Do not be boastful.  

Our purpose in training the mind is to attain enlightenment for the benefit of all, therefore it is quite inappropriate to become conceited and boast to everyone what we are doing.

Those who suffer from pride, such as myself, often become very attached to what other people think of them.  Our sense of self-confidence and self-worth is based on an inflated perception of how great we are.  When others don’t share the same “exalted view” of us, then it threatens our self-narrative, and so we quickly become defensive.  Ultimately, of course, arrogance and pride are a reflection of deeper-seated insecurity.  Since we don’t want to confront that, we try get everyone else to likewise think we are so wonderful.

When we apply for jobs, we exaggerate our past accomplishments.  When we tell stories of particularly difficult situations we have dealt with, we almost always make it out worse than it really was.  We lie about our grades in school to our friends, we overstate the success we have enjoyed in our extra-curricular activities.  Especially among our Dharma friends, we put on a show of how we are free from delusions and are such a great Dharma practitioner.  

If we check, the implicit conclusion of much of what we say when we are with others is how we are better than those we are talking about.  Many, many, conversations among work colleagues revolve around telling stories about how stupid our co-workers, clients, or bosses are.  Every time we point out the faults of somebody else, what we are implicitly trying to say is that we are better than the person we are criticizing.  There is a very perverse logic in the world that thinks, “if I can criticize something good that everybody else likes, then it means I am even better.”  Rich people are praised for their “discriminating taste,” which essentially means they can’t be happy with anything but the very best of everything.  Why would we want to be like that, when the actual meaning of this is we are unhappy most of the time because rarely do we get the best of anything.  We see this dynamic all throughout our society:  criticizing famous people, disliking popular movies, judging those who eat fast food when who amongst us does not occasionally like a good burger!  Pride is so ridiculous, it can take any small personality characteristic we might possesses, and then use that as a basis for thinking we are better than everyone else.

Very often prideful and boastful people are not satisfied with knowing themselves that they are the best at everything they do, but they do not rest until everyone else agrees they are the best.  When somebody doesn’t agree, our mind is suddenly filled with an exhaustive list of all the faults of this insolent person!

Besides being absurd, what are some of the problems with such an attitude?  First, as a general rule, the more boastful we are with others, the more they dislike us and want to knock us down a peg or two.  Second, as a general rule, truly great people don’t talk about how great they are, they simply quietly do their thing.  Third, it feeds our dependency on what other people think of us, thus making us feel increasingly insecure.  Fourth, we close the door on ourselves of being able to ask for help from others, including our Dharma teachers.  I remember I used to be very attached to whether or not my Dharma teachers thought I was a great practitioner, so I actually didn’t want to go talk to them about what problems and delusions I was having because to do so might threaten their vision of me.  This makes our going for refuge impossible because we can’t admit we need help.  Fifth, pride in our contaminated aggregates makes renunciation, bodhichitta and our Tantric practice impossible.  It is only by coming to terms with the hopeless nature of our samsaric condition that we can make the decision to leave, become a Buddha and train in identifying with the pure aggregates of the deity.  Sixth, and worst of all, it makes it impossible for us to learn from anybody.  If we think we are better than others, we feel we have nothing to learn from them.  If we aren’t learning, how can we possibly progress along the path?

The second main meaning of the precept to be released by two, investigation and analysis, is it advises that for every Dharma realization we first attain a general understanding through investigation and study, and then gain a more subtle understanding through contemplation and meditation.  Dharma realizations within our mind can be understood to develop along two axis, horizontally and vertically.  Horizontally means we come to gain an understanding of all the different objects of Dharma.  It is not enough to know one or two (though that is good too), but we need to understand the entire path and how everything fits together.  The main objects of the path are the 21 lamrim meditations, the 6 perfections, and generation stage and completion stage of secret mantra.  Within each of these, especially emptiness and the Tantric teachings, there are many different crucial parts, all which we must understand correctly. 

