourth Noble Truth. The basis on which we have to free ourselves from suffering is consciousness, the mind. The truth of the path to cessation involves the cultivation of a very refined state of mind, one endowed with a special quality of wisdom.

To free our minds from suffering and the stains of it, we must understand what is meant by the wisdom of emptiness, or that consciousness which eliminates mental delusions and realizes the nature of reality...."

~ XIV Dalai Lama, Cultivating a Daily Meditation