I’ve been giving some thought to how we have many minds, how we can be of many minds. We sometimes grasp at our mind as this singular entity that somehow remains constant observing everything. But in How to Understand the Mind, Geshe-la explains how we have countless different minds depending upon the combinations of mental factors we have. For example, towards somebody in my life, I can view them as my biggest trigger (anger) or my biggest attachment or as an emanation of Vajrayogini. So who is this person? Are they the trigger, the attachment, or the emanation? They are actually not one of them, not the three of them, nor the collection of the three of them. But if you took away each of them there would be nothing there remaining that is the other person. If we can see how there are many different minds we have towards the same ‘person,’ then we can see very clearly how all phenomena perceived by that mind are also empty. In this way, by realizing the emptiness of our mind directly, we indirectly realize the emptiness of all phenomena that will ever be perceived by our mind.

OK, so they are empty, but what do we nonetheless conventionally choose to follow – trigger, attachment, or emanation? Our delusions of anger and attachment make our mind uncontrolled. So if we don’t ‘choose’ emanation, then we are allowing our mind to remain under the influence of anger or attachment. But we have to apply effort to ‘choose’ emanation when our anger and attachment are pulling our mind so strongly in the direction of believing one of their distortions.

Gen-la Dekyong has been talking a lot in recent times about mistaken vs. unmistaken appearance. We all know what mistaken appearance is, but Venerable Geshe-la specifically uses the term ‘unmistaken appearance.’ Basically, this is our guru pointing to us and saying, “look, this is the unmistaken reality. Focus your mind on this and you will move into this reality.” Pure view – the four purities – is the only unmistaken appearance. To see anyone as anything other than pure is a mistaken appearance.

If we realize this, it will automatically cut ALL of our delusions in their tracks. All of our delusions and problems with other people come from viewing them with deluded minds, but if we see them as all the Buddhas emanated for us by our Spiritual Guide with whom we have an incredibly close karmic connection it would be absolutely impossible for us to generate any delusions towards them. This is the sort of faith we need. This is the view we need to choose to adopt. This is the unmistaken appearance our Spiritual Guide is pointing us to.

So what is the correct answer to the question of ‘who is this person?’ is they are an emanation of a Buddha sent by our spiritual guide. That’s who our family is. That is who our friends and work colleagues are. Basically because we have a mind of faith in our holy Spiritual Guide, that is true for basically everyone we meet in our life. They are all emanations of Buddhas sent by our spiritual guide.

So I think what I need to do to one day completely heal all the stuff that has been going on is to choose to adopt this view, to focus my mind on that reality. This is what is most beneficial for them because wherever I imagine Buddhas, Buddhas go; and wherever Buddhas go, they accomplish their function which is to bestow blessings. So maintaining this pure view is an act of compassion. But it is also beneficial for me because then instead of generating delusions towards them, I will generate all sorts of Dharma minds to work through whatever arises with them.

Sometimes what arises might be really hard, but why is that a problem? Are we not willing to endure a few hardships on our path to enlightenment? Sometimes working through our deeper stuff is hard, but it needs to be done, so we need to put on our Dharma armor and head into battle.

Typically, because we are lazy – or at least I am – if my life is going well, my burning need to practice Dharma quickly dissipates. But when I’m thrown into a crazy crisis or situation, then it kicks up all sorts of delusions in my mind, and I then have to use the Dharma to work through those delusions. Then, I really practice. So my experience is not so much I courageously head into battle against my delusions, but more a desperate struggle for survival, but I have been given the sharp swords of Kadampa wisdom, so I’m forced into battle because I’m surrounded and being attacked on all sides.

And this is why refuge is so important. We can’t just always be battling Rambo style all alone. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being fully united with all the Buddhas, all the Dharmas, and all the Sanghas. Sometimes we can even go within the ‘refuge’ of our community and just focus on our mind and our practice, and others do the battling for us.

That’s Dorje Shugden’s job!!! His vast assembled retinue is like our elite Dharma army with the perfect power to transform whatever samsara might throw at us into something that is absolutely perfect for our swiftest possible enlightenment. All we need to do is generate faith in him, request him to arrange everything so that it is perfect for our practice, and then accept whatever arises as the completely perfect conditions we need for our swiftest possible enlightenment. In other words, they are not just emanations of our spiritual guide, they are emanations of our spiritual guide in the aspect of Dorje Shugden’s vast assembled retinue.

Anyways, sorry, I got a little away from myself. I love Dorje Shugden so much he does that to me.

My point is we need to choose which mind we follow, and the only unmistaken choice is emanation. That’s true for everything.