The way we do this is primarily though reading Dharma books and receiving Dharma teachings.  We are fortunate that Geshe-la has condensed and consolidated thousands of years of spiritual tradition and countless root texts and commentaries down to a little more than 20 books.  This simplifies our task considerably.  If we had to read all the books, root texts, and commentaries that have ever been written in the history of our tradition, we would never finish.  Fortunately, Geshe-la has done this work for us, so we can rely upon his commentaries as a complete set of teachings lacking nothing.  This does not mean we are not allowed to go read other Dharma teachings, we are of course free to do as we wish.  But for those who don’t have the time to read these other things or for those who would rather focus on gaining experience of the Dharma they have already learned, we can have great confidence that the canon of Geshe-la’s teachings lack nothing we do need, and they contain nothing we don’t need.

To enable us to better understand the written teachings we have received, Geshe-la has established thousands of Dharma centers and meditation groups around the world.  At these Dharma centers, we can receive teachings about the meaning of the books and we can discuss our experiences with those who are likewise trying to put these precious instructions into practice.  We can also attend national and international Dharma festivals where we can receive direct teachings from some of the most experienced Kadampa practitioners in the world.  These teachings all help us develop a clearer and more complete picture of the entire Kadampa path.  Reading Dharma books and listening to teachings are the ways in which we expand our horizontal understanding of the Dharma.  These two are how we “investigate” the Dharma.

Each Dharma instruction also has a vertical dimension to it.  The vertical dimension refers to gaining deeper and deeper personal experience of the given instruction, and how that instruction informs and reinforces all the others.  There are two main methods by which we do this:  contemplation and meditation.  Collectively, within the context of this precept, these two are known as “analysis.” 

Contemplation means we test and examine the meaning of what we have learned.  We check and see whether or not it makes sense and conforms with our own experience.  We explore the various paradoxes or contradictions that might appear, attempting to resolve them so that everything makes sense.  We move beyond understanding each instruction in a vacuum, and instead start to see how all the instructions interrelate with one another, mutually reinforcing and informing each other.  The Lamrim, for example, ceases to be 21 separate meditations, and instead becomes one practice with 21 parts.  The differences between Sutra and Tantra fall away, the gap between the vast and the profound paths disappear.  Our direct practice of any one meditation begins to indirectly strengthen our experience and understanding of all the others.  What previously seemed like countless parts, and sub-parts, and divisions and sub-divisions becomes increasingly simplified to the point where we see how by practicing a few key things directly, we are indirectly practicing everything.  Contemplation functions to resolve all our doubts about our practice, enabling us to wholeheartedly commit to our training.  One of the most important benefits of contemplation is the apparent duality between our daily life and our Dharma practice begins to fade away until there is no separation whatsoever between the two. 

Meditation is when we allow our mind to settle and hold with an understanding or realization we have gain.  Through our investigation and contemplation of the Dharma, clear understandings will occasionally arise within our mind.  Venerable Tharchin calls these “ah ha” moments.  Suddenly the light turns on, the penny drops, the stars align, things become clear.  When this happens, we should stop our contemplation and allow our mind to “soak in” this new understanding.  We try to “maintain the continuum of not forgetting” what we have just understood.  We try pay attention to this particular understanding within our mind and prevent it from wandering somewhere else.  Sometimes people misunderstand the term “hold our object of meditation” as if we need to hold on tight to something.  In fact, it is the opposite.  The tighter we try hold our objects, the more swiftly they slip away, like a bar of wet soap we try to squeeze.  Instead, hold means hold up gently within our mind.  It is like creating a little cup with our hand within which the wet bar of soap rests gently.  It is more like allowing a candle flame to remain undisturbed within our mind, and we keep the flame alive by “paying attention to trying to remember” it.  This is “placement meditation,” or simply meditation.

There are many many different levels of what is called “meditative equipoise.”  I tend to think of it as meditative balance.  The object is there, it is present within our mind.  We just need to not lose it.  If we can keep our mind calm, still, and above all balanced, the object will simply remain undisturbed.  In fact, the more balanced our mind is, the more intensely the light of the realization will shine into the corners of our mind.  At first we can keep the object present and illuminated within our mind for a few moments, then for a minute, then for five minutes, then for our entire meditation session and finally for the rest of our life. 

There are two aspects to proper meditation.  These are like the two axes upon which the surface of our mind can tilt.  If the mind loses balance, the marble of the meditation object will quickly roll off.  The two aspects are:  not forgetting the object, and not allowing its vibrancy to fade.  In technical terms, forgetting the object is called “mental excitement” and losing the vibrancy of the object is called “mental sinking.” 

Mental excitement basically means our mind wanders off to some other object, usually some object of attachment.  This happens because we think it is more interesting, more enjoyable, or more beneficial to think about this other object.  To prevent mental excitement, we need to train in what is technically called “mindfulness.”  Mindfulness is just a fancy way of saying, “not forgetting.”  For example, we are told that if we want to remember somebody’s name when we meet them, then after they introduce themselves to us we should make a point of “trying to remember” their name.  We try remember their name continuously without forgetting it for as long as we can.  If we do this, then we remember.  If we don’t do this, we will forget the person’s name almost as soon as they tell it to us. 

If we find that our mind has already wandered off to some other object, when we become aware of the fact that we have lost our object of meditation we should ask ourselves, “what is more beneficial, thinking about this object of attachment or remembering my object of meditation.”  We then recall the benefits of the given object of meditation, and this inspires us to refind it.  We then go through the contemplation again until once again the candle lights and an understanding of the object reemerges within our mind. 

We oppose losing the vibrancy of our objects of meditation through the mental factor called “alertness.”  Alertness is just a fancy way of saying “paying full attention.”  When we are driving and not sure where we are, we “pay full attention” to our surroundings to try figure out where we are.  If we are in some danger, we “pay full attention” to the situation to be on the lookout for things that could potentially harm us.  When we are sick with some disease and our doctor is explaining to us what we need to do to get better, we “pay full attention” to what she is saying.  In the same way, when a Dharma understanding dawns within our mind, we should “pay full attention” to it.  The more we pay attention to it, the brighter it becomes in our mind.  But it is important to note that “paying full attention” to something does not mean “straining.”  These two are, in fact, opposites.  Sometimes you will see people meditating with their brow fully crunched together as they strain to stay focused.  Concentrating on our object of meditation is not like holding back the onslaught of distractions through brute force, rather it is more allowing our mind to “rest within the object.”  It is light, relaxed, at peace.  It is open, spacious, confident, undisturbed.  If there is no wind blowing, even the lightest feather will remain at rest.  It is the same with our objects of meditation.

In summary, Venerable Tharchin explains the three levels at which we mix our mind with the Dharma in the following way.  He says listening to or reading the Dharma (investigation) is gaining an intellectual understanding of somebody else’s point of view or wisdom.  We understand what the teachings say.  Contemplation functions to transform what was an intellectual understanding of somebody else’s point of view into our own point of view or wisdom.  Not only do we understand how the Dharma sees things, we fully agree with it ourself.  Meditation functions to transform this point of view into “an acquisition of our personality.”  For example, we can listen to Dharma teachings to gain an understanding of what compassion means to Buddhists.  Then, through our contemplation, we develop compassion within our own mind, we cause authentic compassion to arise within our own mind.  Through meditation on this compassion, we ourselves become a “compassionate person.”  Venerable Tharchin said, “we become whatever we mix our mind with.”  If we mix our mind with violence, we will become a violent person.  If we mix our mind with love, we will become a loving person.  Some people mistakenly think Buddhism is just a philosophy.  Buddhism is actually a method for radical and complete transformation of who we are, not just transforming ourself from an angry into a patient person, but transforming ourself from a suffering sentient being into a fully enlightened Buddha.     

This precept, be released by two, investigation and analysis, explains the actual method by which we practice the Dharma.  It is the “how,” and the rest of the teachings are the “what.”

Be released by two:  investigation and analysis. 

This precept has two main meanings.  The first meaning is we should be aware of all our actions of body, speech, and mind.  With this mindfulness we can gradually overcome all our faults. 

From a practical point of view, pride is actually the most harmful of all the delusions.  Why?  Because pride functions to blind us to our own faults.  If we are unaware of our faults, then there is no way we can overcome them.  Our pride does not prevent others from being able to catalog clearly all our faults, but with pride even when others point out to us our shortcomings, we fail to see them and we instead see all the faults of the person “attacking and criticizing us.”  When we suffer from pride, when we do become aware of our faults or limitations, we quickly become despondent, deflated, and discouraged.  We swing from misplaced overconfidence to a wish to give up trying.  We somehow think we should be naturally endowed with perfect abilities, and we think we should enjoy great success without putting in the necessary preparatory work.  We would rather not try at all than give something our all and then come up short.  With pride we become obsessed with “winning” and “losing,” and most importantly with whether or not we are better than everyone else.  This introduces haughtiness towards some, competitiveness towards others, and jealousy towards everyone else.  With pride, we are loathe to look at our faults because doing so shatters our inflated sense of our own abilities, and we would rather knowingly live a lie than come down to earth and begin rebuilding.  If we have every delusion except pride, we can identify our faults and gradually overcome them all.  If we have pride, however, we can never go anywhere on the spiritual path.  We may even occupy a high spiritual position, be venerated by everyone, but inside we know we are a charlatan; or worse, we don’t even realize that we are.   

Many people in this world suffer from one form of addiction or another.  Conventionally, programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous, etc., have emerged to provide people with a means of overcoming their addition.  If we examine the 12 steps of such programs carefully, we shall see they are, in almost every way, the essential meaning of this precept.  The 12 steps are:

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory, and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

As Kadampas, we realize we are addicted to samsara.  It is our delusions that sustain this addiction.  Our addiction has caused us to harm all those around us.  But if we ruthlessly acknowledge our shortcomings and humbly request the Buddhas, in particular Dorje Shugden, to help us overcome them, then we can eventually break our addiction to samsara and then help others do the same.

Train with certainty. 

To gain realizations of training the mind we need to practice wholeheartedly without hesitation and doubt.  First, we need to understand and study how to practice, then we need to practice steadfastly until we achieve our goal.

In the beginning of our spiritual training, the only thing we know for sure is that despite having tried our whole life, we are still not happy.  We know what we have done so far hasn’t worked.  The first many years of our spiritual training are largely about just gaining an intellectual understanding of what the path to enlightenment is all about.  We come to understand what is the nature of our problem and what can help.  We are still unclear about what are the objects of abandonment and what are the objects of attainment on the spiritual path.  But there does come a point where things are clear to us.  We see through the lies of our delusions.  We see the truth of the Dharma.  We know what we must do.  We know where our effort will take us.  Venerable Tharchin says, “once we see how the path actually can work, effort becomes effortless.”  In other words, when we know what the methods are and that if we do them, they are guaranteed to give us the promised results, it is easy to generate the effort necessary to enter, progress along, and complete the path.  So our first task is to become clear about what needs to be done and why it will work.  On this basis, we can then begin to actually practice, in other words, actually begin changing our mind.

There are two types of doubt:  deluded doubt and virtuous doubt.  The technical definition of deluded doubt is a doubt that tends in the opposite direction of correct belief in some object of Dharma.  Practically speaking, though, deluded doubt says, “I am not sure, so until I am, I won’t believe anything.”  The technical definition of virtuous doubt is a doubt that tends in the direction of correct belief in some object of Dharma.  Practically speaking, though, virtuous doubt says, “I am not sure, so until I am, I am going to keep experimenting and trying until I am.”  Deluded doubt stops us dead in our tracks, virtuous doubt pushes us to delve deeper, explore more, keep trying.

Deluded doubt is the death of practice.  Doubt causes us to hold ourself back so that we don’t engage fully in our practice.  We hedge our bets, trying to get the best of samsara and the best of Dharma.  We never really allow ourselves to change or believe anything for fear of being wrong, but as a result we never do anything and therefore make the biggest mistake of all.  Many people can become completely paralyzed by their doubts, or worse they become a habitual doubter about everything.  Doubt lies to us telling us that it is protecting us from believing something that might be wrong.  We believe our doubts are protecting us, but in reality they are keeping us at square one. 

When a baseball player swings a bat or a golfer swings a club, they put their whole body into it.  When a sprinter races towards the finish line they hold nothing back and they give it everything they’ve got.  When a scientist performs an experiment, they do everything they can to give the experiment a chance of succeeding, they don’t sabotage it beforehand thinking, “this will never work anyways.”  An actor on the stage literally forgets who they are as they plunge themselves fully into their character.  This is how we should practice.  We should put our whole mind into.  We should hold nothing back.  We should give it everything we’ve got.  We should do everything we can to give our practice the opportunity to succeed.  We should forget our ordinary self and plunge ourselves fully into our new identity as a bodhisattva or indeed a Tantric deity. 

A powerful leader is somebody who is able to be decisive, and never look back.  They know hedging and trying to split the difference often just guarantees failure.  Once they have committed to a course of action, they carry it through to completion, despite all adversity and everyone else around them having given up long ago.  Once the die are cast, they know there is no taking it back.  When a general launches a battle, they don’t stop until their objective is reached.  This is how we should practice.  We decide to leave our delusions behind, and we never look back.  We don’t hedge between samsara and the Dharma, but instead we burn our bridges back to samsara behind us.  Once we have taken vows and committed to the Bodhisattva’s path, we never give up no matter what adversity we may face, even if everyone who started with us has long ago given up.  Once we have become ordained or generated superior intention towards our family, we know there is no taking it back and we continue on no matter what.  Once we embark upon the Joyful Path, we never stop until all beings have been freed. 

Do not be erratic. 

The effort we apply when practicing Dharma should be steady and consistent.  A short-term effort that later slackens will not produce results.  We need continuous effort until we accomplish our final goal of full enlightenment.

First, we need a clear understanding of what effort is.  Effort in a Dharma context is not the same as effort in an ordinary context.  In an ordinary context, effort means to work hard.  In a Dharma context, effort means “to take delight in engaging in virtue.”  It is a special mind that enjoys engaging in virtue.  Nothing is enjoyable or unenjoyable from its own side.  Things become enjoyable when we relate to them with a mind of enjoyment.  Things become unbearable when we relate to them with a mind of impatience.  If we work very hard at our Dharma practice, meditating every day, working endlessly for the center, going to all the teachings, etc., but we do so with a heavy mind of guilt and obligation, then we actually have no effort.  Without effort, we will have no results.  If instead we do very little formal practice, but we go about our day enjoying the opportunity to train our mind to respond with wisdom and compassion to whatever arises, then we have great effort and results will flow naturally. 

How do we develop a mind that “enjoys” engaging in virtue?  First, we must recognize that at present our mind enjoys engaging in non-virtue and dreads having to engage in virtue.  Shantideva says we are drawn like moths to a flame to that which is harmful to us, and we flee that which is good for us.    Why is this?  The reason is we are completely confused about what is the cause of happiness and what is the cause of suffering.  We enjoy eating ice cream, we would not enjoy eating ice cream we know is laced with poison.  Why the difference?  Because we know one thing is very bad for us and the other is not.  So we need to take the time to consider what is actually good for us.  The things of samsara can at most help us in this one life, but Dharma can help us in all our future lives.  In reality, any good thing in samsara comes from past virtuous karma.  Where did that good karma come from?  Our past practice of virtue.  Even from the perspective of this life alone, when our mind is under the influence of delusion, we are unhappy; whereas if our mind if peaceful, wise, and full of love, we are very happy.  Further, the so-called pleasures of samsara actually just serve to ensnare us further into the deceptive lies of samsara, and cause us to waste countless hours of our precious human life doing things in a meaningless way.  Would someone derive much enjoyment spending all the money in their retirement on a fancy vacation, knowing that they are squandering all that they have saved up and that they will have to spend their retirement in abject poverty?  It is the same with samsara’s pleasures.  When we harvest them, we are causing our virtuous seeds to ripen, and once exhausted we will have no karmic provisions left for the long road ahead of our countless future lives. 

Second, we need to completely let go of attachment to results from our practice.  The fastest and most effective way to kill the joy in our practice is to become attached to experiencing results.  The definition of pure Dharma practice is practice that is engaged in free from the 8 worldly concerns, one of which is wanting to experience pleasure and pleasant feelings.  Many people do meditation hoping that it will make them feel “blissed out” or at least help them “calm down.”  They may have had some experiences in the past where they were blown away by some deep spiritual insight, and they grasp at trying to get the next spiritual breakthrough.  Sometimes people quickly become frustrated when they become distracted quickly and fail to find their object of meditation in any meaningful way.  Or perhaps some people have been practicing for many years, but they feel like they are just as deluded as they always were.  Practicing with these sorts of attachment to results in our mind leads to all sorts of frustrations, tensions, discouragements, and disappointments with our spiritual practice.  Attachment to results drains the joy from our practice in the same way unplugging a barrel will eventually drain its contents.  Once the joy is gone, we may continue to practice driven by guilt or some feeling of obligation, but this can’t last long.  Eventually we abandon everything or become a neurotic mess. 

In contrast, when we completely let go of attachment to results in our practice, everything becomes naturally joyful.  What does it mean to practice without attachment to results?  It means, quite simply, we derive our enjoyment from planting good seeds, not harvesting their results.  We should be like the squirrel who spends the Fall collecting nuts and storing them away so that when winter comes he has enough provisions to last him.  The other animals may seem to be having fun, but come wintertime, they regret their shortsightedness.  We should be like the hard-working medical student that stays in school for many long years after all their friends have left school and gone off to work, making money, going on vacations, etc.  They do this because they know they are working for a higher goal.  We should be like the investor who saves as much money as they can, little by little, adding to their investment capital which will one day enable them to live effortlessly without ever having to work again as they live off of the dividends of their prior investments.  We should be like the farmer who plans ahead, preparing the soil, planting seeds, irrigating the fields and ensuring there is enough sunlight.  The farmer does not expect the crops to ripen before the seeds are planted, but instead knows such seeds must be patiently nurtured and cared for in order to have a bountiful harvest come the Fall. 

Ghandi famously said, “full effort is full victory.”  His meaning was when we apply ourselves fully to effort and completely forget about results, such effort itself is full victory itself.  When such effort is attained, the final results are a foregone conclusion, as we go from joy to joy travelling along the path. 

We are desire realm beings, which means we have no choice but to do what we want.  So the whole trick of Dharma is to change what we want from what is harmful to us to what is beneficial to us.  Our wanting to enjoy ourselves is not a problem, our problem is we are confused about what is enjoyable.  Licking honey off of a razor blade is not enjoyable, building for a better future is.  When we enjoy engaging in virtue more than we enjoy indulging in samsara’s deceptive pleasures, then we will naturally engage in virtue for the simple reason of we want to.  Once we are like this, there is no danger of us being erratic or our effort waning, we simply do what we enjoy all the way to enlightenment.